August News '25

August is a show off month; the farm is bountiful, crops are racing to reach the sun, the rich colours of the summer harvest take centre stage. Our growers are out at sunrise, quietly racing against the day to pick everything at its peak. Each item in your box this month reflects their effort - grown with care, freshly picked and packed by our small, hardworking team. It’s one of the most intense and rewarding times of the year and we’re proud to share it with you.

Notes from the field

July was a month of planting; we planted our new field with the winter brassicas that will see us from September right through to May. This year the challenges were with our main tractor breaking down right at the start but luckily we have our old but incredibly reliable Massy Ferguson as back up. In August there’s more planting as well as keeping crops watered and weeded, with regular harvesting of our summer crops such as our tomatoes and aubergines. Last year the weather was on our side with rain as soon as we’d planted but it’s a different story this year. The hot, dry conditions called for a make do irrigation system, ferrying tanks of water to the fields and getting it to the plants via trickle tape irrigation and 12v electric water pumps. Although harvest is a way off yet, our winter squash have been loving the warm weather and are looking very promising. Much of our indoor space now is put down to green manures - crops we grow to build soil fertility. This year we’ve a mix of buckwheat, phacelia and crimson clover which are all quick growing and ideal for quick break crops. This is all in preparation for autumn plantings of greens and salad leaves which we’ll be madly sowing this month. These sowings are very important and timely because it’s these, alongside our outdoor brassicas and leeks, that will see us through the long winter months. Busy as always but, we love it!

Supplier spotlight
Hodmedod’s

We now stock a range of UK beans, a UK grown smoked quinoa and a fava bean paste all from champions of British farming and produce, Hodmedod’s. This month we chatted to team member Karma about their incredible mission to celebrate the humble British bean.
While working for East Anglia Food Link, founders Josiah, Nick and William, were asked whether the city could feed itself in a low input, low carbon way and what this might do for landuse and diets. “Mapping the obvious - vegetables, meat, and dairy - was straightforward” explains Karma, “but local sources of dried goods like grains and pulses were less obvious”. The UK grows pulses, like fava beans, but they are largely used as animal feed or exported to the Middle East, whilst the nation’s favourite, baked beans, are made from imported American or Chinese beans. “The only fava beans you could buy in the UK at the time were in ethnic food shops, imported from abroad but ironically, probably grown in the UK originally” Karma tells us. “We knew we needed to do more to get these valuable pulses back into kitchens and onto plates”. So in 2012 Hodmedods was founded. “We needed to imagine a new system from the ground up, one that reunites agriculture with ecology. Agroecology.” However, it didn’t stop at fava beans and greater projects emerged, discovering, selling, and championing other beans, peas, and grains that grow well in the UK but had been overlooked.
Hodmedod’s works with farmers around the UK to sell their produce directly, “Our relationship with producers is very different from the traditional middlemen on the global food market” says Karma; “where farmers are told the price, specification and timing of what the market needs. We promise farmers a fair price for their produce and guarantee them a market to sell it - our farmers are supported in moving towards agroecological systems.” With the growing awareness of the need to eat food that is produced locally and sustainably Hodmedod’s believe that pulses and grains can play a crucial role in building a more sustainable food system.

Hodmedod's British grown peas, beans & grains speak really for themselves in a dish. The colours, flavours & textures are fantastic. We love the Smoked Quinoa in a chilli with roasted seasonal veg. It also makes a brilliant base for a salad.The flamingo peas are great made into a dhal or a hummus style dip with garlic, tahini & lemon. They're also great simply tossed in olive oil, lemon & garlic. Use the Blue Peas in place of chickpeas as they've got a great bite and the fava bean paste is a brilliant fridge staple great stirred into curries, stews, pasta & stir fries. It adds a new depth of flavour to most dishes with the added health benefits of it being a fermented product.

Atomic Grape, Mango Lassi, Santium Sunrise, Sakura and Sungold, no, not the line up for a summer music festival, but our tomato varieties this season and we've some real flavour bombs that you won’t find in any supermarket. Our aubergines are brilliant too - always a great vehicle for flavour, soaking up all the juices you throw at them. We've a collection of recipe ideas to celebrate these summer stars so have a read of our '4 Ways With' feature and get cooking!

August's recipe: Butter roasted aubergines & tomatoes with Hodmedod's Smoke Quinoa & spicy zhoug.
A deliciously buttery bake of our aubergines and tomatoes with Hodmedod's amazing Smoke Quinoa and a spicy green drizzle of zhoug, a wonderfully easy sauce and a perfect way to use up any herbs you might have lurking in the fridge.

Happy summer days everyone! It's a wonderful time to have an organic farm on your doorstep and we are delighted to be sending you all our freshest, summer produce. Thanks for choosing a local and sustainable business, it's a real privilege feeding our community.