If February's weather kept us on our toes then March has us dancing a pas de deux in oversized wellies where no one knows the steps. It can certainly be a chaotic month in terms of conditions; the weather's often a candy striped pick 'n' mix of all the seasons rolled into one where growers and farmers across the country are glued to the forecasts, poised to jump into action. We can forgive the unpredictability of the climate, however, as the lighter skies and the joyous birdsong return each morning and we are buoyed by warmer times beckoning. With the weather at its most changeable we are thankful for our beautiful glasshouses and our polytunnels at this time of year as we can watch the rewards of our winter sowing. Despite the hungry gap looming where seasonal produce dwindles across the UK, March is filled with anticipation and preparation for the Spring, where the farm starts to hum again with the prospect of new growth and harvest.
Notes from the field
In February we began sowing spring greens, spring onions, lettuce and beetroot but this month we’ll be very busy filling the propagation house with seed trays, nurturing them with a little bit of heat to encourage early growth and strong root systems. Our tomatoes weren’t quite as successful as we had hoped last year, so they will be our main focus this month. We are growing lots from seed and are planning to give them some organic feed and plant them with a little more space between each plant, improving nutrients and ventilation in our polytunnels. We’ve also just drilled salad turnips and radishes, two valuable, quick growing crops that are perfect for the hungry gap. Salad turnips are lovely and sweet and can be eaten raw or cooked and radishes are an easy way to pep up a salad or a sandwich. You'll find us sowing more kales this month, sugar snap peas, chard and perpetual spinach as well as our agretti, a star of our summer leaves but it needs to be sown now to be ready by June. Thoughts also drift to our asparagus beds in our polytunnels which are an exciting prospect for Spring.
It's natural to look ahead and feel motivated by the promise of a new season, however, it's also important to take a moment and reflect on our successes over the winter. Our cabbages have been wonderful this year and we're still harvesting our January Kings. Our leeks too, are growing beautifully in the fields and our cauliflowers are picture perfect, despite the challenging snaps of extreme weather. All provide crucial ballast at this time of year when there's so little UK produce available.
Supplier spotlight:
Crispin Tebbett, Boathouse Farm
We collaborate with a number of local farmers, growers and producers and we thought you'd like to learn a little more about them. So we're kicking off with Crispin of Boathouse Farm, a second-generation farmer who has supplied us with organic potatoes since the Nurseries opened. He also owns the Isfield site that we expanded into last summer and we have a trusted partnership that allows us more space and freedom to grow, as well some really wonderful soil - so thank you Crispin!
Crispin's journey into organic farming was shaped by family history and a deep commitment to sustainability. After years of adventure abroad, including tree surgery and farming in the US, he returned to take over the family's farm. A portion of it was already being farmed organically, which at the time was very unusual, and he with his father and brother boldly took the leap to convert the remaining land to organic, growing an array of organic vegetables as well as rearing organic cattle and sheep. They faced skepticism from other farmers who doubted the long-term viability of organic farming - to them the quick returns from chemical applications seemed more appealing. However, for him, it was never about the immediate yield. "You don’t farm with your cheque book," he explains, "you farm with your head. You get a field with a weed problem you don't just say, 'right, I'll get the spray-man in and spend £15 an acre and that'll sort it'. You've got to scratch your head and have a think. We have to plan and think more about the bigger picture with organic farming, it's not about a quick fix". His approach is rooted in problem-solving and understanding the soil and is one that requires careful planning and foresight, always considering the next generation of crops and the health of the land, which also takes care of his livestock. He admits the biggest challenge is weed management and while pesticides may deliver immediate results, to Crispin, chemical farming lacks the long-term vision needed for real sustainable growth. His observations of a neighbouring conventional farm were particularly striking: "You'd look at the ground of a harvested field and there was just nothing there - a field of wheat with no life, not a weed, not a worm cast, not a beetle - it's like a dessert."
Crispin now concentrates on his potato crops and camping, with a beautiful setting during the summer months by the Ouse. He continues to rear organic cattle, selling them on at a year old to organic farmer, David Robinson in the Downs, but he now has to sell his lambs conventionally as the market for organic lamb has all but collapsed due to the lack of organic slaughterhouses. In terms of arable the weeds are still a battle: "We used to grow beetroot, carrots and parsnips alongside the potatoes but we to always got too busy haymaking and couldn't get out to weed, by the time we did they'd be swamped in them so had to write it off. Now Harry and the Barcombe team are here growing veg I might talk to him about doing more".
Despite being filled with energy and ideas, including building his own house, Crispin is looking forward to a slower pace of life in the future. He gleefully admits times and attitudes have changed towards the organic approach; "In those early days other farmers would look at us and say 'silly old fools, what are they doing?' but now they're thinking 'I wish I'd had a go at that".
Thank you Crispin for your time (and coffee!) You can find Boathouse Farm's camping website here and perhaps there might be more Barcombe/Isfield roots in the pipeline!
March's recipe:
Purple sprouting broccoli and caramelised garlic tart
A treat of a recipe this month; a creamy goats cheese tart adorned with our PSB, sweet caramelised garlic on a puff pastry base. It's indulgent, delicious hot or cold and the last slice is guaranteed to cause an argument (sorry about that). Head over to the recipe pages and get cooking!
Don't forget to pop over to our recipe page and check out other ideas for purple sprouting in our '4 ways with' series. Plus there's a whole heap of other delicious recipes for every day in your veg box!
Well, we'd better crack on - lots to do as you can see! Seeds to sow, boxes to pack, tarts to eat, recipes to try and for all that washing up, we've our lovely screen printed organic cotton tea towels. We've still a few left if you fancy treating yourself to one.
Enjoy March and let us know what you sow or cook!
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