November is a month of transition...

Canopy colours turn from green to red, the colder nights are drawing in, bonfire smoke heavy in the air. It’s a time of changing rhythms on the farm, where we move between the abundance of harvest and the expectation of winter.

As the relentlessness of the season subsides, we switch to maintenance on the farm. Some crops are suffering as they sit in waterlogged soil, especially with our clay heavy fields, so we are installing more drainage trenches around the site to deal with the extreme rain events we've experienced. Thankfully our new brassica field has a lighter soil so drains better and the crop is looking fantastic. Whenever we enter the field to harvest we disturb flocks of opportunist pigeons. They can often cause damage to brassicas but fortunately also feed on weed seed around the field margins - a great example of how something considered a pest can also be beneficial to us growers. There are also some cabbage white butterfly caterpillars on the odd plant but nothing to worry about and again, these provide food for birds and insects such as certain wasps that parasitise them. Occasionally we find their yellow chrysalises on the underside of a leaf next to the caterpillar they’ve parasitised, the wasp larvae having consumed it from within, popping out to form chrysalises before emerging as adult wasps.
A gruesome but incredible process!

Seasonal Star this month: January King Cabbage

Winter greens are here and this month we are talking cabbages. We’ve come a long way from the dreary boiled school dinners of our youth and now the humble cabbage has become something to be celebrated, not dreaded. You only need a little vision (and a lot of butter) and you can’t go wrong. The January King is our seasonal star, with its beautiful purple hue and sweet flavour it really is deserving of its title. Harvesting is hard graft but in the golden autumn sunshine it’s a joy to behold.

The January King isn’t as peppery as its white or hispi relatives, it’s sweeter and more mellow. We know people can get a little phased when cooking cabbage but it's so much more than a side to a roast, it really is a feast in itself. Here are a few recipe ideas for you to try.

5 Ways with our cabbages

Raw - Shred with carrots, red onion, beetroot and fennel. Mix with mayo or Greek yogurt, olive oil and dijon and you’ve got a quick winter slaw.

Whole - Cut almost into 4, keeping the core intact, and roast whole, lathered in butter and olive oil and serve with fresh chilli and humous.

Leaves - Blanche whole leaves in hot salted water and use in place of tortillas wraps.

Chop - Liberally add to stews, dahls and soups - an easy way to add texture and boost vitamin C & K.

Fry - Shred with an onion and mix into an egg and flour batter. Stir in some soy sauce and fry in sesame oil to make little Japanese-style pancakes. Serve with your favourite hot sauce.

Recipe of the Month:
Roasted January King with Brown Butter, Tahini & Dukkah

Head over to our recipe archive to make the deliciously sweet and buttery roasted cabbage with a tahini sauce and scattered with dukkah, a spiced seed and nut blend from Egypt. It's simple to cook, gluten and meat free and is guaranteed to make you think differently about the good old cabbage.

New produce

Squash Box

November is a celebration of hearty, nourishing crops. Our squashes are now all in from the cold, ready to go into your autumn boxes and, like a fine wine or cheese, they deepen in flavour when stored. If you have a few at home and don’t want to cook them straight away, don’t worry, they keep well for a good few months. They’ve been such a hit this season we’re now offering a squash box in our shop with 5 of the season’s finest squash, 3 of them grown by us. They can feature beautifully on an autumn table, a front step or even on - dare I say it - a Christmas menu.
You’ll already be enjoying our regular supply of kales and purple sprouting broccoli is on its way, as well as caulis, red cabbage and sprouts for Christmas. We’ll be popping some leaflets into the boxes later in the month with more information on dates for festive ordering but in the meantime, we’ve a few exciting new products recently added to our online shop.

Oyster Mushrooms

A real seasonal highlight at the moment are the beautiful oyster mushrooms from Love Mush Supplies. After setting up three mushroom farms over the years, mushroom expert Ashley has now settled on a prime spot just outside Lewes. They are grown in oak shavings, made by a neighbour who is a wood turner, so zero miles are travelled to gather the substrate and they’re using a by-product that is ordinarily wasted. Ashley regularly supplies some fantastic restaurants such as Squisito, Etch, Skylark, Field Food and Bincho Yakitori. If you’ve never cooked with them before, they are really very special, almost meaty in flavour. Great fried in butter and garlic and piled on toast, stirred through herby pasta or glazed with honey, olive oil and soy, grilled on skewers.

New Juices

We’re also offering a new range of apple juices from the Brighton Permaculture Trust, a charity that promotes greener lifestyles and sustainable development. Their apple juices are all made from harvesting fruit from Brighton and Hove that would otherwise have gone to waste. The 4 apple juices we are selling are naturally flavoured: apple and mint, apple and cherry, apple and cinnamon and apple and golden spice, flavoured with turmeric and black pepper. They make a lovely alternative to our traditional apple juice, especially now the colder months are here.