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Good evening,

We hope that you have had a lovely week. We were delighted to see that the rain decided to grace us with its presence this week, albeit for a very brief moment!

Barry was pleased indeed as it means that the fields will start to go a bit greener and the sheep will hopefully stop munching on the bales he worked so hard to make for the winter. He has already had to sacrifice some to feed the cows during the drought we've had, but the sheep have made it their mission to get past the fences and to the bales he has neatly stacked at the edge of the field!

In this week's newsletter, you can read about:

Speaking of cheeky sheep, there are two in particular making a name for themselves on the estate...
Team flowers have been busy as usual, but this time indoors
Just what Barry needed - more mouths to feed!
What veg you can add to your orders
what will be in next week's boxes
and what we've been crunching on in our 'Recipe of the week'.

Houidini who?

Our whole flock are moved to graze new pastures every few weeks. This is quite a big task for farmer Barry and his collies, especially as the flock doubles in size every spring.

Once sheep become adults, they are fairly easy to move as they tend to stay in a large group. As soon as lambs arrive on the scene however, it becomes more challenging as they haven't yet learned to stay together and tend to scatter in all directions. "It's like herding cats!" we often hear Barry saying.

There are two in particular who managed to escape from the group in the early days and who have mostly avoided detection ever since. They are occasionally spotted by staff and estate residents in various places across the farm. Most recently seen above, munching on weeds but they have also been spotted in Nanda's flowerbeds! Naughty sheep!

Our farm's tiniest workers

We rely on a very tiny but important component on our farm: The humble seed.

It is relatively easy to obtain organic vegetable seeds, but organic flower seeds are far harder to find. At Wye Organic, we solve that problem by harvesting them ourselves! Seeds are harvested from flowers that have previously been set aside and allowed to mature. The flowers must be picked on a dry day, then stored until a rainy day when they can be sorted. Once the seed heads begin to rattle, the seeds are ready to be collected.

As well as the usual, picking, sorting and arranging that they do, Team Flowers were also busy this week ticking off other jobs from their to do list. These included; harvesting, setting up their new pack shed, planning wreath making and preparing beds for next years crops.

Thinking ahead to Christmas during the heat we've has the past few months may seem crazy, but here on the farm, we are always looking ahead.

Browse our flowers here

Puppies!

A couple of months ago, Barry returned from checking on the livestock to find that his female collie had burst into the kennel where his male collie is housed. He didn't think much of it, until a few weeks later and she was waddling around, visibly pregnant.

Safe to say she was immediately put on maternity leave from shepherding, and a few weeks later, the farm gained 6 gorgeous puppies! They are getting bigger by the day and mum is doing a fantastic job of keeping her first litter safe and well fed.

What veg is available to buy at the moment?

Here is what we have available to add to your orders next week:

Beetroot

Chard, Swiss

NEW - Chard, Rainbow

Fennel

Kale, curly

Leeks

Onions

Peppers

Potatoes

Potatoes, Red

Salad mix

Spinach, New Zealand

Spinach, Perpetual

Squash, Pattypan

Spring onions

Swiss chard

Buy while stocks last

What's in the box?

Here is what to expect in your deliveries next week:

Don't forget - if there is anything you don't want in your veg box, you can easily swap this out on our website.

Recipe of the week

We are very excited that our fennel will be making its way to all medium and large veg box customers next week. This is a vegetable that isn't considered an important player in the kitchen here, but in Italy they use it whenever they can. Its aniseed like fronds go beautifully with fish or can be stewed as a tea to aid digestion, but its the bulb itself where we think it really shines!

In this week's recipe, we slice up the bulb and serve it alongside sweet orange segments in one of our favourite summer dishes: Orange, fennel & mixed leaf salad

View the recipe here

The deadline for our 26, 27 & 28 August deliveries is

11pm on Sunday 23 August

Order your organic produce

Box Returns

We are running low on delivery boxes. If you have recently received an order in a box, please leave them out for collection in a sheltered spot before your next delivery.

Our customers are generally brilliant at returning boxes, an enormous thank you to everyone!

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