Laura Jean and Gavin were at one of our pick-up points this week, the beautiful Oasis Nature Garden in Stockwell, which was having a family fun day – we had a great time dodging kids with water pistols and talking to people about the farm. We also witnessed the creation, by our new friend Noah, of Potato-feet Pete, the tasty chap pictured above. A potential mascot for the farm?
Down on the farm itself we’ve been welcoming some proper rain at last – seeing it falling in substantial amounts has been a weight off our minds. It was also supposed to herald our opportunity to break in our new rotavator. It’s a great time to get the tractor out and turn the earth, because until now, under the baking sun, the ground has been too hard.
So it was a bit shocking on Monday morning to find the tractor suffering from a puncture at the very moment we needed to take her onto the fields. Would we miss our chance to work on our soil? Thankfully not, in the end – we were rescued by the skills of our lovely neighbour, Pete.
Meanwhile, we’ve spotted the first beans podding, which is exciting after a bit of a rollercoaster earlier this year when trying to get them established, although they won’t kick off properly for a while yet. This week we’ll also finish planting out leeks, and we’ll be starting to think about our winter crops, such as chicory, radicchio and endive.