Green Pastures Christmas Popcorn

"Popcorn Like You've Never Tasted it Before!"

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You Will Need;

Popping Corn, approx 200g

Castor Sugar, to taste

Mixed Spice, 1tsp or to taste

Nutmeg (freshly grated), to taste

1 Whole Orange Zest

1 Whole Lemon Zest

Butter, approx 250g

Method;

• Pop your corn in a tight lidded pan or in a popcorn maker. Set aside whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
• Melt the butter in a pan and mix in the mixed spice, grate in a whole lemon, orange and nutmeg.
• Pour over the fresh popcorn and sprinkle with the sugar.
• Give the bowl a stir and a shake.
• Smell the Christmas cheer and tuck into a popping spiced Christmas treat!

Turkey and Brussels Bubble and Squeak Cakes with Red Pepper Sauce

(Recipe courtesy of Robert Garner, our Turkey Farmer!)

Serves 4

For the Cakes;

You will Need;

1kg floury potatoes, peeled, washed and cut into chunks

60g butter

200g Brussels sprouts, trimmed

1 small onion, peeled and very finely diced

300g cooked Totally Traditional Turkey, skinned and chopped

50g plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

Rapeseed oil, for frying

Sea salt and black pepper

A little freshly grated nutmeg

4 eggs, poached

Rocket, to serve

Method:

• Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes until tender, drain, add half of the butter and mash well. 
• Meanwhile cook the Brussels sprouts for 5 minutes until just tender, drain, cool and shake dry and shred finely.
• Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and fry the onion until just soft, cool slightly and add to the mashed potato.
• Mix the sprouts with the turkey, potato and cooked onion and season to taste. 
• Leave until cool enough to handle then shape into 8 cakes.
• Tip the flour onto a plate, coat the cakes, and gently tap off the excess flour.
• Heat a large frying pan and shallow fry the cake in rapeseed oil, do this in batches for 4 minutes each side, turning carefully.
• Drain on kitchen paper and transfer to a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
• Serve with a little rocket, poached eggs, red pepper sauce (see below) and rocket.

For the Sauce

You will Need;

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 450g jar roasted red peppers, drained

1 tsp red wine vinegar

½ tsp caster sugar

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic, fry over a low heat until the onion has softened. 
• Add the red peppers and cook until they are heated through.  
• Transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the vinegar and sugar and season with sea salt and black pepper, blend until smooth.  
• Add a little water if you require a thinner consistency. Serve warm or cold. 

This sauce will keep for up to 5 days in a fridge or freeze  any sauce leftover.

Tip: You can use leftover mashed potato and cooked Brussels sprouts.

Sarah's Seasonal Roast Potatoes

Transform your roasties by following Sarah's simple steps. 

You will need;

Desiree Potatoes this is one of the very best potato varieties for roasting as they keep their shape well whilst the centre is nice and fluffy. We love the flavour too; a proper "potato" taste!

Goose or Duck Fat

Fresh Rosemary

Semolina

Christmas Tunes (optional!)



Method;

• Peel Potatoes
• Par boil for approx 5 mins or until there is a little give in the potatoes.
• Meanwhile get your roasting pan nice and hot with goose or duck fat.
• Chop fresh rosemary into almost a bread crumb consistency.
• Once the potatoes are par boiled, drain and leave them to steam under a tea towel
• Shake up the potatoes to rough-up the outsides and put into the roasting pan.
• Sprinkle over a dusting of Semolina and baste the potatoes.
• Finally, sprinkle over the Rosemary. Do a little Christmas as you do this!
• Pop into the oven at 200 degrees C for approx 45mins. 
• Baste again if you wish and they will be as crisp and as fluffy as Santa's beard!

MARK'S ALLOTMENT TRANSFORMATION!

As you possibly read in my first update I started my allotment way back in the spring and luckily had some holiday due so I got to work and cleared the weedy site and dug it over in no-time. It sounds so easy reading that back,but it was hard back-breaking work that I wouldn't want to repeat in a hurry ! Next was the building of the raised beds. Yes, wood is expensive, but I acquired mine really cheaply and if you look around (places like Ebay and Gumtree) I'm sure you could pick some up too. I treated mine with a preservative and  constructed them by screwing the wood  to 18'' pressure-treated 2 X 2.

I then had a couple of loads of mushroom compost delivered,which was barrow loaded into the beds. At this point the beds were only half full,but cost was an issue and I will gradually add more over the next few seasons (see later photo.....a great mushroom crop just from using the compost !) I took advantage of this improved soil to plant up a cottage border at the far end of the plot with plants brought from my own garden, so at least I now had something growing in my new plot.

By this time,the soil was warming up and the weeds had started to grow in earnest. I wanted to start with a 'clean' plot so I decided this time (and only this time) to use a herbicide. I used RoundUp,which I found did the trick,though I did have to repeat the dose as there were several patches of perennial 'thugs' to eradicate.

I had decided to cover the paths in woodchip. Not only does it keep down the weeds,keep in moisture but it looks good too. I found a supplier in the free ads paper,whom was reasonable and could deliver at the drop of a hat. I used weed control fabric underneath the woodchip,for obvious reasons and the finished paths looked very pleasing indeed.

It then occurred to me that I had been so busy doing all the ground work that I hadn't yet planted any fruit and veg (whoops). The weather then took a turn for the worse and I couldn't actually do any work for a week or so,but when the sun finally came out I filled several of the beds with seeds,planted a whole bed of strawberries and planted an apple and a plum tree (from Green Pastures,of course!)

At this point I grew rather fond of my plot and pleased with all the work I had put in, so I entered it in the Norwich In Bloom competition in the best new' allotment category. Judging was due to take place in the second week of July,so I needed to get my skates on if it were to be ready on time.

I still had no shed at this point and spent several evenings on my PC looking for good deals, but it was hard work and I kept getting side-tracked and ending up on Facebook ! I tried bidding on a few on Ebay,but lost out each time, so I then just asked around and managed to pick one up AND get it delivered very cheaply. It took a while to erect (as neither myself nor my friend had ever built one before),but we had lot's of fun trying and after a paint job it looked as good as new and ready for action. As all of my tools had been stolen a few months earlier ( a long story!), I now had an amazing  8' X 6' shed,but only a fork, a trowel and a hand fork to keep inside it ! (this did change and I now have a plethora of gardening implements at my disposal).

The End of June was here and some of my crops were beginning to ripen,but I didn't want gaps in the rows for judging,so I still had to buy my veg from the farm-shop ! Crazy,I know,but I was now really serious about the competition. I put up a couple of archways ,bought a table and chairs and just weeded,snipped,pruned,watered and waited for judging.

Judging was to take place sometime over five days,so each evening I had to visit the plot,water and weed where necessary and then go back home to cook my 'purchased' vegetables and not be tempted by the massive crops that were now waiting for me to pick and eat. By the Saturday,I knew it was all over so I ate my first delicious produce and smiled to myself.

A week went by and I thought I hadn't won .......... but.......I had!!!!  I'd won the Best New Allotment In Norwich !! Yay!!!!

Here's to next year. Mark.

Sarah's Spiced Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

175ml sunflower oil

175ml Light muscovado sugar

3 Large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

200g coarsely grated pumpkin flesh (squeeze out any water from the flesh)

100g sultanas

Zest of one orange

2 tsp ground cinnamon

200g Self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting

200g tub full fat cream cheese

85g icing sugar

Toasted chopped pecans to decorate

1.   Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases. Pour the oil into a large bowl and add the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat together, and then add the grated pumpkin, sultanas and orange zest.

2.   Stir in the cinnamon, flour and bicarbonate of soda, the mixture will be quite wet. Spoon into the cases. Bake for 25 mins until firm and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. At this stage you can freeze the cakes for 4 months.

3.   To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth then spread on top of the cupcakes. Leave plain or decorate with toasted pecans. Store in the fridge, but return to room temperature to serve for the best flavor and texture.

Weeds, More Weeds and Jerusalem Artichokes

Mark’s March Allotment Update

Welcome to Mark’s monthly allotment update. Mark, the newest member of “The Green Team”, has been an avid allotment gardener for many years. Through our blog he tells the story as he gardens through the year on his brand new allotment plot.  

This month’s update concerns those pesky plants we could all do without! March was so warm that they shot into active growth earlier than usual and with this wet spell they will soon take over if we aren't ready. Within my raised beds I shall either hand weed or hoe throughout the season to keep them weed free, but the paths inbetween are a different matter. When we either move house or change allotment' plot it's always exciting to see what plants we have inherited and to make the decision whether to leave alone to flourish or to compost those surprises. I have to say that all I have ended up with are large areas full of bindweed and jerusalem artichokes !

Yes, artichokes are delicious either mashed with a little cream or oven roasted with a clove or two of garlic, but I really don't need or want the amount I have. The previous plot holder seems to have had a 1m wide hedge of them running the whole length of the site (great .?).

I have several options, like trying to dig them up, weakening them by regular use of a hoe or the third option ..........using a herbicide. Like many people I have a busy life and really don't want to have to be constantly weeding on my precious days off. I also want the problem sorted soon as I'm covering the paths with both weed control fabric and a thick layer of woodchip.

Weedkiller seems to be the way forward. Like many chemicals on the market today, manufacturers make them as safe as they possibly can for domestic use that sometimes strength of the active ingredients is reduced. This is great for the environment and just means that several applications may be needed. Anything with Glyphosate listed on the bottle/pack is of great use for this type of job; great for tough perennial weeds and becomes inactive when it either dries or comes in contact with the soil. Roundup is an easy one to remember, but there are many others to chose from, but just remember to use on a calm day, when the weeds are actively growing and to shield any plants you want to survive ! As I'm covering the area with weed fabric then I will only use one application. By the way, if there were only annual weeds in the area I wouldn't bother with the weedkiller as the fabric would cut out the light and soon kill the weed seedlings.

Next to tackle is the dreaded bindweed.

Bindweed is, of course, a cousin of the delightful morning glory. Must say it's such a pity that the former is much more prolific, hardy and tougher than it's rather delicate relation. The new growth emerging within the path area will be treated and killed with the herbicide, but the patches I have discovered already growing through my herbaceous border are a different matter. Digging out the roots is too difficult within such a bed, but there is a way. I have found that if you push a bamboo cane into the soil near each shoot, then it will climb up it (away from your plants) and this lush growth can be painted with a herbicide gel. Make sure you let the plant reach at least halfway up as the more leaves you coat the quicker it will die. Hopefully that will do the trick,but be patient as bindweed is surely in the top five of gardeners' worst weeds to control.

Next time we will have had some nicer weather (we all hope),so I will have done some sowing, planting and some of the more fun jobs within my plot.

Virginia Food & Drink Tour Part 3, "Agritourism"

The final stops on our tour of Virginia opened our eyes to another whole aspect of farm marketing to which most of Brits are largely unfamiliar, "Agritourism". This is where a farm opens its gates and markets itself as a leisure destination and as we were to discover this can sometimes encompass some extremely creative ideas!

During our "Virginian Food & Drink Tour" we were to encounter some quite different kinds and sizes of farms that had diversified into a whole range of activities to compliment their growing.  Our next stop was Great Country Farms, Bluemont, at the base of the famous Blue Ridge Mountains (remember the Laurel and Hardy song?) and is the home of the Zurschmeide family. Their 200 acre farm grows an impressive selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, including a sizeable Pick Your Own operation (often called "U-Pick" in America) offering Strawberries, Blueberries, Peaches, Potatoes and Pumpkins among others. 

It clearly wasn't long before Great Country Farm discovered the potential of adding activities to their property and over the last 15 years or so this is exactly what they have been doing. They now offer walkthrough mazes, puzzles, hayrides, a barnyard (animals), gem mine, jumping pillow (pictured above) and a cow train. Add to this facilities for hosting school trips, corporate events and even weddings! Pictured below is "The Stable", a hugely impressive building redeveloped specifically with weddings in mind with one of its biggest assets being a spectacular view over the Blue Ridge Mountains.  This is all quite typical of how the creative minded American fruit farmer has developed their business in recent years.

Farm related events are another important sphere of a farm business like this, each one pulling hundreds and more often thousands of visitors in a very short space of time. Parking and crowd control can be quite serious issues! Here at Great Country Farm annual events include Marshmallow Harvest, Cider Festival, Strawberry Jubilee, Barbeque and Blackberry Bonanza, Peach Festival, Fall Festival and James's favourite, "Pumpkin Chunkin"!

Our next stop on tour was a very short journey just across the road from the Zurshmeide's farm to yet another activity of theirs, the Bluemont Vineyard. At 951ft above sea level the vineyard enjoys the same spectacular view as The Stable; it was once the family home but is now home to "The Winery", a superb facility including wine tasting, meals and a retail outlet. Fortunately our tour allowed some time for just a little bit of wine tasting!

If you ever wondered how to build a theme park on a budget, take a look at our next stop on Day 3 of our tour, Chesterfield Berry Farm in Mosely. The farm (including a pick your own unit) grows over 50 different varieties of fruit and vegetables and whilst it might not have quite that many attractions it cant be too far short! The most memorable on our part was the "Corn Gun". Imagine a mortar gun that fires cobs of maize and that's the corn gun....fantastic fun!!! (Note in the picture below how far away the target is in the distance; we wondered if they really do shoot that far and are the public really allowed to walk by within the line of fire!?!)

Other activities at Chesterfield include a Scary House, Paintball Range, Goat Walk, Trailer Rides, Hay Tunnel Jump, Pony Rides to name but a few. Pictured below is a visitors snap of the Hog Racing during the open season!

We can't talk about agritourism without mentioning the king of attractions, the Corn Maze! Us Brits are no strangers to the "Maize Maze" of course and they were well represented among our group of British travellers (check out Milton Maize Maze in Cambridge www.themiltonmaizemaize.co.uk and Tulleys Farm in Crawley www.tulleysfarm.com). Its probably no surprise to learn that this have become a really big deal over in the States and every year now sees more and more creative designs, themes and activities incorporated within them.

Finally we have to mention two of our fellow bus tour travellers, Kyla and Kirtsen Vala of "Vala's Pumpkin Patch" in Omaha, Nebraska widely regarded as the market leaders in their field. In 29 years their family farm has developed into a major attraction that hosts over 245,000 visitors in just 40 days (they're closed the rest of the year to recover!!!) and employs a staggering 600 staff, many of them actors! We can't wait to visit them one day!!! www.valaspumpkinpatch.com

Virginia Food & Drink Tour Part 2; "Farm Markets"

And so began the second day of our Virginia food and drink tour, aboard Bus 1, the "School on Wheels". The tour was just a part of our 10 day trip attending the North American Farm Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) annual conference in Virginia.

By now we had finally got our heads around what Farm Direct Marketing actually encompasses and found some startling differences between the US and the UK. We'll explain in a later blog post (through one of our later stops) all about "Agritourism" which has become a very significant aspect of farm retailing over the pond, but first we'll look at how many of the American farm shops compare to the farm shops you know and love back here at home.

A great example is Marker Miller Orchards Farm Market near Winchester, owned by the Marker family. Like many such farms, the business has already celebrated its centenary and has been handed down through the generations. Also in-common with all the other farms on our tour, the business was founded upon fruit growing with the farm market (the american term for "farm shop") built as an outlet for their fresh produce and to compliment a pick your own operation.


Like all the farm markets we came across, the shop was closed until the summer when harvesting begins so a little imagination on our part was required! Unlike most UK farm shops that aim to provide a full range of fruit and vegetables, along with many more different types of food and drink, the farm market carries a much more focused selection. Marker Miller boasts an impressive kitchen (bakery) area behind the scenes where their fresh produce is used to produce an array of tasty fare for sale out the front.

As you you will from our next stop (in our next blog post), the home-made donut is king, accompanied by fudge, pies, ice cream,wine, fruit juice (cider) and apple butter, all produced in-store. The latter is quite delicious, particularly spread over bread, pancakes or scones but its a huge shame it hasn't properly caught on in the UK yet (but you can buy it from Green Pastures!". Another home made treat that was truly delicious was "apple crisp", apple crumble made from their very own mix, produced in their own kitchens.

But as much as the produce and the products have become a huge attraction, Marker Miller have had to develop other activities on the farm to attract those "townies" and compete as a leisure destination rather than as a rural convenience store. We were particularly amused by the "cow train", a procession of barrels on wheels which the kids sit in, pulled behind a ride on lawn mower! This was complimented by an impressive childrens playground to keep the wee ones happy while the parents spend money and there's even a picnic area if visitors can wait to get home to enjoy their donuts!

Our Virginia Food & Drink Tour, Part 1

At last our adventure begins as we (James and Sarah) jump aboard the “Food and Drink Bus” to find out what the local food and drink scene is all about here in Virginia. As you will see, we were in for a few surprises!

As we soon found out, the Americans really like to mix things up a bit and break the ice! Our cosy little huddle of English people in the corner of the bus was immediately broken up and we were dispersed among our American counterparts. This “musical chairs” process was to be repeated at almost every bus stop over the next three days. We were to discover some of the warmest and fascinating people we have ever met, from a whole host of farming, catering, retailing and (perhaps most of all) the entertainment business. As you would expect there was lots of “shop talk” and with some many diverse businesses on board it was fascinating. As one of our travel buddies pointed out, we could have driven in that bus for three days without ever getting off and we still would have learnt a wealth of information. 

First stop is the Main Street Market, a fascinating cluster of food retailers under the same roof; a real one stop (and must stop) shop for anyone in that area who loves food. Each little unit specialises in their own field and we were to discover an organic butcher, a spice shop, a fish monger and sushi bar, a cook shop, a bakery, a deli and a chocolate maker. James was gutted he managed to miss the latter but Sarah was in her element with all the fine ingredients on display! This stop was packed with ideas and inspiration which was just as well because as it turned out these were the only retailers that we came across on our tour that were actually open and trading!

Stop number two set the tone for many of our future stops on our three day tour. Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet  is a very impressive family farming business that are now in the hands of its 4^th generation. There is a big tradition of family farms in this area which makes them extremely proud of what they do and this farm was definitely no exception. The whole family was ready to greet us and provide the most wonderful hospitality.

The Chiles’ business has been built upon a bedrock of fruit production and they now grow apples and peaches which are distributed throughout America! The orchard’s setting is breath taking, nestling between the mountains and the rows and rows of perfectly manicured trees seem to stretch for miles. The focus for our visit was the “Farmer’s Market”, which is the American term for a farm shop rather than the English style farmers market. More on “Farmers Markets” a bit later!

The next stop brought us to an extremely unique and fascinating operation at Saunders Farm Market. Saunders celebrate their centenary in 3 years time and its true to say their shop has largely remained unchanged the whole time! Saunders Farm Market is a living tribute to yesteryear and a perfect example of how creaky floorboards and a draughty roof can actually be such a huge asset. This is the only farm shop we’ve ever visited with live music, not your piped department store music, but two “old timers”, a guitar and a piano; all of which are a regular feature for the shoppers every Saturday!  The old world charm is continued with its very own museum of agricultural equipment and machinery. We were shocked to find that hiding behind the hedge was the family’s “other business”, one of the largest plant nurseries in this part of the USA!!!

Albemarle Cider Works was our next visit; an eagerly anticipated one by James! This was when we in for another cultural surprise as we discovered the word “Cider” in America is in fact given to all non diluted apple juices, regardless of any alcoholic content or not. Fortunately for us Albemarle produces a range of the alcoholic variety which we were all invited to taste after a fascinating tour of the impressive cidery and visitors centre. It was interesting the hear that whilst “hard cider” (thats what they call the alcoholic variety) is currently a very small industry in Virginia there are 3 more cider businesses about the start making the hard stuff this year. Will cider start to catch on here like it has in the UK?    

Kiddies in a (USA) Sweet Shop!

From Norfolk, England to a stone’s throw from Norfolk Virginia, we (Sarah and James) have finally crossed the big pond and have begun our American adventure!

After a journey of almost a whole 24 hours, our first day on US soil was a very welcome “chill out day” before the serious business of networking , idea gathering and note taking begins. We’re staying in Williamsburg, home of America’s history so we did what any self respecting tourist would do and we hit the attractions.

Having absorbed the historic side of Williamsburg (and bumped into a guy who sounded EXACTLY like Joey from “Friends!”), it was time to start investigating some retail establishments; after all this is the main reason we’re here! Our first stop was “The Peanut Shop” in Williamsburg’s gorgeous Merchant’s Square. We soon discovered we’re staying in the hear t of peanut growing country and we suspect we’ll be seeing a little more of this as our tour goes on. 

Think of all the things you can do with a peanut and times it by 500 and you’ll then get an idea of what the peanut shop’s really like. But what really makes this shop something special is the whole “customer experience”. A dedicated host greets you on the door and immediately thrusts his free samples upon you, in this case his very best peanut brittle. Helping yourself is far from frowned upon in this shop and our host soon brings our attention to scores and scores of sample pots positioned throughout the store. You cannot fail to leave empty handed (apart from one tight farmer from Suffolk who was in our little group!) and a lasting impression that I hope gets replicated as we visit many more retail establishments during our stay.

Back to farming, a few of us brave Brits and about to board our bus with 40or so enthusiastic American farmers all desperate to compare notes with us and (apparently) enjoy our wonderful accents! We’re told  “musical chairs” is the usual form on these tours, rather than getting comfortable next to your buddy you’re encouraged to sit next to as many different delegates as possible and “network” away. There’s also our tour guides and their activities to look forward to, in between our many stops of course.

Its going to be a busy few days....watch this space!!!

America Here We Come!

There's always lots to be learned by visiting other farm shops and garden centres, but we never dreamed that we'd be travelling all the way to the USA to see how its done! Next week James and Sarah are traveling as part of a small group of farmers and rural food businesses all the way to Virginia on a ten day expedition to see what our american counterparts are up to.

The North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association Convention

It sounds a mouthful, but quite simply this annual event brings together anyone in agriculture who is involved in selling their produce directly to consumers. This includes farm shops (it looks like they're called "Farm Markets" over there), a whole variety of  exciting "pick your own" farms (we especially like the sound of the pick your own peach farm!), vine yards and farm based tourist attractions.

We're Off to Williamsburg!

Our base during our time in Virginia will be the historic city of Williamsburg. Over 4 million visitors find their way here every year, making it one of Americas most important tourist destinations so we're really looking forward to sampling the whole ancient colonial atmosphere!

Networking Bus Tour

After a day in Williamsburg to get our bearings we head off for 3 days on one of the conventions many bus tours. We're on the "Food, Drink and Retail" tour, which stops at a number of food and drink producers and some farm shops too. We were particularly gutted to discover that both a vineyard and a cider maker are among the first stops on our tour, no doubt followed by numerous other opportunities to discover more local  fayre! Most of our travelling companions will be our american counterparts and rumour has there's lots of things laying in store to encourage us to intermingle so we're wondering just what kind of accent we might return home with!

The Conference

Back off the bus and we return back to Williamsburg for the remainder of our stay when we'll be attending a variety of presentations and seminars including such topics as farm to school programs, on-farm weddings, QR tags and Facebook. The highlight will be a day with the world renowned  retail guru John Stanley.  

Plants for Places

People often wonder exactly what there is for us to do in the plant centre at this time of year. The hectic Christmas season is now a distant memory and the spring rush is still several weeks away. Far from being a time to find a cosy little corner to hibernate in (although somedays its very very tempting!) January is the time when we tend to clear the decks, make a few changes and start afresh.

One of the areas we've been concentrating our efforts on over the last week is what we call the "Plants for Places" area. This is where most of our shrubs, climbing plants and perennials live but instead of arranging them in a meaningless alphabetical system like just about all the other garden centres do, we've developed a much easier way for customers to find their plants. Having identified the most common places in the garden that gardeners want to find plants for, we display our plants to give you solutions for each one. For instance if you want a climber for a north or east facing wall, our "Plants for Shady Walls" benches are the place to go!

As our plant stocks are relatively low at this time of year, we use this opportunity to clear the benches down and carry out any major display changes. This has given us the chance to tweak our themes a little bit, expanding the more popular ones and changing the less popular. Last year had several customers asking for large, fast growing shrubs so they could create a screen so today we've created a new plant collection for that.

Springtime is by far the peak selling time for shrubs so we obviously make sure we get stocked up in time. We always make sure we've got as many fresh plants as possible, ether from crops we've grown ourselves or from other growers. Our policy is to source our produce locally whenever possible so our first choice grower who supplies the majority of our shrubs is based here in Norfolk.

This week saw the year's first (and one of the biggest) deliveries of shrubs so we can build our stocks in good time for the spring. As the weather is still very cold we only start off with the very hardiest of plants, mostly the deciduous ones, and as they've been grown outdoors on the grower's nursery they can take the cold in their stride.

Let's Make Marmalade!

Citrus crops are at their very best right now and along with all the usual suspects we're now seeing some of the more different types that only come along to the farm shop this time of year. Clementines are tasting devine right now, Blood Oranges are a chefs delight and soon we'll see the curious Minneola (affectionately referred to in the trade as "Titty Fruit", but more on that another time!)

Seville Oranges are in season right now and that mean's just one thing; Marmalade! This bitter orange is perfect for making your own marmalade and if you love it as much as we do this could be quite a wise investment. Keep reading for Sarah's delicious recipe!

The Seville Orange was originally known as the Bitter Orange but it was later named after the famous Spanish city where more than 14,000 of these trees line the streets. Imagine the scent in the flowering season and all that free "marmalade" covering the streets in the spring when the fruit eventually falls!

Sarah’s Simple Marmalade Recipe (makes about three jars)
400g Seville oranges (about four)
1 lemon
1 litre water
800g white sugar
1 tsp soft dark brown sugar (optional but it makes the colour rosier)

With a potato peeler or sharp knife remove all the orange zest in strips, cut away any white pith then shred the zest and tie it in a small square of muslin. Finely slice the oranges; pith, flesh, juice and all, and the whole lemon, and tip into a heavy saucepan. Add the water and your muslin bag of zest and simmer for about two hours until the pith is tender.

Pick out the bag holding the zest, and leave to drain on a plate. Line a colander with a few layers of muslin, place over a bowl, tip in the contents of the pan, and leave to drip for an hour - you need all the liquid as it contains the vital pectin that makes the marmalade set. You could squeeze any remaining juice from the pith, but it will make the marmalade slightly cloudy.

You should have about 750ml of liquid. Boil it down if you have more, or add water if you have less.

Return the liquid to the pan; add the zest from the bag, and the sugar. Bring to the boil, and then quickly simmer until it reaches 104C. Keep the temperature constant for five minutes. A spoonful on a cold saucer should form a crinkly skin after cooling for five minutes. If it doesn't, simmer for a few minutes more; but you may have to settle for soft-set. Switch off the heat, leave for 20 minutes, spoon the marmalade into hot, sterilised jars, seal with cellophane and rubber bands and leave somewhere cool overnight to set to a jelly.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb!

One of the things we look forward to on these cold dark January days is the start of the Rhubarb season. And today is the day that the first cut of the English Rhubarb hit the market place and James was well chuffed to have grabbed himself a box this morning for the shop. Rhubarb has been enjoying a bit of a revival in recent years but it's popularity really soared last year after Delia was seen on a TV advert promoting its virtues on behalf of a certain supermarket. Watch this space for some of Sarah's scrummy ideas!

Pictured here with this morning's Rhubarb is our lovely Emma, a familiar face in our farm shop. Unfortunately for us Emma has decided to head off for pastures new. Now her children are both of school age Emma will be rejoining the career ladder and is going back to project management.

By the way, can anyone remember the hilarious 1980 TV comedy "Rhubarb Rhubarb?" The all star cast included Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques, Charlie Drake and Roy Kinnear and during the entire 30 minutes of the programme the only word muttered by the entire cast was "Rhubarb!"

Another new year crop that's now got into full swing is Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Every morning James heads off down the field to cut as many fresh spears as he can get his hands on and almost every day the entire cut has sold by the end of the day. With fresh greens fairly sparse at this time of year sprouting broccoli takes centre stage now among the veg. We in fact grow 4 different varieties of this crop in order to get a succession to harvest over the next few weeks. The earliest variety gets planted in the early summer and we started to cut it just before Christmas. This is in full swing now and the next variety is now coming on stream; this was planted late summer. Hopefully we'll be cutting until April.

The second new arrival in the farm shop this morning was a brand new range of specialty breads that we've begun trialing from "The Pye Baker of Norwich". Today's delivery looked a real picture with a gorgeous looking selection to tiger loaves, sour doughs, foccacias and many more. Sarah straight away bagged the only mature cheddar cheese and melting onion bread for her tea tonight whilst the red onion marmalade and rosemary was also snapped up straight away.

Hear it on "The Grapevine"

Welcome to the "Grapevine!"
We're always a very busy lot spreading ourselves between the plant centre, the farm shop and the fields, growing and selling lots of wonderful local produce. Follow our "Grapevine" where we'll keep you up to date with what we're doing, what we're growing and share all those lovely plants and produce with you.

 Who are the Green Team?

James is our (almost) veteran horticulturist, who despite his tender young age and boyish good looks is already approaching 30 years of working in the gardening industry! During this time he's run one of the region's biggest garden centres, been a writer for a national gardening magazine as well as numerous regional publications and had a plant phtography business.

Michelle (James's other half) has grown up with the business since her parents launched it over 15 years ago. Anyone who knows Michelle knows she never sits still and so she's the driving force behind everyone else and keeps us all on our toes. There's nothing she likes better than getting her hands dirty and masterminding the growing of all our crops for the plant centre.

Sarah is our resident food fanatic and the Manager of our Farm Shop. She just loves to get her hands on as much fresh local produce as possible, wether its to sell in the shop or experiment with at home where she's always cooking up new ideas. Sarah always has plenty to say and is full of ideas and suggestions to spice up your meal times so keep watching the grapevine for some really tasty ideas!

We are also very ably assisted by Al, Rita, Betty and Milly, with hopefully one or two more fresh faces joining us very very soon!. Here's Milly pouring a smoothie at one of our many tasting days

Happy 50th Birthday to our "Little Red Tractor!"

Here's another vital member of our team, our Massey Ferguson 35 (our "Little Red Tractor!"). Its now fifty years since our 35 first came into the family when Sam Debbage (James's Grandad) first took delivery of it; fresh off the production line. The 35 has been used on almost a daily basis ever since and he even makes frequent appearances at the farm shop for the kids to enjoy!