Newsletter - June 2006

Welcome to the first issue of the Futurefarms - Martin Ltd newsletter.

This newsletter will be published bi-monthly, and will include regular features.

At last we can see the 'hungry gap' disappearing; we can breath a sigh of relief and get on with eating; our potatoes ran out about three weeks ago and the onions were rationed quite severely from January. Leeks held out well and we are still pulling some pencil-thin specimens! The barrow has never been quite empty but it did get down to mushrooms, purple sprouting broccoli and the last of the `old' spuds. This draws all our attentions to the seasonal realities of veg in Britain.

Two miracles are upon us now, one is the fabulous asparagus plant driving up juicy spears from 9 year old corms buried deep in the chalk and the other is the mushroom crop bursting out from under the greenhouse staging at Folliot’s. Compost impregnated with mushroom spores was purchased on March 15 from a company near Stockbridge. The temperature was maintained between 58º F and 64º F with soil warming cables and a whirling electricity meter. On April 22nd we picked the first 'flush’. All the bales of compost (15) were completely covered in tiny blindingly white mushrooms which grew into full sized fungi literally overnight.

Early hand weeding of the garlic, shallots and over wintered onions has revealed a good solid crop and we should be able to keep on top of it now. Autumn sown carrots are beginning to grow away now its warmer and we shall see what they come to.

At 7.45am today I heard the clack and putter of a small tractor. It was John Hooper ploughing the last bit of land at Folliot’s field ready to plant cabbages and sprouts and all things `green'. Gerald spread horse muck on the patch last week so the crop should grow well. Don't forget `match ploughman' Jake Hooper ploughed the first piece of land at Folliot’s which has since been sown with root crops. Are we not lucky to have the services of a match ploughman who holds a cabinet full of trophies?

Do you know!!

Last week my sister bought a chicken from Liddl's. It cost £1.20. The wings were so small they looked like `commas'.

By contrast, the cost of killing, packing and processing our fine birds is £l.60.

Futurefarms birds live in bright airy huts on deep green grass for 12 cheerful weeks. The Liddl bird was raised in Germany in artificial light in gloomy dusty sheds for a grizzly 40 days only. Our day old chicks cost 60p. The food for one chicken throughout its life costs £2.50p. The trip to Doveys for slaughter costs £30 to transport 30 birds. Each bird bears the cost of the metered water, the rent of Horseground, the electric lamp for the first 4 weeks and some insurance -so you can begin to see how the cost of a bird is calculated.

Drove End field - our new patch - is a delight to work. We have chosen to plant one acre of potatoes on the highest piece of land because the soil is deepest - the valley is shallow and very stony. The ‘tatties’ went in on the 25th April, that is all the earlies and all the main crop in; 3 hours by machine with John driving and Janet and I on the machine -job done!

¾ acre of onions have been planted next to the potatoes and they are `up' and bathing in the recent heavy rain. Standing on the top you can see Hanham Hill to the south, Windmill Hill to the east and Vernditch Woods to the north. The roar and twitter of the skylarks quite drowns out and road noise!

Volunteer Help

Please come and see it all on Saturday June 24th - Midsummer Day - and help us to plant the leek crop followed by a huge cream tea (with scones, jam, clotted cream and lots of wonderful cakes).

We badly need your help to get the crop into the ground.