Welcome to the Autumn Newsletter. As you are probably aware it's been a wet summer! Well in our case it started raining the first week of June and then rained for seven weeks. During these seven weeks we only had 3 days without rain. This wouldn't be so bad if it was in January when nothing much is happening, but we plant out over 70% of our year's crops during June and July - over 100,000 seedlings. This year they just sat in their trays for seven weeks. Consequently in August when usually I have 6-7 types of veg to put in the bags, there were 2 available. We did eventually get all the plants in the ground but now everything is very late and it is unlikely that the plants will crop before the winter comes along.
Of course it's not just our farm which has been affected. As you may have seen on TV - most vegetable farms in England and Wales have also suffered terribly in the weather. Anyway we're still here to tell the tale (tho' the cashflow in September got rather scary - so please pay your bills promptly). The upshot of all this is that vegetables are going to be more expensive this Winter and unfortunately the usual January price increase in non-London set price bags will have to be brought forward to October - we very much hope you will understand the reasons for this.
One bit of good news however was that it miraculously did not rain on the Saturday we held the Open Day. If was a thoroughly enjoyable day with a well attended tour of the fields by myself, pointing out the joys and follies of trying to grow decent food in our climate-changing world. If you missed it then remember, as growers say, "there's always next year"!
Roger Hallam (Director)
New in the Office
After several years of dedicated service we were very sorry to lose Stacey this Summer. She decided to return to her native Canada with her Welsh husband in July. We now have Abi and Dennis running the office. If you have a query and want to speak to someone the phones are answered 9am to 1pm Monday to Thursday.
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New Customer?
In case you don't already know, OTG grows 20 acres of veg and fruit (field scale, in polytunnels and orchard) here at Werndolau Farm in Carmarthenshire. We supply over 2500 households with fresh produce and work closely with ten other growers in the region to provide seasonal lines of produce all the year round. We do not supply supermarkets but instead aim to provide an alternative outlet for the produce of small growers and producers. All the money we make goes to develop an example of a commercially sustainable ecological form of food production here on the farm.
Paid work available
We are looking for people to knock on the doors of houses in your locality to ask if people would be interest in trying a bag of produce from our farm. There's no obligation to carry on and people only pay once they have got the produce. The work is very easy - everyone thinks organic is a good idea nowadays and so even if they don't want it people are very encouraging. It's also well paid - around £10-£30/hour. You can choose how much to do and when - even as little as 2 hours per week. Phone Roger on 01558 669020 9am to 1pm - or leave a message on the main line, for more information.
Investment Opportunity
This year we finally upgraded the tracks around the farm. We are looking for customers to invest in the farm and so help to pay for these improvements. If you are interested in investing in the source of your organic produce please contact us and we'll send details. Lending money is safe - investments are made in the farm property, you can get a commercial rate of interest and can have your money back when you want upon a period of notice - better than Northern Rock I would say!
Order direct and pay direct
You now have the option of direct banking either by standing order or internet banking. If you are interested, please contact us and we will send you the details. One reminder to those who already use this method is that we need your customer code as well as surname to trace the transfer properly. Similarly, if you are ordering via our website please use your customer code and surname. Please note: If you are already making payments into our HSBC account, we are about to close this account. You should now make all your payments to our Lloyds TSB account. Account number: 00548506 and sort code: 30-95-12. Thank you.
Enjoy your fruit and veg!!!
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