Organic networking... And what a character this guy is 😂

There's nothing like a bath full of worms.

New arrival for the boxes! Squash!

No need to peel me. Just roast, steam, stew me, stick me in a curry or blend me into a warming soup. The possibilities are endless -

Enjoy.

The resulting effects of CSA and how it can support a bright and abundant future for the way we produce food.

This story among many others will be included in our new documentary Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future! Find out more at https://livingthechangefilm.com

Farm friend Jen has started a really good food blog for us called 'One Hull of a Kitchen'. She'll be using the Frith farm veg box to produce weekly, seasonal recipes to help us all stay inspired. Go check out the link below.

https://onehullofakitchen.wordpress.com/ ... See more

First sight of corn yesterday. It's delicious as it is uncooked, creamiest corn I've ever tasted!

🌽

Interesting new blog post on our website about pesticide residues in food. Written by Gina Allen who has Masters by Research in Science of the Environment.

Click the link below to read:

https://frithfarming.com/blog/ ... See more

Frith farm is a local community agriculture scheme providing fresh seasonal, high quality, chemical free, vegetables and gourmet salad in Hull and Beverley

This machine makes planting a breeze!

Looking at a small African tribe, this study found that the composition of their gut bacteria changed with the seasons, due to a strict seasonal diet. The study found that some bacteria even disappeared altogether and then reappeared the following season. When samples were compared to those from industrialised, western countries it demonstrated (again) their diminishing microbial diversity.

Nice little article supporting the importance of local, seasonal eating! 😉 ... See more

Seasonal changes in gut bacteria make-up of a small African community strengthens the evidence that diet strongly influences our gut microbiota, finds a new study in Science.

Good Morning!
Our Colourful Carrots dug from the new bed are ready for today's box scheme members !

Lots of tasty bakes and makes, made using delicious organic ingredients 😋 from our friends at Naturally Good Food. Make sure you subscribe!

Bored of the TV? 📺 Want to watch something inspirational? We now have our own youtube channel! Filled with videos on "HOW TO"s and bakes and makes and ingredients we are proud of...

All cooked up by 📽 Pictoria Victoria - what are you waiting for? click here and subscribe to get the latest recipes and ideas! ... See more

Composting is the cornerstone of organic growing

There has always been something magical about the transformation of green waste into a nutrient rich compost that can benefit your soil and help your plants to thrive.

Our half day course will help you to fine tune your composting process and show you how to make the best use of it for growing healthy food, plus much more. ideal for both beginner and intermediate gardeners.

Book here to secure your place early https://bit.ly/2CEnDZd
#composting #healthysoil #homecomposting #healthyfood ... See more

Happy Mother’s Day to our members and supporters.
We hope you enjoy a very special day.

It's been a busy time for the Heritage Seed Library so far this year.

Our seedlings have now all been potted on and doing really well. We hope you're seeing success with your growing too...

Have you mown the lawn for the first time?

If you’ve made a start make sure you set the blades high and leave your first trimmings on the grass. As they die back they will feed the lawn with much needed nitrates through the growing season!
#fridaytip #grasscutting #grass #organicgarden ... See more

Volunteers needed to help #Suffolk get composting!

Suffolk Master Composters are inviting green minded enthusiasts to join their ranks and master the art of composting this spring.

The next free two-day Suffolk Master Composter foundation course is on Friday 26th & Saturday 27th April.
Suffolk Recycling Suffolk County Council
#composting #homecomposting #organicgardening ... See more

Suffolk Master Composters are inviting green minded enthusiasts to join their ranks and master the art of composting this spring.

Fantastic work by our Southwark Master Gardeners and Edible Rotherhithe out in the London Borough of Southwark...
#foodpoverty #organicgardening #growyourown

Today we hosted Garden Organic and Edible Rotherhithe who are working with the London Borough of Southwark and 58 organisations in the borough to eliminate food poverty and push for the protection of community gardens and food growing spaces - like ours!
They showed everyone how to make tasty, stress-free and healthy meals using a slow cooker! #GreenSpaces #ZeroWaste #FoodJustice #Garden #FoodPoverty #CommunityGarden #Grow ... See more

Book your tickets online in advance for Toby's Garden Festival and receive a FREE scented pink plant from
Whetman Pinks - while stocks last!
You can collect your plant at the festival on 3/4 May.
Tickets available at tobygardenfest.co.uk 🌸🌼🌺🌷 ... See more

Quick! Get your FREE scented pink plant from Whetman Pinks when you buy an online ticket in advance - while stocks last! Collect at the festival on 3/4 May. Tickets available at tobygardenfest.co.uk... ... See more

Not all slugs are villains!

This is the leopard slug (Limax maximus). You may have found a few in your compost bin when you have opened the lid. They play an important role in helping to break down your compost, and they also eat other slugs.

In 2018 our Members’ Experiments participants caught hardly any leopard slugs in beer traps amongst their plants, even though plenty of other types were caught.

This does further suggest that the leopard slug is not interested in your plants, so if you do find them in your compost bin, let them live as they are doing a useful job. #slugs #homecomposting #composting ... See more

We are really pleased to release our new seed packaging today! We decided a new corporate image was long overdue.

For the last day of #seedweek we'd like to talk about the Open Source Seed Initiative.

Patents & licenses on seed have spread to many parts of the world. Soon, farmers and gardeners may be unable to do anything more than rent seeds from the companies who control them. Already, the purchase of many seeds in the U.S. by a farmer is actually a one-time rental of the seed for a single cropping season. The license prevents farmers from saving, replanting, breeding, and sharing seed that has been rented, not purchased. Even plant breeders are prohibited from using these seeds to improve the crops. These legal restrictions benefit a few companies but threaten the food security of our societies.

Open source seed is seed of a plant variety the genetics of which cannot be restricted by patents or other intellectual property rights. Originally developed for computer software, the open source idea makes something like computer code, or seeds, freely available for use, and makes sure it stays freely available. The material is placed permanently in the public domain. It can still be modified, shared, bought, sold, and reproduced. Some people might may choose to improve the material to make something new. But the original material, and any derivatives must remain free for others to use forever, and cannot be restricted through patents and licenses.

You can read more about open source seed on the OSSI website below, or on our website at Real Seeds here: http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ossi.html ... See more

Free the Seed!

It's #seedweek! Read about the grassroots #seedsovereignty movement of across the UK and Ireland.

"Only 3 corporations sell 75% of the worlds seed; if we all start sowing open source, organic seed, we can grow a democratic food system." David Price, Seed Cooperative, Lincolnshire, UK

https://spark.adobe.com/page/TPzSXT2LOg0bB/?fbclid=IwAR0p2U0IevkBfVcswO-ba0r2PbF-AUZSeWqYAFPwuiXoHNE-I5JgMnhDFgs ... See more

New Seed envelopes in action! All running smoothly now after only a few adjustments: Our Ballard Brown Bag Seed Packing Machine from the 1880s. This is the first trial run of our new Art Nouveau paper envelopes, custom manufactured for us as part of our drive to reduce plastic packaging. ... See more

Exciting parcel from USA! First trial batch of custom-made paper seed envelopes for our 1880's "Ballard Brown Bag Seed Packing Machine"! Don't they look fine? Bottom picture shows the back when closed & opened - the green stripe is the latex stickum to hold the flap shut.
Next step is to test them in both our envelope printer and the packing machine.
(they did unfortunately use a draft copy of the artwork rather than the final version, but that's why you get trial runs done rather than just ordering 100,000 👍 ) ... See more

Great to see everyone at Newport Seedy Saturday today. thanks to everybody who came ; hopefully we'll see you all again next year with loads of home saved seed 🙂

Just getting ready for our own Seedy Saturday here in Newport. Anyone local, see you at the Tabernacle Chapel vestry (opposite Long Street carpark) 10am to 1pm 🙂

We got our latest shipment of seed from Italy yesterday, and Kate noticed the boxes on the pallet were now labelled in English. Read the small print 🙂

Are you part of a community seed bank project? The Community Seed Banks Academy may be able to support you with training, information and exchanges. They currently have a call out for applications.

Hopefully you're all enjoying the beautiful weather. This is just a reminder not to get *too* optimistic about sowing just yet.

Remember, in most of the country soil temperatures outdoors won't get above 7 or 8 degrees C until into March. Realistically beetroot, carrots, parsnips etc will just tend to sit and linger in cold soil - even allowing for the fact that we are very likely to get another cold snap.

We find that delaying sowing until late March or into April gives much better results, with later sown crops coming on quicker and more able to outgrow slugs & other pests.

Similarly, sowing indoors on a windowsill may be very tempting, but remember that your crops will need warmth *and* light once they're up, so make sure you'll have somewhere suitable for them to grow on. We've sown our peppers and aubergines in a heated propagator, they'll go out into an unheated greenhouse insulated with bubblewrap, but we'll bring them indoors overnight if the weather is particularly cold. Tomatoes will go into the propagator this week.

My main exceptions to the 'don't sow too early' rule are onions (need a little heat to germinate but then will stand any amount of UK- level cold) and peas which you can start in modules or trays and then put out as soon as they're an inch or so high. Again they'll happily sit through frosts. I'm going to sow my new favourite Jessy sugar snap peas today 🙂

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/germination.html ... See more

To see what we're up to on the farm and in the office as we grow and try new varieties, follow our Facebook or Instagram pages