Tomato heaven 🍅

New arrival 😊

🍠

Just look at all that gleaming, healthy beetroot at Frith Farm, on its way to be roasted and frozen ahead of Freedom FEASTival on Sunday September 3!

We'll be releasing some exciting FEASTival news this week, so keep your ears to the ground for details about how you can nominate someone for something very special... ... See more

Monday's Harvest... Have you ever seen a beet so big?
See you at the Annek shortly.

Delicious healthy recipe idea! The Rainbow chard we get from Frith Farm is amazing! ❤️💛💚💙💜

Brimming brilliant broccoli!

Another day on the farm brings new exciting produce. Broccoli well on its way.

- and a lovely photo of Ben.

Great produce reaching great places.

Superb produce from @frithfarming today locally grown chemical free zero food miles #rainbowchard #radish #heritagecarrots #gooseberries #lovesummer #food #cheflife #chefofinstagram #thewestwoodrestaurant #beverley #eastyorkshire ... See more

Just the finishing touches left for the Monday Box Scheme Harvest - Drop off Soon !
The first Fresh tomatoes will be on their way and we're keeping the tops on the beetroot.
Thank you for the support for local organic producers! ... See more

Box scheme ready for drop off point - the annex
See you all soon!
Don't forget your bag!

Cucumbers almost there x

We're here, ready and waiting for visitors to arrive at the Harrogate Flower Show!
Come along and see us in the Gardening Hall at stand GH16 🌸🌼🌿

Introducing #Molinia 'Transparent' our #plant of the week.

Located in our Paradise Garden, the Molinia enjoys full sun or part shade and is happy in almost any soil. This wonderful, tall plant flowers from #July to #November. #plantoftheweek ... See more

#simpleswitch No.4 - Love your weeds!

They often provide vital food for #pollinators such as #bees and #butterflies. You can manage #weeds by pulling them out by hand.

Destroy the roots, but add the valuable foliage to your #compost heap. Just don’t use toxic chemicals.

And if you want to keep your hard surfaces clear, make the weeds a cup of tea. Pour some boiling water on them, when making your own cuppa ☕
#simpleswitch #ChooseOrganic #organicseptember ... See more

Our #WeedyWednesday plant this week is a little on the prickly side.

There are two types of #thistle that trouble both #gardeners and #farmers - the Creeping Thistle and the Sow Thistle.

These thistles have some handy benefits. The milky sap of Sow Thistle can be used to treat warts and Creeping Thistle is one of 22 plants used in gin!

#weedoftheweek #creepingthistle #sowthistle ... See more

Weedy Wednesday - Thistle There are two thistles to trouble gardeners and farmers: the purple-flowered, spiny-leaved Creeping Thistle, and the yellow-flowered Sow Thistle. Both have strong root systems, and set seed surprisingly quickly. But both have an important role in supporting wildlife. In thi... ... See more

Come along and see us from the 15th - 17th #September at the 🍁 Harrogate Flower Show

This year's #Autumn show promises to offer a great day out for the whole family with spectacular displays and live entertainment.

You'll find us located at stand GH16 within the Gardening Hall - we look forward to seeing you there! ... See more

Featuring fantastic ideas for your garden, stunning plant nursery displays, live expert demonstrations and great shopping, it offers everything you need to plan and perfect your outdoor space.

Join the Soil Association for a day of events, demos and sampling across the UK this Saturday! Find out what's happening near you here > www.soilassociation.org/organic-september-saturday

Join us for a day of Organic September events, demos and organic sampling across the UK! 🙌

On September 16th we’ll be celebrating Organic September Saturday! Independent retailers across the country will be opening their doors on the 16th of September, holding celebrations of all sorts and offering free organic samples to customers.

Take a look at our events page and find a retailer taking part near you > www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/organic-september/organic-september-saturday ... See more

Stock up on all things organic this September! Take advantage of these amazing offers on all your favourite organic brands and products

www.soilassociation.org/…/buy…/organic-september-marketplace #OrganicSeptember #ChooseOrganic ... See more

Stock up on organic this September! Take advantage of these amazing offers on all your favourite organic brands and products 🥕🍷🍫☕🍻🍅

www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/buy-organic/organic-september-marketplace #OrganicSeptember ... See more

#simpleswitch No.3 - Conserve water.
Organic growing means being careful with natural resources.

Reduce your own water footprint by conserving water where possible, using water butts and grey water. Use it carefully – watering the soil and not the plant.

#simpleswitch #organicseptember #ChooseOrganic ... See more

#Monday is here again and the start of a brand new week!

We're already busy & hard at work #planting winter veg within our small #organic garden. We've chosen Pak Choi, Kale & Mizuna Oriental Salad with a section of winter vetch green manure to help prevent any weeds.

What plans do you have for your winter veg? #MondayMotivation #growyourown #winterveg #todolist ... See more

#simpleswitch No.2 - Avoid using toxic #slug #pellets.

Most slug pellets contain the poison #metaldehyde – which can kill pets and other #animals if ingested. If you have to use pellets, make sure they are certified for #organic use.

#simpleswitch #organicseptember #ChooseOrganic ... 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