Hello

Hope you’ve all had a great week.

This is the last week of the 15% off extras deal. Add the code extras to your basket if you haven’t already and try something new.

I think we are officially into the hunger gap.

The quality of UK produce has slowly been getting worse over the past few weeks as farmers are coming to the end of their stores. There has been a lot of waste on basic things like carrots and potatoes in the warehouse. (Sorry if any of this has got through to you!)

Last week I was down to my third choice carrot supplier (the only option) and this week, for the first time in a year there are no UK carrots available at all, so you’ll find Dutch carrots instead. Onions too are coming from the Netherlands with the only UK staples to go at are desiree potatoes from Lancashire. 

The standard sized UK only box (shout out the 4 rugged households who have kept up with this box) has 4 out of the 8 items in them grown indoors and features 2 types of mushrooms, which I think might be a first for my boxes…

There are still a few nice UK items around though, the highlights of these are cauliflower and more asparagus. There are also some nice hardy celeriac and swedes available as swaps too.

So you might have guessed, the excitement for next week is coming from Europe…

I am told by a reliable source that the streets are paved in gold in southern Spain and the fields are overflowing with luscious green and vibrant reds. I can almost feel the sun from here! 

Highlights from across Europe next week include a lot of hass avos from Greece available as swaps, a good number of broccoli from Spain, punnets of cherry tomatoes in most boxes and green beans. 

There is a new herb available next week - basil from Portugal. 
The herbs are selling ok but not quite well enough to keep them up unless more people try them. They are excellent, I've been very impressed with them - an instant meal elevator! 

Finally for fruit next week there are mini whole watermelons in some boxes with some up for grabs as swaps, lots of blueberries, bananas and royal gala apples.

Don’t forget, Rob & Sarah's event is this Sunday in Oakwood (details below), hopefully I’ll see you there!

Have a great weekend
Thanks
Sam