This Month

As you probably know, August is all about enjoying what's growing now and saving the harvest. Which harvest? All of it! The combining of wheat, barley, corn, rape and more which will be stored or sold on to become all of the delicious carbs we love, the hay is baled for animal feed, the straw is baled for bedding and everything else will get chewed down by the sheep. The first of the season apples are being picked, as well as cooking apples, and pears will follow in the coming weeks. The early varieities tend to not store well, so they are picked fresh and sold directly through our own farm shop, veg boxes and farmers markets, then surplus will be either sold by the lorry load for cider or other parts of the country or we will juice it ourselves. Harvesting of onions, potatoes and shallots also happen now, as well as the start of leeks. Over the autumn months more and more veg will become ready to be picked and stored such as cauliflowers, cabbages, winter potatoes, parsnips, carrots, leeks, more onions, beetroot and much more. Winter lettuces will continue to be picked well into October. 

The ewes will be having a guest or two towards the end of the month who will stay throughout September. These hunky rams are kept track of with colour coding chalk, so Jess can detemine when lambs should be due next spring. 

 

Why not try...

Ingredients

  • 198g can sweetcorn, drained
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 50g courgette, grated
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 50g self-raising flour
  • 5 eggs, 1 beaten, 4 for poaching
  • 40ml milk
  • 4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
  • juice 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • mixed leaves, to serve

Method

    • Mix the sweetcorn, spring onions, courgette, paprika, flour, beaten egg, milk and some seasoning in a large bowl and set aside.

    • Put a large pan of water on to boil. In a bowl, mix the chilli sauce with the lime juice and set aside.

    • Heat the oil in a large, non-stick pan and spoon in four burger-sized mounds of the fritter mixture, spaced apart (you may need to do this in two batches). When brown on the underside, turn over and cook for 3 mins more until golden.

    • Meanwhile, poach the eggs in the simmering water for 2-3 mins until cooked and the yolks are runny. Remove with a slotted spoon. Serve the fritters topped with a poached egg, mixed leaves and a drizzle of the chilli dressing.

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Ingredients

    • 140g blackberries
    • 225g blueberries
    • 4 plums, stoned and chopped (we used Reeves Seedling, but other varieties work well)
    • 4 tbsp granulated sugar
    • 3 tbsp cornflour
    • zest 1 orange
    • custard or clotted cream, to serve
    • For the pastry
      • 200g butter in a block, frozen
      For the pastry
      • 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
      For the pastry
      • 5 tbsp granulated sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
      • 1 egg white

      1. The morning before you want to make the tart, remember to put the butter in the freezer – try wrapping it in foil first (it will keep it colder when you hold it to grate later).

      2. To make the pastry, mix the flour in a big bowl with a good pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of the sugar. Using a coarse cheese grater, grate in the butter, trying to hold it as little as possible so that it doesn’t warm up too much, and stirring it in with a cutlery knife as you go. When all the butter is in, give it a final good stir with the knife to make sure all strands of butter are coated in the flour, then quickly stir in 150-175ml of very cold water. Lightly bring the pastry together with your hands, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.

      3. Layer all the fruit in another bowl, sprinkling over the sugar and cornflour as you go. Add the orange zest and give everything a light mix. Set aside until your pastry is ready.

      4. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 with a baking sheet in it. Lightly dust another baking sheet with flour and roll out the pastry onto it in a rough circle until the pastry is about 0.5cm thick. If you want, use a small, sharp knife to cut a pattern around the edge of the pastry.

      5. Give the fruit another mix, then pile into the middle of the pastry, leaving a 7cm border of clear pastry all around the edge. Fold the pastry border up and over the fruit filling, pinching bits together to keep it neat and in place. Whisk the egg white until very frothy. Using a pastry brush, brush the froth all over the pastry. Dredge over the remaining granulated sugar, and sprinkle a little more over the fruit. Lift onto the heated sheet and bake for 35 mins until the pastry is golden brown and crispy. Serve straight from the oven with lashings of custard or, if you’re feeling really wicked, some Cornish clotted cream.

Important info

In season this August

Fruit in season

  • apples (first) - We grow
  • apricots - We grow
  • blackberries - We grow
  • blackcurrants - We grow
  • blueberries - We grow
  • cherries - We grow
  • damsons - We grow
  • figs
  • greengages - We grow
  • gooseberries - We grow
  • loganberries
  • peaches - We grow
  • plums - We grow
  • raspberries - We grow
  • redcurrants - We grow
  • strawberries - We grow
  • tayberries
  • whitecurrants - We grow

Best imported seasonal fruit

  • apricots
  • Caribbean pineapple
  • figs
  • melon (Charentais, cantaloupe, galia)
  • peaches
  • nectarines

Nuts in season 

  • Kentish cobnuts - We grow

Vegetables in season

  • aubergines - We grow
  • beetroot - We grow
  • broccoli (summer sprouting and calabrese) - We grow
  • broad beans - We grow
  • celery - We grow
  • chard - We grow
  • chicory
  • courgettes - We grow
  • cucumbers - We grow
  • endive
  • fennel (Florence)
  • green beans (French and runner)
  • kohlrabi
  • leeks (baby) - We grow
  • lettuce and other salad leaves - We grow
  • maincrop potatoes (first) - We grow
  • mangetout
  • marrows - We grow
  • new potatoes - We grow
  • okra
  • pak choi
  • peas - We grow
  • peppers - We grow
  • radishes - We grow
  • shallots
  • spinach - We grow
  • spring onions - We grow
  • summer squash - We grow
  • sweetcorn - We grow
  • tomatoes - We grow
  • turnips
  • watercress