Croeso to the first edition of our Hooma Hu monthly newsletter!
We thought it would be a nice idea to put together a monthly update to keep you in the loop with what’s been going on here at Hooma Hu as well as filling you in with any upcoming crops, events or changes. We hope you enjoy reading it!
We have seen such a change the past month in the seasons, it always catches us out how quickly the atmosphere of nature changes after September with the daylight fading fast, the leaves transitioning from colour to colour and the outdoor crops developing a more “rough around the edges” look. From the beginning to the end of October alone we loose over 2 hours of daylight! This has an effect on the way in which we work, less light means less plant growth so less weeding and the winter planting starts to come to a close. Many of the Summer crops have started to be pulled out of the field as they come to an end, think Kohl Rabi, Beetroot, French Beans, Summer Cabbage. These beds will then be covered over for winter to stop weed growth so that we can uncover them in spring and plant without having to dig the soil, this will keep in line with our no dig system. In October the only things we have had left to plant were the Garlic and the Broad Beans. The Garlic went in two weeks ago and the Broad Beans are going in this week. Both of these crops will put on a bit of growth with the remaining light we have left of this year, then “pause” for a bit over winter before they shoot up in spring ahead of the game to give us some larger earlier crops next year.
We have had a few exciting things happen here in October. The first is that we have finally finished our undercover compost bays! We have been working on these when we get a chance for about a couple of months and the end result is a three bay system with a roof to keep them dry. We were very happy to start adding the first bits and pieces to the pile this week and are making an effort to use a good mix of ingredients. We are starting with vegetable trimmings/weeds, wood shavings, our own chickens poo, cardboard and ash from our burner. We then plan on layering these ingredients up to create a good mix and then after it has rotted down a bit turning it in to the next bay to add a bit of air. Hopefully the result will be some decent compost we can add back to the veg beds decreasing the reliance on external inputs and creating a more sustainable system.
We are also very proud to announce that we have been given a “Green Goal Award” by Business in Focus. This is a scheme that supports new and small business’s with an idea that will help make them greener. We have had our idea passed and have been given a small amount of funding to start getting our Piaggio Ape 3 wheeler up and running on the road. This vehicle will be incredibly fuel efficient and the ultimate aim is to convert it to electric to make it even greener. It will be so amazing to see this little 3 wheeler pick up truck buzzing about doing some of our deliveries.
As we finish the work on the compost bays we hope to start digging the first of the foundation holes for our 2 polytunnels in November. We have had the frames for a while now having bought them second hand a couple of years ago and the time to start work on them is now upon us! We can’t wait to start finally putting these frames together!
As crops go, November will see the start of the Mixed Leaf Salad Bags making an appearance in the veg boxes. These will be a regular thing over winter all the way through to March and consist of 9 different winter salad leaves. Most people associate salad leaf with summer although I find the winter leaf much more varied in taste and style and also much easier to grow. There are less pests in winter to put holes in your leaves and less heat to make all the crops go up to seed. We had a bit of a set back with these as the first seeds we sowed in August did not germinate.. This was due to fluctuating temperatures in the environment we had stored them in, something for us to work on next year, those little seeds can be rather sensitive you know! November will also see us picking Spinach, Rainbow Chard and Curly Kale from the polytunnel. As for the outdoor crops the Leeks, Carrots, Swede and Cavelo Nero will continue whilst by the end of the month we may start seeing Sprout Tops appear in the boxes! The Sprout Tops are normally picked about a month before you wish to harvest your sprouts this is to enable the plant to retain all its energy in order to fatten the sprouts up. It also gives us a little extra sprouty treat earlier in the year as the tops are delicious and taste like very flavourfull cabbage leaves.
We are still running our weekly volunteer days all the way through so if you fancy popping down to us one Wednesday in November to help out then you’re very welcome! Jobs may include clearing beds ready for winter, applying mulch to already existing crops, digging holes for polytunnel foundations and, if its raining, we can take cover and do some weeding inside our large polytunnel area. We are always happy to teach you a bit about what we do and we love meeting our customers! Just let us know you are coming beforehand and then pop along between 11am and 3pm. Food and Drink provided 😊
Thanks for reading our newsletter, we hope you enjoyed it!!!
Cariad Mawr
Rita, Luna and Will
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