Apricity

“Apricity” is a new word I learnt last week. It means the feeling of the warmth of the sun on your skin, on a cold winter’s day. Coming from the latin ‘apricari.’ Well, last week there were a couple of days of apricity and it was wonderful; a really early spring-like feeling.

Today we are busy planting a second patch of over 3,000 new rhubarbs. The dry weather last week meant I could prepare the soil well, so today we will plant them all, but we will not harvest them for over a year. This allows them to root up well. In a few weeks we will be tempted to harvest them as they will look so good. But discipline is the key.

Tomorrow I am preparing the next field for early potatoes, carrots and the second sowing of onions. The first sowing of onions was in November and they are already up and away. We will start to harvest them as bunched spring opinions in late April before letting the rest of them grow on to become the larger onions.

Love is in the air at the Field Kitchen this Friday - there are 11 couple spaces left for Friday lunch - The evening is sold out. But you could always bring that special one for Saturday lunch or dinner too! Alternatively cook up a lovely romantic veg box feast with coffee and walnut cake made in our kitchen and available on the website.

Talking of the coffee and walnut cake - its largest ingredient by weight is parsnips, which we thought might put people off if we mentioned that. But it’s absolutely scrumptious.

If you get the chance you should try the parsnip recipe. I had a few friends round on Saturday evening and it’s a winner. It’s been in the Field Kitchen lately and is a real crowd pleaser.

Your veg box Farmer: David Fryer