This amazing summer culminated in perhaps our best veg box ever, this month.  Everything we sent out in our last box of August was grown here in Sheepscombe. Isn’t that great?  Ideally, that’s as it should be and while things don’t always go according to plan in nature (which is why people should work with it and not against it; nature knows best), when it works, it is, well, simply, a miracle. 

Some of our favourite things in August have included….

• Incredible varieties of tomatoes, which all sound like something from an action movie – from Brads Atomic, to Yellow Submarine, to Japanese Black Trefile & Blood Moon – and probably more exciting.
• Roasting slim, black french beans whole, in the oven… drizzling them with a little chilli oil and eating them as a snack.
• The lush goodness and nutrition of rainbow chard – such a beautiful vegetable.
• This year’s courgette crop – again, so many different types, they were so easy and good to grow!  So whether you turned yours into courgette lemon curd (see July) or fried them in very light, tempura-style batter or had them simply grated raw in a salad, this crop has been fresh, thirst-quenching and amazingly versatile. 
• Oh and cucumbers! The difference in flavour and texture compared to their poor, limp, supermarket cousins… Sheepscombe cucumbers are crisp, so fragrant and full of character!  Say hello, cream cheese for the perfect sandwich with afternoon tea.  Best of all, we grew them from our own seeds, saved from previous seasons.  Hang on to all the saved seeds you can – you’ll need them one day (feel free to contact us for more info about this).
• Summer squashes – aren’t gourds great? That’s not something you hear every day, but they are.  From their extraordinary shapes and colours, to the creamy sweetness of the flesh, when it’s been oh-so-slowly roasted and drizzled with garlic butter or even a little honey, if you prefer not to eat garlic.  The small, round types are especially good for this – cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and still warm from the oven, eat the roasted squash with a spoon.
• The sunshine – yes, this prolonged summer has also bought problems, but just to be out in the sun, feel a gentle breeze, be able to watch and listen to the wildlife – these are some of the small pleasures that will stay with us.  You don’t have to be in the Cotswolds to appreciate this or in a valley – an urban park, a small garden or out for a nature walk somewhere will do just as well…. Some of the best things in life really are free.