New Farm Shop

[SarahF]

Hi all,

I noticed a sign for a new farm shop up Pitmore Lane this morning - Danesway - or something?

Has anyone been there? I will endeavour to get there this week,

Sarah

 

[Stephen Tarling]

Hi Helga,

    Thanks for the update: a contrast of despair and joy from your allotment. You really should start your own Foodtalk blog on this site: "Helga versus the beasts of the field and the birds of the air" or "The Joy of Allotments" or "Helga and Pumpkins"...  We'd enjoy reading it - I'm a great vicarious allotmenteer!

    My neighbours brought round some wonderful French beans for us yesterday; picked fresh from their garden - plumptious, tasty, soft but not mushy - great addition to roasted vegetable (boil them first, then toss them in with the Hampshire Rapeseed Oil roasted and seasoned vegetables from Dan's Sway).

    Our cat patrols for local vermin and brings them in for identification - not so many mice or shrews now - more voles.  Maybe the allotments should invest in a resident cat - who would also scare away quite a few of the birds as well!  Yes: you are lucky to have an allotment - there's a big waiting list here in Sway - but I have to say that at the Sway Gardens Open Day the allotments were looking wonderful.  However the water bill for the spring quarter has been amazingly high - so as you say thank goodness for the rain recently.

    You should enjoy Dans Sway Farm Shop and be able to make up for what the magpies and mice had.  I popped in this afternoon and they had a good selection at reasonable prices.  I picked up some strawberries, raspberries, big red onions, tomatoes, baby courgettes etc. and also got a giant bunch of herbs - fresh cut coriander, green and purple sage, with oregano, tarragon and chocolate mint (yes really).  Lawrence was offering help-yourself large bags of salad leaves for £1.50 as well as all the usual range (take some of his runner beans, potatoes and onions and make up for what you didn't get). I believe the Dans sway Farm Shop is moving into the 20th. and 21st. century simultaneously with plans for a telephone and a web site...

    You have sweetcorn - wonderful: do please feel free to invite me round.  I'll bring a bit of butter and a little spice!  I think you have to grow a block of maize don't you - it's a wonderful crop.

    Please do keep us up to date with your allotment.  And let us know your thoughts from the Dans Sway Farm Shop.

    Cheers,  Stephen

 

My occasional New Forest Food blog:
http://newforesttransition.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=20fl08f...

[Helga Parker]

Hi everyone, what an unexpected joy to see pictures of Dan's new farmshop. I am definitely going to pay a visit next week. Will report back. Looking forward to it already!

Updates from my allotment.

Wasn't it great to get such a lovely lot of rain. Our poor gardens and allotments needed it so badly. Everything which got planted before the draught is ok and getting harvested. But my third sowing of broad beans are probably a write off. I picked a few and none of the pods had any beans inside. The runners are getting tough, but the delicious red beans inside make up for it. The french beans are struggling this year, I had to re-plant a lot of the original plants as they just withered away. A lot of my potatoes have been nibbled on by the resident allotment mice, as have my (almost) prize winning onions. The onions which the blackbirds didn't pull out of the ground the mice are now nibbling. We had the flowers eaten off the runner beans by very naughty magpies, which eventually got shot by the Forestry Commission Man after too many complaints from allotment holders. The the blackbird continued where the magpies had left off, he obviously sat, watched and learned from the big boys and has a lot of fun being chased off our beans. But the pumpkins, courgettes, marrows, sweetcorn, winter curly kale, and salad stuff seem to be thriving, I don't know how they do it. Isn't life great when you are lucky enough to have an allotment?

The wonderful trees which were so kindly given to us are continuing to thrive. We had a few apples and pears already last autumn, but this year nature has been even kinder. I will write and report on the final count.

Must go now, or I won't be able to stop, I am proud to announce to the world that I have become a complete "Allotment Bore! and nothing gives me more pleasure than to harvest and eat my own produce. I have come a long way since growing up in Berlin and only having a balcony with a window box. I am so grateful.

Happy growing! .....Best wishes from Helga

[Stephen Tarling]

Hi Sarah,

 

    Many thanks for spotting that.  I've now visited: see my photo-blog notes at

Mystery Shopper at Dan's Sway Farm Shop, Sway July 2011

 

 It is excellent and suprisingly large inside.

[Lawrence Camilleri]

Hi Viv - I got 89 growing beds in house 1 dedicated mainly for the shop.  The crops growing at the moment are more based on crop rotation than on retail.  There are 5 different tomatoes, aubergines black & white, Cucumbers, normal bell peppers, Italian conical peppers, chillies and courgettes.  Then there is the herbs, parsley, basil green & purple, chives and coriander. On salad leaves, there is of course different type of lettuce, swiss chard, rainbow chard, mizuna, mibuna, red orach, shungiku, tai sai.  I am planting at themoment a variety of pok choy's and komatsumas (japanese mustard spinach). Once I get the varieties growing planner right I would love to organise something for the local community. Like a cooking competition,  Cooking with the Vegetables.

[Viv East]

Hi Sarah... yes... it's called Dan's Sway Farm Shop.... and is open 9am - 5pm from Monday to Saturday. I passed by there this evening, so haven't seen inside yet. 

 

Hi Lawrence.... well done you. I will definitely come by and see you. As far as what to grow - I would love to see varieties that focus on flavour, and maybe some more unusual things to encourage us to appreciate that there's more to vegetables than can be found in the normal supermarkets.

Good luck.

Viv

[Lawrence Camilleri]

Hi Sarah

Fortunately or unfortuntely I am the guy entrusted to manage the old Laverstock nursery and Farm shop.  The aim is to give a service to the area with local orgincally fresh fruit and vegetables.  The site is now owned by Dan Tanner, who is more known for the pick your own farm's in soppley and cat & fiddle.  Dan is very keen to put as many historic agricultural impliments in the shop that he have aquired through the years in the first greenhouse for people to enjoy as part of the agricultural history.  Also we love the idea that people can walk through the greenhouse and see the growth of different crops through the seasons.  Myself I would like to introduce the nursery to schools as an educational agricultural visit, where students will be able to come and see the production of vegetables from seed sowing to harvest.I will appreciate any comments and suggestions from the local community on what crops they would like us to grow and how we can be a service to the community.

Kind Regards

Lawrence