September News 2026

And just like that, the drought is over and the farm has sprung back to life! September has brought plenty of rain, sunshine and much more acceptable temperatures. All combining to make excellent growing conditions and we now have a mountain of veg to show for it. This 'shoulder' of the season isn't known as the Second Spring for no reason!

Kales, cabbages and broccoli returned from the dead

September is a fantastic month for home-grown produce in the UK. That's why the Soil Association run a month-long campaign every year called Organic September — promoting the best our farms have to offer. You'll see a huge range of produce at our market stalls and available to add to your box via the online shop.

Organic September special offer – tell your friends!

10% off your first three orders, if you sign up to a veg box this month.

Use code: SEP26

Erin talking to ITV Westcountry

Whilst we are now through the worst of it, the full effect of the heatwave summer is still to be felt. There are a lot of gaps in the fields where plants have died, and the extent of the damage to our crispy-leaved maincrop carrots is yet to be discovered. ITV Westcountry visited the farm this month to broadcast a short piece about the challenges to growing veg in our changing climate.

Rose giving a talk about fermentation at out Harvest Festival

We were pleased to welcome so many visitors to the farm for our Harvest Festival this month. The sun was shining and the day was filled with learning, eating, chatting and relaxing.

We have two more events available to book now:

Apple Harvest Morning: Tuesday 6th October, 9am–12pm.

Join us to help bring in our apple harvest.

Squash Day: Sunday 11th October, 10am–3pm.

Pick-your-own squash and pumpkins; tractor-trailer rides; apple pressing; welly-wanging and more.

Baby Bear pumpkin and Delicata squash

Life on the Farm

Beautiful dawn rainbow

We've said goodbye to 5am starts and are enjoying the cooler days now. However there is no let-up in jobs to do. Well-watered crops also means well-watered weeds. These can mostly be dealt with by the tractor however any weeds between plants in the rows need to be hoed or pulled by hand. We're also now flipping over the tunnels to winter salads which are planted by hand. Aubergines, tomatoes and cucumbers will be ejected over the coming weeks.

Lush Lettuce

Our harvest list is looking extremely healthy, with more and more time dedicated to harvesting and packing now. The big apple harvest is well underway; trying to bring everything in to storage before the weather turns. With 14 varieties of dessert apple; seven cookers; and seven dual-purpose apple varieties — making a total of 194 trees — there's a lot of apples!

Our laying hens didn’t enjoy the hot dry period. The ground baked hard and the grass and clover ley went brown. This meant they couldn’t scratch around for grubs and their range was devoid of green plants to eat. Also the heat was unnatural and stressful. With the recent rain their conditions have transformed and they are happily ranging with the greenery, scratching, and making holes to sit in.

We have just moved on our oldest flock. They were taken away by Fresh Start for Hens, a charity who distribute them to people who want a few chickens as pets at home. The new flock of 17-week-old pullets arrived on Wednesday 16th, they will start laying in a week or two. For a few weeks the pullet eggs are small, but actually for the connoisseurs of eggs, possibly the best to eat! We sell them at a low price or double them up with online orders.

What we're harvesting

Leafy greens like chard, kale and spinach are back on the menu, as well as lots of new stuff this month. We're also still enjoying the last of the tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and chillies. Get them while you can at our farmers' markets.

From the fields:

Apples, Dessert and Cooking

Beetroot

New: Calabrese Broccoli

Chard, Rainbow

New: Chicory, Variegata di Castelfranco

Courgettes

New: Dill

French Beans

New: Hispi Cabbage

New: Kale, Curly, Black, and Red Russian

New: Kohlrabi

Lettuce

New Potatoes

Onions, White, Red and Shallots

New: Pears, Williams

New: Pak Choi

Parsley, Flat-leaved and Curly

Radish

Mixed Salad Leaves, including Asian mustards

New: Spinach, Perpetual

New: Spring Onions

New: Squash, Delicata and Uchiki Kuri

New: Thyme

From the polytunnels:

Aubergine

New: Celery

Chillies

Cucumbers

Basil

New: Ginger

Padron Peppers

Tomatoes

Amazing ginger — a new one for us and a real winner thanks to the hot summer

Perfect Calabrese

Pak Choi 'Prize Choi' — ready only three weeks after planting!

This fresh ginger is quite different to the cured rhizomes that we're used to. It's more tender and has a really fragrant, almost floral flavour. It's absolutely delicious. The bulk of the crop is earmarked for Rose to use in our kimchi, however you can also pick some up from our farmers' markets.