A large number of members gathered for our 12 October meeting to hear from Stonesfield resident Dan Betterton, who came to talk to us about his company The Kitchen Garden People.
He and his partners set up the business 10 years ago and are now based at FarmEd, the regenerative farm near Shipton-under-Wychwood. Cultivating just 5 acres Dan supplies 120 customers with a vegetable box every week, as well as supplying the café at FarmEd and the kitchens at The Bull in Charlbury.
As they work a system of so-called Community Supported Agriculture, the company also relies of volunteers who help out doing all sorts of different jobs.
As you may imagine, this year has proved exceptionally difficult (and expensive) when it came to irrigating the crops. They have a borehole and a spring but all other water has to be bought from the mains, and most of us know how thirsty vegetables can be. One of the ways they reduce the need for water is with the use of shade netting, and Dan recommends that we go back to the old habit of painting greenhouse glass white in the summer to help.
The Kitchen Garden People
Honeydale Farm, Farm-Ed, Station Road, Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Chipping Norton OX7 6BJ
https://www.thekitchengardenpeople.org
thekitchengardenpeople@gmail.com
07954 324430