Pallets of stuff will be reporting for duty on Friday, this week, as the first delivery of 2020 arrives at Hagg Hill. In keeping with tradition, all members are invited to witness this mighty harbinger of spring, and, in deed, participate in the great unloading and re-stacking ceremony. Eric has suggested that those wishing to demonstrate their muscle-power would be extremely welcome to join the fun at 8.45am (for 9). Please!!!
Following all of this excitement, the second event of the day will commence. Potatoes and oniony items will be the stars of this part of the show, and members are, again, invited to join in the ceremony, which involves unpacking and repacking, along with the odd bit of counting and weighing. If you feel that you could be a part of this historic occasion, you are invited to join this fray from 10am. If you have a set of scales that can easily measure 500g, you will be given priority access...! Please!!!
In all of the above, it is hoped that the kettle will be contributing to the sense of optimism and cheer!
Depending on how we get on, on Friday, pre-ordered potatoes should be available for collection on Sunday. Normal opening hours will be operating, but we should be returning to Saturday and Sunday opening from the beginning of February. Unsold potatoes and oniony things will be available for general sale from Sunday, also, but we recommend that you get your skates on if you have your heart set on a particular variety.
The incredible Bucket competition will be taking place again this year. After much careful debate, a variety of potato has been selected which is reputed to be both blight resistant and a heavy cropper, and you are invited to join in the fun (oh yes!!!) and give it a go. Buckets from previous entries can be reused. £3.00 for a bucket + 2 potatoes, or 50p for 2 potatoes. The bucket and potato harvest is yours to keep.
Looking ahead to the Plant Sales, we will be scaling these back somewhat this year. Our current thinking is that we will have just one main sale, over the weekend of May 9th and 10th , although any plants/seedlings that we have will obviously be available in the weeks before and after. The current volunteer team is unable to sustain the level of commitment required to keep the sales going at previous levels – sowing, growing, pricking out and watering has become too big a task. We will continue to grow bits and pieces ourselves, and still hope to have a reasonable selection to offer to members and to the public. In fact we would be very grateful to recruit anyone else who might be interested to do some extra growing, and would be happy to provide seeds and compost to encourage you! You have only got to say the word, although you may get your hand bitten off!
Hope that you are well-rested after a relaxing winter... and look forward to catching up with you soon.
Best wishes for the 2020 season.
Debbie (on behalf of the volunteer team)
