News from a very busy Norwich FarmShare

This really is a last minute blog! I was trying hard to relax tonight, trying to calm my head from its perpetual buzzing and get it to settle down and enjoy a weekend off. I know that I need to organise that irrigation rota for the farm (must call Christophe to see if we've got the electricity sorted yet); find two more volunteers for the Norwich Lanes fair; four more for the Norwich veggie fayre; sort out the email to all our members with loads of hot off the press exciting news (which I mustn't accidentally post here and spoil the surprises!); and goodness know what else... but I most of all need to switch it all off for a couple of days and do very little. But then I checked my email and found a friendly reminder from Charlotte that it's my turn to blog. Cripes. Well, as long as it squeaks in just this side of midnight, I reckon I'm in the clear.

What's changed on the farm since last theme week? Everything, it feels like. Last time I blogged, it still felt like early spring. We were eating a few of the first spring crops and mostly polishing off the last of the overwintering veg. Now we're in the depths of the Hungry Gap with barely a cabbage to keep us going. We're relying on a network of growers around the UK and even further afield to keep our member's shares full. But our polytunnels are full to the brim with summer veg merrily climbing, flowering and thriving: beans, tomatoes and aubergines are full of promise of good things to come and even the tomatoes in the field are looking sprightly.

We've just crossed the 100 member mark, which feels like an unbelievably huge milestone, and this month we'll also reach the first anniversary of sharing veg with our members. I remember the excitement last year of those first veg coming out of the ground; this year I think I'm even more excited as I know how good they're going to taste. When you pass people working on the farm, more often than not they're discussing which is the vegetable they're looking forward to the most this year. I think mine is tomatoes. Or maybe new potatoes. Mmmmm...

If you'd like to know more about the farm, join us for a workday or anything else- it's all on our website: www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk

Pics: Onions, Elena; Summer veg share: Jan