At last the fine weather is here and with it a cornucopia of Dorsetshire delights. From Child Okeford we have the most delicious young spinach, fresh garlic, baby cucumbers, mange-tout peas, broad beans, beetroot and lettuces. With Wimbledon comes strawberries and we have the privilege of bringing you the freshest fruit from the Ansty PYO and Farm Shop – strawberries and gooseberries are now in stock. We also have the last of the English asparagus from the New Forest. True to our motto of “fresh, seasonal and local” we hope you like what you see.

From slightly further afield we have new season’s English salad potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, and from even further afield are bananas and pineapples, Royal Gala and Braeburn Apples and seedless grapes.

In the spirit of encouraging more people to try more local brands, we also have offers on Keystone Brewery’s Very Pale Ale (VPA), down from £1:95 to £1:00 a bottle, and The Seed Company’s dressings and marinades are reduced from £3:99 to £1:99 before the introduction of the replacement products from the new Mr. Filbert brand, based in Milton Abbas. These are dressings made in Dorset, based on Dorset-grown rapeseed oil.

Over the new few months you will see an increasing number of price promotions on local foods. We want to increase awareness of all the good things that are made round and about us – you may have seen some of these at our family day in early June. Earlier today we had a visit from Claire of Purbeck Ice Cream who was giving out samples of their absolutely fabulous sorbets and ice creams. Quite apart from the joy of eating ice cream on such a sunny day, the sheer quality of their range (including the fascinating flavour of ChiliRed) encouraged many to pick up a tub on their way home.

Meat of the month in June was going to be lamb, but prices are still going up as I write this. As a result I’m simply going to recommend our range of barbecue meats – burgers, sausages and chicken. If you tried the pork and venison sausages on the Members’ Day you won’t be surprised that I’m recommending them – meaty but not to heavy or dry, they are a treat indeed. We are also now making larger 6oz. and 8oz. burgers to order, in addition to the regular 4oz. Pork & Apple, Lamb & Mint and beefburgers.

Have a look at the chicken portions – Chinese, Kentucky, Mediterranean flavours are all there.

Come and see us soon and enjoy our Tastes of Dorset.

We have been attending the Anonymous Travelling Markets in Shaftesbury Cattle Market on the last Saturday of every month, so come and see us on Saturday May 29th when we’ll be selling burgers and sausages, meat, cheese and eggs.

Where possible the produce will be English, but until the warmer months are with us we have limited choice in terms of UK-grown food. Despite this, we will be starting to sell Sara and Andrew Cross’ delicious vegetables from their organic farm at Child Okeford.

We do have some English vegetables – leeks, mushrooms and parsnips as well as the last of this season’s Maris Piper potatoes from Stourton Caundle – and of course English Bramley apples.

Our April offer on the Meat Counter is Pork Chops. There will be some good deals on lamb as well; prices are high at the moment, but will be coming down in the next few weeks as the new season progresses.

By next month I should be able to introduce you to a new range of wines, including some sherries. Naturally we shall have to sample them first and I hope to persuade our wine merchant to conduct an evening’s wine tasting for Orchard Park members. We will only be sending invitations out to this by e-mail, so please let us know your e-mail address so you don’t miss out.

You wouldn’t have seen many changes in January in the Farm Shop, but February you will, I promise. The start we made before Christmas will continue with an increasing range of straightforward store cupboard lines – tinned tomatoes, pasta and rice will all be appearing with oils and vinegars as well.  If there is anything you would like us to stock please let us know, especially if it is from a local producer.

We now have butchers here five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) who prepare the meat that is raised and grazed at Park Farm, just yards from the garden centre.  They can produce just about everything imaginable for you, but may sometimes need a bit of warning for the more unusual cuts. At the moment the beef is from British White cattle, the lamb is Wiltshire Horn and the pork from Large Black pigs.  All these are traditional breeds and well worth trying if you haven’t done so before.

A quick word about our prices.  We don’t try to compete with the supermarkets, but sometimes we surprise ourselves! We will get you the best prices we can, and for some items – eggs, meat and vegetables for example, we think that we provide value for money that can’t be bettered.

PRICE OF THE MONTH

For February our Beef Mince will be £4.49 per/kilo (that’s just over £2/lb. if you’re like me) down from £5.99 per/kilo (just over £2.70/lb).

Next month I’ll be introducing you to the Farm Shop staff talking a bit more about our suppliers and their products. In the meantime, if there’s anything you want to tell us about, either come and see us or email me at matthew@orchardpark.uk.net