On my way down to Devon on Friday morning I popped in to see John at his Veggie Farm in Barrington Somerset. A bit bleary eyed - John had only got back from Covent Garden at 3 the previous morning and was already up supervising the picking of the Veg for the days deliveries.
Fantastic mixed salad leaves, green and yellow beans, runner beans, courgettes of all different types and colours, pink and puple beetroots, elephant garlic, delicious carrot bunches and the first New Season Yokon Gold potatoes. John is delivering 300kg of mixed leaves every week to top restaurants in the West Country - all hand picked/cut - backbreaking work as all is planted in the earth. It is his passion that maintains his strength in this gruelling time of year when the mix of cropping means that John is at his busiest. As a 'natural' farm - no use of pesticides or chemicals the weeding alone is a full time job for many of the workers. Why do his crops taste so good? Well, John only uses traditional varieties grown for flavour and then grows them in the ground - you will see many pick your own growers having grown the likes of strawberries in grow bags off the ground - while this helps the weeding issue it does have a corresponding effect on the taste - veggies and fruit - in much the same way as wine, rely on 'terroir' for their depth of flavour.
