Veg Shortage

[chesterse]

At least those grasping types who cleared the shelves of toilet rolls will now have a better diet clearing them of fruit and veg!😀

[JohnfromUK]

Just now, chesterse said:

At least those grasping types who cleared the shelves of toilet rolls will now have a better diet clearing them of fruit and veg!😀

That will push up the demand to loo rolls again ....... then the press will get involved  .......... and we'll have another shortage there  🤣

[old'un]

8 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

With luck this situation will encourage more people to grow their own, Lettuce grows over winter (got a greenhouse full of it now) as do some Onions, bell peppers can be frozen and Toms and Cucumbers are dead easy to grow in the summer months.

Make laugh, most don't know how to cook it never mind grow it.

[marsh man]

Saw in the paper this morning that people are now putting a small amount of the items that are supposed to be short on Ebay for £20 , and no I haven't just put in a bid as we don't eat that much salad stuff at the best of times ,also I am that mean I wait till my land owners grow it and then get it for nothing 

[old'un]

39 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Saw in the paper this morning that people are now putting a small amount of the items that are supposed to be short on Ebay for £20 , and no I haven't just put in a bid as we don't eat that much salad stuff at the best of times ,also I am that mean I wait till my land owners grow it and then get it for nothing 

you don't mean you steal it, do you?

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, old'un said:

you don't mean you steal it, do you?

No , surplus to requirements and rejected by the super markets or whoever buy the produce .

I have had loads of spuds that have had grooves in them and I was told they are no good when they go into the spud peeler. and also picked up a few cwt that have laid on the ground behind the harvester as it is cost effected to stop all the tractors to pick up a few loose spuds

Broccoli that are to big and seen acres ploughed in 

Peas that have been left that are either grown with a lot of nettles , or under a tree that the Pea Vinner won't go under.

Red Onions that were left on the surface with no signs of problems , but how many Red onions do you need ?

Lettuces that have came on to quick , again how many lettuces do you eat ?

So when you are looking at where the cost of the next slab of shells are coming from , I always think of the Tesco's slogan , Every little helps 

 

[JohnfromUK]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

but how many Red onions do you need

Lovely roasted (doesn't have to be a red onion).  Just peel, and either pop around a bit of meat in the roasting tin, or pop a small slice of butter on top and roast on a tray.  Lovely - sweet and surprisingly mild, though you may prefer to discard the outside which tends to dry out and get tough in the cooking.

[marsh man]

2 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

Lovely roasted (doesn't have to be a red onion).  Just peel, and either pop around a bit of meat in the roasting tin, or pop a small slice of butter on top and roast on a tray.  Lovely - sweet and surprisingly mild, though you may prefer to discard the outside which tends to dry out and get tough in the cooking.

I could never make out why so many Onions are left behind after they sort out the ones they need , I once saw a field with neat rows that were about three foot apart going right across the field from one side to the other , I took it they were drying out and they will be picked up when they are ready , but No , wrong again , they ended up going back in the ground and you could smell them for weeks and weeks after .

These were commercial growers and no doubt had other fields all coming on at the same time , but there is certainly a lot of waste in growing veg on a large scale . 

[JohnfromUK]

1 minute ago, marsh man said:

there is certainly a lot of waste in growing veg on a large scale

There is.  I live (on the edge of) a big veg growing area (Vale of Evesham) and the veg crops grown have much diminished over the years.  When I was a child, my father had a friend a mile or so away who grew cabbages, sprouts, purple sprouting, but seldom root vegetables and rented some ground from my father (rotated with potatoes which we grew then).  In return father was able to have a 'guest pass' or account or whatever at the local wholesale market - and we used to get lovely veggies there at wholesale prices.  The deal (based on an honesty system) was that if you bought a box, or tray of fruit or veggies, you didn't sell on - but you could give away to family and friends.  Much fruit and veg was grown locally then and traded on and we used to get damsons, plums, and soft fruits - and had a big freezer. 

Nowadays, not nearly as many veggies are grown and the old wholesale market has gone, though soft fruit is still grown north of Evesham - partly pick your own.  I'm not sure what they use to trade now, but there are some good (if expensive) farm shops.  Locally now a great many spring onions are grown (I'm told our local grower is (one of?) the biggest in Europe for spring onions) and also a lot of asparagus. 

Going further back in time - hops and apples were grown on the local farm, and my garden includes the site of the old hop kilns and I'm told there was once a cider press.  No hops or apples are now grown locally commercially (I believe hop growing stopped in WW2), though you see hop vines in the hedgerows in places still.

 

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:

There is.  I live (on the edge of) a big veg growing area (Vale of Evesham) and the veg crops grown have much diminished over the years.  When I was a child, my father had a friend a mile or so away who grew cabbages, sprouts, purple sprouting, but seldom root vegetables and rented some ground from my father (rotated with potatoes which we grew then).  In return father was able to have a 'guest pass' or account or whatever at the local wholesale market - and we used to get lovely veggies there at wholesale prices.  The deal (based on an honesty system) was that if you bought a box, or tray of fruit or veggies, you didn't sell on - but you could give away to family and friends.  Much fruit and veg was grown locally then and traded on and we used to get damsons, plums, and soft fruits - and had a big freezer. 

Nowadays, not nearly as many veggies are grown and the old wholesale market has gone, though soft fruit is still grown north of Evesham - partly pick your own.  I'm not sure what they use to trade now, but there are some good (if expensive) farm shops.  Locally now a great many spring onions are grown (I'm told our local grower is (one of?) the biggest in Europe for spring onions) and also a lot of asparagus. 

Going further back in time - hops and apples were grown on the local farm, and my garden includes the site of the old hop kilns and I'm told there was once a cider press.  No hops or apples are now grown locally commercially (I believe hop growing stopped in WW2), though you see hop vines in the hedgerows in places still.

 

Very interesting john and when you see all the changes in growing over the years you start to realise that a lifetime is not that long .

The very first Pea fields I went on in the late 60s they were loaded up on flat back lorries and taken to Birds Eye to be vined , then at a slightly later date the vinners started to de pod them on the fields and I can still remember the pea stubble being put on the top of the wooden pallets to dry out , now if it is a dry Summer with a poor hay harvest they will use the baler to bale them up for Winter feed for the cattle .

Peas have got a very tight window in time when they are ready to be vined and very often due to weather conditions I have known them to leave the whole field and let them go for seed as they had to many fields that were ready at the same time .

I used to control the Pigeons on a couple of biggish farms that grew Broccoli , this was fine and then they joined forces and grew loads of the stuff , at the peak they were growing up to 800 acres , one of the farms had access to a nearby holiday camp and they would employ up to 20 Eastern Europeans and these would be lifting or planting day after day , once they had walked through they would only lift the size the super markets wanted and anything left in the ground was waste , very often there seemed more still in the ground than what was picked , very often the tractors would come on the field within a few days and get the field ready for replanting , the farmer once told me the fastest they got a medium field ready from the time they finished lifting the crop to the time it was ready for planting was 24 hrs , this was a while back and I gave all the fields up as it just got to much running about as they were contracting land all over the place and now I don't think they are operating on the same scale .

[Krico woodcock]

I seen small fields lettuce being planted solely for the pigeons to keep them away from main crop of lettuce!! That was 20 years ago 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Krico woodcock

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, Krico woodcock said:

I seen small fields lettuce being planted solely for the pigeons to keep them away from main crop of lettuce!! That was 20 years ago 

I once went to look at three rape fields and this was at the time when rape was only grown on a small scale , I was with the farmer and the first field we looked at was completely clear of plants , not a single plant to be seen , in fact when we got out of his motor to have a look the pigeons had eaten every plant down to ground , several Pigeons were about and farmer said , can you leave this field alone as it will stop the Pigeons going on his other two fields , in a way he was right as when we looked at the other two they looked normal with only a few Pigeons sitting around in the trees .

I have seen a few well eaten fields and most of them seem to make a full recovery and at harvest time you cannot tell the difference from the areas that were left alone and the areas that were eaten off , looks might be deceiving as it is the weight in the plants that bring the money in .    MM

[Dave at kelton]

On 24/02/2023 at 09:37, chesterse said:

At least those grasping types who cleared the shelves of toilet rolls will now have a better diet clearing them of fruit and veg!😀

Yes but they will then need more toilet rolls for a high fibre diet 😂

To be honest I can’t be doing with all this nonsense. If it’s on the shelf at a price you are prepared to pay buy it. If not change your menu to something that is. On the bright side we might see a few less veggies telling us how bad meat is. I am sure most only survived cause they aren’t stuck with neeps, tatties and cabbage through the winter. Might not be as keen to avoid meat if they were.

[Ratlegs]

Just been to Brigg farmers market   stalls piled high with veg