Steepholding CSA - Local Veg Box Scheme
If you are looking for locally produced veg that is as fresh as possible, look no further. We produce seasonal veg boxes delivered all year round to Tiverton, Wellington and the surrounding area of Steepholding (TA21 0JY). We offer a four week Veg box trial to anyone interested in trying our boxes in our delivery area.
“I’ve had lots of different veg boxes over the last 25 years - Steepholding’s continue to be the best. A good range of well produced veg that are so fresh and stay fresh all week”
We are a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme. This means that as well as access to the freshest possible veg, in exchange for offering us a stable market for our produce, members have the opportunity to connect with us the growers, the land where their food is grown and each other at regular social and work events. Members also recieve a regular newsletter, keeping them in touch with Steepholding's and CSA membership news.
What's in a Box?
Every week we fill our boxes (jute bags really) with seasonal produce. This takes our customers on a journey through the seasons
Summer produce - August
Summer season this means lots of mediteranean goodies like juicy heritage tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, cucumbers and basil, with beans, fennel, mangetout and sugarsnap peas, beetroot, salad, sweetheart cabbages, cauliflower and brocolli, red and spring onions. New potatoes and early carrots also start in the summer. The list goes on...summer veg is slow to start but soon there is an abundance of veg to get excited about.
Autumn season - From the tunnels the tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, cucumbers continue but are joined by sweet peppers, especially the red ones. White & red onions are joined by leeks. The first of the delicious squashes are picked, sweetcorn and celariac starts. Beetroot, cabbages, broccoli and a range of kales continue. The last of the beans and peas are harvested. Delicious organic potatoes and carrots are supplied by the Farlie's of Uffculme.
Winter produce - lots of roots & greens
Winter season - Is a time of roots and greens. The polytunnel is full of greens, mixed salads, watercress, and high quality kales and chards. Winter cabbages start & Brussels sprouts, particularly collettes a kale sprout hybrid - make some of our customers happy when they appear! The squashes, which we can store come into their own, especially roasted with the roots. Parsnips, Beetroot, Celeriac, Carrots and Potatoes all make regular appearances. Stored Onions & garlic and freshly dug leeks.
late spring - early summer
Spring season - starts well with lots of the winter greens, salads and stored roots hanging in there, and some treats like overwintered spring onions, peas & broad beans. We use our polytunnels to the best of our advantage, to bring on some of these summer crops early, expecting the first courgettes by late May and to maintain higher quality of crops like kale. Outside purple sprouting broccoli begins late april - early may, and the last of the cabbages planted the year before. If we are really clever cauliflowers can start in June too. To fill the bags we supplement with local, seasonal and organic as our criteria for choosing.
Box sizes and Prices
Our veg boxes come in three sizes. It is usually possible to change between box sizes if you find that you would like more or less veg at any time as long as we have some notice.
The pictures below give an idea of what the different size veg boxes contain. A small usually has seven different types of vegetables each week, a medium and a large box normally have nine different types of veg, but in larger quantities in the large box.
Small veg box - 7 veg items weekly
Medium Box -9 veg items but smaller quantities than the large
Large Box - 9 veg items in large quantities
As we produce most of the vegetables in our box, the contents change over the seasons depending on what it is possible to grow for the time of year. We buy in organic potatoes and carrots from the Farlie's at Uffculme 5 miles away and use local, organic and seasonal criteria to choose other suppliers if we need to buy in additional veg.
As May & June arrive we try to weather the 'hungry gap' (overwintered crops go to seed/newly planted crops not quite ready) the best that we can. And this is the time that we supplement the bags with bought in produce
Although we choose not to certify at our scale, we strongly uphold organic principles on our farm, our organic commitment is also monitored by our landlords at the Ecological Land Co-op.
Delivery area
We make free weekly deliveries to all our members. This currently includes:-Holcombe Rogus, Greenham, Stawley, Tracebridge, Wellington, Langford Budville, Waterrow, Bathelton, Bampton, Wiveliscombe, Tiverton, Sampford Peverell, Uffculme, Hemyock and Culmstock
Become a Veg Box Member
“ yummy veg box that I literally cannot do with out”
Some Steepholding CSA workers, members & friends at a summer gathering