The Red Hot Chilli Pepper

Market day at Machynlleth on a sunny day in May. Crowds squeeze through the narrow gaps on the pavements left by the stalls. People browse old books, linger by tempting cakes, feel the quality of a pair of thermal underpants. A long queue forms at the Indian vegetarian curry stall. A giant chilli pepper wanders past.

Wild garlic as far as the eye can see, on the Torrent Walk near Dolgellau

Huh? Was this some dream triggered by spending too much time amongst vegetables? No. This was last Wednesday and I was that giant chilli pepper. I had adverts stapled to my front and back which announced the imminent commencement of the veg box scheme, inviting all and sundry to SIGN UP! I was being led through the busy streets by Katie who, not wearing a giant vegetable costume, did not have her peripheral vision restricted. We hoped that the sight of a tasty pepper, albeit with legs, might nudge some undecided souls into agreeing to buy a weekly bag of local veg for the next six months.

This photo comes from Facebook

To be fair Katie took her turn in wearing the chilli pepper, as did two others, all in the cause of getting enough customers to make our scheme viable. We need about fifty. Our efforts also included having a stall, with some nursery plants for sale to attract punters, and even tried playing some Red Hot Chilli Pepper songs on my wireless speaker. It did all pay off with several new customers, and others saying they would sign up later.

Our scheme begins bang on the 1st of June, a very early date for harvesting most types of veg. It'll be the salad leaves, chard, spring onions, radishes, rhubarb and whatever we can supplement from our organic wholesaler in Pembrokeshire. Thankfully these last few days the temperature has rocketed up (both day and night time), and we've had both sun and rain in copious quantities - my seedlings are responding as you might hope.

The abandoned slate mines above Dinas Mawddwy

So if you live in the vicinity of Machynlleth and feel like giving the scheme a try, or if you have been a customer and haven't yet got round to signing up again, now's the time to contact Sabrina on 01654 700115 (or email vegbox.greenislegrowers@gmail.com) who will be extremely happy to talk to you! Even if you're out in Corris or Dinas Mawddwy, someone will bring the bags up to you each Wednesday. We aim to please.

Grow little cabbages, grow!