Coronavirus: Update #3

Dear friends,

Although a nationwide lockdown was declared last night, life goes on at The Farm.

Please be assured that this latest development will not affect our ability to deliver food to your door.

Our biggest problem - albeit a good one - remains the enormous demand from customers! This week we'll be sending out nearly 1,000 veg boxes... that's almost double what we were delivering just 2 weeks ago!

Obviously this is causing some operational growing pains and we're incredibly thankful for your trust and patience as we navigate this new territory.

One way that you can really help us at this time is to put out your old veg boxes for collection when you expect a new delivery. Whether you have just the one box from last week's delivery or have amassed a stack through the winter months, every little helps, and our drivers are more than happy to pick those boxes up and give them a second life.

Speaking of: we're incredibly proud of our staff. Our drivers are now having to deliver throughout the day and night and our box pack teams are having to work extra shifts to fill all these new orders. Without them, none of this would be possible. By deciding to ramp up our output, we are not only serving those buying veg boxes, but are providing local organic growers with a guaranteed and equitable route to market, especially important when they have lost buyers due to restaurants closing.

Difficult decisions have had to be made, too, some of which may have affected your orders, and for this we apologise.

For instance, yesterday, without warning, we had to suddenly bring forward the order cut-off time for the week. We're very sorry if this took you by surprise, but it was a necessary measure to ensure we were not overwhelmed beyond our already stretched-to-the-limit capacity.

We've also had to implement item limits to try and make sure that there's enough to go around for everyone.

However, please note that substitutions may continue for a while as we cannot currently guarantee box contents; we may also run out of other products, for which you will not be charged or will receive a full refund.

Hopefully, as we settle into these new rhythms, there will be fewer of these hiccups going forward.

Again, thank you for your continued understanding, patience and support. We'll be sharing new updates here on an ongoing basis.

Lockdown is going to be a difficult time for everyone. Please take care of yourselves and each other.

With kind regards,
The Community Farm