1. What has led you to become a chilli farmer?
I have Amrit my husband to blame for this one entirely! Chilli Farming is a second career for both of us; with my background being in Financial Planning. We took the leap in 2022 after deciding we wanted to relocate from Scotland to the South West, and Amrit wanted to make a move into Horticulture.
- What are your aspirations for SDCF for the future?
I would love to introduce a full range of SDCF dried chilli flakes, powders and rubs, as well as a Caribbean range (watch this space!). I’d also like SDCF to become an RHS Master Grower – we’re well on our way to achieving this with a 5 Flower Gold award for our show garden at RHS Rosemoor last year. Amrit and I are full of ideas and hopes for the future of SDCF; its already come a long way since we took the reins in 2022.
- What gives you the biggest buzz when you’re working?
Without a doubt chatting to customers in our farm shop who love our products or are delighted to come here and discover something new.
- What three things have been your main focus this week?
This week has been a particularly busy one for me, but my main 3 jobs have been:
- Getting us ready for a future SALSA audit – this is a huge milestone for the farm and we are committed to continuously raising our standards across the business so its important that we reflect this by being certified.
- Helping the Horticulture team in the nursery tunnel – we’ve been tweaking our seedling offering online, and I’ve bene writing hundreds of plant labels and tidying and shifting things around on the benches to make space for 1 litre plant pots.
- Onboarding some new team members to the farm; we have had a few new joiners recently, so I have been spending time with them to make sure they are settling in well, that they have everything they need to get up and running!
- When is your favourite time of year at the chilli farm?
It’s a toss-up between March/April and August. March at the start of the growing season when we first start pricking out our seedlings is so exciting – the start of a brand new season and the nursery tunnels go from being bare, to having a green haze as the tiny plants start to take shape.
In August, our plants are in full bloom, the crops and show tunnel are all full to the brim and looking like a lush jungle! Our nursery shop is also full and you can spend all day in the summer holidays chatting about plants with customers.
- Favourite chilli & why?
This is a virtually impossible question to answer!!!
I get excited by any new variety that we trial or introduce to our stable; this year we are offering Scotch Bonnets properly for the first time – I love the yellow variant especially. I’m also excited about Tangerine Dream which is an orange version of a Cherry Bomb and will be great in the air fryer full of cream cheese I reckon!
- What are you doing today?
Today I am helping in the nursery tunnels, doing some bookkeeping, and writing a newsletter. We had a growing workshop this morning, so I dropped in to say hello to the group doing that. I’ve been updating our payroll software, and doing some shift management with the Operations Manager too. I’ve also had the very hard task of taste-testing some potential new chocolate flavours! Never a dull moment in the life of a chilli farmer!