At Bellfield Organic Nursery in Perthshire, third generation farmer Derek Alexander has fields and tunnels filled with organic vegetables.
They are found behind the Jamesfield Farm Shop and Restaurant outside Abernethy. From onions and cauliflower to raspberries and chard, all the produce has been grown from seeds by Derek and his children 12-year-old Erin and 10-year-old Calum.
Wife and mum Jacqui also works in the family business, as well as four office workers, three drivers and four seasonal farm hands.
Every week – all year – the Bellfield team pack up 700 boxes of freshly harvested produce for deliveries.
“We’ll always start with carrots, potatoes and onions,” explains Derek.
“Then the leeks, we give them as a standard too, then we rotate between what’s available in the tunnels and the fields.
“We say what’s going in next week’s box so customers know, but if you get nice heat or the vegetables freeze we have to change the whole thing.”
Weekly newsletter brings smiles
Derek has two ways to let customers know what’s coming in their next weekly veg box. If it’s a last minute change, he’s quick to post on Facebook. What he’s most known for however, is his newsletter.
The first version was born out of a crisis. The farmer’s mum – who started the business in 1991 – fell and broke her pelvis, two workers were off sick and the veg packer was “rubbish”.
As everything was going wrong at once, Derek wrote a letter to go out with the boxes.
He says: “I thought ‘I better write my story of what’s going on here, just so they understand’.
“I did one, then thought I better follow up to say ‘there’s been mistakes, but bear with us’.
“A university teacher got in touch after a few months to say the stories are really good, but my grammar and spelling is atrocious. Which I know it is.
“She told me to send it through and she’d proof read it and send it back. I did, and everybody complained. It was too perfect.
“My grammar is still terrible, but the customers love it, because it’s just me speaking. They like it because they ken it’s us, they can read what’s going on and see the photos.”
Next generation farmers stepping up
The Bellfield Organic Nursery Facebook page has also helped grow the business through showing off life on the farm.
Pictures of Erin and Calum seem to do the best, and people often ask Derek about the siblings when he’s at markets.
The young duo went to their very first farmers’ market in Perth this summer, speaking to customers, weighing veg and handling payments.
The Perth Farmers’ Market has been running every month since 1999, and Derek attended the very first one.
“That’s where we started getting all our customers, because I could promote the box scheme where we grow and deliver everything,” he says.
“Our business started really growing with farmers’ markets. We could advertise the home delivery and they could see in the stall the veg we had grown.”
After almost 25 years, he still attends markets in Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh on a weekly basis.
He’s gone from signing up people on a piece of paper and taking payments in cheques to directing them to the website. Though one thing has always been the same.
“We’ve never managed on a Sunday, folk don’t buy veg on a Sunday,” Derek says.
“It’s always been the same. And they only buy veg from 10am to 12pm. It’ll trickle away from 12pm to 2pm.
“It doesn’t matter where you go, what day it is, it’s the same for all veg producers.”
Growing Bellfield Organic Nursery online
Around 10 years ago, Derek was encouraged by a friend to take Bellfield Organic Nursery one step further. While his Facebook page was enticing, the website was anything but user friendly.
The farmer drove down to Edinburgh on a mission to find a web designer.
“It was the first time I’ve seen you had to pay for parking using your phone, so I parked miles away and walked in,” he laughs.
“One was £5,000, quite expensive. The second one was £10,000 and looked better. The one I went with looked amazing and was £15,000.
“But the difference was like Premiership to just guys playing in a field.”
As most cities were holding farmers’ markets every two weeks, the team noticed a dip in customers from spreading themselves too thin.
When the new site went live, it was like the flick of a switch that made income start pouring in. Instead of going to the bank to cash a cheque, Derek was now paid before the veg had been delivered.
As customer numbers started going up again, the farmer realised getting a new website was the best money he’s ever spent.
“I go to every market, so people can ask me anything and I can answer it. As soon as I get them on to the webpage, they’re going to order,” he says.
Fourth-generation Bellfield Organic Nursery farmers
As well as attending every market himself, Derek jumps in the delivery van every Friday to meet customers.
To him, being the face of the business as well as the farmer is a big advantage. Through his newsletters, social media and presence at markets, people gain unique insight to the family business.
It also means Bellfield Organic Nursery can avoid selling to supermarkets and therefore set their own prices.
Derek says: “Customers come to us for the local, it’s all about the zero food miles.
“Not getting a choice of what’s going in is appealing to people as well. They like the fact it’s a surprise.”
The first to see what’s going in each weeks’ boxes are Erin and Calum, the farm’s star harvesters.
Over the summer holidays, the duo were up every morning to work in the field with planting, weeding and picking.
“I like getting up!” says 12-year-old Erin. Both her and 10-year-old brother Calum are set on farming in the future.
“The way farming works in we all generally go away and come back,” explains Derek.
“I was in Aberdeen managing a pig farm for 10 years and then came back.
“It’ll be good for them to try something else, farming might not be their way.
“But it’s here for them if they want it, and they’ll be the fourth generation.”
Bellfield Organic Nursery will be at Perth Farmers’ Market in the South Inch car park on October 7 from 9am to 2pm.
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