Has anyone got a shed they don’t want?

Our picking and packing volunteers urgently need shelter from the Cornish wind and rain.

Each week they prepare around 30 vegetable boxes for Camel CSA members on Friday mornings.  Last summer we were blessed with blue skies and warm sunshine nearly every Friday, but come the autumn it was a different story. 

Over the winter we’ve been borrowing one end of a polytunnel from Jeremy Brown, one of our expert growers.  But now the growing season has begun he needs it to cultivate vegetables for his business at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.

We’re looking for a second-hand shed that’s at least 4m x5m in size.  Ideally it would have a roof overhang or a verandah.  We’re also on the look-out for an unwanted polytunnel that’s a minimum of 7m long and 4m wide.  Just a frame for a tunnel would be a great help.  We’ll pay, of course.

If you know anyone who might be able to help, please get in touch with us.

Members of the volunteer growing team will be flexing their muscles this Sunday morning digging up dockleaves, spreading compost and preparing more vegetable beds.  Beetroot and lettuce seeds also need sowing.

Seasonal recipe No 37 – Leek and smoked cheddar tart

This recipe by Allegra McEvedy was in yesterday’s Guardian. She says it’s ”good for three days, during which time I would keep it out of the fridge, but covered, for instant passerby snacks”.

Makes eight fat slices in a fluted tart ring with a push-up base (28cm x 3.5cm). Takes an hour.

Ingredients
1kg leeks
100g butter
bunch of fresh thyme stalks, tied with string
6 eggs
300ml double cream
1 tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
180g of smoked cheddar, grated
1 pkt (500g) shortcrust pastry – or make your own

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 170C/340F/gas 3. Roll out the pastry and line your tart case with it; always keep a little ball of pastry aside for emergency repairs after blind baking, rather than lobbing the trimmings. Stick in the freezer for about five minutes to firm up.

Trim the leeks; if they are thick then quarter them lengthways before slicing roughly 1cm thick, thinner ones can just be halved lengthways before slicing. Then wash them thoroughly – there’s nothing worse than biting on grit.

Melt the butter in a wide pan on a medium heat, then add the leeks. Turn the heat up to high, add the thyme, season and put a lid on.

Take the tart case out of the freezer and bake blind for 10-15 minutes. Once it is beginning to brown, mix the yolk of one of the eggs with a tablespoon of cream, brush this all over the base, sides and crown of the tart and put back in the oven for a couple of minutes until shiny and golden (now is the time to plug any holes with that spare ball of pastry).

Stir the leeks regularly for a further 20 minutes (keeping the lid on between stirs) or until they are well softened and all the water has come out of them. Turn the heat down if they are starting to catch.

Crack the eggs into a big mixing bowl, including the lone white, and whisk in the cream and mustard. Stir in the cheddar and then tip in the hot, softened leeks, discarding the bunch of thyme. Season well, ladle the mix carefully into the tart case and cook for about half an hour, until light golden brown on top, and the egg has set. Let it sit for 10 minutes before tucking in.

Fresh caulis in the veg boxes

This week everyone will have:
cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm)
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)
white sprouting broccoli (Rest Harrow Farm)

Medium boxes will have larger quantities of some of the above plus:
* rocket (Jeremy Brown)
* coriander (Jeremy)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)

And large boxes will also have:
red cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
kale (Rest Harrow Farm)

* = grown to organic principles

Will we get the support to help us expand?

It’s all a bit nerve-racking.  We’ll hear soon whether we’re going to get funding to help widen our activities.

A Lottery Food Fund assessor came for a site visit on Sunday.  Kate Harris needed to see for herself exactly who we are and what we get up to.  She asked our core group members lots of leading questions and met the volunteer growing team. 

Kate watched the volunteers prepare vegetable beds, spread compost, plant Jerusalem artichokes, sow parsley seed for germination in the polytunnel and renew their attack on the dockleaves which are sprouting everywhere in the mild weather.

It’s her job to report back and make a recommendation on our funding bid.  The all-important decision will be made in April.  It’s a highly competitive scheme, so we reckon we’ve got about a 50% chance – at best.

In May we’ll hear whether we’ve been successful in our application for funding from the East Cornwall Local Action Group.

Whatever the result, we’ll keep going as a CSA - growing vegetables, working with the seasons and providing our members with a share of the harvest.  It’s just that if our bids are unsuccessful, we’ll have to wait before we can invest in much-needed equipment, set up an education and training programme and provide secure employment. 

For the first time on Sunday everyone had the chance to meet Daisy, expert grower Jane Mellowship’s five-week-old daughter.  She arrived in a waterproof  “baby trug” – ideal in the circumstances!

Many thanks to expert grower Mark Norman and volunteers Cath, Charlotte, Danny, Frank, Kitty, Mark M, Mike H, Mike S and Robert.

Proud to be a community supported agriculture project

Community supported agriculture… It’s quite a mouthful isn’t it?  And even more to get your head round.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked the question: “How are your allotments going?”  Or: “What’s the latest on your veg box scheme?”

This sort of remark is kindly meant, of course.  But sometimes it makes me want to scream: “That’s not what we’re about.  We’re a community supported agriculture project.”

Which means little to 99.9% of the people I come across. 

A community supported agriculture (CSA) project has very specific characteristics.  It aims to reconnect people with the land where their food is grown.  It’s a partnership between farmers and members of the local community.  The economic risks and benefits are shared between those who grow the food and those who consume it.   

Local food

It’s all part of an expanding grassroots movement found across Europe, Japan, the US and Australia.  It comes in many different shapes and sizes – from large farms supplying produce to hundreds of regular subscribers to small community food-growing projects like ours at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.

It can be hard work, as it nearly always requires some voluntary input.  But the common thread running through every single initiative is a willingness to co-operate over food production, to connect with the land and to commit to working with the seasons to produce a steady supply of local food.

And that’s why those of us who belong to Camel Community Supported Agriculture are proud to be part of this growing movement.

Seasonal recipe No 36 – Potato cake with thyme

From Nigel Slater’s Tender cookbook. “Good with lamb,” he says.

Enough for 6

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 50 minutes

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes (floury are best)
90g butter
leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme

Method
Set the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly. They should be so thin that you are almost able to see through them. If you tend to work slowly, put the sliced potatoes into a bowl of cold water to prevent them browning.

Melt the butter, then brush some of it on to the bottom and sides of a loaf tin (or use a round, solid-based tin). Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper, leaving a little extra overlapping the sides to get hold of when you come to turn out the cake. Cover the bottom of the tin with slices of potato, brush with more butter and season with salt, pepper, and a light sprinkling of thyme leaves. Continue layering the potatoes, adding the butter and seasonings every two or three layers, until you have used them all up. Pour any remaining butter over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, till the top is golden and a skewer can be inserted effortlessly into the layers of tender potato.

To serve, lift the potato cake out by holding both long sides of the greaseproof paper and pulling upwards. Cut into six pieces. If it falls apart, and well it might, just push the slices back together.

White sprouting broccoli in this week’s veg boxes

White sprouting broccoli is just one of the seasonal brassicas in our boxes this week.

Everyone will have:
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm)
white sprouting broccoli (Rest Harrow Farm)
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)
parsnip (Rest Harrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will have larger quantities of some of the above, plus:
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
swede (Rest Harrow Farm)
kale (Rest Harrow Farm)

And large boxes will also have:
white cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
* pak choi (Jeremy Brown)

* = grown to organic principles

What we’re growing for the veg boxes this year

Now the moment everyone’s been waiting for.  We can finally reveal what’s going to be in Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s vegetable boxes from June onwards. 

There’s a fantastic selection to look forward to.  Our own volunteer growing team will be cultivating a variety of root crops, salad leaves and herbs on our plot behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop at St Kew Highway.  

Our own share of the harvest will include early carrots, broad beans, parsnips, beetroot, radish, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, self-blanching celery, bulb fennel, sweetcorn, salad leaves, Swiss chard, perpetual spinach, parsley and coriander. 

Our team of three expert growers will be providing the bulk of the other vegetables, apart from winter brassicas and main crop potatoes.  Between them, they’re growing a tremendous variety.

Organic

Jane Mellowship, who gave birth to Daisy in February, is concentrating solely on growing in her polytunnel on the coast at New Polzeath.  She’s supplying early spring onions, French beans and chilli peppers.

Mark Norman has a permanent bed system and a polytunnel on his sloping, south-facing plot on the eastern outskirts of Bodmin.  He’s planning to supply quantities of runner beans, main crop carrots, courgettes, garlic, kohl rabi, leeks, onions, spring onions, early potatoes, squash, pumpkin, swede, peppers and blackcurrants. 

Jeremy Brown grows vegetables for his business at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on land and in polytunnels adjoining the shop.  This year he’s also cultivating some autumn raspberries and strawberries.

He’ll provide the veg boxes with main crop French beans, purple sprouting broccoli, main crop carrots, courgettes, leeks, onions, spring onions, peas, early potatoes, squash, pumpkins, turnip, cucumber, tomatoes and basil. 

All the crops listed above will be grown to organic principles.

CSA members will also be harvesting dessert and culinary apples from the orchard we’ve adopted at West End, St Mabyn.  These will be used for juicing as well as eating.

Local

Once again, we hope to buy in autumn and winter brassicas from Richard Hore, who cultivates a range of all-season crops for his own veg stall at Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick.

He’ll be supplying us with Brussels sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, calabrese, summer and winter cabbage, cauliflower and kale from his fields close to the Camel estuary.

Next winter we aim to get main crop potatoes from Johnny Brown (Jeremy’s Dad) at Benbole Farm, St Kew Highway and from Colin and James Mutton at Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn.

If we fall short of filling the boxes with a good variety or if the box numbers rise significantly, it’s possible we might need to buy in extra quantities from other small-scale local suppliers.

Seasonal recipe No 35 – Tagliatelle with crème fraîche and rocket

This very simple recipe is from the River Café Cook Book Easy. Something with which to remember Rose Gray, co-founder along with Ruth Rogers of the iconic River Café and one of Britain’s most influential modern chefs and cookery writers, who died on 28 February 2010.

Serves 4

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 12 minutes

Ingredients
320g egg tagliatelle
250ml crème fraîche
2 lemons
150g rocket leaves
150g parmesan

Method
Finely grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice. Roughly chop the rocket. Grate the parmesan.

Put the crème fraîche in a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and zest, and season.

Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and return to the pan. Pour over the sauce, add the rocket and half the parmesan. Toss to combine.

Serve with the remaining parmesan.

Seasonal veg in this week’s boxes

This week everyone will have:
potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
carrots (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)
* rocket (Jeremy Brown)
kale (Rest Harrow Farm)
swede (Rest Harrow Farm)

Medium boxes will get larger quantities of some of the above plus:
* coriander (Jeremy)
savoy cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
white sprouting broccoli (Rest Harrow Farm)

And large boxes will also have:
* pak choi (Jeremy)
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)

* = grown to organic principles