The challenges of growing your own veg

It’s proved an uphill task to cultivate vegetables during this long spell of hot, dry weather. Some very welcome rain is now on the way, but the pace of growing has been very slow. 

In the meantime our volunteer growers have been forced to water in the newly-sown seeds and seedlings by hand, which is a thoroughly time-consuming process.

The upside is that the annual weeds have been easier to keep at bay.  This hasn’t prevented the growing team from having to take it in turns to handweed endless rows of tiny carrots and parsnips – not the most popular of jobs!

Over the past few weeks we’ve planted carrots, parsnips, sweetcorn, Swiss chard, perpetual spinach, beetroot, celeriac, self-blanching celery, salad leaves and bee borage. We’re about to sow some bulb fennel, parsley and coriander.

The over-wintered broad beans are cropping well and the Jerusalem artichokes are growing strongly.  The borage is showing its intense blue blossom and beginning to attract lots of bees.

The remainder of the summer crops for our weekly veg boxes are being cultivated mostly by our three expert growers – Jeremy Brown at St Kew Harvest, Jane Mellowship in New Polzeath and Mark Norman in Bodmin.

We’re also buying in delicious Cornish strawberries from pick-your-own Treworder Fruit at Treworder Barton, Egloshayle, Wadebridge.

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You’re never too young to grow your own

One of Camel CSA’s expert growers has been showing St Mabyn Toddler Group how to grow their own food.

Jane Mellowship’s been helping out on the Cornwall Pre-School Learning Alliance Healthy Tots project, which has support from the Big Lottery Local Food programme.

The green-fingered toddlers and their mothers are sowing and growing a variety of veg seeds and plants in containers outside St Mabyn Village Hall – including potatoes, spring onions, lettuces, runner beans, radishes, tomatoes and carrots.

Jenny Ahern, the Pre-School Learning Alliance development worker for north Cornwall said:

The purpose of the project is to bring parents and children together to demonstrate how foods can be grown in a variety of ways and how you don’t need a large garden to do that.

Jane’s been brilliant. It’s been so much fun. It’s proved how easy it is to grow your own veg, how simple it is and what a difference it makes.

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Seasonal recipe No 50: Double beetroot and apple salad

This quick and refreshing salad is ideal for people who don’t like the after-taste of raw onion. It comes from a useful little book called Seasonal Salads by Paddy Byrne and David Scott, founders of  the renowned Everyman Bistro in Liverpool. ”Raw beetroot and cooked beetroot have very different flavours and texture and this salad cleverly makes use of both,” they say.

Serves 4

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients
1 large cooked beetroot (or several small ones) peeled and grated
1 large raw beetroot (or several small ones) peeled and grated
1 large eating apple, cored and cut into thin matchsticks
juice of half a lemon
5ml (1 tsp) grated lemon peel
25ml vegetable oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Method
Reserve a little of both types of beetroot and mix the remainder with the apple.  Add the lemon juice, oil and salt and pepper to taste and toss the salad. Mix the lemon peel with the reserved beetroot and use it to garnish the salad.

Variation
Those people who don’t care for the taste of raw beetroot could try it with just par-boiled beetroot.  Cook raw beetroot in plenty of water until the outer skin will just rub off. Now drain them and cool under running water until they are quite cold. The centres remain bright red and crisp while the outer areas are softer and a darker ruby red. Grate the beetroot and continue as directed in the recipe.

Try these other beetroot dishes from Camel CSA’s recommended recipes.

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The year’s first courgettes in the veg boxes

As we complete our first year of veg boxes, we’ll be getting some tasty treats this week – including beetroot and courgettes from Mark Norman in Bodmin and Cornish strawberries from Treworder Fruit at Treworder Barton, Egloshayle, Wadebridge.

Small boxes will have:
* new potatoes (St Kew Harvest)
* lettuce (Camel CSA/St Kew Harvest)
* beetroot (Mark Norman)
* courgettes (Mark)
Cornish strawberries (Treworder Fruit)
* cabbage/spring greens (St Kew Harvest)

Standard boxes will also have:
* extra new potatoes (St Kew Harvest)
* broad beans (Camel CSA)
* cauliflower (Mark)
* turnips (Mark)

* = grown to organic principles

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Fun and games on Open Farm Sunday

Our Open Farm Sunday event was a real success. Great fun was had by all – especially the children.

Around 80 people came to visit us, nearly half of them children, not counting our own members and their families.

Many thanks to everyone who did baking, making, cooking, carving, crafting, preparing, explaining, erecting, dismantling and all the other assorted tasks necessary to get the day up and running (and down again).

Special mention should go to Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest, who got up at the crack of dawn to get the hog roast going. It was melt-in-the-mouth delicious! 

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Seasonal recipe No 49: Bacon, potato and mushroom gratin

Thanks again to Henrietta Danvers for this week’s recipe – a Good Housekeeping one that makes good use of the new potatoes in our boxes.

Serves 2

Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes

Ingredients
250g new potatoes
salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
125g bacon, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
125g button mushrooms
125g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method
Cook the potatoes and drain. Heat the olive oil and cook the onion and bacon, then add the mushrooms. Transfer to a gratin dish and stir in the potatoes. Season and spread the grated cheese on top. Grill until the cheese is bubbling. Serve.

For a vegetarian variation, replace the bacon with sliced leeks and add fresh herbs such as thyme and a little rosemary.

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Tasty chard in the veg boxes

… as well as more of the mixed basil, baby carrots and other spring vegetables, all supplied by two of Camel CSA’s expert growers – Mark Norman of Bodmin and Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest.

* new potatoes (Mark)
* carrots (Mark)
* Swiss chard (Jeremy)
* salad bag (Jeremy)
* basil (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will also get:
* extra potatoes
* calabrese (Mark)
* spring greens (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles

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Open Farm Sunday – come and join us

We’re celebrating Open Farm Sunday at Camel Community Supported Agriculture AND St Kew Harvest Farm Shop in north Cornwall this Sunday 13 June 12.30 – 5pm.

This is a joint event aimed at promoting locally-grown food and produce. We’re neighbours, so come and find us behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop beside the A39 at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge. 

Join in family fun & games, guided tours, nature quiz, vegetable box raffle.  Refreshments include a home-reared hog roast, veggie BBQ, home-made cakes, hot & cold drinks.

Camel Community Supported Agriculture is a co-operative group. We grow fresh, seasonal vegetables for our members to share through our weekly veg box scheme.

At St Kew Harvest Farm they cultivate their own fruit and vegetables without any chemicals or pesticides in the fields next to the shop. They also raise their own free-range Gloucester Old Spot pigs.

Join in the fun and games
12:30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers
13:30 Tai Chi for kids / tomato toss, bull’s eye, Mr Potato Heads
14:30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers
15:30 Tai Chi for kids / tomato toss, bull’s eye, Mr Potato Heads
16.30 Guided tour / lettuce planting, make bee nests & bird scarers

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Seasonal recipe No 48: Baby carrots with lemon & thyme

A simply delicious way of cooking new-season carrots from Henrietta Danvers, one of Camel CSA’s picking and packing volunteers.

Serves 6

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

Ingredients
750g baby carrots, tops off
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped finely
Juice of half a lemon
25g butter
500ml vegetable stock

Method
Scrub the carrots and leave them whole. Bring the stock to the boil in a heavy-bottomed pan, then add the butter and lemon juice. When the butter has melted, add the whole carrots and cook for five minutes. Take out the carrots with a slotted spoon and pour some of the liquid into another container (keep for soup). Retain about 1ml of stock in the bottom of the pan and reduce it over a high heat. Pop the carrots back into the pan to coat them with the remaining liquid. Sprinkle on the chopped thyme leaves and serve.

Update 

Glad we agree on this one: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s cookery column in the Guardian this weekend features – guess what – new-season carrot recipes.  “There’s not much that heralds the onset of summer as much as a new-season carrot - so get grating, chopping, roasting, even baking now,” he says.

We will, Hugh, we will…

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Join in the fun and games on Open Farm Sunday

There’s lots of things to see and do this Sunday beside our plot at St Kew Highway. Join in the fun and games with us and our neighbours St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on Open Farm Sunday.

Refreshments include a free-range home-reared hog roast, hot & cold drinks and home-made cake. 

Everyone welcome. See you there!

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