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Crunchy carrots
Posted on October 25th, 2009 No commentsWe can enjoy our very own carrots in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week. We also have the apples we picked last Sunday in St Mabyn.
All that tender loving care has paid off! All those painstaking hours spent handweeding carrot beds suddenly seem worthwhile.
We’ve already taken delivery of our share of the harvest. So, as they say, this list is just for the record…
In the small boxes: -
*carrots (Camel CSA)
*onions (Camel CSA)
*leeks (Mark Norman)
*peppers (Jeremy Brown)
*salad bag (Jane Mellowship)
*apples – Lord Hindlip (Charlotte Barry)
potatoes (Burlerrow, St Mabyn)
kale (Rest Harrow, Trebetherick)Medium boxes also have:
*parsnips (Camel CSA)
calabrese or tenderstem broccoli (Rest Harrow, Trebetherick)* = grown to organic principles
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Seasonal recipe No 15 – Indian-spiced warm tenderstem and carrot salad
Posted on October 9th, 2009 No commentsThere are more recipes for using your tenderstem broccoli on the tenderstem website.
Serves: 4
Preparation and cooking time:
less than 10 minutesIngredients
200g tenderstem broccoli
3 medium carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
2tbsp black mustard seeds
1 heaped tsp garam masala
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
chopped coriander to serveMethod
Shave the carrots lengthways into long strips using a vegetable peeler. Steam or boil the tenderstem broccoli for about 2 minutes until almost tender, then add the carrot strips for 1 minute.While the vegetables are cooking, add the olive oil to a small frying pan and gently fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Once they start popping, add the garam masala and ground cumin. Give the pan a quick shake to mix and then tip into a small clean bowl before the spices start to burn. Squeeze over the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the tenderstem and carrots and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle generously with chopped coriander and serve immediately.
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How we’re securing veg supply
Posted on August 20th, 2009 No commentsCamel Community Supported Agriculture is starting to source vegetables from outside suppliers. Up until now the contents of our weekly veg boxes have come from our own site at St Kew Highway and from our three expert growers.
Our business plan allows us to buy in up to 40% of box contents over the course of a year, but during the rest of Year Zero we may have to increase that proportion. Provided our bid for external funding is successful, this should not need to happen in the future.This new move has led to some debate among members. It’s proved impossible to source sufficient organic vegetable supplies within a 30-mile radius. However we are in contact with some reliable small-scale local suppliers whose vegetables are not grown to organic principles.
Compromise
So we have a dilemma. Do we insist on organically-grown vegetables that could come from afar or do we buy local vegetables that may not be organic?
Either way, we have to compromise: either by clocking up extra food miles or temporarily abandoning our organic food-growing principles.
We’ve been sounding out the views of members at our recent volunteering sessions and over the ether. The response has been interesting.
With a couple of exceptions, members feel they would rather eat local food that is not strictly organic provided it comes from within our own immediate community in north Cornwall. They don’t like the idea of clocking up food miles by using suppliers who are some distance away – maybe as far as east Devon. Local food
Ideally, the membership would like to source organic veg locally but realise this is not practicable in the short term. They say they’d rather keep our veg box scheme going over the winter months and use the opportunity to start building up important local networks of small vegetable growers.
Some responses from our members: -
“Very happy with that – a pragmatic response to a short term problem.”
“We would definitely support the option of buying in local non-organic veg over shipping it in from further afield or taking a box holiday.”
“Buy from local, especially small-scale local, rather than organic from further afield if necessary (fewer food miles).”
“We’d be happy with local produce even if not totally organic rather than shipping it in.”
Green manure
Our volunteer teams have been busy weeding row after row of carrots. We’ve also begun the laborious task of pulling up the plastic mulch from the disused strawberry beds in preparation for sowing a crop of green manure. Thanks to Sunday’s volunteers – expert growers Jeremy and Mark N, helped by Carmen, Charlotte, Danny, Ian, Kitty, Mike H and Mike S, plus Finn aged five and three-year-old Keira.
A special mention to Steve, who singlehandedly weeded a whole 29-metre-long carrot bed on Friday. Trish masterminded the packing of the boxes along with pickers Charlotte, Mike H and Penny.
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What’s in the boxes
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 No commentsThis Friday’s veg boxes from Camel Community Supported Agriculture will include more of those wonderful baby carrots that went down so well last week.
The small box will contain: -
- potatoes
- onion
- peas
- carrots
- beetroot
- courgettes
- lettuce or 100g salad bag
- 1/2 cucumber
- spring onions
- radishes
The standard box will contain all these vegetables in larger quantities plus Swiss chard, turnips, a whole cucumber and a 140g salad bag rather than a lettuce.
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Sweet baby carrots
Posted on July 16th, 2009 No comments
Camel CSA - small veg boxes
We can expect some baby carrots in this week’s share of the harvest at Camel CSA. Try them for our Big Lunch!
Expert grower Jane Mellowship says:
“Here is the list of veg expected to go in the boxes on Friday.
Small box (£5): potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, spring onions, Swiss chard, broad beans, small salad bag
Standard box (£8): potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, spring onions, Swiss chard, broad beans, large salad bag plus cabbage, cucumber, chives
Of course this could be subject to change!”
Please remember to return your empty vegetable box when you collect your fresh one on Friday.
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Our veg boxes are tops!
Posted on July 5th, 2009 No commentsWe’ve had an enthusiastic response from our members to Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first vegetable boxes. This is despite some teething problems with distribution.
Tony says:
Our first standard veg box
“The box looks fantastic! We’re looking forward to next week’s already.”
John and Cathy are delighted with the quality:
“The cucumber which was sweet and fresh and the lettuce and onion we used in a salad.”
They like the wide and interesting variety of vegetables and have found new ways of using them:
”The beet greens we cooked almost like a spinach or spring greens and had with fish - better than spinach – along with broad beans and potatoes.
The beets will be roasted and eaten with a lamb casserole with the rest of the onion, turnips and courgettes and we will try your broad bean soup. Nothing wasted.”
In the end, both small and standard boxes contained potatoes, broad beans, beetroot, turnip, cucumber and onions. Standard boxes had a salad pack and small boxes a lollo rosso lettuce. In addition, standard boxes contained Swiss chard and courgettes. There wasn’t enough time to pick parsley.
We have a glut of broad beans, so each box was given an extra £4-worth at shop prices! We don’t yet have our own poly tunnel, so our three expert growers – Jane, Jeremy and Mark – supplied the salad bags, lettuce, courgettes and cucumber.
New team
Grateful thanks to our volunteer picking and packing team of expert grower Mark Norman, Mike H, Penny, Robert and Trish. Mark says:” It’s great to see some new faces. I hope the boxes going out means that we’ll see even more volunteers next week.
As first boxes they are excellent. I hope we can keep the variety going.”
If you would like to volunteer, either picking and packing or planting and cultivating, just turn up on a Friday or Sunday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon.
Compost bin
This Sunday we constructed a compost bin from wooden pallets lashed together with binder twine. At long last we have somewhere to dump the annual weeds, unwanted plant tops and thinnings.
A great deal of effort was devoted to the backbreaking job of cutting down the remaining dock leaves to stop them going to seed and spreading all over the site. We were grateful there were so many of us to share this potentially soul-destroying task!We weeded the Swiss chard, carrots and brussels sprouts. We planted more radishes to replace the ones which had gone to seed in the hot weather.
A big thank you to expert growers Jane and Mark N and Charlotte, Danny, Ian, Mark M, Mike H, Mike S.
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Reap the rewards
Posted on June 24th, 2009 No commentsIt’s that moment we’ve all been waiting for! We’re about to harvest some of our own food.
Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first vegetable boxes will be ready on Friday 3 July. Any member who would like to share in the harvest should contact our treasurer Cathy Fairman as soon as possible.
The first boxes have been allocated to members who have paid in advance. They will be ready to collect on Friday 3 July from St Kew Harvest Farm Shop at any time between 12 noon and 5 p.m. Cathy says:
“We are all hoping that these boxes will meet expectations. Please, please, if for any reason you are not totally happy let us know. We really want to get this right so your input is crucial.”
We also need volunteers to pick vegetables and pack the boxes. Cathy adds:
“We will be picking and packing the vegetables on Friday mornings. Times will vary and we would like to form a rota of volunteers to help the growers in this. Any members who would be able to help please let me know.”
Volunteer growers
If any members would like to help on the site at St Kew Highway outside the normal volunteer times on Thursday and Sunday mornings, please contact expert grower Jeremy Brown on 07971762227 or phone St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on 01208 841818. There’s lots to do as usual!
Last Sunday we constructed more growing beds, spread compost, sowed extra carrots, did loads of hand weeding, spread concentrated chicken manure on the potatoes and dug up scores of dock leaves that were threatening to go to seed.
Many thanks to expert growers Jane and Jeremy B and to volunteer members Carolyn, Cath, Charlotte, Diana, Mark M and Mike S.
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Jobs for Sunday 14 June
Posted on June 13th, 2009 No comments
There’s a great deal to do at Camel Community Supported Agriculture this Sunday as the growing season continues apace.As expert grower Jeremy Brown explains: -
There are runner beans to plant out and French beans to sow. We also need to sow some more rows of carrots.
Everything needs weeding – the carrots (yet again!), the parsley and celeriac… But the onions are okay.
The early potatoes also need weeding and ridging up. The peas need supporting and tying up.
Just turn up to join the team on our site at St Kew Highway between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
If you can’t manage Sunday, why not come to our new mid-week volunteer session every Thursday morning at the same time? Or ring Jeremy Brown on 07971762227 if you’d like to help out another day.
Mid-summer celebration for members
Don’t forget it’s our mid-summer barbeque next Saturday 20 June in St Mabyn from 6 p.m. onwards. Please contact Charlotte Barry if you can come at charlotte.barry@btinternet.com so we have an idea of how many people to expect. Everyone is asked to bring some food for the barbeque, a drink and a seasonal side dish or pudding. Don’t forget to bring your own plate and cutlery as well!
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They deserve a medal!
Posted on May 26th, 2009 No commentsWe’re having an extra mid-week volunteer session on Thursday as there’s so much work to do at Camel Community Supported Agriculture. Charlotte, Kitty and Mike S have already put their names forward.
We need to plant out brassicas, celeriac, parsley and spring onion plants and, if we have time, sow sweetcorn and squash seeds.If you’re able to give a hand, we’ll be on the site this Thursday 28 May between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Click here for directions.
If you can’t make it on Thursday morning, why not give expert grower Jeremy Brown a ring on 07971762227 to find out when else it might be convenient to help out.
Medals all round
Last Sunday’s team deserves special praise. Everyone got down on their knees and hand weeded.
The onion, shallot and Swiss chard beds were comparatively easy to tackle, but weeding the carrots by hand was an exacting and extremely fiddly job. The air was blue at times. We’ll savour every single one of those carrots when they appear in our weekly vegetable boxes!Grateful thanks to volunteer expert growers Jane, Jeremy and Mark and to their willing helpers – Beverley, Cath, Carolyn, Charlotte, John, Kitty, Mike H and Mike S.
There’s so much effort going into preparing the first vegetable shares, which should start to be available in mid-June. A lot of thought is being given to when and how they will be picked, packed and distributed.
We’ll be working on the site as usual next Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Do come along and enjoy the fresh air and exercise. It’s not all hard work. It’s good company – and fun too.
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Jobs for Sunday
Posted on May 8th, 2009 No commentsA message for anyone planning to volunteer this weekend from Jane Mellowship, one of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s expert growers.
“Just to let you know the jobs for this Sunday.
“There are lettuce and leeks to sow in the potting shed and out in the field we need to transplant brassicas and chard.
“A second sowing of beetroot can be made and, as long as the weather is good and a bed can be formed with the tractor, a second sowing of carrots. Other than that, weeding the onion beds and probably the peas.
“See you Sunday.”
Last Sunday a bunch of around 10 volunteers got a lot more weeding done, but had to replant a row of brassica seedlings that had been devastated by another predator. We should probably blame the resident pheasant this time, as it left tell-tale beak marks and foot prints!
The second sowing of peas that replaced the 30-metre row eaten by slugs is now emerging safely under a protective fleece.
Many thanks to volunteers Beverley, Cath, Charlotte, Mark N, Mike H, Mike S, Jane, Jeremy B, John and Kitty.
This Sunday turn up any time between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Remember to bring strong shoes or wellies, waterproofs, gardening gloves, drinks and a snack. Also tools, ideally wheelbarrows, shovels, spades, forks and rakes. If the weather’s good you might need suncream and a hat!
Click here for directions to the site. If you have any questions call Antonina at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on 01208 841818.
