Camel CSA members carry on sowing, growing, planting

Cornish growers have experienced weather conditions ranging from drought to monsoon in a matter of days. Our own team has been alternately watering thirsty crops and wading through sticky mud.

The extended dry spell in Cornwall means we’re a little behind with some tasks. However the recent rain has enabled us to sow more peas, beans, parsnips, radishes, beetroot and carrot directly into the ground and plant out broccoli, cabbage, bunched onions, Swiss chard, lettuces, turnips and parsley.

The kohlrabi hasn’t germinated well outdoors, so we’re about to sow some in modules, along with more cabbage, Brussels sprouts, calabrese, celeriac and purple sprouting broccoli. We’ve also sown hundreds of winter squash seeds.

Salad leaves, french beans, leek seedlings, spring onions and baby beetroot are thriving in the polytunnel, though the indoor carrots aren’t doing so well.

Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes rely heavily at this time of year on fresh supplies bought in directly from other local farmers and growers who’ve built up strong relationships with us. This mutually beneficial approach is all part of being a CSA.

They include Cornish asparagus produced by the Derrymans at Lower Croan, Sladesbridge; cauliflower and spring greens from Richard Hore of Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick; leeks and spinach from Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest; potatoes from Johnny Brown of Benbole Farm, St Kew Highway and James Mutton of Burlerrow, St Mabyn; rhubarb and mung beans (sprouted in his linen cupboard!) from Mark Norman in Bodmin.

In the aftermath of a long, hard winter it’s become more and more difficult to source fresh, seasonal veg grown within this 10-mile radius. When forced to cast our net county-wide we buy from Growfair Cornwall. But at least we’ve kept this side of the Tamar!

Fortunately our own early salad crops are sprouting fast.

Our volunteer picking and packing team spend some time every Friday morning cutting individual lettuce leaves from the polytunnel and outdoor-grown oriental greens – including spicy mustard, mizuna and mibuna - before bagging them up for the boxes.

The other immediate jobs involve covering the second polytunnel to house the tomatoes, completing the small seeding tunnel and getting the roof and windows finished on the potting shed.

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Job opportunity: partnership development coordinator for Camel Community Supported Agriculture

UPDATE: This vacancy has now been filled

Camel CSA is seeking to employ a committed and enthusiastic person who can help us build strong links within our local community in north Cornwall.

We’re looking for someone who can initiate and develop partnership agreements with schools, charities and special interest groups to increase practical awareness of the main aims of our community vegetable-growing project.

The partnership development coordinator will arrange and host group training visits to our two-acre plot at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge, where we cultivate our own vegetables to organic principles and operate a weekly veg box scheme.

The position is initially for a six-month fixed term, 12 hours a week.

“This post will suit someone who’s an excellent communicator and committed to the objectives of the Making Local Food Work programme,” said Camel CSA secretary Mike Sadler.

“S/he will need to have an understanding of basic horticultural principles as well as environmental and sustainability issues. In addition they must have a flexible approach to working, be able to operate on their own initiative and to deal with people of all ages and backgrounds.”

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 26 April 2011. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 4 May.

This position has been part-funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food Programme.            

View the detailed job description (pdf)
Download an application form (pdf)

See the job advert at environmentjob.co.uk

Follow us on Twitter
View our Facebook page

Food co-op looks for a co-ordinator - Cornish Guardian

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We’re determined to stop the dock weeds spreading

The onslaught on the dock weeds continues. Picking and packing team members helped out expert grower Mark Norman after he spent four solitary hours digging up the worst of them.

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Camel CSA members get on with spring growing jobs

We’ve lots of activity to report from our community veg plot at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.

• BBC Inside Out South West has been to film us about initiatives to keep rural communities alive.
• We’ve begun digging up the ground inside the newly-covered polytunnel so we can sow early carrots,
  French beans, beetroot and salad crops. Cold frames are also under construction.
• We’ve planted two rows of Jerusalem artichokes, sown additional salad leaves in modules and pricked
  out the parsley seedlings.
• We’re continuing our onslaught on the dock weeds in the brassica beds.

Not bad for a mixed bunch of volunteers! Thanks to Bob, Bridget, Charlotte, Gav, Jane, Kitty, Mark M, Mark N, Mike S, Sophie. Also veg box packers Anne, Jenny, Penny, Robert, Trish, and Max (aged 5).

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Seasonal local veg in this week’s boxes

This week everyone will have:
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes (Benbole Farm, St Kew)
white sprouting broccoli (Restharrow Farm)
red cabbage (Restharrow Farm)
savoy cabbage (Growfair, Cornwall)
* jerusalem artichokes (Jeremy Brown, St Kew Harvest)
lettuce (Growfair)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes and onions plus:
* leeks (Jeremy)
cauliflower (Growfair)
spring greens (Growfair)

* = grown to organic principles

Update: The boxes also contain a small bag of bean sprouts cultivated by Camel CSA expert grower Mark Norman in his linen cupboard! He did this as an experiment and is keen to grow some more. So please let us have your feedback. As there’s only a small amount, he suggests you try them sprinkled on top of salad or in a sandwich.

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We’ve raised the roof on the first large polytunnel

Camel CSA’s growing team has got the cover on the first of our three polytunnels. At long last we can start planting the early carrots, beetroot and salad crops.

A HUGE thank you to the volunteers who braved grey skies and a biting easterly wind to get the job done.

Expert growers Jane, Jeremy B and Mark N led team members Bob, Bridget, Cath, Charlotte, Danny and Mark M plus Finn (7), Keira (5) and Max (5).

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Seasonal local food recipe No 83: Smoked haddock and parsnip fishcakes

From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. Good with a sharp tartare sauce or mustard mayonnaise, she says. They freeze well, so you can make lots in one go.

For 8 fishcakes

Preparation and cooking: 40 minutes

Ingredients
½ onion, chopped
75g streaky bacon, chopped
300g smoked haddock
1 bay leaf
6 cloves
275 milk
150g parsnips, chopped
150g potatoes, chopped
10g butter
chopped parsley
1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
salt and black pepper
seasoned flour
1 egg, beaten
80g white breadcrumbs
olive oil, for frying

Method
Cook the onion with the bacon over a moderate heat for 10 minutes and put to one side.
Put the smoked haddock into a pan, together with the bay leaf and cloves. Pour over the milk, cover and bring to the boil. As soon as the milk boils, remove from the heat and allow the fish to cool in the liquid.

Boil or steam the parsnips and potatoes together until they are tender. Mash them with the butter and a dash of the boiled milk and season well.

Combine the onions, bacon, mashed potatoes and parships, parsley and chilli, if using. Barely flake the fish, and fold carefully into the vegetable mixture. The fishcakes are far nicer if the flakes of fish are intact. Adjust the seasoning.

Dust your hand with seasoned flour and shape balls of the mixture into cakes. Dip these into the beaten egg and coat with the breadcrumbs.

Shallow-fry in the olive oil until golden or bake for 15-20 minutes in an oven preheated to 180C/gas mark 4. They can be made in advance and kept on a baking tray in the fridge until you want to cook them.

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Seasonal Cornish veg in our boxes this week

Small and standard boxes will all have:
potatoes (Benbole Farm, St Kew)
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
savoy cabbage (Restharrow Farm)
* garlic (Camel CSA)
* parsnips (Camel CSA)
cauliflower (Celtic Produce)

Standard boxes will also have extra potatoes, onions and garlic plus:
* leeks (Jeremy Brown, St Kew Harvest)
* jerusalem artichokes (Jeremy)
swede (Celtic Produce)

The beetroot delivered by Celtic Produce turned out to be from Spain, not Cornwall. So box share members are being given the option to take a bunch only if they want it.

* = grown to organic principles

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Seasonal local food recipe No 81: Onions stewed in wine

This is a classic recipe from Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. It’s a dish to make, she says, ‘when you have a glass of wine, red, white, rosé, sweet, dry or aromatic (ie some sort of vermouth) to spare’.

Serves 4-6

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 1½ hours

Ingredients
6-8 onions, all the same size
1 tbsp olive oil
small glass of wine
water
salt and pepper

Method
Peel the onions and put them with the olive oil in a thick pan in which they just fit comfortably. Start them off over a moderate flame and, when the oil is beginning to sizzle, pour in a small glass of wine. Let it boil fiercely for a few seconds. Add water to come half-way up the onions. Transfer to a low oven and cook uncovered for about 1½ hours. Put back on top of the stove over a fast flame for 2 or 3 minutes, until the wine sauce is thick and syrupy. Season. Serve as a separate vegetable, or round a roast.

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Seasonal Cornish veg in this week’s boxes

Including – some will be pleased to hear – the last of the season’s jerusalem artichokes …

Small boxes will have:
potatoes (Benbole Farm)
* parsnips (Mark Norman)
onions (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
curly kale (Restharrow Farm)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm)
* jerusalem artichokes (Camel CSA)

Standard boxes will have the same including extra potatoes and onions plus
carrots (Restharrow Farm)
swede (Restharrow Farm)
* leeks (Jeremy Brown, St Kew Harvest)

* = grown to organic principles

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