How Camel CSA deals with veg gluts and surpluses

I love autumn. And there’s no better time of year to be involved in a community agriculture project.

The veg boxes are bursting with our own-grown Cornish produce – including delicacies like raddichio and fresh borlotti beans.

At this moment my kitchen is filling with a tantalising spicy aroma -  a mix of allspice, ginger, pepper, brown sugar, vinegar - coming from a large pan of chutney bubbling on the stove.

The green tomato and apple chutney is being made with our surplus produce – using unripe tomatoes from the polytunnel, apples from our adopted orchard and onions and garlic from our dry store.

Other Camel CSA members are also busy making pickles and preserves from other vegetables. Henrietta has a garage full of runner bean chutney, turnip pickle and tomato marmalade. Cath’s about to start producing chilli oil (oh boy, do we have a glut of chillis!)

We’re not doing anything new, of course. Preserving is a traditional way of using up fruit and veg surpluses that helps provide some variety in the winter months and during the “hungry gap” in spring.

So look out for all these delicious goodies as they start appearing from Christmas onwards in our weekly veg boxes.

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We’re enjoying a glut of fresh, seasonal vegetables

Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes are overflowing with a bumper harvest from our community vegetable plot in north Cornwall.

We can hardly keep up with the pace of growth. The cucumbers, basil, coriander and rocket in our first new polytunnel are racing ahead.

The tomatoes in the second polytunnel, grown by the lasagne gardening method, are almost ready to harvest.

There are over 100 tomato plants in there, flanked by aubergines, sweet peppers and about 40 chilli plants.

On the field the peas are swelling by the minute, while the first of the outdoor french beans and mange tout peas will be available in the boxes this Friday.

We’ve at long last picked all the broad beans.

The brassicas are also doing brilliantly – calabrese, summer sprouting broccoli and purple kale. We’ve even managed to grow some mouth-watering kohlrabi!

Unfortunately the alternate sunshine and showery weather means it’s a good year for weeds as well - and it’s proving difficult to keep up wth the weeding as so many of our regular volunteers are away on holiday.

Next year we’re determined instigate a strict mulching regime to enable us to manage the growth and keep them at bay.

 But at least we’ve been able to start drying out our vast crop of onions.

Watch the video: How Camel CSA is helping make local food work

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