Our veg box scheme is a year old

Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first veg boxes were distributed exactly a year ago today.

Over the last 12 months our volunteer picking and packing team have braved extreme conditions - frost, snow, hail, gales, mud, rain and shine - to prepare the weekly vegetable boxes for our members.

Together with our growers and local suppliers in north Cornwall they ensure that the quality of the veg box contents remains of a consistently high standard.

Between us we’re growing a fantastic variety of fresh seasonal vegetables.

Our veg box scheme has vacancies for new members. So if you’re interested in a regular weekly supply of locally-grown food, please contact us.

We’ll make sure you feel very welcome.

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

A little help from our friends

Our visitors from Trevalon Organic Co-operative set to work on Sunday and gave us some very welcome assistance on the veg plot. 

It’s amazing what a team of dedicated vegetable growers can do in a short time. They helped us get through all our weeding, watering, planting and sowing chores.

In the blazing sunshine we sowed plenty of carrot seed and planted out bee borage. But we decided not to risk planting out the celery in such hot, dry conditions.

At the same time we exchanged news and views about organic cultivation methods, how to make local food work and the growing number of community supported agriculture schemes here in the south-west.

Many thanks to all five members of the Trevalon group who’d travelled from Herodsfoot, led by landowner Mark Simon.

Camel CSA’s expert growers Jane, Jeremy B and Mark N organised our own volunteer growing team of Charlotte, Danny, Kitty, Mark M, Mike S, Rebecca and Tess.

We deserved our al fresco lunch, when we were all joined by fellow Camel CSA volunteers Dan, Kate, Penny, Robert and Theresa.  Plus members of our junior wing – Brooke, Carla, Finn, Keira and Seth along with babes-in-arms Daisy and Hollie.

They’re springing up everywhere!

The number of community supported agriculture projects like ours is increasing all the time, notably in other parts of the far south-west of England.

Members of the newly-formed Trevalon Organic Co-operative at Herodsfoot near Liskeard in east Cornwall are coming to see us during our volunteer growing session next Sunday. 

They’re hoping to get a perspective on how we’ve achieved our 50-strong membership and and built up a list of more than 30 weekly veg boxes in just over a year.

St Just Allotment and Growers Association and Lands End Peninsula Community Land Trust have just secured an 18-month land lease from Cornwall Council to set up Bosavern Community Farm at St Just in west Cornwall.  They want to set up a CSA to prevent this 36-acre organic farm from going into private ownership and to keep it in perpetuity for the benefit of the local community.  

In Devon, Chagford Community Agriculture members have got planning permission from the Dartmoor National Park Authority for three polytunnels and two sheds.  This means the project is now eligible for £38,600 of funding from the Lottery Local Food Fund.

The newly-formed Broadclyst Community Farm is based on 32 acres of National Trust land on the Killerton estate near Exeter in east Devon. 

Occombe Farm, which is run by Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust, is setting up a 4-acre smallholding as a CSA scheme.  It’s been awarded £475,000 from the Lottery Food Fund for its One Planet Food project. 

These new CSA schemes in the south-west join the already up-and-running Harrowbarrow and Metherill Agricultural Society (known as Hamas) in east Cornwall, Lowarth Brogh (Badger’s Garden CSA) near Penzance in west Cornwall, and Exeter Community Agriculture in Devon. 

And of course us - Camel CSA at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.

Seasonal Recipe No 44: Cornish asparagus with bacon and parmesan

The Cornish asparagus in our veg boxes comes from Gill and Roger Derryman at Lower Croan, Sladesbridge near Wadebridge.

It’s a busy life on their mixed farm beef and cereal farm. The Derrymans produce prime organic beef from their suckler cows.  Most of the cereals grown are fed back to the cattle. They have five acres of asparagus they sell at the farm gate and to local retailers over six to eight weeks in May and early June.

It’s a very time-consuming and labour-intensive crop. At this time of year Roger is out cutting the asparagus spears daily from 7am so Gill (pictured) can start selling them from 10am onwards.

As everything is so late this year, we can look forward to having this very seasonal vegetable in our boxes until about mid-June.

Gill has lots of recipe ideas for asparagus, but this is her favourite as it’s so easy. It makes a light lunch dish with new potatoes, or a simple starter.

Serves 4

Preparation: 5-10 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes

250g Cornish asparagus (around 8 spears)
150g dry-cured back bacon
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
50g thinly-shaved parmesan cheese
freshly-ground black pepper

Method
Gill says:

Fry the chopped bacon in the butter or oil until crisp.  Meanwhile, snap off the ends of the asparagus stems and steam the spears upright for no longer than five minutes.  Place them on a warmed dish, top with the crispy bacon and sprinkle with parmesan shavings.  Serve with Cornish new potatoes.

How to cook British asparagus – the basics

Other asparagus recipe ideas: -

Sensational recipes for British asparagus
Blanched asparagus with almonds, shallots and lemon
Roasted asparagus salad with honey toasted goat’s cheese

Spring salad in this week’s veg boxes

All the veg boxes will have:

potatoes (Gavercombe Farm, Tintagel)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
* salad leaves (Jeremy Brown)
spinach (Rest Harrow Farm)
cauliflower (Rest Harrow Farm)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes and:
* bunched beetroot (Jeremy)
* parsley (Camel CSA)

* = grown to organic principles

Veg growing jobs this Sunday

There’s plenty to do on our community veg growing plot at St Kew Highway this Mayday weekend. 

We’ll be on the site on Sunday morning between 10am and 1pm as usual. Do come and join us.

We must sow more salad spinach leaves, weed the onions, garlic and beetroot, and prick out the celery seedlings.  The boysenberry plants also need tidying.

Please bring hoes, rakes and small forks.  Don’t forget waterproof jackets and boots as rain is forecast.  

See you there!

Tasty spring greens in the veg boxes this week

As predicted, this week’s veg boxes are a little bit more restricted but it’s a tasty selection nevertheless. All boxes will get:

potatoes (Burlerrow Farm, St Mabyn)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
leeks (Rest Harrow Farm)
spring greens (Rest Harrow Farm)
white cabbage (Rest Harrow Farm)
spinach (Rest Harrow Farm)

Standard boxes will get larger quantities of some of the above.

Stuck in the land of plenty

There haven’t been many opportunities to post to the blog recently.  Events in Iceland meant my visit to southern Spain was longer than planned.

Bliss – lots of fresh local vegetables on the stalls in Cadiz market and not much sign of a hungry gap!

Seasonal recipe No 41 – A risotto of leeks and pancetta

This recipe from Nigel Slater’s Tender makes a beautifully creamy risotto. And it’s dead easy too – no celery or onion to chop, just the leeks to slice. A good farewell to one of our winter stalwarts which won’t be around much longer.

Enough for 2

Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: about half an hour

Ingredients
2 medium leeks
about 50g butter, plus a walnut-sized lump to finish
300g arborio rice
a glass of Noilly Prat (or white wine)
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
6 thin rashers of pancetta (or streaky bacon)
3 tbsp grated parmesan plus more to finish

Method
Wash the leeks thoroughly, splitting them down their length and rinsing under a cold running tap, then slice them finely. Melt the butter in a wide, high-sided pan over a low heat and add the leeks. Let them soften without colouring, stirring from time to time. [A lid can help prevent burning or a piece of greaseproof paper on top - just don't let them brown.]

Stir in the rice, then pour in the Noilly Prat or wine. Let the mixture boil until the alcohol has evaporated, then tip in the first ladleful of hot stock. Continue stirring, adding stock as and when the rice has absorbed almost all of the previous ladleful, till the rice is plump, tender and yet has a little bite left in it – a process that will take about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, grill the pancetta or bacon, or cook in a non-stick frying pan, until truly crisp. Cut into pieces the size of a large postage stamp, leaving a couple of rashers whole. Fold the cut pieces into the risotto.

Stir in the walnut-sized lump of butter, adding the 3 tbsp of parmesan as you go. Divide between warm dishes and finish with a piece of pancetta/bacon and more grated parmesan.