An artistic image of Camel CSA’s community veg plot

This illustration of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s grow-our-own veg plot in Cornwall is by the very talented artist Antonina Szram Brown.

Antonina and her husband Jeremy run St Kew Harvest Farm Shop, specialising in good food and fresh produce that includes their own homemade artisan bread. They’re both deeply committed to making local food work in our part of north Cornwall.

Camel CSA rent two acres of land from the Brown family at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge. Jeremy is one of the local growers who supplies top-quality produce for our weekly veg box scheme.

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Extra volunteering sessions for Camel CSA members

The spring planting rush is on. So we’re setting up some additional volunteering sessions on weekdays. 

From now until September volunteer growers can help out on our site at St Kew Highway on Mondays from 2-4 pm and on Fridays from 10-12 noon.

The Friday morning growing slot is at the same time the picking and packing team prepares the weekly veg boxes. This in addition to our all-year-round Sunday morning team sessions.

Expert grower Mark Norman will be on hand to advise and guide us on the finer art of vegetable growing.

There’s lots to get done over the next few days both inside and out. Onion sets and broad beans need sowing  and there’s spring cabbage to plant out in the newly-prepared growing beds.

And of course there’s still plenty more dock weeds to dig up.

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Cornwall Farmers donates tools to Camel CSA

We’re all set up for the vegetable growing season thanks to a generous donation of equipment from the Wadebridge branch of Cornwall Farmers Ltd.

Wadebridge branch manager Julie Russell (on the left of the picture) handed over the tools to Camel CSA growing team members Jeremy B, Bridget, Bob and Mark N. They include two types of spade (digging and border), forks, edgers and hoes.

The growers will be using the tools for the first time this coming Sunday. We need to dig up the perennial docks that are starting to sprout up all over the brassicas section of our plot at St Kew Highway.

Julie praised people in Wadebridge and the surrounding area for our ability to pull together. “There’s quite a community vibe going,” she said. “Cornwall Farmers is a growing business supporting a growing community, and we’re always trying to forge new links.”

Cornwall Farmers has been a Camel CSA sponsor ever since we set up just over two years ago.

Community veg team given tools to do the job - Cornish Guardian
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Picture: Shayne House

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We’ve got plenty of Cornish community spirit

Camel CSA is strong on community spirit according to the Cornish Guardian, our local weekly newspaper.

It reports that our vegetable-growing co-operative is going from strength to strength now we’ve won Lottery and ECLAG  funding. 

We’re seeking to increase our membership and welcome new members living within a 10-mile radius of St Kew Highway to join our weekly veg box scheme.

Camel CSA secretary Mike Sadler told the paper: ”Over the past two years we’ve learned a lot. The first growing season was a hard lesson; we had problems with the quality of the soil and predators such as birds and rabbits.

“The second growing year has been much more successful and we’re looking forward to inviting local schools and organisations to come to the site and learn the importance of growing produce and introducing them to healthy living.”

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A big community effort on our Cornish apple juicing day

Nearly 40 people came to our annual apple juicing event on our site at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.

Everyone pitched in and helped with washing, cutting, crushing and pressing the apples. It was a big effort and we managed to produce nearly a litre of juice for every man, woman and child.

Many thanks to the kind folk who loaned us their apple crushers and presses and to those who donated vast quantities of apples from their gardens and orchards.

Our press gang on this beautiful autumn day were Aimee, Antonina, Brooke, Carla, Cat, Charlotte, Cheryl, Chris, Danny, David, Finn, Frances, Frank, Gavin, Jane I, Jane M, Jenny, Jeremy, Judy, Keira, Kitty, Lani, Leonie, Lily, Mark M, Mark N, Mike, Paul, Peter G, Peter M, Robyn, Ros, Sammy, Seth, Shayne, Sue, Teresa and Tom.

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Come to Camel CSA’s Apple Day

We’re all set for our annual apple juicing event. The apples are picked and the presses prepared.

It’s all happening tomorrow – Sunday 17 October - between 10am and 12.30pm. You’ll find us on Camel CSA’s vegetable plot behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall.

Our fest follows the success of last year’s event which involved lots of families. It’s just one of many Apple Day events taking place across the country.

Everyone will be able to join in washing, cutting up, crushing and pressing the apples. You’ll also have the opportunity to taste the different varieties.

In exchange for your efforts you’ll be rewarded with a fair share of the juice, either to drink on the spot or take away with you. Please bring a plastic container if you intend to take some home, as it freezes well. 

It promises to be another warm, sunny Cornish autumn day, so do call by.

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Solar energy future on our doorstep

Cornwall’s first solar farm could be right next door to us – just across the A39 from Camel CSA’s veg plot.

Our community supported agriculture scheme rents its two-acre field from the Brown family of Benbole Farm, St Kew Highway, near Wadebridge. 

The family are part of the Benbole Energy Farm consortium which plans to erect photovoltaic panels on a 15-acre site between St Kew Highway and St Mabyn. These would generate enough electricity for 600 homes.

Public consultation evenings are being held at St Kew Golf Club on Tuesday 8 June and Tuesday 15 June from 6 pm.

Cornwall’s ‘Silicon Vineyards’ aim to triple solar capacity in UK - Guardian
Massive solar farms planned to treble energy generated from sun in UK - Western Morning News

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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!

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First signs of spring in North Cornwall

What a relief to see snowdrops emerging in the woods between St Mabyn and St Kew Highway.

The ground is far too cold and saturated with melted ice and snow for us to start work yet on Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s vegetable plot.

Once the earth warms up in late February / early March our volunteer growing team can begin preparing the ground, spreading compost and planting seed into cells to go in the polytunnel. 

In the meantime we’re continuing to harvest our own parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots as well as the remaining onions and shallots in store.  The rest of the weekly veg box contents are being sourced locally from growers in the immediate area.

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Meet the veg pickers and packers

They slave away in all weathers on our behalf, battling against the Cornish elements.  Wind, rain or sun, they ensure Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes are ready by midday every Friday.

I’m referring of course to our intrepid picking and packing team of volunteers.   

The digging squad has had to endure strong winds, driving rain and ferociously muddy conditions in the last month while harvesting parsnips and carrots at St Kew Highway.

The packing squad has also had to overcome some challenges, as their temporary shelter blew away in a gale.  Sorting and weighing is now being done in the shelter of a borrowed polytunnel generously provided by Jeremy Brown, one of our expert growers.

In spite of these setbacks, the team seems to have remained remarkably cheerful.  And it’s not always noses to the grindstone. 

Trish says:

“One week we were finished at 11!   At least an hour earlier than ever before.   And the sun shone…”

We owe a grateful thanks to all of them over the past few weeks -  picking and packing supremo Trish  and to Carla, Cathy, Henrietta, Jennie, Mike H, Mike S, Penny, Robert and Steve.

Hands on

Last Friday we were glad for additional help from Rosa, the latest in a series of WWOOFers “lent” to us by Camel CSA members Dominic and Cathy at South Penquite Farm on Bodmin Moor.

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is an exchange network. It encourages farmers and horticulturalists to offer food, accommodation and opportunities in return for volunteer help from people wanting hands-on experience of organic lifestyles.

Rosa’s come from Sweden. She’s here to learn English and wants to stay in England as long as possible.

She was a nurse for many years and has a bit of a reputation as a horse whisperer. She’s helping out at South Penquite for a couple of weeks and will assist us again this Friday.

In September two WWOOFers from London helped Camel CSA’s volunteer growing team plant onion sets at one of our regular Sunday sessions.

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