Tasty tomatoes in this week’s boxes

The contents of this week’s veg boxes are produced by Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest, Benbole Farm and the Camel CSA’s own plot.

Small boxes have: 
1kg potatoes (Benbole Farm, St Kew)
* salad bags (Camel CSA)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* leeks (Jeremy)
* savoy cabbage (Jeremy)
* tomatoes (Jeremy)

Standard boxes also have:
extra 500g of potatoes
* coriander (Camel CSA)
* swede (Jeremy)
* parsley (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles

Weekly veg boxes camel community supported agriculture, tomtaoes, veg boxes, vegetable boxes

Green leafy veg ‘may reduce diabetes risk’

The mounds of Swiss chard picked for our veg boxes this week could help prevent us developing type 2 diabetes, according to the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from Leicester University found that one and a half portions of green leafy vegetables every day could result in a significant 14 per cent risk reduction in getting the disease. You can see the BBC report on their findings here.

Green leafy veg include chard, spinach, cabbage, kale and lettuce – and are all found in abundance in Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s weekly veg boxes at different times of the year.

The search is on for sustainable veg box containers

Ever since we began our weekly veg box scheme at Camel Community Supported Agriculture, we’ve taken a very relaxed attitude to the actual containers.

What we’ve done is to recycle assorted cardboard boxes and plastic crates that come our way - usually from farmers, wholesalers, market gardens, dairies… but often from the backs of shops, pubs and restaurants.

They’re nearly always the wrong size or shape and have a habit of getting squashed, broken or going walkabout. We’re constantly having to scrounge around for more.

So now we’ve decided to do something positive – but it will mean a bit more co-operation from our members.

We’re trialling some CarbonZero biodegradable jute containers from Cornish company GoJute, based at St Austell. We’re particularly interested in their jute hampers, which have bamboo handles.

If they turn out to be suitable for use as sustainable veg boxes the next step will be to work out how to allocate these to members, how to keep track of them, whether to charge a deposit and what to do if we don’t get them back.

We’re aware this approach could be fraught with difficulties. So suggestions welcome!

I should say that this knotty green problem is not unique.

Veg box giant Riverford Organic uses recyclable cardboard boxes which are always going AWOL. Earlier this year it offered a box amnesty to its customers. At the same time it failed to persuade them to overcome their resistance to reusable plastic crates, even though this would have led to a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions.

More of our own baby carrots this week

Most of this week’s veg box contents come from Jeremy Brown at St Kew Harvest.

Small boxes will have:
potatoes –  Estima (Benbole Farm)
* carrots (Camel CSA)
* salad bag (Jeremy)
* french beans (Jeremy)
* red cabbage (Jeremy)
* parsley (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will have extra potatoes as well as:
* mixed summer squash (Jeremy)
* leeks (Jeremy)
* marrow (Jeremy)

And next week we can look forward to sweetcorn and the first of the cauliflowers.

* = grown to organic principles

Summer’s first runner beans this week

The contents of our Cornish vegetable boxes this week are provided by Mark Norman, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest and Camel CSA’s own plot, all of it grown to organic principles.

Small boxes will have:
potatoes – Estima (Mark)
courgettes (Mark)
runner beans (Mark)
carrots (Camel CSA)
salad bag (Jeremy)
savoy cabbage (Jeremy)

Standard boxes will have all the above plus extra potatoes and:
garlic (CSA)
chard (CSA)
beetroot (Jeremy)
swede (Jeremy)

Large boxes will have double the amount in the standard box plus red cabbage (Jeremy) instead of two savoys.

We need some more help with packing our veg boxes

Now our spring-sown crops are beginning to mature, there’s more harvesting to do for the veg boxes on a Friday morning. So we could use some more volunteers on our picking and packing squad.

The team meets every Friday at 10am in the new packing shed on our plot at St Kew Highway. 

Veg box preparation takes about two hours and involves harvesting and sorting vegetables, weighing them and distributing them among the 25 or so weekly boxes.

Afterwards, there’s always the opportunity to relax and have a friendly cup of fair-trade tea or Cornwall-crafted Origin coffee and home-made cake next door at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop. 

If you’re able to help out please contact Robert Manders on 01208 880022 or e-mail him at manders@waitrose.com  

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

We’re raising the roof

At long last we have a shed to shelter our volunteer picking and packing team from the Cornish elements.  

We’re marking the occasion with an informal picnic at the veg plot this Sunday 23 May.  This will start to happen as the volunteer growers finish work about 12.30 pm.

It’ll be a chance to get together and celebrate the season, plus anything else that comes to mind…

Everyone’s welcome. All ages of course.  Please bring your own food and drink and be prepared to share it!  I expect we’ll be on site until around 3pm.

According to a rumour from the Met Office it promises to be sunny and warm, so keep your fingers crossed.

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.