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.

We’ve got carrot and parsnip seeds to sow this Sunday in the new growing beds. The broad beans need hoeing and we’ve also got more planting out to do on our plot at St Kew Highway.

Last weekend we managed to get the remaining growing beds spread with compost. We planted out some celeriac and weeded the rest of the onions. 

Expert grower Jeremy B has now put the rotovator over the new beds to get them ready for sowing.

Thanks to last week’s team of volunteers led by expert growers Jeremy B and Mark N. It included Charlotte, Danny, Mark M, Mike S and Rebecca. Our younger helpers, Keira and Finn, especially enjoyed the homemade Great Ormond Street carrot cake.

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

At last! We’re getting the first of the Cornish asparagus and Cornish Early new potatoes in our veg boxes this week:

Cornish asparagus (Lower Croan, Sladesbridge)
Cornish Early new potatoes (JH Allen & Sons, Marazion)
spinach (Rest Harrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Rest Harrow Farm)
* salad leaves (Jeremy Brown)
* baby carrots (Jeremy)
* parsley (Camel CSA)

As well as larger quantities of some of the above, standard boxes will also have
* baby beet (Jeremy)

* = grown to organic principles

Feeling energetic in the spring weather?  The growing team has lots of jobs on the veg plot this Sunday.

We need to spread barrowloads of compost on some newly-formed beds and dig out a base for our new shed. We’ve also more sowing, weeding and planting out to get done.  

We’ll be on the site between 10am and 1pm on Sunday. If you’re able to come, please bring an assortment of spades, rakes, hoes, hand tools and, if possible, a wheelbarrow for the compost shifting. And don’t forget to include gloves and a snack!

Last weekend expert grower Jeremy got the tractor out and formed several new growing beds for us to spread with the compost.  We have carrot, parsnip and spinach seed to sow.

Kitty, Mark M, Penny, Rebecca, Robert and Charlotte performed some painstaking tasks. We dug out thistles from the garlic and onion beds, weeded beetroot and pricked out celery seedlings.

See: –
What we’re growing for the veg boxes this year

Our Twitter feed – GrowingOwnFood – has led me to some interesting discoveries in the world of food.

Three Cornish foodies have come to my particular notice. They all have      food-related blogs. They all tweet about food. They are all based here in Cornwall. They are all female. And they are all young.

Jam and Clotted Cream is Beth Sachs’ Cornish food blog.  It’s full of interesting food tips and recipes.  Beth calls herself “The Cornish Foodie”.  She lives near the coast in north Cornwall and tweets as jamandcream.

Clotted Cream Diaries is Issy Taylor’s blog.  She also likes to share her experience of cooking and eating Cornish food.  Issy’s based near Falmouth but comes from the Isles of Scilly.  Follow her on Twitter @clottedcreamd

The pasties + cream cornwall blog comes from Ismay Atkins.  It’s all about Cornish food, drink, pubs and “a little of whatever takes my fancy”.  Ismay’s home is on the western tip of Cornwall.  Her Twitter feed is pastiesandcream.

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients for this recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in The Guardian.  He says: “This makes for a light, easy and tasty dinner with some rice and naan or chutney.” 

This dish has a delicious nutty flavour and none of the pungency associated with this much-maligned vegetable.   At home in St Mabyn I served it with grilled, spiced chicken and extra yogurt.

Serves 4

Preparation: 5-10 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes

2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 small onions, peeled, halved and finely sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 green chilli, seeds and membrane removed, chopped
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp garam masala
 ½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp turmeric
3 cardamom pods, bashed
350g small potatoes, quartered
1 cauliflower, trimmed and broken into large florets
250g whole milk yoghurt
1½ tbsp tomato purée
1 small handful fresh coriander, tough stalks removed
1 small handful cashews or pistachios, toasted

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, then fry the onion until just golden. While the onion is cooking, pound the garlic, chilli and ginger with a pinch of salt until they form a paste. Add this to the pan and stir for a couple of minutes.

Tip in the rest of the spices and stir until the mustard seeds begin to pop. Add the potatoes and cauliflower, and fry, stirring frequently, for five minutes, so that the veg are well coated with the spice mixture. Pour in about 400ml water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

In a bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, tomato purée and some of the hot cooking liquid. Remove the curry from the heat, stir in the yoghurt mixture, return the pan to the heat and warm through very gently. Stir in most of the coriander, adjust the seasoning and serve scattered with the remaining coriander and the toasted nuts.

Try these other cauliflower recipes: –
A fried cauliflower
Cauliflower with saffron, pinenuts and raisins
Cauliflower and three cheese comfort supper

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

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