It’s a good thing I’m very fond of leeks, as I dug up 90 of them this morning for Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s weekly veg boxes. It certainly made me appreciate where my food comes from.

After all the torrential rain in Cornwall lately, the earth was distinctly claggy. My boots got heavier and heavier as the mud stuck to them, and my clothes, hands and face were splattered with streaks of soil.

I wasn’t the only one, of course. This sort of task is routine for members of Camel CSA’s volunteer picking and packing team.

While I tussled with the leeks, Mike was trimming them. He also dug and washed the Jerusalem artichokes. Anne and Cath were pulling up beetroot and fennel. Robert was sorting and labelling the boxes and rinsing the leeks. Meanwhile in the shed Trish and Henrietta were weighing and sharing out the rest of vegetables to go in the boxes.

A total of 30 boxes of fresh, seasonal food achieved in just over an hour’s work… how ever will we cope when we reach our weekly target of 90?!

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