March 23, 2025
We’re taking action to encourage even more wildlife to our vegetable growing site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge.
The growing team had great fun unpacking the bird and bat boxes supplied by Sustainable Food Cornwall‘s Joining the Dots for Nature scheme.
At the same time our volunteers have begun creating a natural pond to attract a feast of different plants, insects, larvae, toads, newts and other freshwater life.
The improvements are all part of a nature recovery plan for our no-dig veg site carried out by Cornwall Wildlife Trust on behalf of Joining the Dots.
We’re one of 15 community growing schemes in or near the Cornwall National Landscape chosen to take part in the initiative with funding from the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme.
We’ll be doing plenty more exciting nature-friendly things over the next few weeks so make sure you watch this space!
If you’d like to take part in any of these activities, please get in touch. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please share these details with them.
In this week’s veg shares:
*spring onions
*mixed salad leaves (mizuna, rocket)
*chard
*sprouted mung beans
cauliflower ‘Romanesco’ (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
savoy cabbage (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless otherwise indicated
March 5, 2025
We’re having the soil tested on our nature-friendly vegetable growing site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge.
Jake Corin of the Symbiosis Soil Lab in Cornwall has been taking soil samples from the veg beds, the orchard and meadow, and our compost making area.
We’re already growing our veg crops using no-dig methods and no harmful chemicals. We don’t plough, till or rotavate and we use our own compost and natural fertilisers to enrich the soil.
We’re one of 15 community growing schemes chosen to take part in Sustainable Food Cornwall‘s Joining the Dots for Nature initiative, which includes soil testing. Sophie Bailey, its community growing development worker, is leading the project.
As we’re so often told, a teaspoon of soil contains more living organisms than there are people on this planet.
These tests will help us find out how healthy our own soil is and how we can improve it.
February 22, 2025
Have you ever wanted to learn more about growing healthy, nutritious vegetables? Spring is only just round the corner and you’re welcome to join our volunteer team at Camel CSA.
This week we’ve been busy weeding and preparing no-dig veg beds, stripping out spent crops in the polytunnels and harvesting the last of the leeks on our nature-friendly site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge.
Join us and you’ll learn from Melanie Broomhead, our skilled community grower. She’ll help you find out more about soil care, natural mulches and fertilisers, seed sowing and planting, compost making, crop maintenance, and harvesting techniques, from our skilled community grower.
It’s not all hard work. You’ll be rewarded with fresh clean air, an abundance of nature, good company, regular breaks, and delectable treats like homemade vegetable soup and cake!
If you’re interested in volunteering on our friendly team, please get in touch. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please share these details with them.
In this week’s veg shares:
*baby leeks
*red Russian kale
*rhubarb chard
*sprouted fenugreek seeds
*can of fava beans (Hodmedod’s)
swede (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
potatoes ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless otherwise indicated
October 16, 2024
We LOVE autumn – especially when it’s the right moment to bring in the Halloween pumpkins and winter squashes.
Our growers and Thursday volunteer team had great fun picking them and laying them out to ‘cure’ under cover. The pumpkins will go in the Halloween veg boxes, and the squash will be put in the cool store for winter use.
In all the weekly veg boxes:-
*green chillies
*aubergines or *green peppers
*tenderstem broccoli or *red Russian kale
*tomatoes
*cucumbers
*melon ‘Blenheim Orange’
potatoes ‘Manitou’ (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
Also in the standard boxes:
*beetroot
*French beans or *white turnips
*salad leaf mix
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless otherwise indicated
February 25, 2024
Interested in volunteering with us? Want to find out more about no-dig vegetable growing?
Join our team for a tour of Camel CSA’s site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge on Saturday 2 March 10am-12 noon. Try out some of our volunteering activities with the aid of expert veg growers. Discover what suits you best!
No need to book – simply turn up and we’ll be there to welcome you. Come dressed for the weather and wear stout shoes or boots. If you have your own gardening gloves, please bring them too.
More details about volunteering here. For directions to our growing site click here.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*kalettes or *Crown Prince squash
*elephant garlic
*can of fava beans (Hodmedod’s)
swede (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
savoy cabbage (Trerair)
parsnips (Continental Fruits, Pensilva)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ or ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*sprouted alfalfa seeds or *mung bean sprouts
*mixed salad leaves
leeks (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
January 15, 2024
Our growing community gathered together on Sunday to bless Camel CSA’s young orchard in a traditional Cornish Wassail.
We joined in playing music, singing, dancing, and making a din to wake the trees from their winter slumber, to encourage a bountiful harvest, and to frighten away any bad spirits.
View the video
Traditional Cornish tunes soon got fingers and toes tapping as families with young children joined in on their percussion instruments.
This is the second year that Camel CSA’s held its Wassail at Treraven Farm. It’s fast become one of our annual community celebrations alongside the autumn Apple Day and summer barbeque.
*Original Wassail song composed by Dee and Dave Brotherton of Tir ha Tavas, accessed from the Cornish National Music Archive
October 12, 2023
What an amazing turnout for our annual Apple Day celebrations. It was a great family event with lots of happy, smiling faces.
The sun shone and everyone had such fun joining in apple scratting, juice pressing and a tour of our new orchard. Plus the Treraven Farm pigs enjoyed the leftovers!
August 15, 2023
There wasn’t much sunshine on Sunday but an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers did manage to get the hay raking done on our meadow at Treraven Farm.
We proved that many hands make light work after topping up people’s energy levels with a delicious barbeque.
We cut the grass at this time of year and rake up all the mowings because we want to encourage lots of wild flowers. More native flowers will thrive and grasses will become less dominant as we manage the meadow in a way that will gradually reduce soil fertility levels.
Camel CSA volunteers planted nearly 40 fruit trees in the more sheltered corner of the meadow in January. Two hives of bees were introduced in early summer and are managed by a member of Wadebridge Beekeeping Group.
July 19, 2023
A delightful short film about Camel CSA has been produced by Forest for Cornwall. It showcases how they help local organisations like ours to plant trees that will benefit people in the community.
We’re currently nurturing nearly 40 fruit trees that Camel CSA volunteers planted earlier in the year in the new orchard beside our vegetable growing site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge.
Forest for Cornwall supplied the trees, including many traditional Cornish varieties, with the support of the Woodland Trust‘s Forest for My Place project.
We celebrated planting the orchard in January with a traditional Cornish Wassail and will be holding our annual Apple Day as usual in the autumn when we invite people in our local community to take part in apple pressing.
In the past many farms in the Camel Valley maintained a thriving orchard. Most have been lost over the years and we’re passionate about doing our bit to reverse this decline.
It’s been a thrill for us to establish a lasting resource that’ll bring people together, provide apples for the veg boxes, and become a fantastic habitat for birds, bees, bats, beetles and butterflies.
