June 9, 2009
Camel Community Supported Agriculture members succeeded in spreading the word far and wide at the Royal Cornwall Show and the open day on Open Farm Sunday.
Hundreds more people in the south west now know what Camel CSA is doing to help make local food work and how we’re going about it.
Our efforts also resulted in plenty of media coverage in the past week or so – on BBC Radio Cornwall, in the Cornish Guardian and in the Western Morning News (three times!)
Discover food glorious food at the Royal Cornwall – Western Morning News May 26 09
Open day to feature county’s first community food growing group – Cornish Guardian June 2 09
Cornish food at its best – South West Farmer June 1 09
Food from Cornwall News – June 6 09
Other groups keen to set up their own community agriculture project should contact the Soil Association’s south west CSA co-ordinator Traci Lewis at tlewis@soilassociation.org or on 0787 0268654.
June 5, 2009
Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s stand in the Food and Farming Pavilion at the Royal Cornwall Show has attracted a great deal of interest.
Countless visitors have stopped to chat and to find out more about our community food growing project, which is the first of its kind in Cornwall.
They have admired Antonina’s fresh and original design and Jane’s bountiful display of plants in boxes. Everyone has been really impressed with the beautiful peas, the vast courgette plant, the kohl rabi, broad beans, mint and parsley as well as the marigolds, nasturtiums and cornflowers.
Lots of people have wanted to touch the peapods. Small children were tempted to pick and eat them!
We have fielded all kinds of questions and dealt with a variety of comments, as Antonina explains: –
Courgette plant – are the spots dangerous?
Are the peas a certain kind?
How do you deal with black fly on broad beans? Is it best to plant broad beans in autumn or spring?
How do you cook kohl rabi?
Why are the beetroot sooo big?
Why is the cauliflower pink?
Can I pick some of the mint to go in my salad?
Why not grow this and that?
I grow mine like this and that….!!!
We have sold a large number of freshly-picked mixed salad bags. The National Trust chef incorporated several of our salad packs in a cookery demonstration and has ordered several more to use on the third and final day.
Camel CSA has been making its presence felt at the show courtesy of the Plunkett Foundation and the Soil Association, who are prime movers in the Making Local Food Work initiative.
We have been sharing the stand with the newly-formed West Penwith Community Supported Agriculture project and we wish them the very best in their new venture.
We have one more day at the show before our first Open Day on Sunday – Open Farm Sunday. Watch this space.
May 31, 2009
We have a hectic week ahead of us as Camel Community Supported Agriculture members prepare for the Royal Cornwall Show and our first Open Day.
Visitors to the show and the Open Day will be able to talk to our enthusiastic volunteers, find out what we’re growing, and discover the benefits of getting involved in our community food growing venture.
You will find our stand in the show’s popular Cornwall Food and Farming Pavilion from Thursday 4 June to Saturday 6 June. Make sure you come and visit us there.
We will be selling freshly-picked salad packs and signing up new members to our local food project – the first of its kind in Cornwall.
We are sharing the stand with the Soil Association, which has just helped to set up the new West Penwith Community Supported Agriculture project. We are also there thanks to the Plunkett Foundation, which manages the Making Local Food Work campaign.
The next day, on Sunday 7 June, we are holding a series of Open Farm Sunday events between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. including guided tours of the site at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge.
There will be family activities and all-day refreshments including homemade cakes and cold drinks, with a barbeque from 12 noon – 2 p.m. You are welcome to bring your own picnic.
Schedule of events: –
11:30 Guided tour
12:00 Making bee nests, planting lettuces
12:30 Sheep shearing demonstration
13:00 Scarecrow making
13:30 Guided tour
14:00 Making bee nests, planting lettuces
14:30 Sheep shearing demonstration
15:00 Scarecrow making
15:30 Guided tour
If you are a member and are able to help out, please get in touch.
Click here for directions to Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s site at St Kew Highway.
May 26, 2009
We’re having an extra mid-week volunteer session on Thursday as there’s so much work to do at Camel Community Supported Agriculture. Charlotte, Kitty and Mike S have already put their names forward.
We need to plant out brassicas, celeriac, parsley and spring onion plants and, if we have time, sow sweetcorn and squash seeds.
If you’re able to give a hand, we’ll be on the site this Thursday 28 May between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Click here for directions.
If you can’t make it on Thursday morning, why not give expert grower Jeremy Brown a ring on 07971762227 to find out when else it might be convenient to help out.
Medals all round
Last Sunday’s team deserves special praise. Everyone got down on their knees and hand weeded.
The onion, shallot and Swiss chard beds were comparatively easy to tackle, but weeding the carrots by hand was an exacting and extremely fiddly job. The air was blue at times. We’ll savour every single one of those carrots when they appear in our weekly vegetable boxes!
Grateful thanks to volunteer expert growers Jane, Jeremy and Mark and to their willing helpers – Beverley, Cath, Carolyn, Charlotte, John, Kitty, Mike H and Mike S.
There’s so much effort going into preparing the first vegetable shares, which should start to be available in mid-June. A lot of thought is being given to when and how they will be picked, packed and distributed.
We’ll be working on the site as usual next Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Do come along and enjoy the fresh air and exercise. It’s not all hard work. It’s good company – and fun too.
May 21, 2009
We need all the help we can get on Sunday. The growing season has hit us with a vengeance at Camel Community Supported Agriculture. Weeds are shooting up – they love this showery weather!
Expert grower Jane Mellowship says: –
“On Sunday we have lots to get done. Brassica, celeriac, parsley and spring onion plugs need to be planted out, there’s sweetcorn and squash to sow and plenty of weeding too.
Hope to see you all then!”
May 15, 2009
We have an incredible opportunity to publicise our exciting new community food growing initiative at this year’s Royal Cornwall Show near Wadebridge from June 4-6.
Camel Community Supported Agriculture has a stand in the show’s Cornwall Food and Farming Pavilion. This is thanks to the Plunkett Foundation, which manages the nationwide Making Local Food Work campaign, and also the support of the Soil Association.
The pavilion is a must-see feature which hosts 60 local producers and their displays of Cornish food and drink. It attracts thousands of show visitors every year.
If you are a Camel CSA member and would like to help out on the stand for a few hours please get in touch with Antonina at St Kew Harvest on 01208 841818.
May 12, 2009
Members are more than welcome to volunteer to work during the week – not just on Sunday mornings.
Give expert grower Jeremy Brown a ring on 07971762227 to find out when it might be convenient to help out on Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s vegetable beds. Weather permitting, of course!
He’s there every day as a member of the farming family who own the land and who have generously offered it rent-free to Camel CSA for the first few months. He grows his own vegetables on the adjoining plot to sell at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.
Jeremy can arrange to meet you on the site and explain what jobs need to be done. These might include sowing seeds in the potting shed, spreading compost on new beds and weeding around our emerging crops.
Last Sunday we got several new beds raked, fresh compost spread and more seeds sown, including an extra row of peas and some more radishes. We planted out beetroot and chard seedlings and hoed up weeds in the pea, onion and shallot beds.
The devastation to the first rows of peas that had to be replaced was caused by the pea and bean weevil, not slugs. Apologies all round. Either the resident pheasant or a partridge has been having a go at the spring onions, but the damage is not lasting.
A big thank you to Sunday’s energetic crew – volunteer expert growers Jane, Jeremy B and Mark N and volunteer members Carolyn, Charlotte, Diana, Kitty, Mike H and Mike S.
We had a useful discussion during the tea break about the kind of activities we want to organise for the Open Day on Sunday 7 June – Open Farm Sunday. Any suggestions welcome.
May 9, 2009
Mark Norman, one of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s three expert growers, recommends that we all catch up on the BBC2 documentary A Farm for the Future if we haven’t watched it already.
It tells the story of a small South Devon farm that has been in the same family for seven generations. The film was made by Rebecca Hosking, an environmentalist and wildlife film-maker, who grew up on the farm.
Rebecca explains what made her decide to return and transform it into a low energy farm for the future. She discovered that the key lay in nature and the principles of permaculture.
Rebecca Hosking’s film should be an inspiration to those of us who have chosen to get together to grow our own food.
Watch this video clip when she investigates how much fossil fuel is used in the making of a sandwich bought from a garage.
May 8, 2009
A message for anyone planning to volunteer this weekend from Jane Mellowship, one of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s expert growers.
“Just to let you know the jobs for this Sunday.
“There are lettuce and leeks to sow in the potting shed and out in the field we need to transplant brassicas and chard.
“A second sowing of beetroot can be made and, as long as the weather is good and a bed can be formed with the tractor, a second sowing of carrots. Other than that, weeding the onion beds and probably the peas.
“See you Sunday.”
Last Sunday a bunch of around 10 volunteers got a lot more weeding done, but had to replant a row of brassica seedlings that had been devastated by another predator. We should probably blame the resident pheasant this time, as it left tell-tale beak marks and foot prints!
The second sowing of peas that replaced the 30-metre row eaten by slugs is now emerging safely under a protective fleece.
Many thanks to volunteers Beverley, Cath, Charlotte, Mark N, Mike H, Mike S, Jane, Jeremy B, John and Kitty.
This Sunday turn up any time between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Remember to bring strong shoes or wellies, waterproofs, gardening gloves, drinks and a snack. Also tools, ideally wheelbarrows, shovels, spades, forks and rakes. If the weather’s good you might need suncream and a hat!
Click here for directions to the site. If you have any questions call Antonina at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on 01208 841818.
May 7, 2009
Camel Community Supported Agriculture is opening its site to the public on Sunday 7 June – Open Farm Sunday.
We want people to come and find out what we’re doing to promote local food, see what we’re growing, talk to our enthusiastic volunteers and discover the benefits of joining our community group in north Cornwall.
Watch our latest video to find out what has inspired people to join Camel Community Supported Agriculture and get involved in growing their own food.
