April 10, 2013
Camel CSA’s growers joined forces with the growing team from Trevalon CSA on our vegetable-growing site in north Cornwall to share skills, ideas and challenges.
A big thank you to the Trevalon team – Mark, Rod, Tom, Zulu, Peot and Emma for coming to visit us on one of the last bitterly cold days of our Cornish “spring”.
In the space of three hours we managed to fork over a couple of our long, narrow growing beds, remove most of the couch grass, spread a topping of compost and sow the first of the onion sets.
We also swapped experiences, ate cake and talked a great deal!
Thanks as well to our own growers – Mark N, Jane, Mike S, Mark M and Charlotte.
February 10, 2013
Great news if you live in north Cornwall – we can now deliver a weekly veg box to your doorstep.
Expert grower Mark Norman is delivering the boxes – a choice of standard or small – in his van every Friday afternoon to homes and workplaces.
You can join the veg box scheme if you live within a 10-mile radius of our site at St Kew Highway, near Wadebridge.
We grow much of the fresh seasonal box contents ourselves, using organic farming principles. Other local growers supply us with an extended range of vegetables to give the boxes all-year-round variety.
A small box (feeds 1-2) costs £8.15. The standard box (feeds 3-4) is £11.50.
You get a £2 discount if you pick up the box yourself from our vegetable-growing plot. We have a lease on two acres of land behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.
Camel Community Supported Agriculture is a community interest company, so any profits are ploughed back into the project. Volunteers work with paid growers to produce, pick and pack the vegetables.
If you’re interested in a one-month trial or want to sign up for a regular weekly or fortnightly vegetable box please ring Cath Simmons on 01208 812685 or email her cath@camel-csa.org.uk
August 6, 2012
We’re holding an exciting programme of fun-filled summer holiday workshops for children. Three different sets of activities aimed at 4-11-year-olds start on Wednesday 15 August.
The action-packed sessions are led by workshop leader Diana Barry, also Camel CSA’s treasurer.
Diana says: “We’re aiming to help children understand exactly where their food comes from in a fun way. They’ll get to touch, smell and taste a variety of vegetables on our plot. They’ll learn how to recognise them, how to sow and grow and also how compost is made.”
Each workshop will run from 11am – 2pm (including break) on our vegetable-growing site at St Kew Highway. The cost for each child is £4, which includes art materials, squash/water and fruit/snacks.
Wednesday 15 August – COOL AS A CUCUMBER
Tickle your taste buds! Try a variety of vegetables while blindfolded. Explore the site and discover about our environment during more hands-on fun activities
Thursday 23 August – WHAT’S ROTTING?
Compost, marvellous compost! Examine it very closely and meet our specialists – the earthworms. Find out about the growth cycle of plants and how long it take for different things to decompose
• Friday 24 August – READY, STEADY, GROW
Touch, feel and smell plants! Discover how to sow and grow. Learn how to take care of plants to make them grow strong and tall. Take your own plant home
Please note: parents and guardians must remain on site. Tea, coffee and other refreshments will be available for sale next door at St Kew Harvest farm shop.
Booking for the workshops is essential, please e-mail: info@camel-csa.org.uk. If you have any queries, please e-mail dbarry2904@gmail.com or phone Danny on 01208 895083
July 28, 2012
We need carrots! Unfortunately we haven’t got any carrots in this week’s veg boxes as we’ve used up all the indoor-grown crop.
The few we planted in the field have fallen victim to the recent foul, wet weather. There’s some more just showing through the compost in the polytunnel, but they won’t be ready for some weeks.
So we’d like to source carrots from other local growers. Do you know of anyone who’s growing carrots within a 20-mile radius of our site at St Kew Highway in north Cornwall? (We put local food first, so they don’t have to be organically-grown.)
If you know of anyone, please tell us. And if not, please help us by sharing this request – either on Facebook or Twitter.
July 20, 2012
Camel CSA is offering fun and learning opportunities for children during the summer holidays.
We’re running three different workshops in August for under-12s. Each workshop will run from 11am – 2pm (including break) on our vegetable-growing site at St Kew Highway. The cost for each child is £4, which includes art materials, squash/water and fruit/snacks.
Check these workshops out: –
• Wednesday 15 August – COOL AS A CUCUMBER
Tickle your taste buds! The children will be challenged to try a variety of vegetables while blindfolded. More hands-on fun activities will take them around the site as they explore the local environment and discover their senses.
• Thursday 23 August – WHAT’S ROTTING?
Compost, marvellous compost! Explore it very closely and learn why it is so important. Discover that it is full of life and meet our specialists – the earthworms. Find out how long it take for different things to decompose and what’s happening in this process. We will also look into the growth cycle of plants.
• Friday 24 August – READY, STEADY, GROW
Children will touch, feel and smell plants in a range of hands-on fun activities around the site. They will learn how to take care of plants to make them grow strong and tall. At the end they will take their own planted seed home to look after and practise their newly-learned skills.
Please note: parents and guardians must remain on site. Tea, coffee and other refreshments will be available for sale next door at St Kew Harvest farm shop.
Each activity will be led by our workshop leader (and Camel CSA treasurer!) Danny Barry. She’ll be aided by Camel CSA volunteers, all CRB checked.
Booking for the workshops is essential, please e-mail: info@camel-csa.org.uk. If you have any queries, please e-mail dbarry2904@gmail.com or phone Danny on 01208 895083
June 21, 2012
It always helps to have lots of people on our community veg plot. So we took the opportunity to plant out squash and pumpkin seedlings and to dig up more dock weeds on Open Farm Sunday.
June 15, 2012
Photo: Shayne and Lucia House
Enter our slug spotting competition, take part in the National Farm Pollinator Survey, and help us plant hundreds of squash and pumpkin seedlings this Sunday on our plot at St Kew Highway.
There’ll be guided tours of our Big Lottery-funded vegetable plot and polytunnels. Also family fun and children’s activities, a veg box raffle, cold drinks and home-made cakes.
Entry is free to our Open Farm Sunday event this Sunday 17 June from 1.30-4.30pm – rain or shine.
Come and see: –
• What vegetables we’re growing
• What’s in our weekly vegetable boxes
• How we support other local growers
• How we promote local, seasonal food
You can find us on the A39 near Wadebridge at the St Endellion / St Mabyn crossroads, behind St Kew Harvest farm shop at St Kew Highway.
AND even if the sun’s shining bring your wellies!
