May 11, 2011
Cornish growers have experienced weather conditions ranging from drought to monsoon in a matter of days. Our own team has been alternately watering thirsty crops and wading through sticky mud.
The extended dry spell in Cornwall means we’re a little behind with some tasks. However the recent rain has enabled us to sow more peas, beans, parsnips, radishes, beetroot and carrot directly into the ground and plant out broccoli, cabbage, bunched onions, Swiss chard, lettuces, turnips and parsley.
The kohlrabi hasn’t germinated well outdoors, so we’re about to sow some in modules, along with more cabbage, Brussels sprouts, calabrese, celeriac and purple sprouting broccoli. We’ve also sown hundreds of winter squash seeds.
Salad leaves, french beans, leek seedlings, spring onions and baby beetroot are thriving in the polytunnel, though the indoor carrots aren’t doing so well.
Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes rely heavily at this time of year on fresh supplies bought in directly from other local farmers and growers who’ve built up strong relationships with us. This mutually beneficial approach is all part of being a CSA.
They include Cornish asparagus produced by the Derrymans at Lower Croan, Sladesbridge; cauliflower and spring greens from Richard Hore of Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick; leeks and spinach from Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest; potatoes from Johnny Brown of Benbole Farm, St Kew Highway and James Mutton of Burlerrow, St Mabyn; rhubarb and mung beans (sprouted in his linen cupboard!) from Mark Norman in Bodmin.
In the aftermath of a long, hard winter it’s become more and more difficult to source fresh, seasonal veg grown within this 10-mile radius. When forced to cast our net county-wide we buy from Growfair Cornwall. But at least we’ve kept this side of the Tamar!
Fortunately our own early salad crops are sprouting fast.
Our volunteer picking and packing team spend some time every Friday morning cutting individual lettuce leaves from the polytunnel and outdoor-grown oriental greens – including spicy mustard, mizuna and mibuna – before bagging them up for the boxes.
The other immediate jobs involve covering the second polytunnel to house the tomatoes, completing the small seeding tunnel and getting the roof and windows finished on the potting shed.
April 18, 2011
Our volunteers have harvested the first crop of salad leaves in the new polytunnel.
The mixed leaves went into the most recent weekly veg boxes along with a bag of baby spinach supplied by Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest.
Each standard box contained the first of the Cornish asparagus from Lower Croan, near Sladesbridge. We also had new season rhubarb cultivated by two CSA members – expert grower Jane Mellowship and garden author Trish Gibson.
Volunteering
We need all the help we can get at the moment so we’re relying heavily on our loyal workforce. They’ve exerted a great deal of effort over the last fortnight – and not just on the sowing, hoeing and growing.
The potting shed is up, the second large polytunnel is under construction and the cover is about to go on the seeding tunnel.
Thanks to Anna, Anne, Bob, Bridget, Charlotte, Danny, Gav, Henrietta, Jane, Jenny, Jeremy, Kitty, Mark M, Mark N, Mary, Mike S, Penny, Rebecca H, Robert, Simon, Steve, Trish F and Trish G. And to all the friends and relatives who’ve also come along to give us a helping hand.
What a great bunch of people.
April 6, 2011
UPDATE: This vacancy has now been filled
Camel CSA is seeking to employ a committed and enthusiastic person who can help us build strong links within our local community in north Cornwall.
We’re looking for someone who can initiate and develop partnership agreements with schools, charities and special interest groups to increase practical awareness of the main aims of our community vegetable-growing project.
The partnership development coordinator will arrange and host group training visits to our two-acre plot at St Kew Highway near Wadebridge, where we cultivate our own vegetables to organic principles and operate a weekly veg box scheme.
The position is initially for a six-month fixed term, 12 hours a week.
“This post will suit someone who’s an excellent communicator and committed to the objectives of the Making Local Food Work programme,” said Camel CSA secretary Mike Sadler.
“S/he will need to have an understanding of basic horticultural principles as well as environmental and sustainability issues. In addition they must have a flexible approach to working, be able to operate on their own initiative and to deal with people of all ages and backgrounds.”
The closing date for applications is Tuesday 26 April 2011. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 4 May.
This position has been part-funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food Programme.
View the detailed job description (pdf)
Download an application form (pdf)
See the job advert at environmentjob.co.uk
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Food co-op looks for a co-ordinator – Cornish Guardian
April 5, 2011
Members of Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s volunteer
grow-our-own team are busy sowing, planting and watering as the season gets into full swing.
Expert grower Mark Norman is now employed on our St Kew Highway site two days a week to ensure everything goes to plan.
We’ve composted allium beds and planted onion sets – row after row of them. Broad bean and brassica beds have also been prepared and spring cabbages planted out. Additional lettuce varieties have been sown in modules, as well as turnips.
The potting shed is about to be erected and the cover put on the seeding tunnel. The mixed salad leaves planted in the polytunnel will be ready to pick for the veg boxes in a couple of weeks.
Many thanks to expert grower Mark N and current team members Bob, Bridget, Charlotte, Danny, Jenny, Kitty, Mark M, Mary, Mike S, Penny, Rebecca H and Robert plus five-year-olds Keira and Max.
March 31, 2011
The spring planting rush is on. So we’re setting up some additional volunteering sessions on weekdays.
From now until September volunteer growers can help out on our site at St Kew Highway on Mondays from 2-4 pm and on Fridays from 10-12 noon.
The Friday morning growing slot is at the same time the picking and packing team prepares the weekly veg boxes. This in addition to our all-year-round Sunday morning team sessions.
Expert grower Mark Norman will be on hand to advise and guide us on the finer art of vegetable growing.
There’s lots to get done over the next few days both inside and out. Onion sets and broad beans need sowing and there’s spring cabbage to plant out in the newly-prepared growing beds.
And of course there’s still plenty more dock weeds to dig up.
March 30, 2011
Western Morning News columnist Gillian Molesworth has got it in for the humble Jerusalem artichoke.
They leer at me from their growing colony in the refrigerator. I’ve roast them, I’ve souped them, I’ve shredded them. My family has suffered digestive consequences. No one will touch them now, no matter what I do.
Gillian is one of Camel CSA’s loyal weekly veg box customers. It’s not as if she’s stuck for a recipe for artichokes. It’s just that she’s had enough.
Well, I’ve got bad news for her: we’ve just planted a large bed of them as a windbreak (!) for our soft fruit area.
In the meantime I suggest she puts her unwanted artichokes on the compost heap along with the swedes that are piling up in her veg rack. Unless she wants to try them raw?
But I hope she resists the temptation to buy out-of-season vegetables that have been flown halfway around the world. As Gillian concludes, what we eat is a question of moral and not just digestive fibre.
March 29, 2011
Camel CSA enjoyed an energetic day out at the WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) south-west regional gathering at Bosavern Community Farm just outside St Just-in-Penwith.
Bosavern Farm is rented from Cornwall Council by the Lands End Pensinsula Community Land Trust.
Volunteers are growing vegetables and keeping hens, led by community farm trainer Hugh Taylor. Their produce is sold at the farm gate, in shops in St Just and at Pendeen Farmers’ Market.
The 38-acre organic farm is situated just inland from Cape Cornwall on the toe of Britain, only a few miles from Land’s End. It’s able to produce quite a lot of over-wintered, early crops in the mild climate but also suffers from the wild Atlantic weather.
The event provided an opportunity for Camel CSA and Bosavern to share their growing experiences.
Highlights of the day included testing the tree bogs (compost toilets), joining the farm tour, exploring the polytunnel and participating in some group work led by Bosavern’s volunteer growers. Around 15 of us dug out two onion beds in hazy spring sunshine.
A big thank you to everyone at Bosavern for extending such a warm and friendly welcome to us.
You can follow Bosavern Community Farm’s seasonal progress on Hugh Taylor’s blog.
March 25, 2011
The onslaught on the dock weeds continues. Picking and packing team members helped out expert grower Mark Norman after he spent four solitary hours digging up the worst of them.
March 21, 2011
Camel CSA’s growing team continue to prepare the veg beds and sow seeds on our community veg plot.
Expert grower Jeremy Brown has ploughed one side of our two-acre plot in preparation for the sowing of alliums, roots and legumes. The first seeds in the ground will be broad beans, shallots and onion sets.
The soil in the first polytunnel has finally been dug over. It can now be rotavated before we plant early salad crops, carrots, beetroot and french beans.
Our volunteers are still valiantly trying to dig out all the dock weeds. This is not a popular task.
More jobs
The team’s also been sowing additional seeds in modules – salad rocket, canary yellow and blood red leaf beet, multi-coloured and silver Swiss chard.
Thank you to this Sunday’s volunteers – expert growers Jane M and Jeremy B, plus Charlotte, Danny, Mary and Mike S.
Over the next few weeks there’s plenty more jobs to tackle. The seeding tunnel needs covering, the potting shed is awaiting construction, the second large polytunnel is ready to be erected.
And – sigh – there’s hundreds more of those damned docks to dig up…
March 16, 2011
We’ve marked Fairtrade Fortnight with the launch of our new carbon-zero standard-size veg hampers. This follows a lengthy search for sustainable veg box containers.
After a successful trial, we’re now offering these biodegradable jute hampers to our members. We’ve purchased them from GoJute, a local firm based in St Austell, which operates to strict ethics.
Our new membership secretary Cath Simmons says:
These hampers will replace the assortment of boxes that are used at the moment. They’ll make the picking and packing sessions a lot more efficient as well as being very practical and good-looking. They’re lined and have sturdy bamboo handles.
As soon as we receive your order, your next weekly veg share will arrive in your new hamper.
The bags are available to standard box customers for the cost price of £5.95 each, or two for £11.90. It’s a returnable deposit, provided the hampers are handed back to us in good condition.
Members will be able to leave an empty bag in the packing shed for when they pick up their veg the following week.
Small vegetable box customers will get this offer at a later date. Regrettably, our consignment of small jute hampers is stuck on the high seas after a maritime collision (you couldn’t make it up!) on the voyage from India.
We’ll keep you posted.
Jute suits – bags replace veg boxes – Cornish Guardian
