January 15, 2023
Volunteers of all ages worked together to plant the apple trees in our new orchard at Treraven Farm on Saturday.
It’s early days, but we’re so looking forward to putting our own apples in Camel CSA’s veg boxes. We’re planting nearly 40 trees, including traditional Cornish varieties like Pig’s Nose, Tregonna King and Cornish Aromatic.
Last week we held our very first Cornish Wassail to celebrate planting the first fruit tree and to thank our donors for their generosity.
Grateful thanks to all our volunteer tree planters – Alex, Catherine, Charlotte, Claire, Damian, Francesca, Freya, Jack, Jane, Jen, Jo, Jowan, Julie, Kate, Kevin, Marcus, Mark, Nick, Susan + Wadebridge West and St.Mabyn Cornwall Councillor Robin Moorcroft.
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January 13, 2023
Chard is such a useful staple in our veg boxes at this time of year.
One of Camel CSA’s oldest members has been making lots of different jams and jellies for us from hedgerow fruits and surplus fruit in people’s gardens including blackberries, damsons, quinces, pears and apples. Everyone has a jar this week. It’s a wonderful way of ensuring nothing goes to waste.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*rhubarb chard
jar of ‘waste not, want not’ jam or jelly
parsnips (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick
beetroot (Restharrow)
Brussels sprouts stalk (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
leeks (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard shares also have:-
*parsley
*mixed oriental salad leaves
*dried olive green lentils (Hodmedods)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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January 7, 2023
The first-ever Wassail held by Camel CSA in north Cornwall is definitely the first of many to come!
We held it to celebrate the first fruit tree planted in our new orchard at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge, and to thank our donors for their generosity.
Wassail King Nick Roberts and accordion player Kevin Everett led Camel CSA volunteers in song, dance and loud noise-making to bless the trees, encourage bountiful harvests and ward off bad spirits.
The 37 trees, mostly apples, include some well-known traditional Cornish varieties like Pig’s Nose, Cornish Aromatic and Tregonna King. Cornwall Councillor Martin Alvey, Cabinet member for environment and climate change, ceremonially planted the very first tree – a Cornish Kea plum.
The trees are funded by Forest for Cornwall while Wadebridge Renewable Energy Network (WREN) has allocated £5,000 for orchard tools and maintenance equipment, donated by Wadebridge-based Clean Earth Energy. Councillor Robin Moorcroft provided a new field gate from his Community Chest.
We’ll be using the orchard to host our annual Wassail and Apple Day events and training workshops to bring people together and share information about the environment, nature and adapting to climate change.
In the past nearly every farm in the Camel Valley maintained a thriving orchard. Most have been lost over the years and we’re proud to be doing our bit to reverse this decline.
It’s a thrill for us to establish a lasting resource that’ll provide apples for the veg boxes and become a fantastic habitat for birds, bees, bats, beetles and butterflies.
*Original song composed by Dee and Dave Brotherton of Tir ha Tavas, accessed from the Cornish National Music Archive
December 17, 2022
This prolonged freezing cold spell has to be the longest we’ve ever endured at Camel CSA. It’s been a tough two weeks but we’ve still managed to fill the veg boxes!
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*carrots
*daikon radish (mooli) or *beetroot
*cavolo nero (black Tuscan kale)
*dried olive green lentils (Hodmedods)
purple sprouting broccoli (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
onions (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard shares also have:-
*coriander bunch
*mung bean sprouts
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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December 10, 2022
Frozen! For the second Friday running our leafy brassicas were frozen hard and temperatures in the polytunnels fell to below -4.5C overnight. Polytunnel 1 was the warmest least cold place for our picking and packing volunteers to have their morning crib.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*daikon radish (mooli)
*pakchoi
*parsnips (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
cauliflower (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
red cabbage (Trerair)
leeks (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard shares also have:-
*carrots
*celeriac
*mung bean sprouts
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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December 5, 2022
The sudden hard frost on Friday morning came as a sharp reminder that it now really is winter. We were unable to harvest the frozen kale and had to leave it out of the boxes. Fortunately the salad leaves in the polytunnels were unaffected.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*Jerusalem artichokes
*mixed salad leaves
beetroot (*Camel CSA / Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
carrots (Restharrow)
onions (Restharrow)
Brussels sprout stalk (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard shares also have:-
*can of fava beans (Hodmedod’s)
celery (Restharrow)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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November 28, 2022
We have a selection of veg this week that are ideal for putting into a speedy and fragrant stir fry. It includes a stalwart at this time of year – polytunnel-grown pakchoi.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*pakchoi
*spring onions
*coriander
*kalettes (CSA / Mark Norman, Bodmin)
*squash – ‘Bonbon’ (CSA) or ‘Butternut’ (Mark Norman)
parsnip (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
Standard shares also have:-
*sprouted mung beans
leeks (Trerair)
swede (Restharrow)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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November 20, 2022
You should never be fazed by this unappetising-looking vegetable – celeriac’s ugly exterior conceals beauty and versatility! Find out how to prepare and cook it here, including celeriac mash (an all-time fave) and celeriac and apple slaw.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*celeriac
*mixed salad leaves
*kale ‘Red Russian’
*can of carlin peas (Hodmedod’s)
cauliflower (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
onions (Restharrow)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
Standard shares also have:-
*garlic
celery (Restharrow)
red cabbage (Trerair)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
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November 13, 2022
The butternut squash in the boxes this week are cultivated by Camel CSA member Mark Norman, who produces veg on his own smallholding just outside Bodmin. Most butternuts in the UK supermarkets come either from southern Europe or the southern hemisphere, as they need a long hot summer to mature. They thrived in the heatwave in Cornwall this year.
In the weekly veg box shares:-
*mixed salad leaves or *cucumbers
*rhubarb chard or *cavolo nero
*jar of spiced pears
*butternut squash (Mark Norman, Bodmin)
beetroot (*Camel CSA / (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
leeks (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard shares also have:-
*carrots
*spring onions
cauliflower ‘Romanesco’ (Trerair)
*= grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
Need some cooking inspiration?
Browse our A-Z page of vegetable recipes – nearly 400 for you to try
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