We’ve done it – we’re starting to eat our own food!

More than 15 Camel Community Supported Agriculture members receive their first vegetable boxes on Friday 3 July.

A great deal of human effort has gone into providing these first fruits of our labour.  It’s hard to believe that we only started preparing our site at the beginning of March and sowed the first seeds just a few weeks later.

Our first share of the harvest will contain: –

• broad beans
• potatoes
• onions
• beetroot
• Swiss chard
• a bunch of curly or flat-leaved parsley
• turnips and radishes – possibly
• green salad

We’ve grown the first eight items ourselves at St Kew Highway.  The salad leaves are being provided by Jane Mellowship, one of our expert growers, who has her own vegetable plot at New Polzeath.

Hard work

We’ve made enormous strides since March – entirely as a result of the dedicated volunteer labour provided by members and expert growers.  Some people said we would never manage it, but we have proved that we can.

Many hours of hard work have gone into preparing the 40-metre long growing beds, spreading compost, digging up dock leaves, sowing seeds, planting out seedlings, hoeing and an enormous amount of hand weeding.  We’re grateful to our expert growing team and all the volunteers who have turned up on Sunday mornings – rain or shine.

Last Sunday we thinned out and hand weeded the parsnips, weeded the Swiss chard, spread compost and dug up yet more dock leaves that were threatening to go to seed.

A big thanks to expert grower Mark Norman, to members Charlotte, Diana, Mike H and Mike S, and to visitors Donna and Marianne.

Another team of volunteers will be picking and packing the boxes every Friday morning.  If you’d like to be included on the rota, please contact Mark Norman or phone Antonina at St Kew Harvest.

Box collection
Members must pay for veg boxes in advance.  You’ll be able to collect your box every Friday between noon and 5 p.m. from St Kew Harvest Farm Shop, which is next to the Camel CSA site.  Treasurer Cathy Fairman has been co-ordinating box payment and organisation.  She says:

“Your name will be on your box, please take your own box and anyone else’s that you are delivering.  Remember to give us feedback as soon as possible.

A special thank you to to Penny and Robert Manders and to Mike Haywood for volunteering to help Mark with the first harvest and packing.

Happy eating!”

Feedback on box content and any queries about veg box administration should be sent to Cathy at thefarm@bodminmoor.co.uk

It’s that moment we’ve all been waiting for!  We’re about to harvest some of our own food.

Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first vegetable boxes will be ready on Friday 3 July.  Any member who would like to share in the harvest should contact our treasurer Cathy Fairman as soon as possible.

The first boxes have been allocated to members who have paid in advance.  They will be ready to collect on Friday 3 July from St Kew Harvest Farm Shop at any time between 12 noon and 5 p.m.  Cathy says:

“We are all hoping that these boxes will meet expectations. Please, please, if for any reason you are not totally happy let us know.  We really want to get this right so your input is crucial.”

We also need volunteers to pick vegetables and pack the boxes.  Cathy adds:

“We will be picking and packing the vegetables on Friday mornings.  Times will vary and we would like to form a rota of volunteers to help the growers in this. Any members who would be able to help please let me know.”

Volunteer growers

If any members would like to help on the site at St Kew Highway outside the normal volunteer times on Thursday and Sunday mornings, please contact expert grower Jeremy Brown on 07971762227 or phone St Kew Harvest Farm Shop on 01208 841818.  There’s lots to do as usual!

Last Sunday we constructed more growing beds, spread compost, sowed extra carrots, did loads of hand weeding, spread concentrated chicken manure on the potatoes and dug up scores of dock leaves that were threatening to go to seed.

Many thanks to expert growers Jane and Jeremy B and to volunteer members Carolyn, Cath, Charlotte, Diana, Mark M and Mike S.

There’s a great deal to do at Camel Community Supported Agriculture this Sunday as the growing season continues apace.

As expert grower Jeremy Brown explains: –

There are runner beans to plant out and French beans to sow.  We also need to sow some more rows of carrots.

Everything needs weeding – the carrots (yet again!), the parsley and celeriac…  But the onions are okay. 

The early potatoes also need weeding and ridging up.  The peas need supporting and tying up.

Just turn up to join the team on our site at St Kew Highway between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. 

If you can’t manage Sunday, why not come to our new mid-week volunteer session every Thursday morning at the same time?  Or ring Jeremy Brown on 07971762227 if you’d like to help out another day.

Mid-summer celebration for members

Don’t forget it’s our mid-summer barbeque next Saturday 20 June in St Mabyn from 6 p.m. onwards.  Please contact Charlotte Barry if you can come at charlotte.barry@btinternet.com so we have an idea of how many people to expect. 

Everyone is asked to bring some food for the barbeque, a drink and a seasonal side dish or pudding.  Don’t forget to bring your own plate and cutlery as well!

Around 60 adults and 20 children joined in the fun at Camel Community Supported Agriculture’s first Open Day and were rewarded with glorious sunshine and not a hint of rain . 

Visitors ignored the threatening storm clouds and came out in their droves on Open Farm Sunday to see our vegetable growing project in north Cornwall.

They built bee nests, joined guided tours, planted lettuces and nasturtiums, made scarecrows,  watched a sheep shearing demonstration, sat chatting in the sun and played on hay and straw bales.

Assorted individuals, couples and families travelled from a 30-mile radius to give us some constructive feedback on our efforts to make local food work: –

Fantastic project.  Amazing!  Brilliant!

An excellent idea – keep it going

Great for the whole family.  Liked the things for children to do

Lovely, interesting day – will come again

Loved the tour – very inspiring

Learned a lot about not needing to dig.  Hurrah – compost!

Need to encourage more people to learn where food comes from and to eat seasonally

Excellent initiative – more farm events would be great

We provided a barbeque, home-made-cakes and cold drinks.  Hot drinks and cream teas were available at the farm shop.

In scenes reminiscent of Eric Carle’s children’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, our guests and helpers munched their way through a  shoulder of organic moorland mutton, a mound of sausages, beefburgers, veggie burgers and vegetable kebabs, several bowls of homegrown salad leaves, radishes and spring onions, 8 slices of rhubarb loaf,  10 rhubarb muffins,  12 slices of coconut sponge, 16 chocolate buns, 24 pieces of lemon drizzle cake, 30 iced cupcakes, 40 flapjacks…

And the verdict among Camel CSA members? 

A job very well done! We are so lucky to have a group of such enthusiastic, committed, capable, lovely people

I think we have all pulled together really well

We have managed to spread the word to so many people and explain what we’re doing and why we’re doing it

It was so lovely to see it all coming together and the atmosphere it created

Most of all we have been able to show that we are a “community” working together

We can’t wait to be part of this again!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!”

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.

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