February 25, 2024
Interested in volunteering with us? Want to find out more about no-dig vegetable growing?
Join our team for a tour of Camel CSA’s site at Treraven Farm, Wadebridge on Saturday 2 March 10am-12 noon. Try out some of our volunteering activities with the aid of expert veg growers. Discover what suits you best!
No need to book – simply turn up and we’ll be there to welcome you. Come dressed for the weather and wear stout shoes or boots. If you have your own gardening gloves, please bring them too.
More details about volunteering here. For directions to our growing site click here.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*kalettes or *Crown Prince squash
*elephant garlic
*can of fava beans (Hodmedod’s)
swede (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
savoy cabbage (Trerair)
parsnips (Continental Fruits, Pensilva)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ or ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*sprouted alfalfa seeds or *mung bean sprouts
*mixed salad leaves
leeks (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
February 18, 2024
Meet some of our dream team of volunteers and paid workers! Our growers, pickers & packers and delivery crew are all set up for the start of the new growing season.
Camel CSA is a true community enterprise. Throughout the year we all work together to provide more than 70 local households in north Cornwall with regular weekly vegetable boxes.
In all this week’s veg shares:-
*cavolo nero kale
*Jerusalem artichokes or beetroot
*Shiitake mushrooms (Forest Fungi, Dawlish)
cauliflower (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
leeks (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*mixed salad leaves
*sprouted fenugreek seeds
*coriander
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
February 11, 2024
Seasonal winter vegetables are anything but dull! Their glowing jewel-like colours simply leap out of our veg boxes on a dull grey day. They’re fresher, more nutritious and tastier too.
In all this week’s veg shares:-
*Crown Prince squash
*radishes or rhubarb chard
*sprouted mung beans
cauliflower (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
Brussels sprouts (Trerair)
Devon parsnips (Continental Fruits, Pensilva)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ or ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*elephant garlic
*mixed salad leaves
*red cabbage (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
February 5, 2024
The snowdrops are out and spring is gradually on the way. Our growers and volunteers have started sowing vegetable seeds like radishes and pea shoots direct into the beds in the polytunnels.
Spring onions, maincrop onions and calabrese are being sown in modules in the seeding tunnel. More tender crops like tomato, aubergines, chillies and peppers are being nurtured in heated propagators
Simultaneously we’re still harvesting vegetables like red Russian kale, chard, winter salad leaves and herbs that we planted last season. Not forgetting the gigantic Crown Prince squashes stashed safely in the storage shed and in our veg boxes this week!
In all this week’s veg shares:-
*Crown Prince squash
*Red Russian kale or rhubarb chard
*Shiitake mushrooms (Forest Fungi, Dawlish)
cauliflower (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
leeks (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ or ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*celeriac
*radishes or mixed salad leaves
*coriander
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
January 28, 2024
Sadly, another polytunnel cover has been ripped off by strong winds. Storm Isha tore into Polytunnel 4 in the same way Storm Henk harmed Polytunnel 1 just three weeks ago.
It’s by far the worst storm damage Camel CSA has suffered since setting up 15 years ago. We’re all used to bad weather in north Cornwall, but there’s no denying that climate change is making these severe weather events more frequent.
We don’t give up easily! Two replacement polytunnel covers are on the way and will be installed once the winds die down and the sunshine gets warmer.
Camel CSA is fortunate to have than 70 member households who can help share both the risks and rewards that come with vegetable growing. We rely on people to step up during challenging times like these to provide practical support for our paid growers and volunteer core management team.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*Crown Prince squash
*jar of homemade preserves
savoy cabbage (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
leeks (Trerair)
Brussels sprouts (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ or ‘Manitou’ (Trerair)
Devon parsnips (Continental Fruits, Pensilva)
Standard boxes also have:
*garlic
*Jerusalem artichokes or celeriac
*beetroot (Restharrow Farm, Trebetherick)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
January 21, 2024
Our veg box pickers and packers are used to all the challenges that extreme weather throws at us in north Cornwall. This week we had to wait for the kalettes to thaw before we could pick them.
The rosette-shaped leafy tops to the kalette stalks also taste divine and look so pretty (especially when frozen!) So we always include them in the vegetable boxes as well.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*kalettes + kalette tops
*Crown Prince squash
*beetroot or mooli
*Shiitake mushrooms (Forest Fungi, Devon)
cauliflower (Trerair Farm, St Eval))
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*leeks
*sprouted mung beans
swede (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
January 15, 2024
Our growing community gathered together on Sunday to bless Camel CSA’s young orchard in a traditional Cornish Wassail.
We joined in playing music, singing, dancing, and making a din to wake the trees from their winter slumber, to encourage a bountiful harvest, and to frighten away any bad spirits.
View the video
Traditional Cornish tunes soon got fingers and toes tapping as families with young children joined in on their percussion instruments.
This is the second year that Camel CSA’s held its Wassail at Treraven Farm. It’s fast become one of our annual community celebrations alongside the autumn Apple Day and summer barbeque.
*Original Wassail song composed by Dee and Dave Brotherton of Tir ha Tavas, accessed from the Cornish National Music Archive
January 12, 2024
What beautiful crisp, dry weather for harvesting winter vegetables – just a little chilly! It’s such a contrast from last week’s damaging storms.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*leeks
*Crown Prince squash
*rhubarb chard
*elephant garlic
*winter salad leaves
celeriac (Trerair Farm, St Eval))
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*carrots
*sprouted alfalfa seeds
red cabbage (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
January 8, 2024
We’re putting a brave face on the loss of one polytunnel cover and damage to another during Storm Henk.
Our four large polytunnels are our biggest asset, and we rely on them extensively all year round to protect a large variety of seasonal crops like winter salad leaves and summer tomatoes.
They’re particularly valuable in spring for bringing on early vegetables needed during the ‘hungry gap’ when British-grown veg are in short supply.
In all this week’s veg boxes:-
*kalettes
*squash
*radishes
*coriander
leeks (Trerair Farm, St Eval)
cauliflower (Trerair)
potatoes ‘Wilja’ (Trerair)
Standard boxes also have:
*carrots or *salad leaves
*sprouted mung beans
beetroot (Trerair)
* = grown to organic principles. Please wash all veg thoroughly
Produce grown by Camel CSA, unless indicated otherwise
