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.
January 11, 2011
Our volunteer growers have completed the first task of the year. They’ve laid weed-suppressing plastic and compost around the newly-planted native hedge that’ll shelter our crops from the worst of the Cornish weather.
Many thanks to expert grower Jane Mellowship and her team – Cath, Charlotte, Danny, Finn (7), Keira (5), Mark M, Mike S.
December 10, 2010
Who we are, what we do and why we’re doing it. That’s the subject of a short film being made by Making Local Food Work about Camel Community Supported Agriculture.
Making Local Food Work is the umbrella organisation that gives advice and support to community food enterprises like ours.
The aim of the video is to raise the profile of community supported agriculture projects. The idea is to interview people involved and to film us in action.
The film-makers have been recording the picking and packing team’s activities – digging up leeks and Jerusalem artichokes, weighing out the potatoes and onions and preparing the rest of this week’s Cornish veg boxes.
They’ve also been filming our growing team who have lots of winter chores to complete. These include finishing construction of the all-important rabbit-proof fence and putting down a weed-suppressing mulch to protect the native windbreak hedge.
May 15, 2010
We’ve got carrot and parsnip seeds to sow this Sunday in the new growing beds. The broad beans need hoeing and we’ve also got more planting out to do on our plot at St Kew Highway.
Last weekend we managed to get the remaining growing beds spread with compost. We planted out some celeriac and weeded the rest of the onions.
Expert grower Jeremy B has now put the rotovator over the new beds to get them ready for sowing.
Thanks to last week’s team of volunteers led by expert growers Jeremy B and Mark N. It included Charlotte, Danny, Mark M, Mike S and Rebecca. Our younger helpers, Keira and Finn, especially enjoyed the homemade Great Ormond Street carrot cake.
May 8, 2010
Feeling energetic in the spring weather? The growing team has lots of jobs on the veg plot this Sunday.
We need to spread barrowloads of compost on some newly-formed beds and dig out a base for our new shed. We’ve also more sowing, weeding and planting out to get done.
We’ll be on the site between 10am and 1pm on Sunday. If you’re able to come, please bring an assortment of spades, rakes, hoes, hand tools and, if possible, a wheelbarrow for the compost shifting. And don’t forget to include gloves and a snack!
Last weekend expert grower Jeremy got the tractor out and formed several new growing beds for us to spread with the compost. We have carrot, parsnip and spinach seed to sow.
Kitty, Mark M, Penny, Rebecca, Robert and Charlotte performed some painstaking tasks. We dug out thistles from the garlic and onion beds, weeded beetroot and pricked out celery seedlings.
April 10, 2010
Make the most of this lovely spring weather. Come and share in the push to get our vegetables in the ground. There’s lots to do.
We need plenty of people at our volunteer growing session this Sunday 11 April to prepare some more beds and spread compost. There’s also celery and broad beans to plant out as well as beetroot and parsnip seeds to sow.
Please join us between 10am and 1pm on Sunday. You’ll find us on the plot behind St Kew Harvest Farm Shop. If you can, bring tools – hoes, spades, forks, trowels, rakes, wheelbarrows.
April 3, 2010
The next volunteer growing session is on Sunday 11 April. We’ve decided to give everyone a rest this Easter Sunday.
We do need all the help we can get to plant veg at this time of year so please consider coming along for a couple of hours next Sunday between 10am and 12 noon.
You’ll be made very welcome. We can guarantee you unlimited fresh air, plenty of exercise and some friendly company… PLUS you’ll come away feeling you’ve achieved something worthwhile.
Expert grower Mark Norman says:
“A small gang of us created a new growing bed, spread compost, and sowed lettuce and beetroot Detroit last week. But we really could have done with some extra assistance.
On Sunday 11 April there’ll be broad beans and celery to plant out, and more beetroot plus parsnip to sow. Also compost to spread and additional growing beds to prepare. Please bring tools – hoes, spades, forks, trowels, rakes, wheelbarrows…”
March 27, 2010
Our picking and packing volunteers urgently need shelter from the Cornish wind and rain.
Each week they prepare around 30 vegetable boxes for Camel CSA members on Friday mornings. Last summer we were blessed with blue skies and warm sunshine nearly every Friday, but come the autumn it was a different story.
Over the winter we’ve been borrowing one end of a polytunnel from Jeremy Brown, one of our expert growers. But now the growing season has begun he needs it to cultivate vegetables for his business at St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.
We’re looking for a second-hand shed that’s at least 4m x5m in size. Ideally it would have a roof overhang or a verandah. We’re also on the look-out for an unwanted polytunnel that’s a minimum of 7m long and 4m wide. Just a frame for a tunnel would be a great help. We’ll pay, of course.
If you know anyone who might be able to help, please get in touch with us.
Members of the volunteer growing team will be flexing their muscles this Sunday morning digging up dockleaves, spreading compost and preparing more vegetable beds. Beetroot and lettuce seeds also need sowing.
March 22, 2010
It’s all a bit nerve-racking. We’ll hear soon whether we’re going to get funding to help widen our activities.
A Lottery Food Fund assessor came for a site visit on Sunday. Kate Harris needed to see for herself exactly who we are and what we get up to. She asked our core group members lots of leading questions and met the volunteer growing team.
Kate watched the volunteers prepare vegetable beds, spread compost, plant Jerusalem artichokes, sow parsley seed for germination in the polytunnel and renew their attack on the dockleaves which are sprouting everywhere in the mild weather.
It’s her job to report back and make a recommendation on our funding bid. The all-important decision will be made in April. It’s a highly competitive scheme, so we reckon we’ve got about a 50% chance – at best.
In May we’ll hear whether we’ve been successful in our application for funding from the East Cornwall Local Action Group.
Whatever the result, we’ll keep going as a CSA – growing vegetables, working with the seasons and providing our members with a share of the harvest. It’s just that if our bids are unsuccessful, we’ll have to wait before we can invest in much-needed equipment, set up an education and training programme and provide secure employment.
For the first time on Sunday everyone had the chance to meet Daisy, expert grower Jane Mellowship’s five-week-old daughter. She arrived in a waterproof “baby trug” – ideal in the circumstances!
Many thanks to expert grower Mark Norman and volunteers Cath, Charlotte, Danny, Frank, Kitty, Mark M, Mike H, Mike S and Robert.
