Bosavern Community Farm

Bex!

2012-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Bex, who left yesterday after 6 weeks volunteering on the farm. Bex looked after the farm on Sundays to give the rest of us a day off, and also took over chicken duties for three days a week, all of which was greatly appreciated, as well as all the rest of the good work she put in. Anybody who has admired Bex's artwork for the farm (see previous entries) can find more examples on her website www.bexbourne.co.uk.

Planting new potatoes.

2012-02-26T03:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Saturday 25th February, a team of eight began planting this season's seed potatoes. We have planned 20 beds of new potatoes on the market garden field, 10 beds each of Maris Peer (which we grew last year and were delicious) and Pink Fir Apple (a new variety for us). The market garden field is primarily worked by hand - this season's maincrop potatoes will be planted by machine on another field after it has been ploughed by tractor.

Preparing beds for new potatoes.

The area we are planting was ploughed last May but weeded over again during the year. In September we dug the dock roots out of it and covered it in a mulch of thick black plastic. This has had the affects of keeping the soil dryer and more workable during the current wet weather, of warming the soil up, and of killing most of the weed growth, thus reducing our workload now planting has come around (and allowing us to start work one week earlier than last year).

The new potato beds, with black plastic mulch in the background.

There are still couch grass roots in there, which we dig out and give to the chickens to peck through and destroy, and dandelion roots which our pigs love eating. We hope to have all 20 beds prepared and planted by the end of next weekend, thanks of course to our wonderful community volunteers.

A well-earned cuppa out on the veg field.

Volunteering and training sessions.

2012-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

Volunteering/training sessions are held on the farm every Tuesday 1 till 5pm, Thursday 10am till 3pm (bring a packed lunch), and Saturday 1 till 5pm. The farm is a beautiful place to work whatever the weather (on wet days we work in the polytunnels and outbuildings), and as well as meeting new people and helping the farm develop, volunteers learn new skills (land care, animal care, crop care, growing and harvesting vegetables). This month our main task is preparing vegetable beds in the market garden field ready for this season's sowing and planting, some of which has already begun. The first bed of beetroot was sown today, and it was broad beans yesterday. Regular tasks include looking after our kune kune pigs, collecting and boxing eggs, looking after our 200 laying hens, harvesting salads and potatoes/vegetables, composting and weeding. All equipment, including work gloves, is provided, as are tea/coffee and biscuits, but volunteers need to wear suitable clothing and footwear and bring waterproofs "just in case". If you would like to chat to Hugh (Community Farm Trainer) please phone me on (01736) 788454, or simply turn up at the above times and get stuck in. We'd love to welcome you to the team!

Tea break whilst planting potatoes.

Tractor!

2012-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

We have taken the plunge and bought a second-hand tractor, a 1973 David Brown, as a big step towards cultivating more of the farm and growing more vegetables. We are now on the look-out for bits of kit, especially a topper and harrows, so if anybody knows of any out there please let us now. The tractor will cost us £2700, which is cheap for a tractor but a lot of money for us, so if anybody would like to donate towards our tractor fund, please send a cheque made payable to "Land's End Peninsula CLT" to:-
The Tractor Fund,
Bosavern Community Farm,
St. Just
Penzance
Cornwall
TR19 7RD.
Many thanks in anticipation of your kind support (as a charity we are always pleased to receive donations).

Veg boxes.

2012-02-15T03:58:00.000-08:00

Bosavern Community Farm currently supplies 10 veg boxes per week to local customers, but we are able to supply a few more, so if anybody would like a weekly or fortnightly veg box please get in touch. Boxes cost £8, and can include eggs at extra cost. They are available to collect from the farm from 6pm on Fridays, or anytime Saturday or Sunday. Last week's boxes contained:-
potatoes ("ambo"),
onions,
a bag of mixed salad leaves,
mixed radishes,
leeks,
parsnips OR purple sprouting broccoli,
and a cauliflower (the only item not grown on the farm, but grown by a friend in Gulval, and not certified organic).
Please phone Hugh if you would like a box, on 01736 788454.

Amy.

2012-02-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Amy, who left this morning having spent 12 days volunteering on the farm. It's always good to meet someone with a deep appreciation of different salad leaves!

Amy snedding willow.

New poster.

2012-02-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Bex, the farm's current long-term wwoofer, has designed us a new poster which will soon be seen around St. Just and beyond. We think you'll agree that it's fairly funky! Thanks to Bex for her artistic endeavours.

Christmas Events.

2012-02-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

Although now way past Christmas, it should be mentioned that there were two Christmas events here at the farm. The first, on Saturday 17th December, was a get-together in the farmhouse kitchen for our regular volunteers, with mulled wine, mince pies, cake, and other goodies. This was a lovely little low-key party, and a chance to look back on the successes and tribulations of 2011, and appreciate how far we've come in a relatively short space of time. The second was on Thursday 22nd December, which was a public event involving an enchanted wardrobe, dressing the Christmas tree, singing carols, a pedal-powered star-light, and party games, followed by another volunteer's get-together this time with live music. If anybody has photos of this event, or videos, please can we have copies to post on this blog....

Coppicing willow with the Wild Penwith volunteers (again).

2012-02-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again! Although the spring seems more advanced than at this point last year.... The Wild Penwith Volunteers came on their fifth working day out to the farm today to help us coppice another line of willow, and plant willow around the remainder of our vegetable field.

Bex has revamped our volunteering board.

We inherited three lines of willow coppice windbreak on the south hedge of the veg field, and today we have completed planting offcuts of this willow so there are three lines of coppice around the entire field. Last year we coppiced the back line and planted along the east and west of the field. Today we coppiced the middle line and planted along the north of the field. Next year we'll coppice the front and final line, and introduce a windbreak to another part of the farm.

Coppicing the willow.

Greg Humphries explaining the finer points of coppicing.

There's a lot more to coppicing than just lopping down trees at the base. Because we want the willow to be healthy and continue growing and producing we must leave it in good shape, with no avenues for rot to set in, and no damage to the stump. Greg once again was on hand to explain how to coppice correctly.

Last year's coppice on the right, this year's in the centre, and next year's on the left.

Willow provides a flexible permeable windbreak for the vegetables we grow, a godsend in this incredibly windy part of the country. In addition, the wood we cut can be used as woodfuel, charcoal, pea-sticks, plant supports, or woven into baskets, hurdles etc... or used in green woodwork.

A tired but rewarded group of volunteers at the end of the day.

Many thanks to Greg, David and all who came to coppice - see you again next year!

"Oh Mary"

2012-01-29T06:31:00.000-08:00

On Saturday February 25th the brilliant theatre performance of "Oh Mary" will show at St. Just Town Hall. We saw this show last winter and it was superb. "This true story is a swashbuckling tale of transportation, love, escape, tragedy and redemption that spanned the world between Cornwall and Australia". "Oh Mary" is a one-woman show performed by Bec Appletree. Tickets are £6 in advance (ask in Bygones Antiques or call 01736 788088) or £7 on the door. Proceeds from the bar will go to Bosavern Community Farm.

Pig photos.

2012-01-26T12:54:00.001-08:00

The photo for the cover of Pendeen Outreach newsletter was taken by Jackie Packer, who has also supplied this adorable photo.

Table-top sale at the Centre of Pendeen

2012-01-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

On the last Saturday of every month there is a table-top sale held in the Centre of Pendeen on Pendeen village main street, raising funds for various charities and local concerns. Bosavern Community Farm always has a stall there thanks to the generosity of our volunteers and supporters, and this coming Saturday 28th January is no exception. The sale runs from 10:30am till 1:30pm.

Finishing beds in the new polytunnel.

2012-01-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

At last this task is complete! We put the plastic skin on our new polytunnel back on the first of November, and started digging the beds that same day, but because of the amount of couch grass roots in the ground, and all the other jobs that have needed doing, we only finished the beds today. But it's a job well done, and we are very grateful for all the hard work put in by volunteers too numerous to mention - a big thankyou to all. We have dug the whole tunnel twice, redistributed soil to make a level growing surface, lined the beds with reclaimed roof tiles, put stepping stones on the beds to allow access, planted up half the tunnel (green sprouting broccoli, kohl rabi, spring cabbage, and winter lettuce), and applied our own compost to one quarter of it. Now we will install an irrigation system ("soaker hose" made from recycled rubber car tyres), and use the remaining beds to grow leek and cabbage seedlings for transplanting outside in the spring.

Today's team having completed the task - Bex, Anne, Hugh, Willow and Sonja.

Ebony and the gang.

2012-01-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Ebony and her piglets eating boiled potatoes.

Ebony is the mother of five piglets - Blue, Ginger, Horus, Lowenna and Popo - the whole family of whom now live at Bosavern Community Farm. They are kune-kune pigs, a small hardy breed native to New Zealand and the Polynesian islands. Although popular as pets they serve as useful grazing animals for the farm, helping to keep grass and plant growth down whilst manuring the land as they go, and will in time make good sausages and meat the same as our last pigs (Penny, Sage and Onion). Ebony and the gang came from an organic farm just north of Penzance, and are very friendly. They love eating boiled potatoes, which is very handy because we have a lot of reject potatoes from our vegetable field. They also eat organic "sow and weaner nuts", which cost twice as much to buy as non-organic feeds.

Ebony eating like a pig.

Blue.

Ginger.

Horus.

Lowenna.

Popo.

Pendeen Outreach cover.

2012-01-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Our new kune-kune (more about them later!) pigs adourn the cover of February's edition of the Pendeen Outreach magazine.

Moving the chicken sheds.

2012-01-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

On Thursday 12th January the Mayor of St. Just brought his tractor down to the farm and helped us move the chicken sheds onto new pasture. Our chicken field measures 2.26 acres, and is evenly divided into six sections, each being fenced off to create a separate chicken run or paddock. Our plan is to rotate the birds every six months to give them fresh pasture and allow the old pasture time to recover. Whilst our first flock of 40 chickens had been happily living on their run for over one year without it looking degraded, the other two flocks each of 80 chickens had worn their grass down to bare earth and certainly needed moving on. Before moving them we wormed and de-loused them.

Towing a shed from one pasture to the next.

Each shed is large enough to house 100 birds under organic conditions, and each run is also measured accordingly. The sheds are mounted on skids, like a sledge, so they can be dragged by tractor without the need for lifting or for wheels. They weigh a ton (or more!) but the tractor just about managed.

Lucky girls leaping out into fresh green grass.

We have been lucky this winter, and our 200 chickens have between them kept supplying the farm with at least 5 dozen eggs a day for us to sell at the gate, Pendeen Farmer's Market, and in our weekly veg-boxes.

Re-installing the internal fencing between flocks.

Having taken down some of the internal fencing to allow the sheds to be dragged between runs, afterwards we had to put it all back together again. This job was only completed today, when small wheelbarrow-size gates were installed in the fences between internal runs, making collecting eggs and cleaning out the sheds a much easier job (even if only one person were to do it). We also put skirts of wire-netting around the bases of each shed to prevent the chickens from excavating under the houses to lay their eggs out of our reach.

Spot the difference between old pasture and new.

Many thanks to Morley, Deb, Sonja, Jenny, Anne and Jim for helping.

In celebration of turkeys.

2012-01-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

The time for celebrating the festive season by eating turkey is now past, and our turkeys were slaughtered one month ago now, but we thought we'd celebrate their brief lives with some photos and anecdotes.

When our turkeys got older and more flighty, three of them took to roosting for the night in the rafters of the old forge, even though they seemed scared of the return to earth come morning. The other 18 birds roosted on the internal walls and window-sills of the old forge, hardly any of them using the purpose-built roosts we'd constructed specially.

Our flock of turkeys free-ranging in their outside pen. Before long they'd started flying out of the pen, only to hang around on the outside wondering why they weren't still inside it. Very few of them managed to fly back into the pen, so they usually needed catching and putting back inside manually. Sometimes when a gang of them got out they'd wander into the farmyard to see what we were up to, and used to love the nasturtiums growing in the old cattle trough.

Portrait of a male turkey just before slaughter. The breed was Norfolk Black, and they looked stunning, especially with winter sunshine shimmering on their feathers. When the males fought they'd grab hold of those red bobbles using their beaks, and wrestle, and you could hear the bobble snapping back into place once it had been wrestled free.

A clutch of turkeys hanging out inside the old forge on a rainy December day. Everybody who ate some of the turkey for Christmas said how good they were, someone even saying it was the best turkey they'd ever had. So all that effort was worthwhile then, and we even made some money on the venture.

Winter Leaves.

2011-12-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

Winter came suddenly this year, bringing strong winds and heavy rain, with some hail, but without the freezing snowy conditions of last year. Not much is happening out on the vegetable field these days (that's not quite true, but most of the sowing and planting is taking place under cover) but our polytunnels provide good conditions for hardy salad leaves and other crops. Low light levels and reduced temperatures mean even in the polytunnels crops grow slowly, and we cannot meet the demands for mixed salad, so we concentrate our efforts on getting mixed salad leaves into the weekly veg-boxes, with whatever surplus there may be for sale on the farm-gate stall. Anyway, here's some photos of winter salad leaves, all growing in the polytunnel now.

Corn-salad, or lamb's-lettuce, a member of the valerian family, slow growing but attractive.

Giant red mustard, a brassica (member of the cabbage family).

Giant winter spinach, grows slowly through winter but shoots up in spring.

Green-in-snow mustard, good tangy winter brassica.

Greenwave mustard, another brassica.

Land cress, tastes like water cress but needs less water.

Mizuna, a brassica, fast growing but can be fiddly to harvest.

Namenia, another brassica, one of the best.

Nasturtian, not a brassica! Lovely peppery leaves and edible flowers too.

Pak choi, oriental brassica, can pick leaves or grow into a head of "Chinese leaves".

Rainbow chard, the old standby, young in salad or older as a vegetable.

Red winter kale, lovely feathery leaf for salads, another brassica.

Rocket, another classic brassica.

Sessantina, an oriental brassica.

Serifon, another oriental brassica (or is this Sessantina?).

Tat soi, similar to pak choi, leaves like lollipops.

New Compost Demonstration Site.

2011-12-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday 13th December (a very busy day on the farm!) Guy from Cornwall Waste Action, assisted by several farm volunteers, constructed a compost demonstration site on our vegetable field. The site shows three methods of composting waste, being the New Zealand box, black Joanna, and tumbler, along with interpretation signs. The farm already operates a hot composting system constructed from old pallets, but this new site will demonstrate different and more "garden-scale" ways of producing compost.

Sonja, Jackie, Deb and Guy building compost bins in a torrential hail storm.

The completed compost demonstration site.

One interpretation board.

And the other.

Guy also gave the farm a wormery to set up in the house, which we will do in January when the worms have arrived. Thanks to Guy and the volunteers!

Map of the area.

2011-12-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

Our friend Chris at YHA Land's End has produced a map of the area around St. Just and the Cot Valley, including Bosavern Community Farm and footpaths to the farm from town.

Wild Penwith Volunteers on their fourth visit.

2011-12-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday 13th December the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Wild Penwith Volunteers came to Bosavern Community Farm for their fourth working day since the project began. Their task was to clear brambles and gorse around the perimeter of the vegetable field, to allow access for repairing the rabbit-fence and coppicing the willow over the winter months. In fact, the same task as they undertook in November 2010 on their first visit here! This time the task was quicker and easier as there was only one year's bramble growth instead of two, so the whole job was done in the day, and there was time for a coppicing demonstration from Greg Humphries to boot.

Clearing brambles from the rabbit fence.

Waiting behind the new polytunnel for Greg's coppicing demonstration.

Greg getting into that willow coppice.

Many thanks to the Wild Penwith Volunteers for their hard graft on the day, and to Greg for his coppicing demo. Hopefully everyone will be back to coppice the willow sometime in early February.

Forthcoming Volunteer Sessions.

2011-12-19T01:34:00.000-08:00

Tuesday December 20th - 1 till 5pm, harvesting produce for our Christmas veg boxes.
Thursday December 22nd - 10am till 3pm, organising and preparing for the farm's Christmas Family Fun Day, which runs that afternoon from 3 till 6pm.
Saturday December 24th - no volunteering (except for those on the chicken care rota).
Tuesday December 27th - no volunteering (except for those on the chicken care rota).
Thursday December 29th - no volunteering (except for those on the chicken care rota).
Saturday December 31st - back to normal volunteer session 1 till 5pm. See you there!

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish all our volunteers and supporters a wonderful Christmas and many many thanks for all your hard work throughout 2011 - we couldn't have done it without you and you are very much appreciated by the farm community. See you back here in the New Year, unless some of you make it in on the 31st....

Turkeys for Christmas.

2011-12-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

We still have 2 turkeys available for Christmas, having sold 19 of our 21, so if anybody wants a Norfolk Black turkey this year please give us a ring on 01736 788454. They are due to be prepared for ovens on Thursday 23rd, and cost £10 per kilo, so in the region of £50 to £70 per bird depending on the size you require. Hurry!

Cornwall Today article.

2011-12-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Bosavern Community Farm is pleased to have been featured in the December 2011 issue of "Cornwall Today", with a 2-page spread on pages 70 and 71.

Rainbow.

2011-12-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

If evidence were needed that (in a time of supermarket-driven global agri-business) the small-scale community-run local organic farm is the answer at the end of the rainbow.... A brief lull in Friday's vegetable harvesting....

St Just Christmas Fair.

2011-12-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Saturday 10th December, we will have a fundraising stall in the Old Town Hall for the Christmas Fair, selling quality used items, chicken sponsorships, farm produce, hone-made cakes and pickles. The fair runs from 10:30 am till 4pm. Please support the community farm by shopping at our stall, and by donating items for us to sell.

Christmas Family Fun Day.

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Recent Workshops.

2011-12-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

On November 8th Bosavern Community Farm was the venue for three workshops, attended by trainees from gardening courses run by the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (of which we are a member). The day was a celebration of composting and growing, run in association with the FCFCG plus Cornwall Neighbourhoods 4 Change (CN4C) and Cornwall Waste Action.

The first workshop was taken by Hugh, Community Farm Trainer here at BCF, with the theme of "winter cropping both outdoors and under cover", being a guided tour of the vegetable field and polytunnel, so a chance to see theory put into action in the field. The second workshop was "composting" taken by Guy from Cornwall Waste Action, with a lively discussion followed by a visit to the farm's hot composting station out in the veg field. And the third workshop was "chicken keeping" taken by Kent, a regular volunteer here at the farm and fount of wisdom with experience in smallholding. Feedback from all three sessions was excellent, with many people taking inspiration from the day.

Kent with attendees and chickens.

Guy explaining hot composting out in the veg field.

There will be more workshops to come, so please watch this space for information.

Land's End Peninsula Community Land Trust Newsletter.

2011-12-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Supporters of BCF and Followers of Hugh's blog...

Its been another busy couple of months at BCF with lots happening and lots in the pipeline!

Since the last update we have hosted a couple of extremely lively events at the farm one for a group of fifty teenagers on a world tour- sailing on a training tallship, aptly named the 'class afloat'. They loved the farm, the project and the group of St Just schoolchildren who showed them around 'their' farm so enthusiastically and with such pride. BCF also hosted a celebrationary event for the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, who invited trainees from their gardening courses to come and take part in some free workshops (put on by BCF staff and volunteers) and enjoyed a great lunch (produce from the farm- prepared and baked using the Age Concern kitchen- Thanks Sylvia and Jill!)

For the local families we held a pre Feast- feast! a Halloween 'Hextravaganza' at St Just Rugby Club with lots of fiendish games and craft sessions and hog-roasted our community- pig!! (thanks to Tom MacFadden for doing such a grand job both cooking and carving...'twas enjoyed by all).

Also, thanks to the enthusiasm of one of our newest volunteers- Jenny, our produce is not only to be seen at the Pendeen Farmers Market but more recently at the St Just Primary School, where Mrs O Brien has kindly agreed for us to share a stall with them selling farm produce and also any that the school has grown (or parents) for their own funds- a great partnership! Dates for which will be advertised and in the new year we plan for it to be a regular fortnightly event.

On a more practical level....the turkeys are doing what turkeys do best.....getting fat! the chickens are about to be moved to their new site...on the other side of the field! and the pigs....sadly... are gone, sadly because they are a great animal to have around and gone because we've eaten them....which is the reality of being an omnivore.. but what a great life our meat had and we plan to have more...in fact anyone interested in a future share should let us know. To all herbivores and their keepers, all our hay is now sold so until next summer thats it. Further news from the fields is that the cattle that have been so beautifully managing our outer fields through a local third party farmer are about to leave for the winter months.

Great news also on the veg growing front as the farm crew have recently erected our new polytunnel, funding for which was raised from a Cornwall Neighbourhoods 4 Change 'pot' along with match funding from BCF business and in-kind labour...so a huge thanks to all our volunteers for their efforts, which were literally doubled in value!! as well as CN4C for the cash donation.

As far as planning for the future we have now submitted our final application for a lottery bid that, if successful, will make the dream of owning our community farm a reality....though as a plan B is always a good idea- the BCF finance team is already working on a share issue and mortgages and lending schemes appropriate to a community project.

We would also like to announce and welcome a new member to the team, Jackie Packer, who has kindly offered to help with our bookkeeping and banking (phew!), its a great relief to have someone with such experience(and patience) to guide us and keep us in check.

Im sure there are lots of things we have missed, but you can always come and visit and see for yourself how your community farm is progressing, to buy some eggs or volunteer yourself, hours are still 1-5pm on a Tuesday and Saturday and 10-3pm on a Thursday.

Finally the fun-d raising team have been working hard on the winter celebration at the farm and the date for your diary is 22nd December between 3 and 6pm as usual there will be a number of great activities for all the family, some festive food and a chance to gather together for some seasonal sing-song round the christmas tree...so look out for postersin St Just nearer the day and bring your friends and family. We are also inviting the members from Age Concern at around 5pm for a few carols and mince pies in the warmth of the farm kitchen...so if your gran or grandad would like to come along for that then please bring them along.

Once again many thanks to all who have helped and supported us throughout the year and we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Winter Solstice and a Happy New Year.

written by deb pepper on behalf of the bosavern farm community.

Preparing the new polytunnel.

2011-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

Jim and Hugh today finished digging over the inside of the new polytunnel, having been helped along the way by several volunteers over the past month. Couch grass spaghetti was the main problem, but there was Yorkshire fog, annual meadow grass, nettles, black nightshade, fat hen, dock, and cranesbills in there too.

Halfway down the tunnel - Lorraine, Zoe, Jim and Jaimie.

Looking back to the far end of the tunnel we can already see bits of couch coming up again, only three weeks after it was dug out. Couch is indefatigable. Every little bit of discarded root will shoot again, so now we must go back over the ground and pick out the little bits. Then it's on to installing beds and irrigation before transplanting lettuces, pak choi, green sprouting calabrese, and sowing winter salads!

Composting Demonstration Site.

2011-11-29T12:11:00.001-08:00

A composting demonstration site will be set up in the vegetable field during the morning on 13th December, by Guy from Cornwall Waste Action. He'll need help from a handful of willing volunteers, so please let us know (788454) if anyone is interested in lending a hand on the day. Thanks!

New polytunnel update.

2011-11-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Our new polytunnel is now structurally complete! During a special session on Tuesday 1st November (thanks to all those people who turned up to help at such short notice - the weather was perfect and we just had to go for it) a team of volunteers got the polythene "skin" onto the frame, finishing by the light of mobile phones as darkness fell. The tunnel measures 16 by 60 feet, so that was quite a big piece of plastic to get on, so a great effort by all concerned.

Fixing the polythene skin to the timber base rail - Bob, Deb and Sonja.

Nailing on batons - Ann and Jaimie.

Jim getting to grips with the cornering.

Pleating the tunnel ends in the dusk - Bob, Kent and Jim.

Now all that remains to do is finish weeding the inside (we're almost there), prepare the beds and path, install irrigation, and transplant seedlings from the old tunnel into the new beds!

Jaimie and Zoe.

2011-11-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Many thanks go to Jaimie and Zoe, who swapped sunny Australia for damp Penwith and wwoofed on the farm for two and a half weeks in November. Thanks for all your hard work, and for donating your "travel-time" to come and help on the farm. Happy travels!

Entry written by John, who volunteered on the farm in May.

2011-11-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

I spent two weeks working and living at Bosavern Farm as part of the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) scheme. While it would be impossible to convey every positive I took from the experience and still keep this account a reasonable length, I’ll try to relay exactly what I learnt from my time on the farm as well as try to get across why community farming projects like Bosavern are so important.

Perhaps the most widely known positive of community farming is its environmental impact, or rather lack of. When it comes to small community farms like Bosavern the distances involved in transporting food – from the ground, to the point of sale, to the consumer’s kitchen table - could in some cases be measured in mere metres. Supermarkets on the other hand are the antithesis of this low impact model. They often import vast quantities of food from abroad, a process heavily dependent on fossil fuels for transportation. They also operate a production network of increasingly centralised intensive farms, meaning even the produce grown in the UK has to travel cross country, by lorry, to get to supermarket stores, probably via large sorting warehouses. In a world of increasingly scarce natural resources and awareness of the importance of reducing the first world’s carbon footprint it’s a model that is no longer sustainable. Community farms cut food miles down to, potentially, zero. When working at Bosavern the potatoes I harvested travelled - from soil to the farm gate where they are sold – I think about 50 metres, by wheelbarrow, powered by me. If the customer then travels by foot to buy them from the gate those potatoes are effectively carbon neutral.

This reduced distance between a community farm and the customer is not just literal. The centralisation of our food system has created a disconnect between our food and where it comes from, meaning as a society we have no relationship with the people and land that produce our food. For many members of the public food simply appears on super market shelves as if by magic, they can’t put a human face to the people who sow, grow and harvest the crops they eat. This is convenient for the handful of companies that control our food system: when a customer buys a cheap tomato they think only about the price, the farmer who’s receiving an increasingly diminishing return for his crop is out of sight, and therefore out of mind. At Bosavern the majority of conversations members of the community had with Hugh were predictably about food; what was good that week, what crops would soon be harvested, which ones were coming along well, which were struggling a bit, how the weather was affecting production. Imagine asking the shelf stacker in Tesco’s how that season’s broad beans were maturing. Living in close proximity, and having access to where our food is produced reconnects us to its origin and produces a more empathetic relationship between the producer and consumer. Bosavern, through the volunteer and community aspects of the farm, has bridged this gap altogether, making consumer and producer almost one and the same.

Being a community farm creates a link of mutual interest between Bosavern and local residents. It also earns them the right to voice their opinion on how it’s run and encourages involvement in the day to day goings on at the farm, through volunteering and getting involved with fundraising or the educational activity days. This enfranchisement, the feeling of having an influence on something that matters (and what matters more than food!), encourages inclusion, provides a feeling of personal fulfilment and both creates and strengthens community ties. Volunteers at Bosavern and farms and institutions like it have the unique satisfaction of involvement at potentially all levels of production; they have a say on what’s grown, they can sow the seeds, harvest the crop, then have a say on where the money made through selling the produce goes.

Despite taking a keen interest in where my food came from before I arrived at the farm, I realised within hours of arriving how narrow my knowledge of vegetables actually was. Just by taking one quick circuit of the Poly-tunnel I was exposed to several varieties of salad that I’d never heard of, let along eaten. Mizuna and mibuna, both viable alternatives to the more common rocket for adding a peppery taste to salads, were two that spring to mind. On my first night there Hugh made a tasty spaghetti ‘chard-ongese’, I’d heard of chard but again I had no recollection of having eaten it before. This seems absurd when you consider how worthy a substitute it can be for spinach (tougher, less likely to wilt to nothing in your fridge within a couple of hours of purchasing). This of course reflects a truth that is well known in certain circles in the UK but not in the country as a whole; while supermarkets may give the illusion of choice the range of vegetables and foodstuffs on offer is actually very limited. Apples are a good example of this. Roughly 3000 different varieties of apples exist in the UK, however only a few are widely available in UK supermarkets. If we as a country embraced a wider variety of home-grown apples (and this goes for many other fruit and vegetables) we could vastly lessen our dependence on foreign imports. By aiming towards at least an ideal of community self-sufficiency farms like Bosavern encourage exploration; if you’re going to pursue a diet whereby locally grown produce makes up the majority of your ingredients, you’re going to have to widen your palette beyond what’s available in supermarkets. This opens up the opportunity to embark on a gastronomic journey of discovery, an exploration into new varieties of fruit and veg and culinary combinations, like Hugh’s ‘chard-ongese’, for instance!

JohnX

Bric-a-brac wanted.

2011-11-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

We are looking for good quality items to sell from our stall to raise money for the farm, at Pendeen Table Top Sale on Saturday 26th November, then St Just Town Hall Christmas Fair on Saturday 10th December. Items can be dropped off at the farmhouse. Ideally the items will be good enough for people to buy as Christmas gifts - home-made cake or jams would also be most welcome!

Halloween Hextravaganza.

2011-11-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

On October Friday 28th there were ghostly goings-on and spooky spine-tingling shivery shenanigans at St Just Rugby Club, as Bosavern Community Farm held our "Halloween Hextravaganza" there. The main attraction was a hog-roast of one of the three pigs raised on the farm through the year and recently slaughtered - two as "piggy shares" for friends of the farm, and the third for the Halloween hog-roast. And she was very tasty indeed.

Carving the hog-roast.

As well as eating, there were fun and games in the form of welly-wanging, fancy dress, face-painting, tug-o-war, gooey gloop, a raffle, apple-bobbing, pumpkin carving - and of course the rugby club bar.

Welly-wanging.

A new take on the old apple-bobbing tradition.

Pumpkin carving.

Preparing for tug-o-war.

Gooey gloop, or spaghetti entrails.

The punk pumpkin.

Becky

2011-11-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Becky, a long-term volunteer on the community farm, left recently to head back up north. Becky was here for four months, and was invaluable help during the busy times over summer, and in covering the days off of other staff. During her time here we brought in 200 more laying hens, 21 Christmas turkeys, started work on the new polytunnel, built up the veg boxes to 12 a week, sent our three little pigs to slaughter, hosted 13 wwoofers, and started switching our crop rotation from 2011 to 2012 planting - never a dull moment! Many thanks for all your help Becky, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Becky hoeing round the purple sprouting broccoli.

Spaghetti with kale, garlic and parmesan.

2011-10-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from Duchy Home Farm in the Cotswolds, and serves 3.

Ingredients.
250g kale
225g spaghetti
50g butter
half a tablespoon olive oil
one red onion
3 garlic cloves
75g parmesan cheese

Method.
Cut the kale into ribbons/strips. Bring a large pan of salted water to the the boil, add the kale abd cook for two minutes once it has returned to the boil. Remove the kale with a slotted spoon and refresh unser cold water. Put the spaghetti into the boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions.
Chop the red onion and garlic finely. In a separate pan melt the butter and oil, add the onion and garlic, a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. Gently cook it until the onion is translucent (not burnt!). Add the kale to the garlicky mixture and mix to coat the leaves well. Add the cooked and drained spaghetti and mix well. Serve on warmed plates with freshly grated parmesan sprinkled over.

Francesca.

2011-10-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Francesca, who volunteered as a wwoofer on the farm for one week, and especially thanks for leaving half a chocolate cake behind for us!

Green tomato chutney.

2011-10-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year when your tomatoes stop ripening and sit there looking green and unappetising. So here's an easy recipe to make delicious green tomato chutney!

Ingredients.
6 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 cup sultanas
1 cup chopped onion
1.5 cups light brown sugar (packed firm)
1 teaspoon salt
1.25 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoon spices
1 teaspoon chilli powder (or a fresh chilli or two).

Method.
Put everything into a pan, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for one hour until thick, then spoon into sterilised jars. You can start eating it next day, or store it in a cool place.

Halloween Hextravaganza.

2011-10-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

For our next event we are teaming up with St. Just Rugby Club on Friday 28th October, 3-7pm, to present a "Halloween Hextravaganza". There will be arts and crafts, games, fancy dress, and a barbecue using pork reared on the community farm. Everybody welcome!

Hot chilli chutney.

2011-10-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a delicious recipe we found on the internet. It makes 3 small jars of chutney/relish, great with fried eggs or whatever really. We have three varieties of hot chilli available at the farm gate stall - "ring of fire" red chillies, jalapeno peppers, and "amarillo" fat yellow chillies.

Ingredients.
450g chillies
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground turmeric
25g root ginger (peeled and grated) or 2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon salt
three-quarters cup olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
one quarter cup vinegar

Method
Finely chop chillies, including seeds. Finely chop onion and garlic. Mix together chillies, onion, garlic, cumin, turmeric, ginger, salt and oil. Put in a heavy-based pan and fry for 15 minutes stirring often. Add sugar and vinegar, bring to boil, cover pan and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Spoon into sterilised jars and seal immediately.

First day on the new polytunnel.

2011-10-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we held a special volunteering session to get as much of our new polytunnel built as possible, so many thanks to the 12 people who came along throughout the day to help. Simon and Hugh began on the Friday by marking out the site of the tunnel, using a laser theodolite to level and measure the site to within an inch (the new tunnel is 66 by 16ft, so we're working in imperial measurements).

Simon marking out the site for our new polytunnel.

Which meant that when people arrived on Saturday morning we already knew where the 26 2ft-deep holes had to be dug and it was all hands on spades. By the end of the day we had all the holes dug, most of the anchor-plates and base-poles in place, half of the hoops erected, and 2 strengthening struts attached.

Putting the hoops together, with Alice, Nigel, Jean and Kent.

Getting those anchor-plates just right, with John, Bob and Simon.

Putting the community into farm - a well-deserved and delicious lunch in the farmhouse kitchen.

We will be continuing the work on Tuesday afternoon, 1-5pm (our usual volunteering session) so if you want to lend a hand please come along.

Soil Association National Horticultural Symposium.

2011-10-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

As Bosavern Community Farm is a producer-member of the Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org), the UK's leading organic certification body, Hugh attended their symposium for two days in Bristol last week. It was good to put faces to names, get new ideas, hear the latest news, but most of all to meet all those other people scraping a living from growing organic vegetables around the country and realise that we're not alone! On the first day there were talks and presentations, plus heated debates, about topics such as growing green manures in polytunnels, the state of the current UK market for organics, school meals, and open-pollinated seed varieties (i.e. non-hybrids). On the second day we visited four farms in the Cotswolds area north of Bristol, to see for ourselves how other farms do things, and get their stories straight from the horses' mouths. These are particularly useful, as you can learn from other people's mistakes, and maybe even offer solutions of your own experiences.

Tales of organic carrots and excessive supermarket controls at Duchy Home Farm.

The veg field at the second Duchy farm.

Salad crops in a polytunnel at Abbey Home Farm.

The walled garden at Stroud CSA.

The most pertinent of these visits to our own situation was Stroud Community Supported Agriculture, who grow biodynamically on a mixed farm, and supply 190 "shares" per week to their members - see their website at http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org.
Many thanks to staff at the Soil Association for organising such a good 2-day event, and to all the growers whose nuggets of wisdom made the symposium even more worthwhile attending (even if it was just crying into each other's pints about that root of all evil - couch grass!).

Robert and Milan.

2011-10-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Robert and Milan, two young Germans who came to wwoof on the farm for a week. Anybody who enjoys digging up potatoes by hand is welcome! Good luck with the rest of your travels, and thanks for all your hard work.

Planting onions and garlic - full circle.

2011-10-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

On 7th October 2010 we planted onion and garlic sets in the first bed to be prepared on the outside vegetable strips. This year, on the 29th and 30th September and 1st October, we completed the circle and our first full growing year on the farm by planting onions and garlic in three outside beds. All being well, there will be five times the amount of onions and garlic to be harvested in 2012 as there were in 2011. This year we have continued with "radar" onion sets because they performed so well over last winter (easily outperforming the spring-planted "sturon" and "red baron" sets for size and yield), but have switched from "flavor" to "vallelado" garlic due to availability of the sets.

Milan, Robert and Anne planting onion sets.

Robert, Milan and Jim planting garlic sets.

These autumn-planted onion and garlic sets are the second and third crops to have made the jump into 2012's crop rotation, by being planted into 2011's brassica (cabbage-family) strip. The first crop was "black winter radishes", sown on Monday 26th into 2012's brassica bed (which was 2011's legume bed). We operate a standard four-year crop rotation:-
year 1 = solanacea (the potato family) which here means a strip full of potatoes;
year 2 = legume (the pea family) so peas and beans, with other crops such as courgette and sweetcorn too;
year 3 = brassica (the cabbage family); and
year 4 = allium (the onion family) with carrots and parsnips also included.
This crop rotation system, and variations of it, is organic farming's main tool for the reduction of crop pests and diseases. Each crop family is moved on year after year, so that their specific problems do not build up in the soil, which would happen if the same crops are grown in the same soil continuously.

Class afloat.

2011-10-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 27th September, Bosavern Community Farm was visited by "Class Afloat" as part of their tour of Transition Penwith projects in the area. "Class Afloat seeks to provide, for each of its students and faculty, unparalleled learning experiences in incomparable settings aboard a tall ship and around the globe" - see their website www.classafloat.com - for more information. We invited our regular visitors St Just Primary School down for the afternoon too, to meet our international visitors, and so there were 50 mostly Canadian students plus 15 local students to show around the farm.

St Just and international students meeting up in the open barn.

And over in the chicken field.

First we provided lunch (special thanks to Deb for organising this) for everybody, cooked mostly from fresh organic vegetables off the farm itself, then there was a tour of the farm, taking in the turkeys, pigs, chickens, and vegetable field. Greg came along and gave a talk about willow and coppicing, and the southwesterly wind put on its usual display to make his talk even more relevant. Everybody was very enthusiastic about what we are doing here, which is always a boost for everybody involved with the farm project, and makes all the hard work even more worthwhile.

Greg presenting the willow coppice work done on the farm.

The Class Afloat and Bosavern Community Farm teams in the open barn.

Here's what the Class Afloat students wrote on their diary page about their visit to this area:-

Falmouth Port Update

Falmouth has been beautiful! The narrow, winding city streets are lined with welcoming shops and places to sample cream tea and Cornish pastries.

On Tuesday we had a great day learning about community-led initiatives to increase the resiliency and self-sustainability of local townships. Our day began with a talk by Transition Penwith (to learn more about the Transition Town Network go to: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/), during which we learned about the small ways we can all pitch in to decrease our oil dependency and move towards a greener tomorrow. In the afternoon we enjoyed a scrumptious, organic lunch at Bosavern Farm, a community-run farm that works closely with St. Just primary school. The students gave us a tour of the farm grounds and we learned about the ways in which the school ties the farm into their lessons.

Wednesday was a gloriously sunny day and we enjoyed some friendly competition with the crew of the Fryderyk Chopin, a Polish sail-training vessel for high school students, which was docked alongside us at County Wharf. After some exciting rowing races all of the students had some time to mingle at an evening social on the decks of Fryderyk Chopin!

Thursday was another wonderful day - we visited Mount's Bay Academy in the morning and Land's End in the afternoon! At Mount's Bay we went on a tour of the school and ate lunch with the Grade 11 students. We then explored the beach at Sennen Cove and ended our day with a trip to the southernmost point of England.

We will all be sad to leave Falmouth this afternoon, but Brest awaits!

What's selling at the gate these days.

2011-10-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

Our gate shed continues to operate every day from dawn till dusk, selling a selection of:-
eggs
bags of mixed kale
peppers
chillies
jalapeno peppers
"amarillo" hot yellow peppers
potatoes (now digging up "Charlotte")
cucumbers
tomatoes
shallots
onions
and garlis.

What Katie did next.

2011-10-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

After a few days away, Katie came back to wwoof for two more weeks, leaving again last Friday. Thanks again to Katie for her hard work on the farm, and for looking after the ranch while Hugh went to the Soil Association symposium in Bristol (more about this later). Katie is continuing her travels now, and we wish her all the best.

Dusk to Dark.

2011-09-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 10th September the Family Album theatre company performed their new show "Dusk to Dark" here on the farm. The "stage" was a piece of Home Field as viewed through an ornate archway, with the moon rising over Bartinney Beacon behind, providing a lovely backdrop to an excellent performance.

The outdoor "stage" using scenery as a natural backdrop.

Before the show began, as people munched quiche, tortilla and cakes made from the farm's own eggs, entertainment was provided by a pedal-powered stereo system in the Hive.

As dusk approached the audience took their seats, and the show began, being a tale of love and irritation set on a campsite somewhere in West Penwith. The natural dimming of daylight provides inspiration for the show and its title, and is used as an effect on the "stage".

Audience awaiting the start of the show.

Partway through the show, as darkness approaches.

Many thanks go to Neil, Kelsey, John and Lollie for putting on a great show, and for everyone who came to watch.

What's selling now at the farm gate?

2011-09-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

As well as our delicious organic free-range eggs, our farm-gate shed-shop is currently stocked with:-
runner beans
jack-be-little squash
mashing potatoes (Pentland javelin)
peppers
jalapenos
ring-o-fire chillis
carrots
celery
purple-top turnips
beetroot
bunches of different kales
and sweetheart cabbages.
The shed is open from dawn (well, 07:30ish) till dusk every day, and we'd love you to shop there!

Katie.

2011-09-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Many many thanks to Katie from Seattle, who set off to south Wales today to continue her wwoofing experiences there. Katie was with us for just over two weeks, and worked hard out on the farm and in the kitchen! Have a great time in the UK and in Europe, and thanks for all your help.

Katie (centre) digging dock roots out of the vegetable field, along with Anne, Jim, Sonja and Becky.

Land's End Peninsula Community Land Trust Newsletter.

2011-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

If you have been down to the farm or visited the stall at Pendeen Farmer’s market you will know that the volunteers have been working full tilt to get an array of fresh produce out. Veg has varied from potatoes, tomatoes and beans to garlic, herbs and other salad things.

More chickens have arrived (now a flock of about 240) and therefore eggs. The farm now has 21 gobbling turkeys which will be ready for Christmas. Contact the farm to order your Organic (Soil Association) certified Norfolk Black Turkeys. Likely to charge in the region of £10-12 a kilo. You can visit

too and see how they are reared.

Whether driving past or visiting, you will have noticed hay being cut and baled. Small bales are available for £3 each.

The fields we are not using are now being rented out so you will be seeing some organic cattle there.

The other task taking the time of Deb, Rob and other volunteers is getting the Lottery application completed. Cornwall Council have agreed to give us the first option on buying the farm (brilliant news) but wants to see that we are going to have the money to do so by 31 March 2012.

So please, please if you want to see the farm kept to be run by the community for community benefit then put us in touch with people who may be willing to consider making a donation or a social loan.

If you have ideas for the farm, are willing to organise a fundraising event or just want to roll up your sleeves and get involved on the land or in the office then get in touch. All skills and ages can be accommodated!

BOSAVERN HEN

As chair of the Trust and a bit of a softy, I had a single chick hatch in our incubator. Bosavern came up trumps and provided a foster mum, in the form of a broody hen.

Well she has done her bit raising the chick but is remaining with us and has become a real adventurer! It does not matter what we do she will not lay her eggs in her house; she has to hop over the hedge and wander into our garden to lay.

She has wandered into and right through our house, when my husband left the top half of a stable door open. Her biggest adventure took her to Hayle (from Carnyorth). On this occasion she managed to stow away in my husband’s truck. Imagine our shock when we reached our destination and found Bosavern hen!

Veg boxes now available.

2011-09-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

After trialling our organic veg boxes with friends and volunteers over the summer, they are now ready and available to members of the public. A box of organic (Soil Association certified) veg costs £8, and is ready to be collected from the farm at 6pm on Friday evenings. Once we've shown you where to collect your box you can pick it up on Saturdays too. Half a dozen of our organic free-range eggs can be added to your box for an extra £1.50, or £3 for a dozen. This week's box contains potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, kale, courgette, chillies, jalapeno peppers, aubergine, cucumber, spring onions, celery, and turnip, all of them grown here on the farm. If a weekly (or fortnightly) box whets your appetite, or you'd like to try a trial box, please phone Hugh on 01736 788454.

Joe.

2011-08-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Joe, who spent last week living on the farm and doing a lot of weeding!!! The brassica strip has never looked so tended! Joe has now gone to volunteer at "Plants for a Future" in eastern Cornwall - see their website at www.pfaf.org - and we wish him all the best.

Tomato varietes.

2011-08-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Having received a number of compliments about how good our tomatoes are (available at the farm gate shop, £1.50 for a mixed punnet), I thought it would be interesting to photograph all 8 of the varieties we are growing in the polytunnel this year.

Agro F1 plum tomatoes (hybrid).

Claree F1cherry tomato (hybrid).

Gardener's Delight cherry tomato, an old classic.

Marmande Super, big beef tomato.

Moneymaker, another classic tomato.

Pitenza F1, another hybrid.

Tigerella, orange and gold striped tomatoes.

Yellow Perfection, for a splash of colour.

Cattle.

2011-08-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

On Thursday August 18th, nineteen Galloway cattle arrived on the farm. They are owned by a local organic beef farmer, and will be fattened up on ten of our fields ready for market. Grazing is an important part of the farm's management plan, keeping the grass down and manuring the land, providing extra income for the farm, putting all the fields to use, and producing an extra crop from the land. Apart from the first morning (when one cow decided to jump over a hedge and go for a wander around the outskirts of St. Just!) they have been no trouble, and we are glad to have them.

Small bales of hay for sale.

2011-08-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

After cutting two of our fields for hay, we now have small bales for sale at £3 each. The hay is organic and "rough" (containing a wide variety of grasses and herbs). Please call in to buy a bale or 20, and put the word out too!!

A lovely sight and a lovely smell - our barn full of organic hay.

What's available at the farm gate?

2011-08-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Currently on sale at the farm gate "shed-shop" is a selection of the following organic home produce:-
free-range eggs
shallots
onions
turnips
potatoes (Cosmos)
tomatoes (punnets of mixed varieties/colours)
green peppers
cucumbers
green chillies ("ring o' fire")
mixed kale
cabbages.

Turkeys!

2011-08-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday 5th August our latest venture in livestock arrived on the farm - 21 Norfolk Black turkeys. The week before, volunteers had spent a day preparing one of the farm's outbuildings to host our new arrivals, giving it a general clean, constructing perches, replacing a window with a pop-hole (wooden doorway out into the field), and fencing off an area of the field as their run.

Jim and Mark making ramps out of pallets.

A clean new home awaiting the turkeys.

The turkeys will be fattened up on organic grain, then slaughtered and sold as table birds come Christmas - but at the moment they are enjoying exploring their outside run, and are growing visibly every day.

21 turkey chicks on their first foray out of doors.

Helen and Toby.

2011-08-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

Helen and Toby also weeding curly kale.

Wwoofing alongside Giona and Matteo, but staying for two and a half weeks before also departing on Thursday, were Helen and Toby. We appreciate all your hard work, plus your singing at the open mic session in the Star!

Giona and Matteo.

2011-08-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Giona and Matteo weeding curly kale.

We have just been fortunate to host Giona and Matteo, two wwoofers from Milan, on the farm for 12 days. After putting in lots of work on the vegetable field, and cooking several Italian meals for us all, they left on Thursday - thanks for all your efforts, and all the best on your next farm.

Piggy shares.

2011-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

We still have a few shares in our pigs to sell! A £50 share will give you approximately 8 packs of sausages, 2 packs of bacon, 1 pack of spare ribs, and 1 joint or fillet. Our pigs are Large Black crosses, and will be slaughtered in September or October - your share will be ready for collection soon after. They have been raised on an organic farm and fed organic feed, although they do not come from organic stock. If you are interested in buying a share (and helping your community farm to develop) please phone Hugh on 788454.

Raku pottery workshops.

2011-08-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to be hosting a series of workshops led by Catherine Lucktaylor here at the farm, after her success at our "Sunflowers and Sundials" event in June. Catherine will be running both a two-day course and a five-day course. The two-day introductory course will be on Saturdays the 10th and 17th of September, from 10am till 3pm each day, at a cost of £95 per person; and the five-day in-depth course will run from Monday 12th to Friday 16th September, from 10am till 3pm each day, at a cost of £280 per person. All materials, firings, and light refreshments will be provided. Please contact Catherine on 01736 874307 for further details or to book your place.

Catherine describes the two-day course:-
"Join me in experiencing the magical transformation of clay into beautiful works of art. A two day introduction to the exciting world of low-fired sculptural ceramics."
And the five-day course:-
"For those of you who would like to spend more time experimenting with raku and pit-firings try the five-day course, with more time to research and develop ideas and try out different glazes and firing techniques."

Dusk to Dark theatre performance.

2011-08-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 10th September Bosavern Community Farm is proud to present the Family Album Theatre Company and their performance of "Dusk to Dark".

"A small theatre in the landscape frames the dusk,
capturing twilight adventures in music and light...."

"Dusk is a magical time of day.
It creeps up on us as we prepare for the night.
Bringing in the washing becomes a dance of white sheets against the deepening blue.
We gather and tuck up our children, animals and possessions
as soon things start to disappear in the grainy half light.
A small audience will watch daily rituals turn into theatre
as characters on a Cornish campsite go about their business.
Velvet curtains swish open to reveal stories unravelled through visuals and song.
If you like a good tune this is the show for you."

The performance starts at 19:30, and the suggested donation is £4. Parking is in the field, and light refreshments will be available. Please phone Kelsey on 01736 351330, or Deb on 01736 787136, to book a ticket.

Hugh on holiday!

2011-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

Hugh will be away from the farm from Friday 29th July to Saturday 6th August, during which time the farm will be cared for by Becky, Andy and Deb. There will be no volunteering/training sessions from now until Tuesday 9th August, when it will be 1 till 5pm as usual.

Heather and Robyn.

2011-07-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

Many many thanks to Heather and Robyn, two Canadians who left today having wwoofed on the farm for two weeks. Your help has been much appreciated, and we wish you all the best on your next wwoof assignment.

Heather and Robyn helping build chicken perches.

Preparing for chickens.

2011-07-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Beginning back in March we have been preparing the farm to receive our second batch of laying hens. Last week we made the final preparations, and duly 200 new birds arrived on Friday. Due to supermarket contracts, birds are considered to be "spent hens" when they reach 72 weeks of age, and their eggs are deemed unacceptable for sale, so the birds are sold off cheap. Our last batch of these 72-week-old birds have been excellent, and are still laying 36 delicious eggs a day between the 45 of them, so we bought 200 more - which meant a lot of fencing, housing, perches, drinkers and feeders to be up and running.

Building chicken perches last Thursday - with Heather, Becky, Jim, Robyn and Anne.

Shed number 2 all ready for occupation.

Shed number 3 looking cleaner than it ever will again.

Fencing and gates erected.

Due to the stress of the move, our new birds have temporarily stopped laying eggs, but we hope to have a lot more eggs for sale at the farm gate and at Pendeen Farmer's Market within the next few weeks. It will take the new arrivals a little while to settle down in their new home, as chickens are birds of habit and any change in routine can unsettle them. Eggs from our original flock are still available at the farm gate for £1.40 per half dozen.

Chickens checking out their new home.

Going for a stroll around their new garden.

Chicken-keeping and Composting Workshop

2011-07-20T03:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday July 2nd we held a chicken-keeping and composting workshop at the farm, from 2 till 4pm, free for anyone to attend. Despite advertising the workshop in The Cornishman, and putting posters around St Just, no-one came to the chicken-keeping hour, but three of our regular volunteers came for the composting hour.

Hugh explaining the hot/aerobic composting technique used here on the farm.

At Bosavern Community Farm we use the hot, or aerobic, composting technique. At least one cubic metre of material is assembled to make the compost heap, and added in layers to give a good mix throughout the heap and allow adequate ventilation. Our main materials are:-

- chicken bedding (straw) and manure, from cleaning out the chicken house;

- grass cuttings;

- weeds from the vegetable beds;

- nettles;

- and kitchen scraps, vegetable peelings etc...

The chicken bedding acts as both a carbon-rich material (straw), giving structure to the compost and allowing ventilation, and a nitrogen-rich activator (chicken manure). Nettles are also a nitrogen-rich activator, while the rest of the ingredients act as "greens", providing energy to heat the compost and nutrients for the finished product.

Moistening the heap to ensure good fast composting.

For every two layers of "greens" added to the heap, we add one layer of "browns" (straw). The straw allows air to circulate through the heap, feeding the micro-organisms that enable fast hot composting. The heap will heat to 70-80 degrees Celsius, hot enough to destroy most weed seeds, and accelerate the composting process to make your compost ready for use within two months. The heap needs to be sufficiently damp, so watering is necessary at the beginning. Compost we made in early spring is already feeding the tomato, pepper, and aubergine plants in our polytunnel.

Poster for market square, St Just.

For more details of this method of composting please follow the link below to the webpage of Hotel Posada del Valle in Spain - the rest of their webpage and blog is well worth a read too.

http://www.posadadelvalle.com/v_portal/informacion/informacionver.asp?cod=6279&te=2441&idage=9909&vap=1

Harvesting onions and garlic.

2011-07-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, during some nice dry weather (seems a distant memory now), on one of our "picking and packing" Fridays, we harvested the onions and garlic that were the first crops planted outside, on October 7th of last year. The onions were "radar" and the garlic "flavor", and both survived the harsh winter and grew well throughout the dry spring, becoming one of the first outdoor crops harvested this year. We tied them into bunches and hung them in the barn to dry. All the onions have now been sold, and some of the garlic too, though we're saving the rest for our veg-boxes.

Sally and Rowan planting onion and garlic sets last October.

Baby onion and garlic plants last November.

Garlic hanging in the barn to dry this July.

Onions hanging in the barn before being sold at Lafrowda.

Wildflower Discovery Walk.

2011-07-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Our most recent Wildflower Discovery Walk was held on June 30th, with 5 people in attendance - the biggest turn-out yet! This time we focused on the "weeds" of vegetable gardens and farmland, and it's amazing how many species of wildflower can be found in your vegetable beds. Knowing their names and uses makes weeding far more interesting.

Sonja, Joan, Malcolm and Andrew on the wildflower walk.

Pineapple mayweed, Matricaria matricaroides, with its distinctive pineapple scent.

Groundsel, Senecio vulgaris, one of the world's most profligate seed-producers.

Fat hen, Chenopodium album, widely eaten before the introduction of spinach, and from the same genus as quinoa.

Rest-harrow, Ononis repens, also known as Spanish liquorice.

Sun spurge, Euphorbia helioscopia, with its milky white sap.

Redshank, Polygonum persicaria, a member of the dock family with striking dark spots in the centres of its leaves.

Red dead-nettle, Lamium purporeum, no relative of nettle, but a member of the mint family.

Land's End Peninsula Community Land Trust Newsletter.

2011-07-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

Our parent body, the Land's End Peninsula Community Land Trust recently published it's latest newsletter, which included the following report about the farm.

"Since Bosavern Community Farm's recent mid-term review, Cornwall Council have agreed to extend the current lease to April 2012. This gives the project an extra six months 'breathing' space and increases the opportunities around its key goal, to purchase the farm for continued community use. To this end a lottery application is currently being written and the group are researching the possibilities of selling shares. This has been used by similar community projects for 'investors' with an interest in social rather than economic returns on their investment.

Another aim is for the farm to be community run and we now have a steering group whose job it is to advise and oversee the project’s business, finance and learning/training objectives. The steering group has three sub groups which meet regularly and then report back to each other.

In the real world, down at the farm, the arrival of three local pigs (thanks to Tony Boynes) has caused much interest. Penny, Sage and Onion were stars of the 'Eggstravaganza' event this Easter and were named that day by some of the children attending with their families. It was a really well attended local event with lots of creative and fun activities from scarecrow making to a tug 'o' war (which the ladies took by storm!).

Chickens are still happily laying the most beautiful eggs, and we sincerely apologise to those of you who have been disappointed when stopping at the gate or visiting us at Pendeen Farmer’s Market only to find them sold out. Every effort is being made to source more organic hens so thank you for your continued support and patience.

The vegetable box scheme is now underway and, although late in the season, it is hoped it will develop as the year progresses.

It is planned to develop this as a Community Supported Agriculture scheme where people can invest their time or money in the actual growing of their veg boxes and have some say in what is grown. For anyone interested to know more or to sign up for the box scheme, as it is now, please contact the farm and talk with us.

The farm has also run a number of workshops (all free) in green woodworking, chicken keeping, composting, rag rugging and raku pottery techniques. These are always advertised on the bosaverncommunityfarm website as well as locally in shops, the library and 'Down your Way' in the Cornishman. Anyone with a skill or special request for a workshop is welcome to come forward and share their ideas and we will do our very best to accommodate."

Ma(i)zey Day.

2011-06-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

As a small nod to the Mazey Day celebrations in Penzance, we held a themed volunteering session on the farm....

As well as weeding and thinning the four beds of Golden Bantam sweetcorn, we erected bamboo teepees for the runner beans, and wove some willow trellis for the peas.

Sonja weaving willow for the peas to climb up.

Rag-Rugging Workshop.

2011-06-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 18th June Bosavern Community Farm hosted a rag-rug making workshop led by Sarah Sejahtera, and attended by a group of regular volunteers and other people involved in the farm. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of the workshop itself as the day was also spent erecting a chicken fence on another part of the farm (fence nearly all up, but gates need building and the bottom of the wire needs digging in!), but here's some examples of pieces begun on the day.

Thanks to Sarah for running the day.

Events this week.

2011-06-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

There are two special events happening on the farm this week. Thursday evening at 6pm sees June's "Wildflower Discovery Walk" head off around the farm, this month focusing on "weeds" of vegetable gardens and farmland. Then on Saturday afternoon from 2 till 4pm, there will be a free "Composting and chicken keeping" workshop, where we get to meet and discuss the chickens, then concoct a batch of hot aerobic compost. Plus our weekly game of rounders in a farm field at 6pm Friday, and that's another busy week down the farm!

Bosavern Community Farm's first two veg-boxes.

2011-06-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

As a trial run, today we harvested and packed two veg-boxes for consumption by Deb and Rob (lucky them!), two of the "founders" of Bosavern Community Farm. The idea is to start small and gradually increase the number of boxes available as summer progresses and more crops come into production. The boxes will first be offered to our regular volunteers (limited edition veggies!) before being rolled out to the local population later in the year.

Our first two veg-boxes all ready for collection.

Contents of a veg-box - fresh onions, rainbow chard, radishes, a mixed salad bag, broad beans, and early potatoes.

Max.

2011-06-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Max, our latest volunteer from WWOOF, who has spent the past two weeks helping on the farm come rain come shine. He will leave tomorrow to continue his wwoofing tour of the UK, and we wish him all the best on his travels.

Max on a day out to Men-an-tol historic site.

New potatoes.

2011-06-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

All that hard work in March is now paying off! For the past four weeks we have been selling delicious organic new potatoes at the farm gate (in the shed which is our shop) at £1.50 per kilo, planted and harvested by hand. At first we were selling Maris Peer potatoes, but now we have moved on to Pentland Javelin.

Earthing up the potatoes back in April, with Genevieve, Sonja and grandchildren.

Harvesting the potatoes last week, with Nigel, Ann and Jean.

Lovely Pentland Javelin early potatoes.

As well as potatoes, today at the gate stall we are selling rainbow chard, eggs, radishes, broad beans, and artist's charcoal.

Elderflower Champagne Recipe.

2011-06-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

As made on the farm's "Sunflowers and Sundials" event recently.....

Ingredients.
36 elderflower heads
2 lemons, sliced
6 pints water
1.5 lbs sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Method.
1) Pick fragrant creamy flowerheads on a sunny day (some say before midday).
2) Shake any insects off flowerheads. Put flowerheads into a clean bucket with the sliced lemons, pour the water on top, and leave to soak for 24 to 36 hours, stirring occasionally.
3) Strain through muslin and add the sugar and white wine vinegar.
4) Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, then pour into clean plastic bottles with screw-top lids (you can use glass bottles, but beware of explosions as this gets very fizzy!).
5) Store in a cool place for 2 weeks. If bottles start to bulge let off a bit of gas and re-screw. Drink within 2 months.
6) Yum!

Sundials and Sunflowers.

2011-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

The "Sunflowers and Sundials" summer event down the farm was another swinging success, with 50 people coming along on Sunday 5th June. These events are held by the community for the community, and are only possible due to volunteers giving up their time beforehand as well as on the the day, and to the donations of cakes etc... So as always many thanks to our volunteers - and to everyone who came along and enjoyed the day!

Advertising the event on the roadside.

Programme of events for the afternoon.

Sowing sunflowers into pots to take home.

Crafting sundials from wood and pebbles.

Making lemonade, and learning origami waterbombs.

Face-painting in the grassy courtyard.

Game of rounders out in a field.

The paperchase begins.

Decorating pottery sunflowers for the raku kiln.

Raku pottery demonstration with Catherine Lucktaylor.

A pottery mermaid about to surface from the raku kiln.

Plant Swap.

2011-06-10T02:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 11th June (tomorrow) there will be a plant swap here at the farm at 2pm, so bring your unwanted plants along and exchange them for plants you do want!

John.

2011-06-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to John, who wwoofed with us for two weeks at the end of May and beginning of June. His help was much appreciated on the farm. John produces a fanzine along with a friend - entitled "Bonus Cupped" it's well worth a read if you can find a copy!

John, centre, helping prepare a bed on the veggie field.

New Cornishman Article.

2011-06-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ellie Evans of The Cornishman for the excellent article published in last Thursday's edition, seen above. We enjoyed the company of four extra volunteers on Saturday afternoon after they saw the piece - two of them helped prepare a bed for sowing peas out on the vegetable field, and two sat in sunshine behind the polytunnel and sowed leek seeds into modules whilst drinking in the view towards Land's End from their camp chairs! Thanks for coming, and we hope to see you again.

Sunflowers and Sundials.

2011-06-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Bosavern Community Farm's next open day event is this coming Sunday, 5th June, with the theme "Sunflowers and Sundials". As well as sowing sunflowers and making sundials, there will be refreshments in the farmhouse kitchen, a paper-chase, a water-fight, rounders matches, organic farm produce for sale, and other activities, as well as a raku pottery workshop led by Catherine Lucktaylor (see her website www.AquaLunaArts.etsy.com). The day will run from midday until 4pm, and will be free to all (donations of course are welcome, as are chicken sponsorships!).

Audio piece.

2011-06-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

At a recent volunteering session, one of our volunteers - Emma - recorded interviews and sounds of the farm, and put together a short audio piece which you can listen to by clicking on this link: http://soundcloud.com/equayle/bosavern-community-farm-mp3
Many thanks to Emma. And don't forget, if you want to come along to the community farm and get involved, regular drop-in volunteering sessions are Tuesdays 1-5pm, Thursdays 10am-3pm, and Saturdays 1-5pm.

Emma and Sonja sowing mange-tout in the polytunnel.

Green wood-working and willow-weaving day.

2011-05-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday 15th May saw the latest in a line of countryside skills workshops take place on the farm, and proved very popular, with 37 people attending. The workshop was run by Greg Humphries and Kate Beckly, with support from several regular farm volunteers, and was offered free to locals and visitors alike.

Workshop under way in the green courtyard.

The ethos behind these workshops is to enable people to learn new skills in a friendly relaxed environment, where they are free to come and go as they please and stay for as long as they want, and without the barrier of a set fee (just a bucket for donations). We are only able to do this due to the hard work and commitment of our team of volunteers, who give a lot and expect nothing in return but words of thanks.

Learning how to weave a bean-wigwam.

Everybody was encouraged to get stuck in and "go with the weave", with hands-on learning of bean-wigwams (to be used on the farm this summer), a willow-hurdle (already in use as a windbreak for the courgettes), a carved wooden spoon, basketry, willow wands and stars, charcoal burning (bags of artist's charcoal are now selling at the farm gate stall for £1.50), and corn-dolly making. Not to mention the obligatory tea and cake!

The willow hurdle getting under way.

Greg and Toby chuffed to bits with the finished product.

Most of the willow used on the day came from our own stands of willow, and was cut during a coppicing workshop back on February 1st. Our next workshop will be raku pottery, this Sunday May 5th, as part of the farm's "Sunflowers and Sundials" event and open day, from 12 till 4pm.

Ploughing ahead.

2011-05-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

As befits our status (and beliefs) as a project linked to the transition movement (www.transitionpenwith.org.uk) we were hoping to work the farm's vegetable strips without the use of a tractor. On January 1st we had the potato strip ploughed (for 48 beds of potatoes) but the other three strips (legumes, brassicas, and alliums) were left alone, and we continued to dig over one bed at a time as and when needed. By this method we managed to prepare and plant 3 beds of broad beans, one of peas, one of chard, one of purple sprouting broccoli, one of garlic, one of shallots, and six of onions (14 beds in total). Each bed took nine hours of labour to complete. However, by late April it was becoming obvious that we needed mechanical aid, or our planting schedule would never be realised on time.

Ploughing the vegetable strips.

On 5th May a local agricultural contractor brought his tractor and plough along and prepared all the strips in 45 minutes, work which would have taken us months by hand. The dock roots and dandelion roots and couch grass roots are all still in the soil though however, and need removing by hand before we can plant or sow, but it is a lot quicker to prepare each bed now than before. The docks can be pulled out of the soil by hand, but the couch still needs digging out.

Dock roots uncovered by ploughing.

In the three weeks since ploughing, we have prepared 25 beds, allowing us to plant courgettes, squashes, cabbages, leeks, calabrese and cauliflower, and to sow spring onions, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radishes, scorzonera, sweetcorn, kohl rabi, rocket and turnips. We are moving ahead at the average of ten beds per week, a substantial improvement on before (especially considering the dip in volunteer numbers we are currently experiencing, probably due to "beach weather" having arrived!).

Brassica strip before ploughing - quite a daunting sight.

Most volunteer sessions these days involve preparing beds, then planting or sowing into the bed. Yesterday we prepared two beds and planted over 500 leeks, which had been grown from seed in the polytunnel in modules. The vegetable field is looking very different these days, with 90 beds prepared and producing!

Chicken fencing day.

2011-05-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 7th May we had a special volunteering session from 10am till 5pm, to get as much of the new chicken fence up as possible. We are hoping to increase the number of chickens on the farm (there are 48 at the moment) by 100 by early summer, as we are currently unable to meet demand for our delicious organic eggs. The current flock also need a new patch of land to graze and scratch around on, to give their current plot a chance to regenerate.

Hugh and Andrew post-bashing while Sonja levels.

Eight volunteers came along to help, which was a good turn-out, reflected in the amount of work we got done - the two remaining strainer-posts were put in the ground, half the strainers had their support struts constructed, and 100 intermediate posts were bashed into the ground, as demonstrated by Hugh, Andrew and Sonja above. Andrew came along by himself the following Saturday too and finished off all the support struts, so now we "only" need to bash another 100 posts in and we can start nailing the chicken-wire to them!

Hoisting a strainer post into position.

What we will end up with is six plots each of 1000 square metres, enough to hold 100 chickens each (as stipulated by Soil Association organic standards). Each flock of 100 birds will have two plots dedicated to them, to allow rotation for grass regeneration, so that later this year we will have the capacity to have 300 free-range laying hens. That's why so much fencing needs to be built - watch this space for details of the next special chicken fencing session.....

Always time for tea and cake sat out in the sunshine!

Wildflower Discovery Walk.

2011-05-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Our latest Wildflower Discovery Walk (to be held monthly - watch this blog for details) went well, with three people coming along to learn more about the wildflowers of the area. The sun shone for us, and we walked around the fields, visiting the pigs en-route. Sadly the bluebells were past their prime, but there were more than enough flowers to keep us occupied. I've recently bought "Flora Britannica" by Richard Mabey, the big hard-back edition (thoroughly recommended!), so can now provide more background and folklore information about the species. Here are some of the wildflowers we found on the walk.

Folxglove - Digitalis purpurea.

Beaked hawksbeard - Crepis vesicaria

Common comfrey - Symphytum officinale

Silverweed - Potentilla anserina.

Green alkanet - Pentaglottis semperivens.

Hawthorn (May) blossom - Crataegus monogyna.

Andrea.

2011-05-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Andrea, from Germany, who wwoofed with us for two and a half weeks, and left yesterday to head home. Your help was much appreciated, and we wish you all the best with your new job. We hope to see you again here someday!

Andrea on the right, working in the polytunnel.

Church Farm, Ardeley, Hertforshire

2011-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

We were surprised from our parsnip-plot-digging this afternoon by a small contingent of staff/interns/helpers from Church Farm in Hertfordshire, who, whilst on holiday in Cornwall, popped in to see what Bosavern Community Farm is all about. After exploring the polytunnel, vegetable field, tree-bogs, chicken pen, and pig enclosure, they wished us well with the project and went off to find a campsite. Their flying visit reminded me of my visit to Church Farm last year, and I only hope they found Bosavern as inspirational as I found their farm. Follow this link to their website to find out more - http://www.churchfarmardeley.co.uk.

Cornishman photos.

2011-05-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

In their Thursday 28th April edition, the Cornishman published two photos of events down on the farm in their What's On pages. Both photos have already appeared on this blog, but here they are again in glorious technicolour!

Planting the final potato on March 24th.

Egg hunt at the EGGstravaganza, April 17th.

Weaving Workshop, May 15th 12-4pm.

2011-05-10T03:19:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday there will be a weaving workshop here at the farm, run as an informal drop-in session from 12 noon till 4pm. Attendance will be free, but donations are always welcome to help us cover the costs of the day, and to make future workshops more likely. So whether you fancy a cup of tea and a chat whilst watching weavers at work, or feel like trying your hand and learning new skills, come on down.

Wildflower Discovery Walk - to be held Thursday 12th May.

2011-05-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

The next Wildflower Discovery Walk will begin in the farmyard at 6pm on Thursday 12th May. As with the previous two walks, attendance is free but donations are welcome, and there will be the opportunity to buy fresh organic produce on the farm. Let's hope for good weather and some interesting discoveries - see you there...

Beltane at Bosavern.

2011-05-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

On May Eve (Saturday 30th April) Bosavern Community Farm was delighted to host the 23rd annual St Just maypole dance, to celebrate the traditional festival of Beltane. More than 60 people came down to the farm, plus a troupe of folk musicians, with food and drink to share, and a lovely evening was had by all. The festivities took place in Standing Stone Field next to the ancient standing stone itself.

After the music and dancing, a fire was lit in the specially-dug fire-pit, and those daring enough leapt over the flames to bring good luck.

We are already looking forward to next year's Beltane festivities!

Genevieve

2011-04-30T04:07:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Genevieve, who wwoofed with us for 2 weeks in April, your help was much appreciated.

Genevieve helping at the EGGstravaganza jumble sale.

Pigs.

2011-04-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, three little pigs arrived at the farm on Saturday 16th April, just in time for the EGGstravaganza. The pigs were supplied by a local farmer, 4 miles away, but they do not come from organic stock. They will be raised on organic land, and fed organic feed, so we can refer to them as "organically reared" pigs. In autumn they will be made into sausages and bacon, and sold in one-tenth-of-a-pig portions to family and friends of the community farm (i.e. their meat will not be commercially available).

Despite appearances, they are sisters. The spotted pig is called Penny. At the EGGstravaganza we asked people to write down names for the two black pigs, and a jury of volunteers today chose the suggestions of Sage and Onion for them. As the pigs are for eating, quite possible with sage and onion, their names are a reminder of their destination (the dinner plates of St. Just), and make the connection between living farm animals and their meat as a human food source. We hope they'll be very happy here in their six months of life.

More EGGstravaganza photos.

2011-04-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Fran for sending these ones.

Jumble sale in the open barn.

Penny the pig, with Sage and Onion behind.

The chickens, in case they felt neglected due to the arrival of the pigs!

Exploring the polytunnel.

Bob.

2011-04-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Bob (the Builder) has been a regular volunteer at the farm for the past four months, but is now in the process of moving on to pastures new, with a view to keeping his own chickens and constructing a polytunnel. We already miss him! Bob has been incredibly helpful, particularly in the DIY department - tree-bogs, outdoor sinks, chicken fence, Hive ceiling, workshop etc... - but also out on the land. We wish him all the very best in his new endeavors, and don't forget to stay in touch.
P.S. You won a bottle of wine in the EGGstravaganza raffle, so call in and collect it sometime!

The EGGcelent EGGstravaganza!

2011-04-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday 17th April saw at least 200 people head down to Bosavern Community Farm for a fun-packed day of Easter fun, thrills and spills.

Scarecrow making in the farmyard.

Kicking off at midday, our Easter offering involved scarecrow making, egg decorating, throw the welly, biscuit decorating, tea and cakes, soup and bread, tortilla, scones and cream, tug-o-war, egg hunt, raffle, jumble sale, second hand book stall, name that carrot, eggy dip, name the pigs, egg throwing, farm produce, face-painting, guitar serenades, and polytunnel tours.

The finest spread of cakes known to mankind.

Decorating eggs in the newly-renovated "Hive".

Meeting our new pigs.

Throwing the welly.

Our three little pigs arrived on Saturday morning, and proved quite an attraction in the Home Field. People soon filled our white-board with suggested names for the two black pigs (the spotted one is called Penny already), and two names will be chosen tomorrow by a panel of volunteers. Another blog entry about the pigs will follow soon.....

Easter egg hunt causes a stampede in the vegetable field.

Eggy dip game.

The day was a massive success, raising over £500 for the farm, but the most important thing was that hundreds of people came to the farm, spent their afternoon here, supported the project, and had a great time into the bargain. Many thanks to everyone who came, and to all the volunteers who helped organise the event.

Joan and Sonia taking a well-deserved break in the kitchen.

Holly and Allan preparing for the raffle draw.

Toby helping make scarecrows.

"Name that carrot" winner with her two prizes.

Face-painting - WOW do I look like that?!!!

The winning name for the carrot was "Sesame Sprout", which won a chocolate Easter egg.....plus the carrot of course.

Two of our new scarecrows have taken up residence at the end of the drive for the pleasure of passing motorists and people stopping to buy eggs and salad at the farm gate, whilst the others will soon move to the vegetable field to begin their working life.

Dumbo the elephant scarecrow.

Scarecrow family.

As usual on our open days and at our events, the overall mood was very positive, with many people saying what a great project the farm is and what good work we are doing here. As we are a community farm, the opinions of the community are of paramount importance to us, and positive messages like this make all the hard work and our very existence worthwhile.