Harvesting the final potatoes.

By this morning our maincrop field had just about dried out sufficiently to allow a tractor to drag a potato-lifter through the soil, and we knew we had a 4-hour window of weather before the afternoon's projected rainstorm began. This is a job we began last November, and have had to give up on twice due to torrential rain and waterlogging. The final four rows of Ambo potatoes had been in the ground waiting for two months since the last attempt, but we got them all out today, due to a superb effort by ten volunteers - so many many thanks to them, especially to those who stayed right to the end and got wet in the process (the rain came an hour early!). That's a weight off our minds, and we can push on with fencing the field ready for moving our chickens and pigs into it.

Creating a pond.

Jim surveying the site for the new pond.

Sarah, Jim and Danny digging the hole.

Jim, Sarah and Danny levelling the bath-tub and filling around the edges.

Job well done - Danny, Sarah and Jim.

 On Tuesday's volunteer session (weekly 1-5pm) we installed a pond next to our polytunnels, to attract wildlife, particularly slug-eating frogs and toads. This old cast-iron bath-tub was once used as a cattle-trough in the farm's cattle-shed, but we thought it would make a fine pond. Later in the day we blocked up the old tap and overflow holes using bungs made from our own willow, made a staircase at the deep-end from stones to allow wildlife to access the pond, and filled it full of rainwater. Now we are going to import some frog-spawn from a local pond, and add a fence for safety. Many thanks to Danny, Jim and Sarah for helping with the project.

The pond filled with water and rocks, with ploytunnels behind.

Kevin and Janet.

Kevin and Janet have been attending volunteering sessions on the farm since last October, but are now returning to West Australia after a 6-month house-swap in Sennen. They are in the foreground of the broad-bean sowing photo from last autumn. Many thanks to Kevin and Janet for their work on the farm, and for keeping coming back for more - volunteer input like theirs is invaluable, and one of the main reasons for our existence as a community farm. Bon voyage!

Evelin.

Evelin, from Salzburg, has also just left us after 3 weeks wwoofing on the community farm - she has gone to another farm in France for 6 weeks. Many thanks to Evelin for her help and hard work, and for her veterinary advice, and for helping with the school group last Wednesday.

Bex!

Bex, who wwoofed with us for 6 weeks this time last year, came back for another week and has left again (but wanted to stay longer...). Thanks go to Bex for returning for more hard work on the farm and in the kitchen, and for helping with the school visit last Wednesday.

St Just Primary visit.

On Wednesday 30th January, three minibuses of pupils came down to the farm from St Just Primary School. They visited as part of their Enterprise Week, but their visit also tied in with work they have been doing on healthy living, healthy eating, and food miles. They split into three groups to cover three areas of the farm - chickens and pigs, polytunnels, and outdoor crops.

Arriving in the farm yard.

 They came prepared with a questionnaire to fill out on their afternoon on the farm, with questions such as....
....How many hen houses can you see?
....What happens to the eggs?

Guided tour of the market garde field.

....Where will you be able to get a vegetable box from?
....What happens to the plants when they are harvested?

Meeting the laying hens.

....List two ways in which locally produced food is better.
....What is organic food?
....What does a business try to do?

Thanks to the volunteers who helped show the school around on the day, and for answering all those questions.

Bosavern Community Snow.

For the third year running the "unusual" happened and we had either snow or hard frost here in West Penwith. This time the snow was thin and disappeared within a few hours, and I just had time for a few quick photos before catching a train to the Organic Producers' Conference in Birmingham.

Fields of the farm, looking towards Carn Bosavern.

The farm buildings seen from the path into St Just.