Polytunnel crops at the moment.

We've just put together a display-board of photos showing what crops have been growing in the polytunnel and are cropping at the moment, and these are examples:-

green sprouting broccoli / calabrese (sown 28th September)

kohl rabi, sown 28th September

"rosa" radish, sown 2nd November

"marvel of four seasons" lettuce, sown 16th October

"tatsoi" Chinese cabbage, sown 19th November

watercress, sown 3rd November

Tuesday Volunteering.

Due to popular demand (that sounds cliched but it's actually true) as of Tuesday 8th March we will be introducing a new volunteering session here on the farm, every Tuesday afternoon from 1 till 5pm. As I type this, the sun is streaming in through the office window, and hopefully this will continue, because we have a lot of vegetable beds to prepare and sow out on the vegetable field - this should be the main activity through March and April (especially now our work on the outbuildings and tree-bogs is almost complete - many thanks to the 6 volunteers who came on Thursday, and everybody else who has lent a hand over winter). As always, the more people who come the more enjoyable it is for everybody, the more we get done, the more we learn, and the more food we can produce on the farm, so see you here!

Wildflower discovery walk - to be held Weds 16 March.

On Wednesday March 16th, at 5pm, we will be leading a wildflower discovery walk around the farm, to see what spring flora has popped up so far this year. Attendance is by donation, and there will be the opportunity to buy various farm produce. We hope that this will be the first of several such wildflower discovery walks through the year, and as the evenings get lighter we'll arrange them to take place later in the evening. Meet in the farmyard for a prompt 5pm start.

Curious wildlife rescue!

Yesterday we finished off painting the outbuildings, and afterwards we decided to drain the plastic cattle-troughs to move them indoors out of the weather (we have no cattle, as yet). Over the winter I was sure I'd seen two goldfish in one of the troughs, despite the at-times two-inch-thick ice on the water, and as we drained the trough we eventually found them, fished them out, and popped them in a bucket.

Lucky and Luckier.

They seemed healthy, and were of good size, so one of our volunteers, Kent, took them home with him to release them into the pond in his garden. He christened them Lucky and Luckier, though they're difficult to tell apart!

Outbuilding work.

Over the past few weeks, when heavy rain has kept us off the land (we've still managed to sow broad beans outside, and plant shallots, onions, garlic, peas and spring cabbages), we've been developing the outbuildings around the farmyard, four of which now have designated purposes:-
1) The Hive (previously known as the classroom), for meetings, seminars, school groups and events;
2) The Workshop, with its new workbench and shelving;
3) The Tool Shed;
and 4) The Egg Packing Room, as a hygienic dedicated egg space.

Stuart, Kian, Adam and James painting the Hive ceiling and beams.

As well as our own volunteers, the RIO trainees came along for another day to help us out, so thanks to them and the RIO team for making it happen. The Hive ceiling is now all but finished, just a few finishing touches needed here and there, and it is now less drafty and has a hook-and-sneck on the door too.

Bo painting designs onto the egg packing room walls and door.

The egg packing room has also come on by leaps and bounds, and now only needs the painting finishing off, and the electricity and water supplies reconnecting, before the job is done.

Bob and Deb cementing gaps in the workshop.

The downstairs workshop now has a stronger ceiling, new window, work-bench, shelves, and less gaps between the stones, but needs more cement and more paint, plus a good tidy up, before we can move the tools in out of the kitchen cupboard. And with the ground outside saturated from this morning's torrential storm, a lot of these jobs could get finished tomorrow!

Composting workshop with St. Just Primary school.

On Wednesday 2nd February, a group of pupils from St. Just Primary school came down to the farm to learn about composting, and to tie this in with their classes about gases. As usual, the high-point of their day was being introduced to our very friendly chickens, but they also learnt about nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and water, and how they play their parts in the composting process.

School group learning about composting.

Would anyone here put tea-bags on their compost heap?

Compost is a wonderful thing, a way of making something from nothing, and of making our organic vegetables  tasty and healthy whilst maintaining soil fertility. During the compost workshop we discussed different ways of composting, and what can go on the heap - tea bags yes, plastic bags no, horse manure yes (but better kept separate and put on your potatoes), autumn leaves yes (but better transformed into leaf mould) - and then we went and had a look at the finished product.

Lovely compost, full of organic matter.

The school visit was reported in The Cornishman the following Thursday. As the friendship and cooperation between Bosavern Community Farm and St. Just Primary School continues to develop, the school donated three apple trees to us, which we have planted (and composted with the above) in a corner of Home Field, to provide shelter (and apples) to the site where the school are going to develop their own vegetable and fruit growing area. Work will begin on this next project once the ground is dry enough for digging.

Willow coppicing day.

On February 1st the eagerly anticipated willow coppicing day with Greg and the Wild Penwith Volunteers arrived, as did 14 pairs of helping hands. The idea was to coppice the back row of willow along the south side of our vegetable field, sort the cuttings, and re-plant willow along the east side of the field (to reduce those strong easterly winds) and around our new tree-bogs (to convert waste into biomass).

Carrying coppiced willow on a misty morning.

Greg demonstrated how to cut down the willow without damaging the tree unnecessarily, and we split into pairs to do the work. Then he introduced us to the traditional art of "snedding", that is, cutting and sorting the willow into various thicknesses for different uses - short thick lengths for replanting, long thick lengths for green wood-working, medium-thin lengths for weaving, thinner lengths for weaving, and the rest for scrap or for burning (drying to make faggots).

Sorting the willow into various sizes.

Snedding as a group activity.

As with most traditional crafts, there is more to coppicing than just cutting down trees to get rid of them. Willow not only provides a valuable windbreak to protect crops and livestock, it is a valuable crop in its own right, and can be used to weave baskets and lobster-pots and fence panels, or made into chairs and benches. We hope in the near future to hold a weaving event here on the farm, with workshops and products for sale - watch this space for details.

Planting willow along the field edge as a windbreak.

After planting three parallel rows of willow along the east of the vegetable field, and a circle around the tree-bogs, we had just enough left to plant a single line along the west of the field behind the compost bins, to give extra protection to our crops on this very exposed site. This is just the beginning of our willow management plan, and we will be coppicing this time every year.

Thanks to Claire from Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Wild Penwith Volunteer group, Bosavern Community Farm volunteers, and to Greg for leading the day.