Mel and Shaun

 

Shaun and Mel, two wwoofers from Hayle, came to help on the farm for four weeks, and left last Saturday - many thanks to Shaun and Mel for their help whilst here, and we wish them all the best.

Veg boxes

Here at Bosavern Community Farm we have continued to produce and supply boxes of fresh, local, seasonal veg, most of it grown here on the farm, right through lockdown and the Covid pandemic to date. We deliver on Fridays to Cafe Art in St Ives and the Redwing Gallery in Penzance for collection, or you can collect from the farm itself. We also deliver to your door for an extra £1.50, throughout St. Just, Penzance, St. Buryan, Sennen, Pendeen, Newbridge, Ludgvan, Heamoor, Madron, Morvah, Zennor, and places in between.

Some of our local volunteers packing veg boxes - Danny, Lucy and Chris.

At the beginning of March we were supplying about 50 boxes per week. This rose to 150 by mid-April, and has steadily declined since, to where we are now, about 80 per week (a 60% increase on pre-Covid numbers). We are taking new members on to our veg box scheme, so if yould like to join please phone us on 01736 788454 or email vegbox.bcf@bcents.org. 

Chris loading the van for Friday deliveries.

Currently our veg boxes contain a combination of fresh veg all grown here on the farm, including tomatoes, peppers, salad leaves, potatoes, onions, red onions, kale, rainbow chard, spring greens, fresh herbs, globe artichokes, courgettes, beetroot, cucumbers, runner beans and chillies.

Gary, last of the lockdown crew

Gary, from Glasgow, was the last of our lockdown crew to leave the farm, having been with us for 5 months since late March. We were blessed with a team of 4 WWOOFers and 3 staff during most of lockdown, plus large numbers of local volunteers. 

Gary, on the right, picking kale in the market garden raised beds.

Recent WWOOF volunteers

 

Yasmin picking tomatoes. Yasmin and Joel (both from Hereford) volunteered for one month, and have moved on to other WWOOF farms in the UK.

Lunchtime in the farmyard - Joel, Luiz, Yasmin, Bal, and Gary.

Bal picking French beans. Bal came down from Birmingham for the whole of August.

Luiz picking French beans with Gary. Luiz, from Belgium, was walking the coast path but took a week off from trekking to help out on the farm.

We'd like to thank all our recent WWOOFers for their help over recent weeks and months. It's not easy volunteering during the Covid pandemic, and all our WWOOFers had to have spent at least two weeks in the UK before joining us, then had to reach us in a safe manner, and keep their distance from all our local volunteers, staff and customers.

Holly

For the past two weeks we have been lucky to have Holly doing a work placement on the farm for her veterinary degree. She looked after our 400 free-range hens every day from 07:30 till 15:00, which was a great help to us, and we hope that she learnt a lot whilst with us. Many thanks Holly, and we wish you the very best with the rest of your course and future career.

 

Recent veg boxes

Although lockdown has eased we are still supplying about 95 veg boxes per week to the local community, almost double the number we were supplying at the beginning of March. We are taking on more customers, so please get in touch if you want to join our scheme. 

Caroline packing our own hand-dug new potatoes.

Joel weighing portions of tomatoes.

Kate packing mixed herb bags (basil, fennel, mint).

Preparing shallots for veg boxes.

Bal picking French climbing beans in Valentine polytunnel.

A sweetheart pointed cabbage ready for picking.

Radio Cornwall piece

Radio Cornwall broadcast a small piece about our veg boxes this morning, which can be found by following this link and skipping through the time to 08:42:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_cornwall

We would like to clarify that the majority of produce in our veg boxes is grown here on the farm and although we are not certified organic, we grow to the Wholesome Food Association pledge, without the use of any chemicals. Most of the produce that we buy in to supplement our own is certified organic, and the rest is from small local farms who grow to the same standards as we do.