Hay 2017

This year was our biggest hay harvest to date, producing 1000 bales from 4 fields. We cut the 3 fields included in our Entry Level Stewardship scheme, plus a small field at the top of the farm. The fields were cut on Thursday, turned on Saturday, baled on Sunday evening, then gathered and stacked in the barn on (Bank Holiday) Monday and Tuesday. Gathering hay is the hottest, sweatiest, itchiest, most physically demanding job of the year, and we'd like to thank everyone who helped with this massive task over two long hot days - Martin, Mira, Andy, Bethany, Celine, Ben and Ian - plus Alice and Shelley for helping in the farm shop and kitchen while we were out in the fields.

Carn meadow before cutting.

Hotel meadow before cutting.

Carn meadow baled and ready for gathering.

Martin and Andy gathering hay in Carn meadow.

Hugh and Andy with a trailer of hay.

Martin, Mira and Ben in the trailer ready to gather another load.

Mira and Martin loading the trailer.

Gathering hay in Hotel meadow.

Martin and Mira loading the trailer.

1000 bales stacked under cover in the open barn.

Our hay is now for sale at the usual £3 per bale, and local delivery may be possible for an extra charge. The fields are unsprayed and "unimproved", and the hay is stored undercover.

Veg boxes 25th August

Last Friday's veg boxes contained:-
£6 box - Charlotte salad potatoes, courgette(s), peppers, leeks (from Cargease Organics), rainbow chard, and a sprig of lemon verbena.
£10 box - Maris Peer new potatoes, mixed salad leaves, courgette(s), rainbow chard, peppers, red Russian kale, French breakfast radishes (or a globe artichoke), beetroot, leeks, and a sprig of lemon verbena.

Help needed to bring in the hay

We have had four meadows cut for hay this year, and it was baled this afternoon. Tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday, is forecast to be a lovely sunny day, and we need as many people as possible to help us to bring it in and stack it in the barn (or as much as we can manage in one day). You must be physically fit and willing to get hot and sweaty! We will start at 9am, and lunch will be provided (vegetable and lentil stew). We'd love to see you there.
If you are coming by car, please park in the field rather than in the farmyard, as we will need tractor and trailer access to the open barn, over and over and over again.

Rebuild Southwest

A team of workers from Rebuild Southwest / Who Dares Works spent a week helping on the farm from 7th to 11th August, and we are very grateful for their input. They repaired our chicken fence and cut the grass around its base to make sure the electrics work, built a new compost bay out of reclaimed pallets, cleaned out the chicken sheds, weeded and laid compost and woodchip on a sheltered salad bed, built a fire-pit with seating, dug a sunken trackway behind the bee-friendly garden, built a rabbit-fence around our new herb garden, and cleared around the overgrown square-metre beds from last years' gardening course. A good week's work!

The improved fire-pit by the cob barn, with seating made from used tyres and fence offcuts.

Rabbit-fence around the new herb garden behind the Mothership.

Bed system laid out in the sheltered growing area.

Trakcway dug behind the bee-friendly garden, to allow access to the lost corner.

The overgrown square-metre beds reclaimed.

For more information on the scheme please visit their site at http://www.rebuildsouthwest.co.uk/

Simon, Mathieu, Maria, and Sean

We'd like to thank four volunteers who all left the farm recently for their help during their time with us.

Maria, from Sheffield, picking tree spinach (magentaspreen) by the compost station.

Simon, from Brittany, hoeing leeks in the market garden.

Sean (in the foreground), from Bristol, planting leeks.

And Mathieu, from France, of whom I have no photo!

Veg boxes 19th August 2017

All the veg in last Friday's veg boxes was grown on the community farm, and was:-
Small veg box (£6) - Charlotte salad potatoes, red Russian kale, a globe artichoke, a bunch of beetroot, courgettes, and peppers.
Standard veg box (£10) - Charlotte salad potatoes, red Russian kale, a bunch of beetroot, courgettes, peppers, aubergines, French breakfast radishes, rhubarb, rainbow chard, and fresh basil.

Various courgette varieties picked ready for veg boxes.

Friday's small veg box.

Anais and Emma

Anais and Emma, two friends from France, came to the community farm to wwoof with us for 3 weeks, and left on Friday to return to France via London. We send you our thanks for your help this summer, we're glad you had a lovely time with us, and we wish you the very best with your onward studies.

Anais planting a late crop of peas in the Sausage polytunnel.

Emma picking beetroot in one of the veg fields.

Our next workshop on the farm - Sunday 20th.

Landscape Painting Workshop

 @ Bosavern Community Farm

Sunday 20^th August 2017

 11.30am – 4.30pm

  £5.00 includes lunch

Bring your own materials

Contact Sonja 01736 785 773 to book place

Flora and Chrys

Flora, from France, and Chrys, from Bristol, both wwoofed on the farm for several weeks this summer, and have just gone their seperate ways. Many thanks to both of them for their recent help, and good luck for the future.

Flora picking green ring-of-fire chillies in one of our polytunnels.

Chrys hoeing along the lines of leeks in the market garden.

Veg boxes 11th August

Last Friday's veg boxes contained (all grown on the community farm):-
£6 veg box = Maris Peer new potatoes, tomatoes, red Russian kale, rainbow chard, courgettes, and peppers.
£10 veg box = all of the above, plus mixed herbs, French breakfast radishes, cape gooseberries, and aubergines.
Please phone us at the farm to arrange delivery of your box - 788454.

Veg boxes 4th August

Small veg box £6 - tomatoes, aubergine(s), cucumber, new potatoes, broad beans, basil.

Standard veg box £10 - tomatillos, new potatoes, kale, chard, shallots, courgette(s), cabbage, tomatoes, pepper, globe artichoke.

Planting leeks

All of our leek transplants have now been dug out of the polytunnel and planted in the market garden, though we do have some spares sown into big boxes which we are also hoping to plant out in the next week. Like last year (our most successful leeks to date) we have sown and transplanted several varieties in order of their season of harvest.

Our main leek patch, being covered in mesh to try and stop rabbits from grazing and digging them up.

Planting brassicas and courgettes

Last week we planted our winter brassicas (on time) and our second batch of courgettes (a bit late).

18 lines, each 75m long, handplanted and covered in mesh, in our newly prepared field. Many thanks to Andy and our team of wwoofers for 2 days well spent.

Our to-be-courgette patch still full of overgrown salad, overgrown chard, selfsown comfrey, and overlooked garlic.

100 courgette plants hardened off and ready for the soil.

Ian getting stuck in clearing the patch (also thanks to Ben and Kate for their help).

The courgettes all in the ground, planted through weed-suppressing membrane (thanks to Andy and Rachel for their help).

Courgettes from our earlier patch already for sale in the shop.

Rachel and Pinar

Rachel (from France) and Pinar (from Turkey, on her second visit) both left the farm over the weekend having wwoofed with us for 4 and 6 weeks respectively. Many thanks to both of them for all their help and hard work.

Rachel in the packing shed bagging up broad beans for veg boxes.

Pinar picking tomatoes in Imogen polytunnel.

Veg boxes 28th July

Standard £10 box - courgette(s), chard, Charlotte salad potatoes, tomatoes, broad beans, spring onions, 3 peppers, rhubarb, cucumber, 2 green chillies, and a sprig of Vietnamese coriander.

Small £6 box - chard, rhubarb, Charlotte salad potatoes, broad beans, tomatoes, 2 peppers, and a sprig of Vietnamese coriander.