David

David, on his second stay at the community farm, left for his next wwoofing assignment this morning after volunteering with us for another 6 weeks (the last of our Christmas team to move on). We all send David our thanks and best wishes, and hope we'll see him again in the near future.

David helping to cut willow withies last Tuesday.

New willow windbreak

This year we have decided to split our market garden into two, by planting three lines of willow straight up the middle. We farm in a very windy location, and this winter has been shredding our crops once again. This willow windbreak will leave us with two plots each measuring 50x50m, one of which will be worked by hand-tools and contains our 6 polytunnels, fruit cage, and two sheltered beds, and we will create several permanent beds for both perennial and annual crops; the other will be hand-planted but tractor-worked in long strips.

David helping to coppice willows to produce withies for planting.

Three lines of willow withies planted across the market garden.

We spent one day coppicing a short line of our existing willow, cutting the lenghts into withies, and knocking them into the ground in three lines, where we hope they will take root (the land is currently very wet!) and help protect our crops.

Nico

One of our wwoof volunteers - Nico from Normandy - left the farm on Sunday to head to Plymouth and an English course. Many thanks to Nico for helping us for 2 weeks, and good luck with your course.

Nico, in the red top in the middle, picking salal in a polytunnel on Friday morning, with Vincent and Charlie.

Veg boxes 19th January

Standard £10 veg box - Cara potatoes, mooli radish (daikon), pumpkin portion, kale, Chinese leaves, celeriac, Brighton lettuce, Oriental greens (giant red mustard), and watercress.
Small £6 veg box - Cara potatoes, mooli radish (daikon), purple sprouting broccoli, pumpkin portion, kale, Jerusalem artichokes.
All grown on the community farm except the PSB and Celeriac, which are from Cargease Organics, Cockwells, near Penzance.

Veg boxes 12th January

French breakfast radishes bagged in the polytunnel ready to go into veg boxes.

£6 box - radishes, leeks, potatoes, kale, pumpkin portion, and a lettuce.
£10 box - all the above plus pak choi, Oriental greens, jerusalem artichokes, and parsley.

Please email us on vegbox.bcf@bcents.org to inquire about or order yours.

Thorid

Our German wwoofer Thorid left the farm on Thursday after volunteering with us for 6 weeks over Christmas and New Year. Despite Thorid suffering then recovering from tonsilitis during that time, it was good to have her, and we send her many thanks for all her hard work.

The beauty of early winter mornings

New Year radishes

Having exhausted our special Christmas carrots before the new year, we have started on the French breakfast radishes sown in October in a polytunnel.

Four lines of radishes about to be selectively picked.

Veg boxes 5th January

The first veg boxes of 2018 (happy New Year to all our supporters!) contained:-
Small £6 box - Sarpo Mira potatoes, French breakfast radishes, gem squash, vivid choi, cauliflower, and cabbage.
Standard £10 box - all of the above plus kale, leeks, a pumpkin portion, and extra potatoes.

Vivid choi (a type of Asian green vegetable) about to be harvested first thing last Friday morning.

Special Christmas carrots.

When it became obvious that our three outdoor sowings of carrots were not going to come to very much in 2017 (and Cargease Organics were also going to struggle with their carrots), we sowed 4 lines in a polytunnel to ensure that we at least had some for the festive period. We sowed them at the beginning of August, filling the hose-line where we'd raised our leek seedlings.

These were Nantes open-pollinated carrots. They escaped carrot root-fly by being in a polytunnel, and were a lovely colourful addition to our Christmas veg boxes, hampers, and farm shop shelves, selling at £1 for a half-kilo bunch. Hopefully we'll have space in our polytunnels again this coming August.

Veg boxes 22nd December

Just like every year since we began in 2011, we have prepared (and delivered since 2013) veg boxes throughout the festive period. These are from 22nd December:-

£6 veg box - potatoes, cabbage, carrots, leeks, parsnips, and a stalk of sprouts (from Cargease Organics).

£10 veg box - potatoes, carrots, half a crown prince squash, cabbage, leeks, parsnips, chard, and a stalk of sprouts (from Cargease Organics).

Christmas hampers

Small hamper for £25.

Medium hamper for £50.

Our Christmas hampers looked beautiful this year, decorated by Thorid and Marion, filled by Shelley and Hugh, and harvested by many people. They contained a range of veg from the farm (plus our eggs and honey), a stalk of sprouts from Cargease Organics, plus a selection of local festive treats. The two photos above still have mince pies and a cranberry loaf from Vicky's bread to go into them - these photos were taken on Thursday evening, and we delivered on Friday afternoon once the fresh bread and pies had been added.

Please make a note in your shiny new 2018 diary to order one for next Christmas!

Marion

Marion, a French wwoofer (see www.wwoof.org.uk for more details), got back on the road just after Christmas, having volunteered on the community farm for one month.

Marion decorating our Christmas hampers.

Many thanks Marion for being such a great help during your time with us, and for the lovely cards and gifts you left behind!