More wildflowers

We have counted more than 40 species in flower at the moment, and here's a few more of them.

Borage (seedlings available to buy - ask Ian).

Buttercups.

Pot marigolds brightening up our farmyard (one of our additions - also available to buy).

Common scurvy grass.

Daisies.

Forget-me-nots.

Common fumitory.

White dead nettle.

Giulia

Giulia, from Italy, left the farm yesterday after wwoofing with us for two weeks - many thanks Giulia for all your help, and your leaving gift of seeds for the market garden.

Community notice-board

There's lots and lots happening on the farm at the moment - gardening days, a woodland day, three volunteer sessions a week, new allotments, work parties, a farm trail being created, work on the new entrance about to begin, plus of course all the usual planting and sowing - so the community noticeboard outside the shop has been re-vamped to try to keep everybody up-to-date.

Many thanks to Bethany from Falmouth college of art, and Shelley, our newly appointed Volunteer and Community Coordinator, for their work on the board (which we will aim to keep updated). You can also follow us on facebook and twitter....

Spring flowers

The farm is awash with spring flowers - dog violets, alexanders, three-cornered leeks, green alkanet, English bluebells, celendines, ground ivy, common field speedwell, stitchwort, plantain, daisies, dandelions, cornsalad, forget-me-nots, red campion, herb robert etc... Because we don't use any chemical pesticides or fertilisers on the farm these wild flowers thrive, along with the insect life and other animals that they support.

Alexanders.

English bluebells.

Dog violets.

Green alkanet.

Ribwort plantain.

Red campion.

Greater stitchwort.

Three-cornered leek.

We are also augmenting the biodiversity and habitat of the farm by improving and extending our wildflower hay-meadows, creating herb gardens, and improving the existing bee-friendly garden behind the open barn.

Bee-dipping pond in the pollinator garden, with marsh marigold and primroses.

Recent veg boxes

We are now supplying about 40 veg boxes a week to local families and individuals, delivering as far as Penzance, St. Ives, and Ludgvan. Our standard boxes cost £10, and small boxes £6, with delivery only £1 (or £1.50 if more than 5 miles from the farm as the crow flies), with optional extras of eggs, bread, milk, and indeed anything from our farm-shop.

Eggs awaiting collection in one of our chicken sheds (no, this wasn't staged!).

Purple "azur star" pak choi awaiting picking in one of our polytunnels (picked on Friday morning and delivered in our veg boxes later that day).

Cora and Marion

Cora from Germany and Marion from France both came and helped at the farm as WWOOF volunteers, and both recently left us to return to their homes for university and work. Many thanks to Cora and Marion for their help and friendship whilst with us.

Cora picking purple sprouting broccoli in the outdoor permanent raised beds.

Marion stringing up tomato vines in Nigel polytunnel.

Planting chillies

Unfortunately for the bees some of those plants were then pulled out and composted to make way for this year's chilli plants (but there are kale and cabbage plants in the fields, and more salad and oriental-green flowers in the other tunnels). Today we planted 76 "ring of fire" chillies (grown from our own seed, leaving quite a few plants to sell at Penwith Green Fair and Cape Cornwall Plant Fair in the coming weeks), 3 rocoto chillies (ditto), 7 jalapeno peppers, 3 habanero chillies, and 2 tomatillos.

Marti planting chillies in the Mothership.

Bees in the Mothership

Two of our polytunnels are bursting with the edible salads of bolting salad plants, and bees are loving them so much that the polytunnels are buzzing when you walk past. This is a very good reason to leave old brassica plants to flower in the spring, as they are such a valuable source of pollen for pollinators. I've tried to capture it on my little camera...

Projects for this year

We have plenty of exciting projects to get on with this year, so if any of the following tickle your fancy and you wish to come and lend a hand or otherwise get involved, please contact us on info@bosaverncommunityfarm.org.uk.

• building a new compost toilet to allow us to re-site our camping area to a more secluded field;
• renovating the cob house to enable it to be used as a potting shed and storage area;
• improving biodiversity and pollinator habitat on the farm, in association with the Wheal Buzzy Project from West Cornwall AONB;
• possibly a passive solar shower, for our campers and other visitors;
• a farm nature trail;
• a rabbit fence and tree-bog in the new allotment field;
• a new entrance way and parking area in Home Field, to allow easier safer access into the farm;
• all of this as well as the farm's core activities of producing food (picking, packing, planting, weeding, animal care etc.).

 We also need help in the farm shop and at our regular farmer's markets - so do please get in touch!

Penwith Green Fair

Bosavern Community Farm will have a stall at the Penwith Green Fair in St. John's Hall, Penzance, on Saturday 20th April 10am till 3pm. Please come along and support us and the other stall-holders and events on the day.

Our first PSB of the season

On Wednesday afternoon we had our first harvest of purple sprouting broccoli of the season. Most of the plants haven't started producing yet, but those that have gave us more than 4kg at first pick. Most of this went into the farm shop, but some went into Friday's veg boxes, supplemented by local PSB from Cargease Organics.

The first time we've tried PSB in our new permanent raised beds - it seems to like it there (as has everything else except onions).

Cora, from Germany, helping with the fist pick.

Friday's veg boxes

On Friday we finished putting together 38 plastic-free not-for-profit veg boxes, most of which we delivered to people's homes around West Penwith, with the remainder being collected from the farm or other community hubs in the area. This week they contained a selection from the following:-
purple sprouting broccoli,
mixed salad leaves,
fresh coriander,
local organic potatoes (from Ruan Minor),
giant red mustard leaves,
leeks (the final few!),
cauliflower,
chervil,
and chard.
Small boxes cost £6, standard boxes £10, with free-range eggs, organic milk, and Vicky's bread as optional extras.
Email us on vegbox.bcf@bcents.org.uk for more information.

Alan and Sara, two wwoofers

Alan picking salad in the Mothership. Alan, from Rotherham, volunteered on the community farm for one month, and has left today to hitch-hike home.

Sara heading into the chicken field to collect eggs. Sara, from Italy via Newcastle, volunteered with us for one week, and has left today to return to university.

Many thanks to both Alan and Sara for their help on the farm.

Planting tomatoes

We sowed 200 tomato seeds in the hot bed at the beginning of February, potted them on in the polytunnel in March, and planted them into their final positions at the start of April. They are now all planted, side-shooted, and strung up ready for the season. Yesterday we potted on the second batch, and later this month we'll sow the third batch.

Cora stringing up our first batch of tomato vines in Nigel polytunnel.

Wheal Buzzy days

We have held two Wheal Buzzy days at the farm in recent weeks, in partnership with the West Cornwall AONB, as we look to increase biodiversity and bee habitat on the farm.

Propagating pollinator-friendly wildflowers to be transplanted to the farm meadows.

If you are interested in volunteering for this exciting project please contact Ian or Shelley at the farm on 01736 788454.