Harvesting in gales

We've just endured 48 hours of strong dry hot easterly winds, causing some damage to our polytunnel doors, and damaging lots of plants (the full scale of which will become evident over the next few days). Yesterday's harvesting was particularly unpleasant, as this video shows.

Some of our current produce

Our produce is picking up once again post-hungry-gap and we have lovely fresh new-season veg for sale in the farm shop, at our three farmer's markets (St. Just, Pendeen and Sennen), being served in local restaurants, and delivered to your door in our weekly veg boxes.

Anna and Giuseppe picking broad beans yesterday.

Mixed cherry tomatoes.

Cucumbers from a polytunnel.

Packing veg boxes yesterday, with Kevin, Giuseppe, Andy and Anne.

Tree spinach being picked for last week's veg boxes.

Radar overwintering onions picked fresh yesterday for a local restaurant.

Recent wwoof volunteers

We have, as usual, been blessed with some lovely WWOOF volunteers recently, some of whom have already moved on to their next projects, some of whom are still with us. We'd like to thank all those who have left us in the past few days - Emanuelle (France), Aline (on her second visit - France), Katie (France), Jono (New Zealand), Rex (Holland) and Mauro (Italy).

Thursday picking and packing team lunch in the farmyard, with international and local volunteers - Adrien, Jono, Kevin, Ben, Aline, Mauro, Margaret, Anne, Katie, Giuseppe, Vicky and Anna.

Rex and Jono in the farmhouse kitchen.

Aline, Mauro and Anna building a windbreak to plant courgettes.

Camping 2019

This year we are offering camping as normal over the summer, bookable through pitchup.com - but also through phoning us on 01736 788454, emailing info@bosaverncommunityfarm.org.uk, or asking in person at the farm. Our main camping starts for the Lafrowda weekend on July 18th and continues till after the bank holiday weekend at the end of August (Monday 26th), but camping may be possible outside these dates by arrangement, so please enquire. Adults cost £7 per night, under-18s £3 per night, and under-3s are free. This year we are moving to a new field, more quiet and private and with lovely views of the hills behind the farm. No vehicles will be allowed in this field, to ensure it is safe for children, so we will provide a wheelbarrow to transport your gear from your car 200m away. We have just built and installed a compost toilet in the camping field, but that will be the only facility in there - there are cold water taps near the car-park, our farm shop open 11am till 6pm daily, rubbish and recycling bins, and we have plans to build a passive solar shower two fields away, which may or may not have happened by then! It will be basic camping in a farm field with no luxuries. Campers can join in activities on the farm, such as weeding, harvesting, collecting chicken eggs etc..., just ask us.

Camper's compost toilet under construction in the farmyard.

And being transported across the farm.

It's final position in the corner of our new camping field.

Finding a few more flowers....

Catmint in the haxagonal planter in the Bee Garden.

Bristly ox-tongue outside a polytunnel.

Cocksfoot grass in Home Field.

White borage, bird's foot trefoil, and purple viper's bugloss in the wildflower strip in Home Field.

Common mallow on the path to our tree-bogs.

Nipplewort in the Market Garden.

Pink purslane on the farmyard.

Purple sprouting broccoli on the Market Garden, left to flower for the bees.

Re clover in Home Field.

Wildflowers around the well.

Herb and flower gardens outside the accessible compost toilet.

New potatoes and broad beans

Yesterday we dug up our first new potatoes of the season (69kg of Casablanca, now for sale in the farm shop and at the weekend's markets for £2 per kg), and today we harvested the first broad beans too (28kg, also in shop and markets for £3 per kg). Maybe we can now tentatively declare the hungry gap to be over....

Three volunteers about to start digging in the potato patch yesterday morning.

Some of today's broad beans at the weigh-in.

Working down the first ridge of Casablanca early potatoes.

Flowers again

Echium candicans next to the compost toilet.

Picking herbs in the Mothership Herb Garden this morning.

Brambles in flower in early June!

Catmint swarming with bees in the Bee Garden.

Ring Of Fire chilli flowers in the Mothership polytunnel.

Cleavers in flower (also known as sticky weed, goose grass, and sticky willy).

Corncockles and ox-eye daisies in the Bee Garden wildflower strip.

Elephant garlic in a polytunnel.

White borage in Home Field.

Purple vipers bugloss in Home Field.

Sweet peas in the farmyard.

Poppies and charlock near the well.

Sycamore flowers overhanging Home Field.

Harvesting fresh veg in the "hungry gap"

April and May are our least favourite time of year, as last year's crops run out before this year's crops get started. But this year we have done better than ever before, as our veg box customers have hopefully seen - and now that the hungry gap is almost over, our farm shop is also starting to look vibrant again.

Cucumbers, one of the first new season crops from our polytunnels.

Overwintering Radar onions picked fresh from the field for our veg boxes.

The first pick of Sungold tomatoes last week.

Uncovering our incredible raised beds of red Russian kale ready to pick.

The farm shop last Thursday afternoon.

Rhubarb, a good reliable hungry gap crop.

Our first pick of fresh basil two weeks ago.

Margaret, one of our wonderful local volunteers, bagging up 8kg of kale for our veg boxes (into compostable starch bags).

St. Just in Bloom

St. Just In Bloom has won gold medals for the past five years, and this year we will be representing the South West in the Small Town section of the national finals. For the third consecutive year Bosavern Community Farm gathered a small group of volunteers to help plant up some of the displays on the entrance into town, and on the turn-off down to the farm. Three of us spent a wet morning on Tuesday 4th June with bedding plants and compost as part of the farm's contribution to St. Just In Bloom.

Lotte and Rex planting by the cemetery.

Lotte and Rex planting at the entrance to St. Just.

One of the completed planters.

www.stjustinbloom.org.uk