Nature conservation works

With the generous support of the Penwith Landscape Project, and thanks to Gryff on his digger, last week we carried out some more nature conservation projects on the farm.

Using half an old telegraph pole, we've erected a support for a barn-owl box, on the edge of our young woodland. Two barn owls have been seen over the farm several times this winter. The box is to follow.

Also in the woodland field, we have created a series of shallow scrapes and ponds for wildlife, as a wetland habitat.

New scrapes in the woodland.

Again as a wetland habitat, we have re-instated an historic drainage ditch at the bottom of Hotel Field, part of the southern boundary of the farm.

This is the small wetland area that we created earlier this year in a bottom corner of the allotment field, which we are peased to see is already full of water, and hopefully the associated wildlife will follow.

Veg boxes 30/12/21

This week we have again delivered on a Thursday, like last week, to give our staff and volunteers more of a rest over the New Year's weekend. Many thanks to Joe and Chris our two volunteer delivery drivers today, who have delivered all the boxes and gone home already. Also many thanks to the small team yesterday (Polly, Ophelia, Juan and Hugh) who worked their Christmas-socks off to pack 85 boxes ready for today, finishing as it went dark. We are back to our normal routine of picking and packing on Thursdays for a Friday delivery from next week onwards.

Ophelia picking salad leaves at dawn this morning.

Today's veg boxes contain:-

Small box (£7) - potatoes, black Tuscan kale, onions, salad leaves, rainbow chard, and leeks.

Standard box (£11) - potatoes, black Tuscan kale, onions, watercress, rainbow chard, leeks, Chinese cabbage, a pumpkin portion, and beetroot.

Rob

Rob volunteered with us as a WWOOFer for two months, and left just before Christmas, so we'd like to thank him for his help and wish him all the best in his onward endeavours.

Christmas shop display

Our farm shop is looking beautiful at the moment, bursting with festive veg - Brussels sprouts, kale, squash, parsnips, carrots, savoys, red cabbages, leeks, potatoes, russet apples, celeriacs, salad, rainbow chard, spinach, watercress, onions, swede, dried chillies, cauliflowers, dried lemon verbena for tea, beetroot, and fresh herbs. We are open 10am till 5pm until the end of trading on Christmas Eve, then re-opening at 10am on Tuesday 28th. We also have plenty of eggs at the moment, because we bought some organic free-range eggs from another farm to make sure that there is enough to go around.

Coppicing

Several years ago we created a willow copse in the corner of what is now our allotment field (Pepper Field), and this year it was time to coppice the willow for the first time. We produced three different products from the willow - whips for planting in other fields, firewood to dry out for the farmhouse, and a brash-pile as wildlife habitat in the field corner.

Warren and Joe coppicing lines of willow in the copse. The outer lines were left standing as shelter belts for our bee hives.

Polly snedding the willow to produce whips, firewood, and brash.

Robert building the brash pile in a nearby field corner, as a big bug hotel and hedgehog hibernation place etc...

Joe planting the willow whips around the upper crop/chicken field.

 

Some of the willow we planted down the middle of the Market Garden as a windbreak 3 or 4 winters ago, now functional and attractive too.

Latest art work

Following on from Warren's amazingly artistic pop-hole door, he has created a new parking sign for our car-park!! Many thanks Warren.

Farm volunteers thank you tea

We recently held a thank you tea for our farm volunteers, with 30 people in attendance, each of whom volunteer or work on the farm in some capacity. To be "Covid-secure" this was held in a polytunnel, with front and back doors wide open, and socially-distanced, with masks being worn around the buffet table. There were scones with jam and cream, cakes, biscuits, mulled wine, tea, coffee, mulled apple juice, stollen etc... all of which was lovely, but the best part was when we all went outside to admire the sunset across Home Field. Many many thanks to all our wonderful volunteers!

Veg boxes 23/12/21

This year's Christmas veg boxes are going out on Thursday 23rd December so that members can prepare their veg on Christmas Eve ready for Christmas Day. We've just finished packing and checking them and they contain:-

Small £7 box - a stalk of Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, a portion of Crown Prince squash, and a sprig of rosemary.

Standard £11 box - all the above plus leeks, salad leaves, and swede.

We have had to buy some of this week's veg in from local and UK organic farms, in order for our boxes to be what is expected for a Christmas dinner; but the squash, leeks, salad and rosemary have been grown here on the Community Farm.

New members for the veg box scheme are welcome, starting Friday 7th January 2022, please email vegbox.bcf@bcents.org before Wednesday 5th, many thanks.

Veg boxes 10th December

 

This winter's first harvesting of polytunnel watercress.

Small £7 box - potatoes, onions, kale or chard or cabbage, salad leaves, dried lemon verbena for tea, and a pumpkin portion.

Standard £11 box - potatoes, onions, cabbage, salad leaves, dried lemon verbena for tea, a pumpkin portion, jerusalem artichokes, watercress, and oriental greens.

Festive shop, box and market times

Our farm shop will be open daily as normal (every day 10am till 5pm, except Sundays 10am till 2pm) over the festive period except:-

• Christmas Day = closed
• Boxing Day = closed
• Monday 27th December = closed
• New Year's Day = closed
• Sunday 2nd January = closed
• Monday 3rd January = closed.

There will be a Sennen Market on Tuesday 21st December 09:30 till 12:30, and on 4th January 2022, but not on Tuesday 28th December.

Our veg boxes will be delivered on Thursday 23rd and Thursday 30th December, rather then Friday 24th and Friday 31st.

CSA award

Having been joint winners of our category at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards in 2015, this year we were nominated in the "Growing Greener - Sustainable Food and Farming" category, in which we were Highly Commended.

We have added this to our trophy and certificate display in the farm shop. Many thanks to whoever nominated us, to the CSA for choosing us, and for Yvonne for giving up her free time to go to Truro to recieve the award - plus of course everybody who has helped in all the work that this award is in recognition of.

veg boxes 3rd December

Yesterday's boxes, delivered throughout the area, contained:-

• standard box, £11 - potatoes, onions, parsnips, salad leaves, Chinese cabbage, rainbow chard, leeks, beetroot, and a chunk of pumpkin.
• small box, £7 - potatoes, onions, salad leaves, Chinese cabbage, leeks, and beetroot.

Harvesting rainbow chard and beetroot in the top crop field.

Harvesting Chinese cabbage in the Sausage polytunnel.

We have now dug up the final few lines of our own potatoes, so this week half the potatoes in the boxes were our own, and the other half came from an organic farmer down on the Lizard Peninsula. The onions came from Cargease Organics outside Cockwells near Penzance. All other produce was grown here on the community farm.

vegbox.bcf@bcents.org.uk