Katie.

Many many thanks to Katie from Seattle, who set off to south Wales today to continue her wwoofing experiences there. Katie was with us for just over two weeks, and worked hard out on the farm and in the kitchen! Have a great time in the UK and in Europe, and thanks for all your help.

Katie (centre) digging dock roots out of the vegetable field, along with Anne, Jim, Sonja and Becky.

Land's End Peninsula Community Land Trust Newsletter.

If you have been down to the farm or visited the stall at Pendeen Farmer’s market you will know that the volunteers have been working full tilt to get an array of fresh produce out. Veg has varied from potatoes, tomatoes and beans to garlic, herbs and other salad things.

More chickens have arrived (now a flock of about 240) and therefore eggs. The farm now has 21 gobbling turkeys which will be ready for Christmas.  Contact the farm to order your Organic (Soil Association) certified Norfolk Black Turkeys. Likely to charge in the region of £10-12 a kilo. You can visit

too and see how they are reared.

Whether driving past or visiting, you will have noticed hay being cut and baled. Small bales are available for £3 each.

The fields we are not using are now being rented out so you will be seeing some organic cattle there.

The other task taking the time of Deb, Rob and other volunteers is getting the Lottery application completed. Cornwall Council have agreed to give us the first option on buying the farm (brilliant news) but wants to see that we are going to have the money to do so by 31 March 2012.

So please, please if you want to see the farm kept to be run by the community for community benefit then put us in touch with people who may be willing to consider making a donation or a social loan.  

If you have ideas for the farm, are willing to organise a fundraising event or just want to roll up your sleeves and get involved on the land or in the office then get in touch. All skills and ages can be accommodated! 

BOSAVERN HEN

As chair of the Trust and a bit of a softy, I had a single chick hatch in our incubator. Bosavern came up trumps and provided a foster mum, in the form of a broody hen.

Well she has done her bit raising the chick but is remaining with us and has become a real adventurer! It does not matter what we do she will not lay her eggs in her house; she has to hop over the hedge and wander into our garden to lay.

She has wandered into and right through our house, when my husband left the top half of a stable door open. Her biggest adventure took her to Hayle (from Carnyorth). On this occasion she managed to stow away in my husband’s truck. Imagine our shock when we reached our destination and found Bosavern hen!

Veg boxes now available.

After trialling our organic veg boxes with friends and volunteers over the summer, they are now ready and available to members of the public. A box of organic (Soil Association certified) veg costs £8, and is ready to be collected from the farm at 6pm on Friday evenings. Once we've shown you where to collect your box you can pick it up on Saturdays too. Half a dozen of our organic free-range eggs can be added to your box for an extra £1.50, or £3 for a dozen. This week's box contains potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, kale, courgette, chillies, jalapeno peppers, aubergine, cucumber, spring onions, celery, and turnip, all of them grown here on the farm. If a weekly (or fortnightly) box whets your appetite, or you'd like to try a trial box, please phone Hugh on 01736 788454.

Joe.

Many thanks to Joe, who spent last week living on the farm and doing a lot of weeding!!! The brassica strip has never looked so tended! Joe has now gone to volunteer at "Plants for a Future" in eastern Cornwall - see their website at www.pfaf.org - and we wish him all the best.

Tomato varietes.

Having received a number of compliments about how good our tomatoes are (available at the farm gate shop, £1.50 for a mixed punnet), I thought it would be interesting to photograph all 8 of the varieties we are growing in the polytunnel this year.

Agro F1 plum tomatoes (hybrid).

Claree F1cherry tomato (hybrid).

Gardener's Delight cherry tomato, an old classic.

Marmande Super, big beef tomato.

Moneymaker, another classic tomato.

Pitenza F1, another hybrid.

Tigerella, orange and gold striped tomatoes.

Yellow Perfection, for a splash of colour.

Cattle.

On Thursday August 18th, nineteen Galloway cattle arrived on the farm. They are owned by a local organic beef farmer, and will be fattened up on ten of our fields ready for market. Grazing is an important part of the farm's management plan, keeping the grass down and manuring the land, providing extra income for the farm, putting all the fields to use, and producing an extra crop from the land. Apart from the first morning (when one cow decided to jump over a hedge and go for a wander around the outskirts of St. Just!) they have been no trouble, and we are glad to have them.

Small bales of hay for sale.

After cutting two of our fields for hay, we now have small bales for sale at £3 each. The hay is organic and "rough" (containing a wide variety of grasses and herbs). Please call in to buy a bale or 20, and put the word out too!!

A lovely sight and a lovely smell - our barn full of organic hay.