Becky

Becky, a long-term volunteer on the community farm, left recently to head back up north. Becky was here for four months, and was invaluable help during the busy times over summer, and in covering the days off of other staff. During her time here we brought in 200 more laying hens, 21 Christmas turkeys, started work on the new polytunnel, built up the veg boxes to 12 a week, sent our three little pigs to slaughter, hosted 13 wwoofers, and started switching our crop rotation from 2011 to 2012 planting - never a dull moment! Many thanks for all your help Becky, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Becky hoeing round the purple sprouting broccoli.

Spaghetti with kale, garlic and parmesan.

This recipe comes from Duchy Home Farm in the Cotswolds, and serves 3.

Ingredients.
250g kale
225g spaghetti
50g butter
half a tablespoon olive oil
one red onion
3 garlic cloves
75g parmesan cheese

Method.
Cut the kale into ribbons/strips. Bring a large pan of salted water to the the boil, add the kale abd cook for two minutes once it has returned to the boil. Remove the kale with a slotted spoon and refresh unser cold water. Put the spaghetti into the boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions.
Chop the red onion and garlic finely. In a separate pan melt the butter and oil, add the onion and garlic, a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. Gently cook it until the onion is translucent (not burnt!). Add the kale to the garlicky mixture and mix to coat the leaves well. Add the cooked and drained spaghetti and mix well. Serve on warmed plates with freshly grated parmesan sprinkled over.

Francesca.

Many thanks to Francesca, who volunteered as a wwoofer on the farm for one week, and especially thanks for leaving half a chocolate cake behind for us!

Green tomato chutney.

It's that time of the year when your tomatoes stop ripening and sit there looking green and unappetising. So here's an easy recipe to make delicious green tomato chutney!

Ingredients.
6 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 cup sultanas
1 cup chopped onion
1.5 cups light brown sugar (packed firm)
1 teaspoon salt
1.25 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoon spices
1 teaspoon chilli powder (or a fresh chilli or two).

Method.
Put everything into a pan, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for one hour until thick, then spoon into sterilised jars. You can start eating it next day, or store it in a cool place.

Halloween Hextravaganza.

For our next event we are teaming up with St. Just Rugby Club on Friday 28th October, 3-7pm, to present a "Halloween Hextravaganza". There will be arts and crafts, games, fancy dress, and a barbecue using pork reared on the community farm. Everybody welcome!

Hot chilli chutney.

Here's a delicious recipe we found on the internet. It makes 3 small jars of chutney/relish, great with fried eggs or whatever really. We have three varieties of hot chilli available at the farm gate stall - "ring of fire" red chillies, jalapeno peppers, and "amarillo" fat yellow chillies.

Ingredients.
450g chillies
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground turmeric
25g root ginger (peeled and grated) or 2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon salt
three-quarters cup olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
one quarter cup vinegar

Method
Finely chop chillies, including seeds. Finely chop onion and garlic. Mix together chillies, onion, garlic, cumin, turmeric, ginger, salt and oil. Put in a heavy-based pan and fry for 15 minutes stirring often. Add sugar and vinegar, bring to boil, cover pan and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Spoon into sterilised jars and seal immediately.

First day on the new polytunnel.

Yesterday we held a special volunteering session to get as much of our new polytunnel built as possible, so many thanks to the 12 people who came along throughout the day to help. Simon and Hugh began on the Friday by marking out the site of the tunnel, using a laser theodolite to level and measure the site to within an inch (the new tunnel is 66 by 16ft, so we're working in imperial measurements).

Simon marking out the site for our new polytunnel.

Which meant that when people arrived on Saturday morning we already knew where the 26 2ft-deep holes had to be dug and it was all hands on spades. By the end of the day we had all the holes dug, most of the anchor-plates and base-poles in place, half of the hoops erected, and 2 strengthening struts attached.

Putting the hoops together, with Alice, Nigel, Jean and Kent.

Getting those anchor-plates just right, with John, Bob and Simon.

Putting the community into farm - a well-deserved and delicious lunch in the farmhouse kitchen.

We will be continuing the work on Tuesday afternoon, 1-5pm (our usual volunteering session) so if you want to lend a hand please come along.