Bird flu update

The first cases of bird flu in this part of Cornwall were recorded recently when dead sea-gulls were found on the beach at Long Rock near Penzance. This is about 10 miles from us. Our flock has been "locked-down" inside their sheds and netted runs since 29th November last year, and we are hoping to be able to let them out into a field on 21st March, as that is the 16-week limit for "free range" hens and eggs. The netted runs we built have become a muddy mess in the past ten weeks, so today we have taken them down and reinstalled them at 90 degrees, allowing our hens access to the fresh green grass which they have been craving in their diet. We've also installed simple pulley systems on their pop-holes to allow us to open and close the sheds without entering their runs (using pieces of electric pig-fence tensioning systems).

Happier chickens on fresh green ground.

Showing where the run used to be until we moved it, and where it is now - quite a contrast.

Toad

 Discovered in our globe artichoke patch whilst weeding last week.

Juan

 

Juan volunteered with us recently as a WWOOFer and has now moved on to his next host farm. We'd like to thank Juan for getting involved and helping us out.

Veg boxes January 14th

There was a team of 15 people on Thursday who completed all the harvesting/packing for 90 veg boxes by 5pm - great work everybody!

Harvesting Chinese cabbage (on the left) and herb fennel (on the right).

Harvesting the last of our mooli/minowase/daikon.

Harvesting oriental greens.

Yesterday's veg boxes contained:-

• small £7 box - potatoes, onions, oriental greens, watercress, mooli radish and their leaves, and a portion of Crown Prince squash.
• standard £11 box - potatoes, onions, mooli radish and their leaves, salad leaves, rainbow chard, black Tuscan kale, herb fennel, leeks, and a celeriac.

The oriental greens, mooli radish, squash, salad, chard, fennel and leeks were grown here on the community farm. The potatoes are organic and from the Lizard peninsula. The celeriac and kale are organic and from Cockwells near Penzance. The onions are organic and are from Alsia Cross near St. Buryan.

Bosavern Training and Work Experience

There are still a few spaces available for our final Training & Work Experience course (flyer attached) for local adults who must not be earning any money at the point of registration.
The next course runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Feb-Apr offering a mix of growing activities, cookery activities and employment support. 

Here's a participant speaking about their experience on the project last Autumn:  

https://youtube/lRfQ5bFSA1w
Contact Katie to hear more and to arrange a no-commitment taster session / visit: 01736 272367 training@bosaverncommunityfarm.org.uk.
This project is funded by the EU and Cornwall Council. 

 

Harvesting mooli for veg boxes

Our wonderful volunteers today harvested 50kg of mooli radish (a.k.a. daikon or minowase) from one of our polytunnels, just under half of this years' total crop, so there will be enough for another week in the veg boxes soon! We've had a much better crop this year than last, by sowing earlier, and maintaining soil moisture levels (i.e. better watering).

Jocelyn and Diana harvesting polytunnel mooli.

A crate of mooli being harvested.

Tomorrow's veg boxes are now mostly packed, just the salad to go in after an early morning pick, and the bread, milk and yoghurt in the morning. They will contain:-

small £7 box - mooli, potatoes, curly kale, salad, leeks, and dried lemon verbena for tea;

standard £11 box - mooli, potatoes, curly kale, watercress, leeks, dried lemon verbena for tea, oriental greens, a slab of Crown Prince squash, and a cauliflower.

And by the time we'd finished the rain had blown away and the sky looked like this!

Joe and Ophelia

Two of our WWOOF volunteers, Joe and Ophelia, have moved on to other farms this week, having volunteered with us for a while, and having then spent Christmas and New Year's Day here on Bosavern Community Farm. We are very grateful for their help this winter!

Joe and Ophelia working together in the Propagation Station harvesting and processing lemon verbena to dry as a herbal tea.