Cornishman article.

Turn to page 14 of this week's Cornishman newspaper and you'll find a half-page article about the community farm - "Community is urged to join farm project". We have already had several phone calls from people willing to come along and volunteer, so many thanks to the Cornishman for the publicity, and especially to Lesley for writing the article and taking the photo!

Three volunteers plus Hugh painting one of the chicken sheds.

Don't count your chickens.

With great disappointment we have to announce that the "imminent" arrival of our first flock of 100 chickens has been indefinitely postponed. We were due to take delivery of the birds on Wednesday afternoon, but the company who were supposed to supply them phoned in the morning, to say that they didn't in fact have 100 birds to send us. Not a single one. So after two and a half weeks of hard work by volunteers and staff, preparing one of the chicken sheds, erecting 130m of 1.8m high (6 feet) fencing, mowing the paddock, buying feed, etc etc., we don't have a bird or an egg to show for it. This is a big blow to everybody involved in the farm, and to the local community who were looking forward to buying fresh organic free-range eggs.

We do hope to be able to source a flock in the near future.

Many many thanks to everybody who came along and worked hard preparing for the chickens - your labour was not in vain, as everything is now ready for the hens when we are able to find some.

Building supporting angles for the strainer posts.

Starting to put the wire on, and hang the gate.

Getting the top section of chicken-wire nailed on.

Countryfile

Just a quick reminder to watch the BBC's Countryfile Autumn Special this Sunday evening (October 31st) at 18:30, with footage of the food forage filmed recently at Perranuthnoe.

Chickens imminent!

One hundred of our feathered friends are due to arrive in their new home on Wednesday afternoon, which means we have to have their shed and paddock ready by then. We are on track to do so, with some finishing fox-proofing touches to make, and a second set of perches to build. There will be 3 or 4 of us working on this tomorrow, Tuesday, so if anybody wants to lend a hand we would be very grateful. Call in to the farm any time after 10am, and come and find us in the chicken field. Many thanks, Hugh.

Preparing for chickens.

All systems are go on the farm at the moment, as we prepare for the imminent arrival of our first flock of laying hens. We hope to have them on site and living in their new home by the end of this week. This means, as always, lots of hard work getting the farm ready to receive them, and making their new home as comfortable as possible for them.

Inside one of the sheds before restoration.

The floor of one shed before repair.

When you see photos of how the sheds were before we got to work on them, you realise how far we've come since this time last week. One of the sheds is now habitable although some fine-tuning is needed, another is roofed and painted but needs sorting out inside, and the third we have not begun work on as yet.

Painting the middle shed, having already replaced the roof.

Replacing the scrubbed-clean floor in one of the sheds.

Having re-roofed and painted two of the sheds, next job was to drag them into place on the field, by use of a landrover. The sheds are mounted on "skids" rather than wheels, but once they got going they were surprisingly easy to manoeuvre (thanks Chris and Kirsten!). The field was divided into three, and one shed placed central in each third. Each third will be divided into two equal paddocks, to allow rotation of the hens and give the land time to recover between grazings. At present we are only going to fence one sixth of the field, being one half of one third, due to financial and time constraints.

The sheds distributed across the field.

Our chosen sixth of the field has been mowed to give the hens short grass to scratch around in. Which leaves the construction of a fox-proof fence - no mean feat when you consider we are erecting sixty 8-foot-high posts, then the chicken wire, gate for tractor access, and lastly some electric wire to help deter foxes even further.

Group of volunteers getting started on the fenceposts today.

We hope to have the fence up and working before this weekend....

Polytunnel Update

Last Saturday we finished bordering the final bed in the polytunnel, again using old tiles from the pig shed roof, so all the beds are now ready for sowing and planting (except for the central bed still lacking stepping-stones, could be a task for this afternoon?). Sowings of salads have now all germinated and are coming along well, as you can see below.

mizuna seedlings (an oriental brassica grown for its leaves)

radish seedlings

rocket seedlings

nasturtium seedlings (the flowers are delicious in salads)

swiss chard seedlings

Jumble Sale

A date for your diary - we are holding a jumble sale to raise funds for the farm, in the Women's Institute hall in St Just, on Saturday 6th November, 10am till midday. Please call in on the day to purchase items! If you want to donate goods to be included in the sale, or as raffle prizes, please drop them off at the farmhouse before Friday 5th, or at the hall before 10am on Saturday morning. Please feel free to bake cakes and buns and bread for sale. Many thanks!