Blog

What an amazing two days.  If you work in groups. If you work in non hierarchical structures.  Google conscious collaboration and check out the training available.

Today I saw why we use heated mats on our benches.  On the left you'll see our onions that have heat underneath and on the right those without.

Arrived at the farm this morning and had 55 bags of compost waiting for me.  So! First thing (after watering the babies) to do was moving them from the car park to the propagation glasshouse.  Phew! Time for a cuppa methinks.

Today we had our local dealer from Exeter come down to give us a demo of what's going to be the machinery we use on the top field in the expansion.  It was so exciting! It worked a treat and should do the business.  What you can't see is my big smile and two thumbs up… But they were there off camera!

Today I headed down to Cornwall with Zoe as both our projects were part of a networking event with our funder UnLtd.  Lovely to head out of town and network with some other lovely foodie projects.

So exciting! Our first seedlings of the year!

I do.  For the past ten years I've worked on boats or on farms, and both places the right tool can make a really difficult job a breeze.  I also love well made, hand forged tools.  They fit really specific niches, just like these broadforks we bought from Johnny's Seeds in the USA.  When they came I unwrapped the handles and could smell the oil someone had rubbed into the wood, just one indicator of good craftsmanship – taking the time on small things makes a massive difference when it comes to tools.  The two forks on the left are for aerating the soil without inverting it, just a gentle levering action. The fork on the right with more times is for loosening out carrots, parsnips, potatoes, leeks, etc.  As we grow bigger we also plan to grow smarter and tools like these that are invented specifically for market gardening contribute to that. 🙂

Under our kiwi tree at tea time today we had a lovely poem told by our volunteer Ellie.  I can't say any more…. But if I did I'd say that maybe poems at tea and lunch time ought to be a new thing!? (it was amazing!)

It's all about seed sowing on the farm this week… Our big seed order from Tamar Organics arrived on Monday. So far we've sown: carrots, kohl rabi, onions, lettuce, tomato, aubergine, peppers and chilli's.  We've sown over 5000 onions! Hope our CSA members are hungry!

Our big seed order arrived yesterday so today was time to catch up on all the seed sowing we've missed in the past few weeks. Thanks to the level 1 students for helping us sow carrots, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines!