Cat with a cabbage bigger than her head. Enough said.
Join us for the fourth Saturday gathering of the 2023 season for our Farm & Feast CSA.
After a brief hint of sunshine in July, August has been a bit of a washout! The lack of sunshine definitely effects the vegetables - particularly the heat-loving ones - I’ll be delighted if we manage to grow a single squash this year. Squash love heat and are particularly fussy about wind. They want a sunny, breeze-free spot. Hard to find this year! But we have an abundance of vibrant green beans in the poly tunnel ready to be picked! Fingers crossed for a few more sunny days before we head into Autumn. (And maybe I need to build another polytunnel for squash!)
The unseasonable weather hasn’t dampened our spirits, and there’s been lots going on as usual. We upgraded our roadside farm shop from a picnic table to pretty little rainbow stall. Claire has made mountains more delicious jam to keep it fully stocked, and we welcomed even more campers onsite! We had our longest booking to date a family who stayed for a week! So we hooked up a solar shower to the old sycamore tree before I went on holidays. It’s a really fun piece of kit - which you are all very welcome to try - although its a little exposed at the moment as we haven’t yet decided on the best type of enclosure!
But onto more important things - us all be getting together at Laurelbank Farm for a day of eating, chatting, learning and getting in touch with the soil and the seasons! So here’s the plan…
Please note: This event is for Full Season Farm & Feast members only. If you’re not a member and want to find out more click here.
10am – Members arrive at Laurelbank Farm
We will be officially kicking off at 10am, but you are welcome to arrive a little earlier (don’t come before 9:30am please!!) to get settled and grab a cup of tea or coffee. Claire is preparing savoury muffins with courgette and feta for a yummy morning snack.
Once we all have a cup of something in our hands, I’ll let you all know what the plan is for the day. If the weather is good, we’ll all head out into the courtyard for this.
10:45 am – The Farming Bit
We’ll be heading down to the bottom beds (where the cabbages grow!) for our “farming bit”. And I’m going to ask you to divide yourselves up into groups to tackle our various projects.
Firstly, I need a Strawberry Squad. Bring a pair of secatuers if you can. I never have enough. Your task will be to prep our strawberry plants for next year. This means every single “runner” (the shoots that strawberry plants send out to create new baby strawberry plants) needs to be cut off. And dead / dying leaves removed. 500 or so plants to do. Probably a few thousand runners to remove. Shouldn’t take long, right!
If you’d like to take runners home with you to pot on for delicious strawberries of your own then bring a plastic bag, fill it with runner, and store them in the fridge at home until you get a chance to put them in a pot. I will show you how on Saturday.
Secondly, I need a Construction Crew. I admit, this is a slightly rid project. The plan is to begin work on a walkway from the back door of the kitchen, down to the ancient sycamore tree where the swing and solar shower is now located. We need a more direct route to the bottom beds. We will need to take down the fence, clear the nettles and weeds, and then use our endless supply of stones to form a ramp. There might be a need to build a bit of a retaining wall with some gabion baskets too. Exciting!
Thirdly, I need some Weeding Mobs. I love weeding. But this year, the weeds are winning and there isn’t enough time in the day. My mantra is “get weed-free, then stay weed-free” and that really is the most efficient way to weed. However, with everything that has been happening this season, the beds are definitely not weed-free. I recommend you form groups of 3-6 people, then you tackle one of the 33 beds in the bottom fields.
How about asking someone you don’t know to join your weeding mob? It’s a bit like speed dating, but speed weeding.
Ask if you’re not sure which plants are weeds and which are vegetables! And don’t just go for a really weedy bed (though the before and after photos are very satifying). Pick a bed that looks weed-free, then amaze yourself with the thousands of tiny weeds that can be quickly and deftly removed - and bask in the joy that a tiny weed removed now, is saving Cat and me a lot of time and heartache later on. All weeds, big and small, go onto the compost heap. Stones can also be gathered from the beds and delivered to the grateful hands of the Construction Crew!
And finally, for the little ones that love a bit of painting (and getting non-washble paint all over their cloths and bodies!), we have both a bookshelf (see below) and our black picnic table to paint turquoise.
As Laura mentioned on the Whatsapp group, we are hoping to create a little library in the Cow Byre, where we can all swap books to keep us going over the Autumn and Winter months. I love a book recommendation, so I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone brings. Just one book per family or person for now and we can slowly increase or rotate our selection as the months go by.
From 1pm – Lunch in the Gallery / Cow Byre and everywhere in betwen
Menu for 2nd September 2023
Wood-fired pizzas from the clay pizza oven
including:
Margarita, sauteed leeks & blue cheese, rainbow chard & grated beetroot
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Nasturtium garlic bread.
Turkish red onions
Pink fir apple potato salad
Edible flower green salad.
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Churros with chocolate sauce.
2:15pm – Finish off jobs!
3:30pm - Time to head home!
The time: From 9:30/10am to around 3:30pm on Saturday 2nd September 2023.
The place: Laurelbank Farm, 121 Middle Road, Saintfield, Co. Down, BT24 7LS
The cost: This event is free for Farm & Feast Members (to find out more about the scheme, click here).
The refreshments: We’ll serve a hearty vegetarian lunch and there will be plenty of tea, coffee & water to help yourself to throughout the day. Feel free to bring extra snacks for small children.
Dietary Requirements: Lunch will be suitable for vegetarians but if you have any other dietary requirement please let us know so we can plan the menu around your needs.
What to bring: A BOOK YOU HAVE READ AND LOVED FOR OUR COMMUNITY BOOK STOP!
Secatuers (if you have them). A plastic bag for strawberry runners (if you want them).
Bring suitable clothing for the weather and suncream if required. We will aim to head outside even if it is raining.
Bring sturdy, comfortable shoes if you have them, and gloves will be useful too.