2015 Polytunnel clean up day - January
Community work day - June
Potato Harvestimg day - October
2014 Local Food Fair / Community day 25th May Creating a sunflower hedge was the main job in the field that Sunday, as you can see in the photo. Our treasurer Keith had to put off tidying up the stone pile by the gate, as we found a pheasant sitting on a dozen eggs! We also showed a potential crop sharer around the site. Early Potato Planting day, 29th March 2014 As well as planting the first early potatoes, we moved the bike wheel den to it's new home with a nice new, clean (so far!) floor. 2013 Potato harvesting day, 6th October Several of the community met on a warm Autumn Sunday to help harvest and store our maincrop potatoes. Quite different from our first spud harvest, where we only had forks for the task, now we use our hand tractor with a special potato lifting attachment, which scoops them up to the surface. Before this however, we removed the stalks, and picked up any large stones, which would have slowed the tractor down. Once the tractor had gone by, we moved in, sorting into 3 grades: the good potatoes for storing, which we spread out on a large tarpaulin to dry in the sun; those damaged by the machine or insects, which would go into the next week's harvest for immediate use; and finally any unusable ones, due to being green, slug eaten beyond use or too tiny. After lunch, which featured Elspeth's delicious Leek and Potato soup (and other tasty foods that people brought along to share), we started bagging the dried potatoes up into large paper sacks: these would later go in our vegetable store. Up at the farm, where the Community Food event was going on, some of our committee members were manning a stall to attract new crop-sharers, whilst providing art activities for children, and using a press to turn some of the farm's surplus apples into refreshing cloudy apple juice, which was offered to people visiting the stall. Maincrop Potato Planting & Scarecrow making day 28th April
Early Potato Planting day 6th April - An account from Elspeth, a member of the CHW Committee. On a more frivolous note: the shoe tree has been resurrected and is looking it’s old cheerful, colourful self again. And it now has company! A row of bird-scarers, dressed up in their summer finery, are making the field look very lively. A big thank you to the Gough girls and Scarlett Searle, for doing a grand job!
We look forward to more fun on Sunday the 28th, when we’ll plant the maincrop potatoes, and make some proper scarecrows. If you have any groovy outfits you’re willing to donate, do bring them along. We’re planning to make a Darth Vader one, complete with lightsabre.... See you there! Elspeth.Polytunnel clean up day - Saturday 2nd February 2013
Wassail Day - Sunday 6th January 2013 - An account from Elspeth Campbell, one of the CHW Committee Members.
Eight tons of compost was shifted from a big heap by the gate by the tearooms to a big heap in the field. Keith operated the digger and quad-bike, many people wielded spades and wheelbarrows. Also people cleared and weeded some ground for spring planting. We made colourful shakers from recycled materials in the nice warm tearooms, where we also had a shared lunch of soup, bread and cheese, salads and cakes – very good!
... Tom and Tina, cropsharers and amateur storytellers, delighted us with tales of adventures in exotic places.
Sandra lead us in some singing: we practiced ‘The Wassail Song’ in the tearooms, before heading out with our shakers and making our way around the field, singing and shaking. Luckily the song has many verses, so singing it twice got us all the way round!
Many people came and helped to make the day a success. Many couldn’t stay for the whole day, some came late, but all contributions were much appreciated, including the family who arrived just on time to inject some fresh energy into the singing.
Toby’s comment at the end of the day was that it was the best Whetstone day he’d had.
2012 Community Food Day / "Spud Picking Day" - Sunday 7th October 2012
"Stone Garden" creating day, with Transition Leicester/National Citizen Service Volunteers, Sunday 26th August 2012
CHW Barbecue & Camping Weekend, 4-5th August 2012
Early June Community Day 2012 - Planting Leeks and flower border
April Community Day 2012 - Onion Set Planting
March Community days 2012 - Seed sowing & early potato planting
CHW AGM & 70's-80's Disco, February '12
Potato/Squash Harvesting day - October '11
Community Barbecue, July '11
Polytunnel skinning day, February '11
Community Day, Spud lifting, October '10
Community Day, August '10
Scarecrow Day, April Salad Day Social, March '10
A morning of work in the field, planting the first Followed by a sumptuous lunch, with the first salad leaves
potatoes, spreading the muck about, and tidying from the polytunnel, and a nature walk up the disused
the pre-existing garlic beds... railway and back via the large ponds (above).
Film night, January 2010
A couple of weeks into the new year, and CHW members met to see a documentary called 'A Farm for a future', about the need to change modern farming into a more sustainable method of food production not reliant on fossil fuels. Polytunnel Community day, October '09 young winter salads were then planted into the worked soil in rows.
Open Meeting June 2009
Our Landlord Anthony shows people around the A simple game with a ball of string shows how
field that we planned to take over. the many stages of food production are
interdependent.
The meeting ends with a short talk from members of
the core group and a question and answer session.
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