Norwich FarmShare talk- 25 February

As well as running a hedge-planting workday on 24th February (all welcome), Norwich FarmShare will be relating their experiences of this unique city CSA at  the next meeting of the Norwich Organic Group.

Connecting community with food growing on 7 acres: Our story so far with grower,  Tierney Woods
Members of the social enterprise will share their experience of creating a community-run vegetable growing business. The growers, Transitioners and volunteers will be telling their grassroots story of how the farm got started, how everyone has learned about the site and soil, how people have benefited from being on the land and find out about opportunities to get involved.

All welcome; £2 entry for people who are not members of NOG. If you’re a member of FarmShare and you’d like to come along for free, please email us.

 Date:7.30pm Monday 25 February Venue: Friends’ Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane, Norwich NR2 1EW (next to St Giles Car Park)

Where are all the fruit and nut trees?

Years ago there was a tradition in our society of foraging in the wild. It is a tradition we have lost. Beginning with the Enclosure of common lands - and increasingly as food production has become more and more globalised, we have become used to buying all our food from shops and supermarkets. Before the process of Enclosure became widespread, culminating in the 18th and 19th century Acts, local people had the right to forage, cultivate, cut hay, graze their animals, fish and collect timber and turf for fuel from common land. As the fields, meadows and commons were fenced off, many of the poor became dispossessed and people were forced to leave the land. Food that had previously been free became a commodity that had to be bought.

These days there is necessarily an emphasis on local and low carbon food production; but ‘free food’ remains a largely untapped source. A number of communities have started mapping their local foraging opportunities. Following suit, a few of us from the (Norwich FarmShare) food hub, have created a map to show fruit and nut bearing trees and bushes (walnuts, sweet chestnuts, rose hips, hazel, elderflowers & berries, sloes, blackberries, damson, plums and apples; and so on). Go to http://g.co/maps/m86ft to add any sources you know of on publicly accessible land (please, not private land). And let’s grow the map. Sarah Gann

For further info contact Sarah Gann at sarahdgann@gmail.com

Photo: walnut harvest and oil

Festive food and planning for the new year - 31 January

We're all enjoying a little downtime at Norwich FarmShare over the Christmas break. Tierney and team as ever did us proud with a fantastic selection of winter veg for our festive tables.
As soon as we're back from Christmas we'll be right into the swing of planning for our next season. We'll be meeting in January to discuss how to make our distribution and logistics run smoothly, how to work best on the farm to grow the veg we need whilst improving the site for wildlife, and how to increase our membership to a level that will make us a sustainable farm.

• The distribution and logistics group- will meet on Monday 16th Jan, 6.30pm at Take 5, Tombland.

• The environment and growing group will meet on Tuesday 24th Jan, 7.00 p.m. at the Bicycle Shop, St. Benedict's Street.

• The team looking at our marketing and communications will meet on Tuesday 31st Jan, 7.00pm Jan at Take 5, Tombland.We'd love to see as many people as possible at these meetings, the more ideas the merrier! Drop us an email to let us know, or just turn up on the day.
  

See our website for more about the farm, plus fabulous seasonal recipes.
Elena, at Norwich FarmShare.

Pics: Tierney's Christmas lunch

Norwich FarmShare Meeting - 11 December

On Sunday 11th December, 3.00pm until 4.45pm, we're inviting all our members to come along to the Friends Meeting House in Norwich to help us shape the next few months of Norwich FarmShare- and to celebrate everything we've achieved since the spring.

We like to get together every few months so we can all get to know each other- we've had several work days on the farm which have been lots of fun- but the weather is rather changeable now, so we don't want to risk a social on the farm in December.

We'll be following up the meeting with a trip to a nearby pub or cafe for a drink or two and a good natter. It'll be a really nice opportunity to welcome some of our newest members- and also to work out how we can continue to attract new members so that we can make Norwich FarmShare into a sustainable venture, providing delicious local veg into the heart of Norwich for many years to come.

Norwich FarmShare is so much more than a veg box. It really is your farm and we want to make sure you have lots of opportunities to get involved and choose how we develop. We'll be looking for ways we can improve the way we work on the farm and ways you can help us achieve our goals.

We'd really like as many of our members as possible to come along. If you're not a member of Norwich FarmShare but you'd be interested in finding out ways you can support us, you’d be very welcome.

See you there! Elena Judd

Norwich FarmShare Potato Day

Last Saturday marked the first ever Norwich FarmShare Potato day. As we've not (yet) got any storage on site, we can't keep our potatoes in good condition over the winter. Potatoes don't like to get the frost on them at all, so we needed to work fast and get the potatoes up and out of the ground, bagged up and given to our members to store at home.

We had a fantastic turn out with more than 30 people pitching in to get the potatoes bagged up- and we had it nice and easy as the tractor pulled a potato harvester along the rows, doing all the hard work for us. All we had to do was pluck the potatoes up from the surface and pop them in our bags. Alas, disaster was not far behind as the tractor gave up the ghost half way down the second row.

Thankfully, our members and their friends and families got stuck in with forks and strong backs and dug the rest by hand: according to my calculations we lifted more than 2 tonnes of potatoes between us- not bad at all.

As ever with farm workdays, blisters and creaky joints were more than matched by smiles and banter- and a lunch break spent stretched out in the warm autumn sun soothed our tired muscles. If you're tempted to join us on the farm, as we go into the quieter winter season the best day is a Thursday- to help us with the harvest. Drop us an email so we know to expect you!

See our website for more info and some delicious kale recipes. Elena Judd

Norwich FarmShare Workday - 20 August

As we head into August we are celebrating our first full month of delivering our fresh locally grown veg to our members. The veg we've supplied during our first month has been delicious and we've had a fantastic range. It's amazing to look back on how the site looked only a few months ago and reflect on how far we've come.

It's been really nice to start to get to know each other as we meet up to collect our veg. Lots of people stop for a cuppa and a chat- we often end up swapping recipes and tips on cooking the vegetables. I learnt that broad beans are much nicer if you take the skin off as well as podding them! I've never liked broad beans before, but I've really enjoyed them this summer, especially in the falafel that Tierney gave me the recipe for.

We've been grateful for lots of volunteer help over the month, some people come every week, others as and when they find the time. There are lots of jobs we need help with: harvesting every Thursday takes several pairs of hands to make sure all the veg is ready to take to our distribution point; but the job that's really getting away from us at the moment is weeding. Some of the weeds are taller than the crops! If you've got time on your hands and you fancy some healthy exercise in the fresh air, we'd love to see you on the farm.

We have work days every Thursday from 9.30 for harvesting. As for weeding, to make it as easy as possible you're welcome to visit the farm any time you'd like: then all you need to do is look for our 'weed me' sign and get stuck in. Our next Saturday workday will be on 20 August, 11am to 3pm.

Weekly updates, veg recipes and details of how to get to the farm are on our website

Looking forward to seeing you there! Elena Judd

Norwich FarmShare - Open Day - 11 June

It's Open Day down on the farm at Postwick on Saturday 11 June! Join us on the farm for a family day out. Bring a picnic to share!

We’ll be offering tours of the farm, introducing you to all the crops we’re growing and showing you the wildlife that shares our site. We’llh ave an opportunity for anyone who wishes to join in with the work onthe farm for an hour or so, and lots of fun activities for children. We’re also looking forward to a chance to share with you all the plans we have for the future. Absolutely everyone is welcome on the day: we hope to make it a real celebration of everything we’ve achieved so far. Please bring your friends and families along, the more the merrier. There will be lots of FarmShare members on hand to answer any questions you have and a chance to sign up if you haven’t yet.

Additionally, existing members are invited to join us a little earlier on the day at 12.00 for our Quarterly General Meeting. This will take only half an hour and is a great chance to catch up with what’shappening and take part in the decisions we make about the farms. As always, please contact us if you have any questions. Laura Creen

For latest Norwich FarmShare update click here.

Photo: Field of Dreams by Elena Judd

Norwich Farmshare Website and other News - Workday 22 May

The Community Supported Agriculture scheme and school farm are springing into life, with Laura and the gang planting out plants. There have been a few challenges on the farms, including the tractor breaking down, and a record-breaking dry spring which means we have to hurry up with getting some irrigation in place. Laura is still keen to hear from people who could do casual work (paid or unpaid), as well as recruiting for the new part-time post.

Meanwhile the marketing group is getting to grips with recruiting our first 100 members - so far we have 12. We've just launched our new website at http://www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk/- have a look! And if you can help us sign up more members, whether among your friends or other groups you're part of, please contact Tully. Or if you can spare any time to help with publicity and so on, again please get in touch. Tully Wakeman

We're planning an Open Meeting at Take Five on Thursday 12th May at 7.30. This will be an opportunity for anyone to come along and find out more about Norwich FarmShare. If you're not quite sure whether to sign up or not, this is an ideal chance to get your questions answered. Laura, our head grower, will be there along with several keen members of our team. We'd love to see you there! Elena Judd

There will also be a workday at Norwich FarmShare's second site at the Hewett School on Sunday 22nd May from 10am. Access will be via Gate 2 off Cecil Road and a walk round the driveway to the market garden area. Contact: Erik at martinburo67@hotmail.com

Flour mill needs a home

This is our flour mill. It's a rather beautiful object, about a metre square, and it needs a home.

For one of our food projects we've promised to set up this mill to mill local, organic wheat to sell to local artisan bakers and through wholefood shops. Originally the plan was for a local social enterprise, Wholefood Planet, to borrow the mill and operate it as part of their own business. Unfortunately Wholefood Planet are no longer with us.

Ideally we'd find another socially-minded business or organisation that could take on the operation of the mill in a similar way. Alternatively you might know of a space that we could borrow rent-free for a while so we could run the mill there. The space needn't be very big at all.

If you have any ideas that might help, please contact Tully.

Time to join the Community Supported Agriculture Scheme - April 2

Our Community Supported Agriculture scheme (FarmShare) is now ready to sign up members for its vegetable share scheme.

We're offering two sizes of share: a smaller share which aims to provide enough vegetables for 1-2 people costs £37 per month, while a larger share (aimed more at families) costs £53.50 per month. In addition we're asking members to pay a "social membership fee" of £2 a month (towards a newsletter, social events etc).

If you don't want a veg share you can still join in the social part! If you signed up on our online survey all that time ago, we'll be contacting you with more details very soon. If you didn't, contact Tully at tully@transitionnorwich.org or phone 07717 471 396.

Also happening at FarmShare this month: Laura and her team have already started planting out vegetables, and will be planting many more. A workday last month put up the polytunnel and the composting loo. And this Saturday (April 2nd) we'll be having a picnic (12-2pm) and brief AGM on the field at Postwick - call Tully if you'd like to join us.

Volunteers Needed! Norwich FarmShare

We're starting to recieve seeds and in another two weeks we'll be transplanting our first lettuce and peas. This is the start of the busiest time of the year, we're working the soil, then sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings whenever its not raining.

I was wondering if anyone wanted to come and join me during these busy days. It's not glamorous work, but I always found that sitting on the transplanter with a friend on a sunny day and planting crops that we'll get to eat was certainly not a chore.

When we're using the transplanter we'll need one person to drive the tractor then two people to sit behind and handle the seedling. This work starts mid April and goes on until mid July or so (if the weather co-operates). Eventually we'll need help weeding as well, so if you're particularly skilled in that area then don't worry - you'll have your chance! And if you have any other skills that you'd like to lend then drop me a line. Laura Creen

In the future volunteering for Norwich FarmShare will perhaps change but for the moment if you're interested you can contact me via email: lauracreen@gmail.com or mobile: 07983 506 500. Ideally I'm looking for someone that's available for between 4 and 8 hours, and whether it's weekdays or weekends just let me know.

Planting onions at Postwick

Norwich FarmShare renamed - Welcoming Laura

Norwich Community Agriculture has a new name: from now on we're going to be Norwich FarmShare. We changed the name because several people thought the old one was a bit of a mouthful. We hope you like the new name and feel that it sums up what we're about.

Also this month we welcome our new farm manager and grower, Laura Creen. Laura and her partner Dave have moved here from Cirencester, where Laura was a star student of the Soil Association's apprenticeship scheme. She learned her craft on an organic market garden supplying a farm shop. We know she's going to do a great job of managing our two vegetable growing sites, with support from William and the Environment and Growing Group.

We're looking for more helpers for a work day, likely to be on March 20th, where we'll be putting up a rabbit fence and skinning the polytunnel. Contact Erik for more information. And generally FarmShare is a hive of activity with the marketing, distribution, schools and environment groups all really getting into gear and making concrete steps towards producing and selling wonderful organic produce this summer. If you might be interested in subscribing for a weekly share of organic veg contact Tully (tully@transtionnorwich.org). Tully Wakeman

Permaculture Norwich activities - 19 March

Saturday 5 March Workday at Brenna’s Kirkstead
Activities could include:
- preparing a no-dig veg area (which does initially involve some digging!)
- coppicing willows
- building a haybox cooker (and possibly modifications on our outside fridge)
- planting comfrey, planting out seedlings..lots of general garden stuff!

Contact Brenna for more info/directions. brennasbox@yahoo.com


Saturday 19 March Our first excursion!
A visit to two sites registered with the Permaculture Association as good demonstration sites of permaculture design in action.

We will be visiting: The Apricot Centre, Manningtree and The Peoples Community Garden in Ipswich. Having tours and doing a little work as a thank you for hosting us. We will leave Norwich at 09.00 and return at 18.50.

Contact Tierney if you are interested in coming along (Tierneywoods@yahoo.co.uk).

Photo of the People's Community Garden, Ipswich

Need advice growing food?

Norfolk is one of five areas in Britain taking part in Garden Organic’s Master Gardeners scheme (the other areas are Warwickshire, Islington, South London and Lincolnshire).

Master Gardeners are volunteers who offer support and advice to people growing fruit and vegetables, whether on a small scale in window boxes or in a garden or allotment.

The Master Gardener service provides free support for 12 months.

For more details see http://norfolk.mastergardeners.org.uk/

Norfolk Master Gardeners are supported by co-ordinator Gabbie Sharp. E-mail gsharp@gardenorganic.org.uk. Telephone 01362 869286. Jeremy Bartlett (a Norfolk Master Gardener).

Photo by Jeremy Bartlett

Hedge planting for the Norwich CSA

16 excited and determined tree-planters arrived at our field this morning, despite the ominous clouds. We all had wrapped up warmly, but quickly shed the extra layers as we got digging. Jason- our forester- gave us all a quick demonstration of the right way to plant a tiny two-year-old tree and we set to with a will. We had 200 trees to plant in our hedge, 4 to the metre in 2 staggered rows. Jeremy brought spades for us to use, kindly lent by the Grapes Hill Community Garden. Most people arrived with thermos flasks of tea, and Adele brought delicious flapjacks to share. It is easy to see how a community will grow up around this small patch of land and the produce we will enjoy from it. I came home covered in mud and sweat, but very happy to have contributed something to the land which will soon be feeding me. And for the first time in my life, I have contributed to something that could well outlive me. That feels very satisfying. (Elena Judd)

Photos by Jeremy Bartlett

Community Growing Projects - 10 and 13 February

Norwich CSA Elena writes: It's all go at the Norwich CSA. We've done shedloads of work. Surely the most exciting piece of work was done by Tully, Erik and William, who have successfully recruited us a farm manager. We are very happy that our preferred candidate, Laura, accepted the job and will be starting in post mid-February.

We've held a visioning session to get our values and dreams for our farms down on paper: you can see the results here. Some people's passions led them to very concrete outcomes: keeping bees or learning to coppice; while others considered the whole nature of our food system and the way we treat our land. It's very inspiring to look forward and envisage what we can grow on this site- it won't just be vegetables! Read the whole article here.

The School Market Garden Eileen reports: There was once a time when schools had gardens ('dig for victory'!), and there was a time (pre Jamie Olivier), when school meals were only something to laugh about. Between these two points lie opportunities for the School Project. Thanks to the generosity and foresight of the Governors, and the time and effort put in by Toni Hassett and Tully Wakeman, the NCA school site should begin surprising Hewett students by April.

The school garden will offer fresh produce to on-site caterers, provide curriculum linked opportunities to staff and students, and illustrate an alternative relationship with how food is grown, and the choices we make about that food. It is early days yet. Just as the earth is slowly showing signs of spring warming, and tender shoots begin to appear, these ideas begin to take shape. There is support and interest from local schools, and how this project evolves will in part be influenced by those who take part in it. A 'schools' group wing of NCA has been mooted and will meet after the 31st. Our ground is being tilled and is ready for planting, and growth!

Grapes Hill Community Garden: Jeremy reports: On Sunday 23rd January 2011 we planted fruit trees, soft fruit and grape vines in the garden. It was hard work (especially breaking up the subsoil) but very enjoyable and we managed to plant everything! Thanks to everyone who took part. A full list of the fruit trees and bushes planted is here. The trees and bushes came from Reads Nursery at Hales Hall, near Loddon.

Grapes Hill's next event is on Sunday 13 February - Garden Work Day. Meet at the garden, 11am. Some tools will be provided, but please bring a digging fork if you have one. NCA Growing and Environment Group meet on 10 February (see calendar for details)

Photo: CSA Hedge planting at Postwick; Grapes Hill Community Garden tree planting day, both by Jeremy Bartlett

RELATED EVENT: Mini-Food Co-ops Conference for the Eastern Region - 25 January

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A MINIATURE FOOD CO-OPS CONFERENCE FOR THE EASTERN REGION

For interested individuals, new and established community-owned food entreprises, and food access or ‘5-a-day’ projects
_____________________________________
Tuesday 25th January 10:30 - 4:30
Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, Suffolk
www.eastanglianlife.org.uk
____________________________________

Discover what support you can get from Sustain’s Food Co-ops project, where your nearest co-op is, hear from experienced food projects, and exchange ideas for the future!

Speakers:
- Kirstin Glendinning - Swillington Community Supported Agriculture & the Soil Association
- Gemma Sayers - Food Co-ops Project & Ipswich Food Co-op

A Plenary with:
- JP- Hastings Community Fruit ‘n’ Veg project
- Jacqui - Community Food Entreprise, East London

+ Networking with local groups and Action Planning to help set up or improve your community food project
+ Delicious lunch of local seasonal produce

If you are involved in the local food, community food, or food production sector, this event is for you. Likewise, if you are faced with transitioning to a more sustainable and autonomous future. But you are welcome even if your interest is simply in the consumption of good food!

I have chosen the speakers to cater to a variety of groups; those needing templates for making their entreprise stand alone when they've previously been shored up by local authority funding and support; those looking for radical ways to take control of their food supply, those needing specialised information on ambitious independent systems like CSA's; and anybody who'd like to know what's out there that can make good food more affordable and accessible.

There will be plenty of time for Open Space discussions at the event, and that includes food co-ops and others presenting about the work they do, bringing any issues they've encountered to the forum, or thrashing out ideas for a project step-by-step.

This is a FREE event but booking is essential Contact: http://www.blogger.com/gemma@sustainweb.org or 07971 863 586 More information and a toolkit showing how to get started is available at http://www.blogger.com/www.foodcoops.org

Creating a vision of Norwich Community Agriculture - 24 November

Norwich Community Agriculture is the name (for now at least!) of the new co-op we're setting up to run the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme and the School Market Garden. But what else is it? What else will it be doing two, five, or ten years from now? And also, what kind of organisation do we want it to be? How should it enhance the natural environment, support the people of Norwich, or look after its employees? How should it be managed? What do we want to contribute to it in terms of time or other resources? And what do we want to get out of it such as learning new skills, finding employment or widening our social groups?

These and all other possible questions will be dreamed about, discussed and determined on Wednesday November 24th, 7:30pm at the Baptist Church on Duke Street. If you're at all interested in getting involved in NCA, come along, and bring your wildest dreams with you.

For full update of the NCA see Transition Themes Week (18 November) on This Low Carbon Life.

NCA - Job opportunity for grower / farm manager

Norwich Community Agriculture - the food producing co-op that has emerged out of Transition Norwich - is seeking a full time grower / farm manager to run our two organic vegetable growing sites – a 4-acre CSA and a 2-acre school market garden.

We are looking for someone with strong organic horticulture skills and ideally some experience of growing at a market garden scale. It will be a hands-on job but also involve managing casual staff. Ideally candidates will be able to drive a tractor, undertake HACCP assessments etc but we can provide training in these aspects as necessary. Salary up to 20k, starts February 2011. For more information and a job pack see http://www.eafl.org/.

Community Supported Agriculture gets under way - 1 November

About 20 Transitioners met at the United Reformed Church on Monday September 13th to start making preparations for the CSA. The money is in place, the land is ready for us, and we've bought a tractor.

As Tully explained to the meeting, some aspects of the project are set out clearly in the funding application, but others are much more open for CSA members to determine.

Among the things that are clear are, for example, the plan to employ a full-time farm manager (shared betwen the CSA and the school farm) as well as more casual or part-time staff. Also the short-term role of East Anglia Food Link in helping to get the scheme established. EAFL's staff (William and Tully) are already working on getting the land subsoiled and mucked, drawing up the lease, buying the tractor, polytunnel and equipment and so on.

But other aspects are very much for the CSA's members to decide. At the meeting we agreed to set up working groups focusing on recruiting more members; arranging social events to build a sense of community and ownership in the CSA; finding the best arrangments for distributing the produce, for example through drop-off points around the city and beyond; and overseeing production to maximise environmental benefits, biodiversity and natural pest management. The meeting felt very strongly that the CSA needs to be Organic.

We have secured the services of The Guild (a Norwich-based consultancy specialising in social economy organisations) to help us to set up the new not-for-profit business (probably a co-op) which will run the CSA. Around 12 people have agreed to meet with The Guild to find out more about being on the Board of the new organisation, and to drive forward the process of setting it up.

The "Board" meeting is on October 5th and the "growing and environment" meeting on the 7th. The Marketing meeting on November 1st. If you're interested in joining any of these, please sign up to the Food Googlegroup and you'll get all the up-to-date information.

The business plan and budget that were used for the funding bid have been posted on the googlegroup too. If you're interested in reading in detail what's been promised to the funder, do have a look. (Tully Wakeman/Food and Farming)