2025: January news
It is time for the first newsletter of 2025. We have been back from the winter break and going since four weeks now already… I can hardly believe it.
Over the last month we have seen a few pretty windy days which have blown the covers about on the farm. So we have kept a vigilant eye (or two) as the covers are protecting some of the most precious crops at the moment, like Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Cauliflowers and Cabbages. These have been planted in June/July and are still out there and growing and ripening. At this time of the year the birds are relentless and devour any bit of Brassica leaf that becomes available to them.
There have also been quite a few frosty days and nights, which means we have kept the tunnel doors shut and the indoor crops wrapped up under some warming fleece. Still the indoor lettuce has been suffering from the temperatures and the moist conditions. At the same time some of the overwintering crops in the tunnels like Spring Greens, Spinach, Spring Onions and Pak Choi are still waiting for slightly more warmth and longer daylight hours to kick-start their growth.
Work at the farm in January kept me extremely busy and was definitely not the wind-down that the winter usually promises. While we are cutting down on working hours in winter heavily, there is also a heavily reduced team conducting the work at the moment. A zero sum game as such.
We have been using the available time to harvest for the share, to plan for the next season, and to prepare the farm for the next season. These jobs are ongoing throughout the season but an intensive focus on the planning at this time is essential to ensure a relatively smooth running for the rest of the year.
At the tail-end of January we get a proper first idea that it is not too long until spring is starting. Our first sowings are looming (the very first rocket has already been drilled in the tunnel) and further tunnels are prepared for the early potatoes and carrots to go in within the next week or so. At the same time we are setting up our propagation areas, ready to raise those first little precious seedlings.
Lena, grower
Apple pressing and autumn open day, Sat 12th Oct 2024, 10-3
Come and visit our farm for a fun autumn day out!
10am-12noon: Join in with a volunteer morning in the orchard
From 11am: Apple pressing – suitable for all ages. Bring your own apples if you have spare from a tree in the garden and/or bottles to take juice home in.
Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy in the social area/pole barn.
Time TBC: Take a farm tour to find out what we grow.
Event details on Canalside’s Facebook group
Summer party tickets are live!
Buy your summer party tickets now! Click here to go straight through to online ticket sales.
Full details about the event here and on the poster below.
Open Farm Sunday, 9th June 2024
On Sunday 9th June, we will hold our open day as part of the national event ‘Open Farm Sunday’, when the farm will be open from 9.45am until 3pm. It’s an ideal opportunity to be taken round our fields and find out what’s growing on the farm at the moment. It’s also a great opportunity for a rare volunteering session open to the public, led by the growers.
Sunday 9th June, 9.45am – 3pm
Volunteer morning, bring-a-picnic, children’s activities, tour
In the morning, join in with the volunteer morning to help the growers progress a seasonal task at this busy time of year when all the crops for the coming year need to be planted out.
Come and have a tour round the fields, polytunnels and orchard and bring a picnic to enjoy in the social area.
There will be hot and cold drinks available and children’s activities to enable their discovery of the farm. The Willows Project will also have a cash stall selling herbs their participants have potted and grown and skin products they have made. They are also going to be firing up their pizza oven (pizzas available while ingredients last and cash donations appreciated).
What the day will look like:
9.45am – open day starts
10am-1pm – volunteer morning led by the growers, with tea break around 11.15
1pm onwards – bring your own picnic lunch, time to socialise
1.30pm – farm tour for about an hour, starting at the pole barn/social area
We hope to see you there.
With bright summer wishes, Ali
Educational visits at Canalside
2024: January news – Busy January
It’s been a busy January on the farm as we work to get the new season underway – our tunnel potatoes are now planted in tunnel 1 into the remnants of last year’s hotbeds spread over the bed thanks to a great couple of volunteer mornings.
At the same time a new load of muck has arrived from a local farm plus we’ve supplemented it with a load of chicken muck from Skye Orchard Eggs (the egg scheme for anyone who gets eggs from the egg shed) to make our new hotbeds this season so we can generate some heat and sow our first seeds next week.
Despite the challenges we’ve harvested lots of lovely veg from the fields – our carrots have been great this year and we’re still trying to add as much diversity as possible to your share with things like black Spanish radish, cabbages and Jerusalem artichokes. It was great to get a share of fresh claytonia (winter salad) thanks to some serious weeding that we did on the last day before we closed for Christmas.
Meanwhile, rest assured the orchard is thoroughly wassailed (!) as we had a great turn out for our social and orchard work morning, pruning lots of the soft fruits ready for re-growth and abundance later in the year. Many thanks to everyone who came along.
Eleanor, grower
(All photos Eleanor Brown unless credited otherwise)
Apple pressing and autumn open day, Sat 14th Oct 2023, 11-3
Come and visit our farm for a fun autumn day out!
From 10am: Join in with a seasonal work morning in the fields/polytunnels.
From 11am: Apple pressing – suitable for all ages. Bring your own apples if you have spare from a tree in the garden and/or bottles to take juice home in.
Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy in the social area/pole barn.
1.30pm: Take a farm tour to find out what we grow.
Event details on Canalside’s Facebook group
Farm open day, Sunday 11th June 2023
We’re opening our gates again for our annual summer open day with Open Farm Sunday.
Come and join us at Canalside Community Food, Southam Road, CV31 1TY
Sunday 11th June 2023, 11.30am to 3pm
- Tours start at 12 and 2pm – look round the fields and polytunnels
- Find out how our community supported agriculture scheme works and what vegetables and fruits we grow
- Bring a picnic to enjoy in our social area
- Children’s activities and play area
Summer party tickets are live!
Buy your summer party tickets now! Click here to go straight through to online ticket sales.
Full details about the event here and on the poster below.
Help us buy more land for our community!
Please donate to Canalside Community Food
Canalside Community Food has always relied on the rent of neighbouring Leasowe Farm’s land for our fruit.
Canalside now has the opportunity to purchase an adjacent field of 2.25 acres (see map below) so that we can plant an orchard on land that we own, and safeguard the availability of our own fresh fruit for the future.
At our most recent AGM, we agreed to put £10,000 of our reserve funds towards this purchase. That still leaves us short by between £15,000-£20,000, so we agreed to appeal for donations from the wonderful community that we serve.
We would therefore appeal to anyone who shares our vision and passion for Canalside Community Food to donate what they can for this investment in the future of Canalside and the diversity we can offer.
Not only will this purchase enable us to plant and maintain an orchard on our own land in perpetuity, but it will also increase the value of the current land, and provide a wonderful new area for the entire community to enjoy.
We need to finalise this wonderful opportunity by Spring 2021, and would be extremely grateful for any donation you can make before then.
For further information, please contact Gareth Davies.
To donate, please complete the donation form and we will be in touch with you about making your payment. And as a thank you for donating, you will get a beautiful poster of images from Canalside.
