We ended April at COCA with our inaugural annual Onion Day, with over 30 people coming to the farm to plant onion seedlings, and learn how to build ‘bug hotels’ to encourage more biodiversity on the farm. The intention is to eventually use our new bug hotel building skills to build a big one in the middle of the COCA field. It was also the first time we used Cartref, the straw bale building that is being constructed at the farm by a group of dedicated volunteers. We also had a volunteer day later in the month to work on the lime render, and the building is now almost finished.
May then saw a big influx of international volunteers to the farm, as we hosted our first UNA camp of the year, welcoming three volunteers for two weeks, as well as two Friends of the Earth volunteers, Lilly and Eleanor, who will be with us for six weeks in total. The volunteers come from across Europe – Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Malta. Needless to say they’ve been extremely busy, working away in the increasingly warm polytunnels and planting and weeding out on the field.
We ended the month with a stall at the Really Wild Food Festival, over at neighbouring farm Pwllcaerog. It was a great weekend, and the festival was attended by thousands of people. COCA members and volunteers had the chance to explain how CSAs work to lots of people, and successfully signed up some new members!
Finally, our photo of the month competition continues, with this month’s winner a shot of the lovely lettuce currently growing on the farm.
The volunteers hard at work in the polytunnel:
Our stall ready to go at the Really Wild Festival:
Photo of the month:
