Rain, Sun, Thunder -- and irrigation tape

What's happening here?

Growing vegetables in heat presents a plethora of challenges, one of the main ones being that, naturally, they need water. That's a difficult thing to maintain when the sun is so thirsty. Thankfully, last week, we spent some time wrestling (quite literally) with reels of hosepipe and fittings - a task the non-psychics among us might have left until our vegetables were already roasted and ready for plating up (albeit extremely small). Hannah, on the other hand, was, as usual, prepared.

At first, there are a few passing mentions, then the momentum of necessity builds and before you know it, we're on!! The funny thing is...there's no sign of any heat at the time of the great hosepipe wrangling - it's raining, and the rest of us are quite nonchalantly cracking on -- with only the current state of things in mind. Hannah already has her shades and shorts on and is attempting to tame the fourth element (irrigation tape).

Amazing to think that only a week before, we and the peas were being bludgeoned by hail. At the time, somebody said: "April came late" and it feels right to add: “May is missing”. No wonder the time has flown. We're skipping months. And now thunderstorms and lightning, and back to sunshine again. 

We are reminded by all of this of how quickly things can change, and how the circumstances in our lives undulate and waver and flit back and forth, and how joyful we can feel, and the next we face disappointment. In that reality is where we find the stability of friendship and community. It is striking how it seems to be that only during times of difficulty we see that there is certainty in friendship, in the humanness of small kindnesses, of helping and looking ahead. Some of us, evidently, see what is coming early, but the truth is, the sun was always coming out. We just didn't know it yet!

Speaking of change, our AGM is coming up fast and we're going to need new committee members. Please keep your eye out for the AGM agenda and papers. We will include a short summary of committee responsibilities and the time commitment, as people requested at our recent Special General Meeting. At the AGM the current committee members will step down and then stand for re-election again if they want to, and this is when new people can also put themselves forward. Then the membership vote! Save the date of the meeting - it is 14.06.26 at 2pm. Arrive a little early for refreshments - or maybe we will see you at the work party beforehand! (Details below)

In other news, Hannah went to a meeting of the Grassroots Food Plan Steering Group last week - she is working with others across the county to try to join up work that is happening in all areas relating to food, and to make recommendations for future work and policy change in collaboration with researchers at the University of Nottingham. Meanwhile, Anna and Karen planted up the last of the tomatoes and climbing french beans in the poly - exciting!

While we are waiting for the summer crops to come in (and now all of the leafy green have been removed to make way for them), there is going to be a bit of an extended gap to fill - due to our lack of a tractor at prime planting time! We are all doing our best to cover the gap with polytunnel carrots, beets, mangetout and so on, but we wanted to let you know that you may notice that yummy items such as new potatoes and fresh spring onions from the field may be a bit later than usual! Be assured, they are coming and will be totally worth the wait! Luckily, Hannah and Judith planted some potatoes in pots in the poly and that will be a week or two’s worth to tide us over. The CSA model is fantastic for helping to provide stability to growers and projects such as CHW when challenges like this arise, and we feel very lucky to have cropsharers who really get it and are committed to supporting local food resilience in this way. 

Events coming up at chw!

Please note the various dates, some of which look similar in terms of their events.

Open Day/ Farm Tour (for new potential cropsharers, meet at polytunnel) 06.06.26, 9.30am - 12.30pm -- there will be refreshments and we welcome members to bring baked goods! 

Work Party (meet at field) 06.06.26, 9am - 12.30pm

As above.  (same meeting point)

Work Party (meet at field) 14.06.26, 9am - 1pm 

Shared lunch or, bring a packed lunch.

AGM/SGM, meet at Tearooms 14.06.26, 2pm 

Packed lunch or something to share for lunch.

We'll say Happy Christmas now, June is fast approaching!