[Hazelhurst-Newsletter] February newsletter

Tue Feb 21 12:14:19 GMT 2012

      www.hazelhurst.coop
 This e-newsletter brings you a regular update on Hazelhurst Community 
 Supported Agriculture Co-operative. To subscribe, email 
 admin at hazelhurst.coop

 First, a date for your diary
 Please come to this brilliant fundraising event. .  .  .
 Barefoot Steve presents...
 The Stubbed Potatoe Cabaret!

 Join Sheffield’s barefoot marathon runner, Barefoot Steve,
 for an evening of spring-time entertainment in support of
 Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Project
 & World Wildlife Fund

 Saturday 3rd March, 2012
 In the freshly-scrubbed Shoebox Theatre
 at The Riverside Pub, Mowbray Street S3 8EN

 £6/£5 (all proceeds to charity) - - Box Office opens 6:30pm
 Doors open 7:30pm - - Arrive early to avoid disappointment

 Featuring:
 Political Songstress Chrystine Moon ‘’Outrageous!’’ Queer State Review
 Inimitable Entertainer Stewart Lodge (Cabaret Boom Boom) as Billy 
 Button
 Character Comedienne Fiona Paul ‘’Pure pleasure’’ Large Manchester
 Comedy-Impro Group ‘Ere to ‘Ere & Tim Byrom (Greentop Circus & Zoot)
 Including a very special ‘Grow-Your-Own’ Skills Auction
 For more info, call 07966 692062
 www.hazelhurst.coop - - www.justgiving.com/edy-feet-of-steve
 ________________________________________
 Latest news
 There’s lots of good news! Hazelhurst is moving up a gear, with more 
 activity on the land and more to get involved in.
 Firstly, our new grower will start work with us on 1st March, and he is 
 already hard at work making plans with the Land Group.
 Matt Holborow is our new Grower. He has just spent 3 years working as a 
 Grower at Ynyslas Gardens, a CSA project in a 150-year old walled garden 
 on the west coast of Wales. Here he ran a box scheme with 20 members and 
 supplied £2000 worth of salad to the Centre for Alternative Technology 
 (CAT).
 Matt grew up on a smallholding in Kent with sheep, an orchard and a 
 vegetable patch. This must have sown the seed for his interest in 
 horticulture.
 In 2001 he worked on an experimental no-dig farm.  He then worked for 4 
 years on an inner city allotment project in Newcastle where he worked 
 with refugees and asylum seekers. In 2008 Matt moved to Wales where he 
 was a volunteer at CAT, working under Chloe Ward, the former Deputy Head 
 Gardner of the Henry Doubleday Research Association.
 We very much welcome Matt to Hazelhurst where his knowledge and 
 experience will be much valued.
 ________________________________________
 Secondly, our Launch Event on 2nd Feb was a huge success! Nearly 100 
 people attended the event at the Quaker Meeting House. Rebecca Lawton, 
 author of Surviving and Thriving on the Land, gave a talk about her 
 experience of living in, and visiting, a variety of low-carbon 
 communities and CSAs in Britain and in France. She emphasised the 
 importance in making such enterprises work of building effective 
 community. It is important, she said, to plan from the outset ways to 
 nurture good relationships and to build structures and ways of working 
 which value everybody and recognise people’s need for leisure and for 
 celebration as well as getting the work done. Her knowledge and 
 enthusiasm were inspiring to us all.
 Her talk was followed by Heather Hunt telling us about the Oral History 
 project, which has interviewed Hazelhurst’s neighbours in the Moss 
 Valley and learned about farming there over the years. Several of the 
 farmers were present at the meeting and made a welcome contribution to 
 it.
 Kevin Walters from the Management committee introduced the share offer. 
 We do not yet know exactly how much money has been raised so far by the 
 share offer, but a good deal of interest was shown. (The offer doesn’t 
 close until 30th April, so there’s still time to buy a share at anything 
 from £50 to £5000! See the website for details).
 ________________________________________

 And. . . The polytunnel is up!
 Tunnel Vision – report from Ian
 As you may be aware, our landlord Huw Evans has been busily introducing 
 more and more infrastructure to the site at Moss Valley in anticipation 
 of our first full productive season. A second container has been 
 positioned close to our plot at the top of the field and now houses the 
 all-important tea-making facilities which, in turn, are near the new 
 running water arrangements served by the recently sunk bore hole. We 
 also have access to a resplendent elevated compost loo next to the hedge 
 line beyond our plot. Finally, there are the beginnings of a track from 
 the bottom of the hill that will allow all-weather access to the site 
 for deliveries and removal of produce.
 Perhaps most importantly for Hazlehurst CSA though, has been the 
 positioning of a polytunnel close to the original container near the 
 entrance. Huw intends to invest in a polytunnel for each of the four 
 plots and several weeks ago an intrepid team of Hazlehurst volunteers 
 gathered to help Huw and his assistant James to complete the final 
 preparations for the foundation poles. A previous mechanical attempt 
 with a tractor had been thwarted by large stones beneath the top-soil so 
 for a morning we doggedly excavated them by hand until a concrete mixer 
 arrived at lunchtime. More volunteer reinforcements gathered and the 
 remainder of the afternoon was spent barrowing many loads of concrete up 
 a short incline to make good the foundation poles. These footings are 
 fundamental to the integrity of the polytunnel so time and effort at 
 this stage was a worthwhile investment.
 Once the concrete had set Huw and James completed the frame in our 
 absence and on a chilly December morning a small group of us assembled 
 once more to cover the tunnel with the polythene. Unfortunately a stiff 
 breeze and much worse weather forecast for overnight prevented us from 
 attempting this task but it is hoped we can re-convene early in the New 
 Year so that the tunnel is fully functional for the arrival of our of 
 new grower. The tunnel will allow us to considerably extend the range of 
 our growing season and we are all very much looking forward to 
 harvesting the fruits of our labours.
  Post note:  the polytunnel is now covered and work is well underway in 
 preparing it for planting
 ________________________________________

 Volunteering days
 Report from Stella, Volunteer Co-ordinator
 5 February
 Two to three inches of snow has fallen, no volunteers here today. I 
 came on the bus; the road on Lightwood Lane is not too bad, although it 
 might become slippery if there is a frost. Lots of animal footprints, a 
 fox perhaps, birds, lots of inquisitive badgers and I saw a hare whizz 
 like a lightning bolt across the top of the field behind the lock-up.

 Started work digging up turfs of grass in the polytunnel and turning 
 them upside down like Matt said, managed about two meters of one bed 
 then went to make tea and have lunch. Wandered about in the snow looking 
 at the animal tracks trying to figure out who made them and did they 
 tumble about and play in the snow

 Continued digging the polytunnel, then got a surprise as Kevin, Rob and 
 friend Chris appeared, so we all had tea and cookies by the lock up as 
 the sun shone bright on the snow. Kevin has such a good sense of smell 
 he can tell the difference between an English breakfast tea bag and a 
 pepper mint tea bag.

 We did some more work in the polytunnel and almost finished one bed. 
 Cleaned and put away the tools then locked up and walked home through 
 the woods the trees looked delightful as the sun went down highlighted 
 against the snow.

 The next Volunteering Sunday	Sunday 4th March
 There are now more volunteering days. They are:
 • Every Wednesday and Thursday
 • The first and third Sundays of each month, from 10.00 till dusk (you 
 don't have to stay that long!)
 Everybody is welcome!
 ________________________________________

 CSA Management Committee
 The CSA Management Committee will next meet on Wed 7th March. Please 
 get in touch if you have any comments, queries or things you think we 
 should be discussing.

 ________________________________________

 Who are we?

 The Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Co-operative 
 project is based on a field on Hazelhurst Lane, in the Moss Valley, S8 
 8BG.  Our aim is to grow and distribute organically grown, affordable 
 food for the benefit of the community, using ecologically sustainable 
 methods and to protect and enhance biodiversity.

 What's your inspiration? Tell us about your ideas for Hazelhurst CSA by 
 emailing admin at hazelhurst.coop. Have a look at the website 
 www.hazelhurst.coop

 If you want to unsubscribe from this list, and no longer receive 
 updates about Hazelhurst CSA, you can do so by sending email to: 
 admin at hazelhurst.coop
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