FarmStart and Abbey Leys farm this week hosted a group of Land Army volunteers with a difference. Our 11 volunteers were all BBC staff keen to get their hands dirty while learning more about organic farming and spending time working together outside the office.
As ever, it’s a busy time for organic growers and we had a lot to get through. After a quick tour of the site, we split into two groups and got started on the tasks of buiding a new compost area, harvesting potatoes and potting up strawberries. In no time at all there were three compost bins where there once was only one and a good start had been made on the job of weeding and potting up hundreds of strawberry plants. Over in the potato field sacks were being filled with salad blues, pink fir apples, desirees and bambinos as Abbey Leys farmer Tim first lifted the potatoes using the tractor, and volunteers then picked the potatoes from the soil by hand.
The weather was on our side as we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the sunshine, of homemade soup using produce grown at FarmStart and some lovely cakes baked by Abbey Leys farmer Carol.
In the afternoon we continued with potato harvesting and potting up strawberries and began clearing weeds and finished crops from the FarmStart plots. This job included the task of using a mattock to smash up overgrown marrows before they went into the compost, a task which the volunteers found particularly satisfying!
Our hardworking BBC volunteers provided a combined total of around 50 volunteer hours and had a brilliant time doing it, so a big thank you to them!
New Land Army dates will be coming up very soon, if you aren’t already on the mailing list just email corrina@kindling.org.uk and we’ll put your name down.
Or, if you or your organisation are interested in taking part in a team challenge day like the day we organised for the BBC, drop us an email and we’ll get back to you.