Community Fund – Batley Girls’ High School – September Update

It’s been a difficult growing season this year with rainfall reaching record levels, but despite 2012 being one of the wettest years on record Batley Girls’ High School have managed to grow some crops which have helped to give our veg box service a healthy start.

We have harvested crops of tomatoes, onions, courgettes and marrows, along with potatoes, even though we were unfortunate to have a touch of the dreaded blight, cabbages, garlic, leeks and a selection of fruit. We still have crops to harvest but the initial feedback we have received from customers has been very positive. The grant money from vegware has helped to buy the cardboard veg boxes and the packaging we need which is a great boost.

Our school farm currently contains goats, chickens, ducks, quails and guinea fowl and indeed fresh eggs are included in all our veg boxes. All our poultry are free to roam and corn fed so the eggs have rich golden yolks and are very tasty.

Earlier this summer we were unfortunate to have had a visit from Mr. Fox who caused a large amount of damage to the poultry stock. As a result, all our animals need to be locked away at night, especially our chickens. Part of the vegware grant helps the school to pay travel expenses to our farm apprentice. Every evening she returns to the school farm to lock away our animals for the night. This has been successful in preventing further loss to our flock.

We now look forward to harvesting the rest of our crops and sowing and planting our winter vegetables ready for next year.