Community Fund – COCA – March Update

We had a great turn out for the volunteer work day this month, and despite blustery conditions and the odd bit of rain the gang were able to turn over the whole seed bed in just a few hours. In fact, had the weather been a bit warmer it would probably have taken a lot longer! The onion sets have now gone out to the seed bed to root, manure has been spread onto the area to next be ploughed and planted, and several plants are ready to transplant into the field.

Now it’s a question of waiting for the right weather conditions to cultivate the beds, for what will hopefully be a bumper summer crop. Speaking of the summer, following on from last year’s exceptionally dry July and August, the growing team at COCA have been looking into options for creating a better irrigation system on the field, so that should we have similarly hot weather this year we’ll be better placed to cope.

Outside of the day to day activities of COCA, this month also saw the first meeting of the events team, who are already planning ahead to our summer Harvest Party at the end of August. After its great success last summer, this event has become an important fundraiser for COCA, as well as giving us an opportunity to get more involved with the community as a whole and meet potential new members.

Last but by no means least, after two months of excellent hard work, our wwoofer Flemming has headed back out on to the road. He’s been a tremendous help on the farm and we owe him a lot of thanks.