I’ve been filling in for Sean at the RECG for the last couple of weeks and have, as always, thoroughly enjoyed my time here. There’s been an abundance of produce ready for harvest. The peas, mange tout, and broad beans have supplied many of the volunteers here with delicious contributions to their salads and soups, and there has even been enough to freeze for later on. There are lots of vibrant and lush lettuces and rocket, sweet carrots which we’ve enjoyed raw, and the delicious tomatoes from the glasshouses. This is a time of year when we really need people to come and share and enjoy all the wonderful fruit and vegetables, so please come down and help out for as much or as little time as you can manage – there’s more than enough to go round and it would be terrible for it to go to waste.
Some of the crops are more easy to store than others and we’ve pulled up a huge number of onions and garlic, which are now drying on the seating area under the horse chestnut tree. We thought this would provide a nice and dry place for them and it seems to be doing the trick. Sue, one of our regular volunteers, has dug up a lot of potatoes and there’s plenty of mint and parsley to go with them – what could be better?
I’m always touched by the dedication and enthusiasm of the people who come and volunteer here, and thoroughly enjoy the diverse conversations we have here. At the beginning of the week, with that long overdue sunny weather, people were more than happy to spend a couple of hours watering the plants and then have a well-deserved homemade elderflower cordial, courtesy of Francesca, and some biscuits. It was so hot here that I was tempted to stand under the sprinkler myself a couple of times!
We have done loads of jobs over the last couple of weeks, including: digging up the beds of rockets when they had gone to seed and replanting them with salads, chard, rocket, and herbs; collecting wood for a corporate group who are coming in a couple of weeks to make a path through the orchard; tidying up the woodland path; mulching and watering the fruit trees; propping up the peas and the mange tout and of course doing a lot of harvesting, weeding, and watering.
Daisy
0 Responses to “Harvesting”