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Tag Archives: community roots

August 30th and 31st Catch-up

Saturday August 30th
We lost our broadband on Saturday and it seems we won’t have it back for some time as there is a break in the cable underground. Our lovely neighbour is very generously letting us use hers so I can catch up with everything.

I spent much of the day baking and having a lovely time baking cakes to be sold at Roots tomorrow when it will be Apple Day. I made a Ukrainian Apple Cake and a Spiced Toffee Apple Cake.

Sunday August 31st

And then it was Apple Day! And what a day  – so many apples were chopped and pressed and juiced,  bottled and pasteurised, so many cakes were enjoyed, so much Roots Ratatouille eaten for lunch, and many Dorset buttons were made – altogether a very busy and very enjoyable day.

One of the activities available was learning how to make Dorset buttons and as regular readers will know, I love making – so I had a go and made a button of an apple tree.

Thanks to M for being such a brilliant teacher.

 

 

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Beets, Pesto and A Glass Angel

This week we have a veg bag from Community Roots full of delicious fresh veg including beetroot which we are not fond of! They are now boiling in preparation for being made into Chocolate Beetroot Cake, recipe here.

I’ve made pesto with the wonderful Basil leaves that were in the bag.

I’m joining in a local campaign #calltoarts and, with other people  in Cornwall, I’m urging my MP and the UK Government to take immediate, decisive action to end the atrocity in Palestine. We have been asked to draw, paint, sing, sculpt – whatever we can and to share the image far and wide and to tag our MPs. #perranmoon I’ve chosen one of my angels in three of the colours of the Palestinian.

 
 

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Volunteer Harvest and Our Lilies

Yesterday I brought home our share of the Volunteer harvest, some delicious Roots tomatoes, all sorts of varieties, some of which I’ve saved for salads and some I made into a very delicious soup for our lunch.

I roasted carrots and Pattypan squash and courgette, also from Roots,  for dinner tonight, so fresh and tasty!

All five flowers are open at the same time on our enormous lily.

 
 

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A Gallery of Goodness

Today at Roots, along with the indoor team, I sowed Little Leprechaun lettuce, potted on Savoy Cabbage and spread out the chilli plants to give them air. I also had a walkabout to see how the whole acre was progressing and,  oh my, the wonderful crops all over the place. Enjoy the gallery of goodness and at the end, the two varieties of courgettes that I fried in garlic butter as part of our meal tonight.

Delicious!

 

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Agapanthus and Protest Boards

We saw these beautiful Agapanthus flowers as we left the hospital on Saturday.

A friend and I popped down to Porthtowan after working at Community Roots this morning and were very impressed by the fifteen  wonderful protest boards which tell such a story. I took a few photos to show you detail and have the first photo from a friend of the whole length of them along the path to the beach. I’ll post them all in sequence at some point when my lovely Mr S and I can  go down to the beach together.

Thanks John.

 

 

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Pink, Purple and Moominmama

Lots of potting on of various brassicas at Community Roots today. The chives are flowering well.

The poppies in one of the poly tunnels are remarkable.

Today, on Facebook,  I saw a delightful  postbox topper honouring Moominmama and I asked the maker, Lewis Delderfield, if I could share it here. Many of you will remember Ti, our dear friend with whom we used to share poetry and who died last year aged 105! She loved the Moomins and as soon as I saw this, I thought of her and how much she would have loved it and probably would have known that it’s the 80th anniversary of the Moomins.  Thank you so much to the maker for allowing me to share Moominmama knitting on here. .

“I have just put Moominmama out on my local postbox. She is knitting herself something nice to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of The Moomins!” Lewis Delderfield

 

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The Opening of the Big Shed

What a joyful day we have had along with everyone else who turned up for the official opening of the Big Shed at Community Roots. There was cake, there was music, there were plant sales, there was a garden tour and a barefoot seed-bomb making session. There was an amazing plant based lunch and then of course, the Ceremony of the Cutting of the Ribbon. Only it wasn’t a ribbon, the bow and ‘ribbon’ had been braided during the day out of reeds and daffodil leaves and it was very beautiful. There were speeches, the most moving of all, one based on the daily thanksgiving of the Onondaga Nation. And, the sun shone all day! Please enjoy the gallery and click on any for a bigger version and the caption.

The Big Shed

About to cut the ribbon

The ribbon is cut

Jaclarabag, the band

For all the joy, times are hard. Along with the invitation came this ‘ask.’ I thought you might like to know the bigger story.

The Ask
Looks can be deceptive, and behind our beautiful new building, we find ourselves in a very precarious financial position. Growing food and community in planet positive ways just isn’t financially sustainable, and with the Hungry Gap this year (when we have very few crops ready to sell) we are struggling to make ends meet. Also, while the new building will eventually help us diversify our income, before it does that it is costing us money, and we don’t have the time to organise all the great things we know could be happening in it. To help us through this tricky period we really need an injection of money, so we’ve launched a Crowdfunder and we’ve secured match funding, so that every pound donated is doubled by Aviva, with an additional £5,000 of match funding being added from Cornwall Council’s Climate and Nature fund. If you’re able to support us at all, we would be incredibly grateful, and if you aren’t able to donate, sharing our Crowdfunder with others is also incredibly helpful. If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, liking, commenting and sharing posts makes a huge difference to how visible things are.

To see the Crowdfunder, to donate or to share it, please click here.

 

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Happiness Calendar, Fungi and Jobs

Today at Roots there were countless small plants to be potted on. I did dozens of Aubergine Long Purple! Among the little plants were some tiny fungi.

At coffee time we always go over the Jobs List – those done and those that still need doing. There is always a job to suit every individual.

For those of my readers who ‘knew’ that my lovely Mr S was going to have a new knee today, it hasn’t happened, for a variety of reasons. We hope for a new date not too far away.

 

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Tomatoes, A Dog and Visitors

Today a team of us potted on dozens of tomato plants. We only planted them a few weeks ago. Mine were the variety Mango Lassi. I’ll be interested to know what they taste like.

A beautiful dog, called Tala,  came along to Roots today.

I love seeing children visiting at Roots, playing, learning, having fun. (Parental permission given for photo)

New beds being prepared – no dig

 

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Tête à Tête, Poly Tunnels and Rainbow Chard

There was just one little Tête à Tête in flower near the shed, braving the bitter wind.

A very efficient team of three, today we planted all sorts of seeds for summer harvesting, such a positive and hopeful job. Seeds included lettuce, chillies, peppers, aubergines and tomatoes, several varieties of each.  Not much photo opportunity there so I went for a walk around the poly tunnels to see how everything is coming on. Brilliantly is the answer. Many more braver Community Roots volunteers were out in the field, clearing ground and preparing for planting out later. I forgot to take a photo of the gluten free Lemon Cake I made which went down very well at coffee break..

Two very happy volunteers, D and G

All sorts of salad leaves

Rainbow Chard

 

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