New members are being invited to join a community farm.
More than 50 households are already part of the Community Supported Agriculture Scheme at Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm in Rushmere St Andrew, Ipswich, where members share the risks and rewards of farming.
The farm, which is a not-for-profit social enterprise, is inviting new members to sign up for a vegetable share box from June 2015. Only limited membership places for veg share boxes are available, which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) first developed in the USA and Japan, and is now spreading fast in the UK. The Oak Tree CSA was one of the first schemes in the UK when it began five years ago, and has been growing ever since.
For £8.50 per week, and an average work commitment of two hours a week in the summertime, and one hour a week in the wintertime, farm members enjoy an equal share of the vegetable harvest, as well as having the opportunity to buy eggs, flowers and pork from their rare breed pigs, which are reared partly on waste malt mash from small Ipswich breweries. Towards the end of 2015 the farm will also offer grass-fed beef to its members. In the meantime members are caring for two Jersey cattle, moving them to fresh grass on a regular basis.
Many members join growers Joanne Mudhar and Eric Nelson at weekly Saturday ‘working parties’, where fellow members can meet up.
One couple who met while planting out leek seedlings a couple of years ago married this summer.
To find out more about the scheme, visit the farm’s website www.the-oak-tree.co.uk.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here