The Harvest

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Community Supported Agriculture Scheme
Annual Report 2005/ 2006
In a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
scheme, members buy a share of the harvest at the
beginning of the season, help grow the crops and
then receive their share in vegetables when the
crops are ready. The 2005 harvest at Cwm Harry
was shared between 23 paying shareholders and 5
people who earned their share through
volunteering. Income of 2,912 was received from
the shareholders and a total of 995 volunteer
hours were recorded between June and December.
Shares of vegetables, eggs and cakes were
delivered weekly to the Newtown area for 24 weeks
from July 15th to Dec 22nd.
Garlic braving the snow at Cwm Harry
The Harvest 33 of the vegetables distributed by
the CSA were grown by Cwm Harry volunteers. The
table below shows the yield of the two sites they
worked.
View of Lower Cwm Harry veg field in late summer
(left) and winter (right)
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Volunteers 31 different volunteers worked a
total of 995 hours between June and December
2005. They were recruited from existing
shareholders and through a publicity drive in the
local area. Cwm Harry joined WWOOF (World-wide
Opportunities on Organic Farms) in late summer
and three volunteers from London and Bristol came
to stay and help out. The Powys Restorative
Justice Project sent a young offender and his
supervisor to help as well.
Volunteers working at the Newtown allotment
(left) and Lower Cwm Harry (right)
Partnership with Local producers
While the volunteers produced 33 of the
vegetables distributed, the rest came other from
local partners, and was harvested by Cwm Harry
volunteers. A successful partnership with Pont
Farm allowed us to support their fruit and
vegetable growing business. While the volunteers
concentrate on labour intensive crops such as
lettuce and tomatoes, Pont Farm grow field scale
crops such as cabbages, cauliflowers and
parsnips. At Pont they use some limited
herbicide so 48 of the produce shared this year
was not 100 organically grown, we hope to reduce
this in he future. Some summer produce beans,
courgettes and grapes was grown in the walled
garden of Disserth Hall. This is a wonderful
place to volunteer and we hope to spend more time
there in the future.

Percentage of vegetables grown on each site
Feedback from Shareholders. Shareholders were
asked to fill in two questionnaires during the
season. Some of the comments made are summarized
below

• The quality and freshness of produce is greatly
  appreciated.
• We like the fact that everything is grown
  locally.
• The lettuce is especially good (though
  sometimes too big!)
• There were not enough of carrots, onions,
  garlic, potatoes.
• Some of the potatoes were of a low quality.

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Shareholders were asked what improvements in the
scheme would be important to them. The results
are given below.
Price of share As a result of the questionnaire
and further consultation with shareholders at the
annual meeting, it was decided that the price of
a box would rise from 5 to 7.50. This is to
reflect more accurately the value of our produce
as well as to help the Project on the way to
economic sustainability. 79 of shareholders
will definitely join up next season, the others
will be replaced by those on the waiting list and
new recruits. We hope to be sharing next years
harvest with 40 households.
A weeks harvest ready for delivery
Additional Projects Feeding Your Family We have
obtained funding from the Social Risk Fund,
European Social Fund, of 9,250 to run a series
of cookery classes for parents and carers of
Trehafren estate, Newtown. The courses will
start in March 2006 and run in six week blocks
for two years. The aim is to train participants
in basic cookery skills using ingredients
provided by Cwm Harry Land Trust. The course,
entitled Feeding Your Family, aims to improve
nutrition of families of the estate and to
reconnect them with the source of the food they
eat. We hope some of those joining the classes
will eventually sign up for a regular supply of
vegetables from Cwm Harry.