I was so lucky to find an hour or two of sunshine to take this pic of the plot, blink and you'd have missed the rays.
No chance to take your coat off though as the wind was wild and nippy driving through the other three layers underneath, so simply kept going all wrapped up.
This is the Communigrow market garden down at East Malling, the proposed Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) site, and a fine plot at that.
On the left are the start of the 200 metre run of Lavender and other oil beds. the bit in the foreground will be the nursery beds and is the area for flowers for cuttting or drying and in the middle distance, beyond the central path, is the start of the main rows of beds running North to South, or across this picture. On the left is the tunnel with a few Leeks now showing though badly under used as yet. Beyond the tunnel is a big grass field cut for hay.
The new tool, nearest in the picture, is a fab budget machine (everything is on a budget) which I picked up new for the price of a knackered secondhand one. It may be cheap and chinese but it has the power to not only drive a metre wide rotavator but tuck a pile of soil behind with my drag device to make up the beds. It also has a little ridging plough. The wheels may be pretty silly size but I'll forgive them. A two forward speed gearbox with reverse, all for £350.
'In the distance' means 80 beds that will each be 28 metres long by 2 metres wide. Not all will be this year as our aim is to set ground to 'improve' for next year by using green manures, cover crops and mulch to raise soil fertility, this field has been a bit abused by raspberries over recent years.
Other news is that we have a plan of support from the Plunkett Foundation and should be moving along with a meeting with our mentor and visit at least one CSA.
I am taking a few bits of video to piece together for our 'Crowd funding' exercise. I like the idea of videos to get a message across, though it may be all story boards like Bob Dylan as I can't get Brian Blessed this week.
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