Highlights of our Harvest Celebration 2013

What better way to share in the success of this year's harvest than to celebrate it with the community that supports us? Around 300 people came along to our Harvest Celebration on 14th September. Local residents, some paying their first visit, popped by to find out all about the Farm. Regular box customers came to see first-hand where their food is grown. Of course there were many familiar faces too: our investors, volunteers, staff and board members. We also welcomed a coach-party of visitors taking part in the Better Food Company's tour of local farms.
Visitors were greeted with the sight of an exquisite mandala. Created by regular volunteer, Max Holloway, the mandala brought together colourful plants, fruits and flowers from in and around the Farm into a delightful display.
Claire Rosling, (Community Engagement worker) and Sara Turrill (Community Engagement Volunteer) kept children busy throughout the day with activities including Farm Forest School, cob-oven pizza making, and the creation of a fantastic scarecrow.
The scarecrow will be our contribution into the Winford Parish Scarecrow Festival. (You may remember we won the competition last year with our scarecrow of Micheal Eavis!). The theme this year is 'fairy tales and films'. Want to know who we made? Our scarecrow will be on display at the Farm from 6th October and we'll put some pictures on our website when it's up.
One of the most popular activities of the Harvest Celebration was the Cherokee Flower Pounding led by Morwhenna Woolcock. This is a technique to transfer natural dyes from flowers and plants on to material or paper.
Our farm tours also proved very popular with Farm Manager, Andy Dibben, and Organic Apprentice, John English, sharing their knowledge enthusiastically.
Jo Ingleby of the Vegetarian Cookery School and Josh Eggleton of The Pony & Trap demonstrated a diversity of delicious dishes using organic vegetables fresh from our fields. Try out some of Jo's recipes here. Along with tasters from the cookery demonstrations, our food stalls provided an absolute feast: Juicy 100%-organic beef and lamb burgers from The Story Group; and vibrant vegetarian and vegan Indian street food from Gopal's Curry Shack; followed by a scrumptious dessert from local ice-cream aficionados Chew Moos.
Woe to the Provoker and Susanne Waters played some great tunes to add to the celebratory atmosphere, as visitors got to know the Farm and each other a little better.
It was wonderful to have so many people up at the fields learning about The Community Farm and enjoying being a part of it.
Our thanks to staff, volunteers and local businesses who helped to make the Harvest Celebration such a success.