Erection at the urb farm!

One of the chickens watching our efforts

Sorry about the naff title but the joke and variations kept us going all morning! All very juvenile - you had to be there really -and thankfully the trainees weren't around at the time. The weather was finally good enough to get out and do some work and we were all excited at the thought of erecting the fruit cage that someone has kindly donated to the farm. In spite of the drizzle we made good progress and now have the uprights in place. It wasn't plain sailing, though. The uprights had mysterious plates attached to them which we finally worked out weren't designed to catch your shins every time you walked past but were meant to rest on the ground to prevent soil falling into the tubes that hold the uprights in place. Once that was sorted out we only had to deal with uneven ground and a sloping site.  We're hoping to get it finished next week and then we can start to move the fruit bushes into it. At the moment one of the chicken runs is in the middle of the cage but they weren't impressed at all by our combined brain power and all the activity going on round them. The next question is whether to leave them in there to clean up after the fruit has been harvested or move their run into the wooded area so that they can start to clear some of that area for us.
Spring and spring cleaning is definitely on the agenda. Sarah and her team have been cleaning out the greenhouse and getting it ready for spring sowings - which is a cheering thought. Sarah said that she'd seen male blackbirds and, unusually, thrushes squaring up to each other - a sure sign that spring is on the way. 

 We're also tidying up the website, so take a look this week at the new veggie box page at www.growingpeopleproject.co.uk We're hoping the new design will make it easier for you to see what's on offer and to order your veggie boxes. All the vegetables are grown locally, of course, cutting down on travel miles and making sure that your food is as fresh as it can be.

If you want more information the person to contact is Adrienne.
Her email addresss is Adrienne.Attorp@mkchristianfoundation.co.uk 

We still haven't sorted out a date for fixing the willow dome, so if you are interested in helping get in touch with Dave at   dave_meara@hotmail.com . If you're interested in volunteering on Tuesdays come along and have a chat. We're usually there from 10.00.