We have lift-off

Our new CSA group has blasted off with great success in the last week. Today, no fewer than five adults and six children showed up for work on a bright and pleasant spring day at Mur Crusto.

Things really began to get moving when Mayumi came to help the day after we'd had to cancel the planned day of action because of bad weather. She and Carwyn helped us begin the long process of clearing the ground and digging the holes for hundreds of fruit plants. And we even got all the strawberries planted out. Later in the week, Rosemary (pictured left) arrived for a fairly tough day of digging and planting. Despite the heavy rain towards the end, we managed to complete the plantings of the entire menage of fruit bushes.

Today (Saturday) was a much pleasanter day for weather and Val and I were almost overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the support we had. Mike Daly with his children Elin ("I wish I could come here every day!" she really said), Rory and Connan, worked patiently for hours as did Christine, Annie and Mayumi, cutting out old raspberry canes and battling with tough perennial weeds which had invaded the existing fruit beds. This is a horrible job which requires dedication but it's needed if you want a crop of fruit in the summer. (We all do!)

Myrddyn set to clearing the weeds around the blackcurrant bushes whilst Christine's son George and I dug, barrowed and sprinkled manure on the tidied up raspberries and blackcurrants. George explained to me his passion for astronomy and we discussed the relegation of Pluto to a mere planetoid and which was the hottest planet. We reckoned it was probably Venus on account of its runaway greenhouse effect. George pioneered a new difficult route crossing a fence via a tree rather than the boring way through the gate.

At lunch time, we all had a well deserved feed of soup, bread - all made by Val - and cheeses followed by (fair trade and organic) coffee, chocolate and an impromptu meeting. How, Val wondered, should we organise our group? Three points came out from this brief discussion:

1. each group member should pay some money up front to help cover our costs for seeds, plants, composts and so on. This then provides an incentive for the members to make sure that everything necessary - like helping out - is done to ensure good crops of fruit and veg: a vested interest. We suggest £50
2. each group member should come and help out as and when needed or when they can. The time each member spends working would be recorded  in a time bank kept by Val. The cost of the produce we supply to members of the group would then be adjusted according to the amount of time put in. How all this will work in practice we don't yet know and we're open to suggestions. Neither Val nor I wish to make vast profits (!) from this enterprise but neither do we want to be a charitable foundation. The fundamental basis for such a group to work is mutual trust. We are very fortunate to have that with all our group members.
3. members who come to help whilst Val and I are away from 10th June - 10th July could take what produce they needed that happened to be available. I pointed out that I was continuing to sow and plant veg for a continuous supply of at least some items even though we'd not be there when some of it is ready. Work which needs doing during our absence will be grass mowing  and weeding

We ended the day with a very noisy, splashy trip round the lake, scaring off a heron, several ducks and the pair of geese that always nest on the island every year. No children actually fell in but several got water in their wellies and rather damp clothes. And George observed to me that the day was more fun than he thought it was going to be. Let's hope that sets the general tone for all future family helping visits. It's a great place for climbing trees, playing football, and picnics as well as pulling out weeds!

Polytunnel raised: CSA group's first success

Today, our wonderful new CSA group completed its first major action. We successfully got the polythene cover over the frame and secured it into the ground and at each end. Mike and Jill offer big thanks to Rosemary and Matthew (who worked yesterday on digging trenches), Deio (who works 'on demand' - and there have been a lot of demands lately), Mayumi (and her son), Christine (and her daughter), Joan, Mark and Jeff (Shrimala Trust), Helen and John (from Llangybi), Bry and Val (from Mur Crusto farm, the other half of the co-op). It was almost, yes, fun! The weather was fair and there seemed to be a lot of laughter and joking going on. Some good entertainment was Mike and Jill bickering about how best to achieve this or that task. But we all pulled together like a team. Our group was impressively international: Welsh, English, American, German and Japanese, and at least 3 languages could be heard from time to time.

I (Bry) am particularly delighted at the way things are working out with this group help. I've nurtured the idea since the start of Llangybi Organics and it really works! So once again, I have the pleasure of reminding group members that you are very welcome to come and help yourselves to veg - particularly at present where there is a massive surplus of green leafy things in Mur Crusto's polytunnel. (For some reason, Jill hasn't got anything growing in her new tunnel except a few scraggy nettles!)

I've put a photoalbum online here which depicts all the final stages of the Great Event.

Llangybi Organics new CSA group meets

Thanks to all those who were able to come to our first ever Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group meeting. I (Bry) don't much like meetings but this one was a good one. There was a lot of laughing and we enjoyed tea and cake as we sketched out a preliminary idea of how it would all work.

Who was there? Val, Bry (from Mur Crusto farm, where the meeting was held), Mike and Jill (from Ty'n Lon farm, with whom we have an informal co-operative partnership to grow all the veg and fruit for the boxes and bags), Arabella (who has kindly agreed to be the Group co-ordinator), Mayumi (and her son, Carwyn), and Mark (from the Shrimala Trust). All (except Bry) are depicted in the rather poor photo I took of the gathering. Left to right: Mark, Mayumi, Carwyn, Arabella, Mike, Jill, Val. Two other potential group members weren't able to come that day: Rosemary and Christine. There may be others too and, of course, anyone can join at any time. There is no minimum time commitment.

What did we agree? As with all 'proper' meetings, we ended up with some Action Points:

• Bry to arrange an online calendar so that we can all find out what's happening when. This will be a Google calendar via OneClimate.net's Llangybi Organics group page. I'll let you know when it's all set up. You'll need to join OneClimate.net but it's free and all you need is an email address. It's a social networking site (like Facebook) but for doing something about climate change
• Val to organise a 'phone tree', whatever that is. Something to do with last minute contacting of everyone in case an event has to be altered or cancelled because of bad weather. Or the reverse, if the weather is unexpectedly good (it happens...)
• Nominal group help days will be Tuesdays for Mur Crusto and Thursdays for Ty'n Lon, and Sundays when convenient. This doesn't mean we expect group members to turn up every week; merely when we request help with some major piece of work which has to be done. Examples are potato picking, planting out leeks or onion sets, weeding carrots - that sort of thing where many hands make light work
• What's in it for group members? It's FUN we like to think, working together to get a task done in a pleasant environment (each farm, I mean). There's a good deal of amusing chat which can be in any language but usually English, Welsh and - sometimes - Spanish. And there's more: the opportunity for each member to take home such veg or fruit (e.g. raspberries from Mur Crusto) as happens to be available in the amount she or he needs as 'payment' for the work. We'll let you know what's available so if you wish, you can come and get stuff even if you're not working. We will also try and grow the things you specially like. Arabella wants peas and Mark wants artichokes. We are going to do both but you have to come and help yourselves!

And the first event? Polytunnel-raising; provisionally 22 March: Mike and Jill have bought a second-hand polytunnel. Putting up these structures isn't difficult though it is time-consuming. Once done, the really tricky thing is to get the polythene cover on. This is where they need as many people as possible to help unroll it, pull it over the frame and hang on to it while it tries to behave like a paraglider or hot air balloon whilst the whole thing is fixed tightly. The event will be at Ty'n Lon farm starting 10.30 for 11 am but does depend on there being light winds and fairly warm weather. This is where email contact, this news page, the OneClimate calendar and the phone tree will come in useful.

We, from both farms, are delighted to have this new source of support which will enable us to keep growing and keep going... if it all works. You can post anything you want on the OneClimate group pages, including photos. I propose to start a Google photo album for photos anyone takes of our various activities. We look forward to the polytunnel-raising First Event at which there will be unlimited supplies of cava, wine and beer. Actually, I just made that last bit up. Sorry!

Llangybi Organics Newsletter: Important; please read versiwn cymraeg
Weather and disease: The cool 'summer' and endless rain have made veg growing difficult this season. We've lost whole crops whilst others just haven't done well. The result has been that some items have been smaller or not as tasty as they should have been and overall variety of different veg is less than we'd hoped to have.

Please remember to…
1. Make cheques payable to Val Lynas and not Llangybi Organics.
2. Pay. Some people run many weeks in arrears and Val has to nag, which she hates. Most of you are really good about paying every week or in advance. If you're in a group, you can always mail a cheque to Val at Mur Crusto or if you do Internet banking, you can pay by direct bank transfer. Ask Val for details.
3. Close the gate at the end of the drive if you are the last customer to leave. If the gate's open when you arrive, it means either that another customer is already there or someone has forgotten to close it. We like to keep it closed always, except for the brief time while you drive down to collect your veg.

Packaging: You may have noticed that we are changing over to compostable plastics as well as the re-usable bags and boxes we provide you with. This is a requirement of our organic certifying body, the Soil Association, though we'd do it anyway. But packaging costs us hundreds of pounds every year so we really appreciate it when you return as much of it as you can. Some wonderful customers return almost all their packaging, clean and neatly folded. We can and do re-use this. In any case, please do return those strong white bags you get your veg in and, of course, the boxes.

Thanks: We probably wouldn't be able to keep going if it wasn't for our wonderful volunteers. We'd particularly like to thank Deio who, when he's not in France, is a regular stalwart, harvesting in all weathers and helping with the packing every week. We've had other help too: Rosemary, Arabella and Colin have all helped with getting the packing done and Rosemary, Mayumi and all the Batten family valiantly helped Mike, Jill, Bry and Val in the massive task of lifting all the potatoes and getting in the onions. A huge Thank You to all of you kind and committed people. Now read on to the really important related bit…

Llangybi Organics 2.0? You're used to Llangybi Organics version 1.0 where we grow and you buy. In fact half of Llangybi Organics staff are in their 60s and we all feel the need to have a little more time for ourselves and a little less commitment. All four of us want more holiday and don't want to have to be around every day of the year without elaborate and complex preparations months in advance. We will need your help to achieve this for if we don't - this is the important bit - Llangybi Organics will either have to reduce or close altogether. What happens next depends on your feeling of commitment to locally-grown organic veg and fruit. To survive, we need support from our customer 'community'. Some of you may be familiar with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and it is this that we want to get started in some simple form.

CSAs work: There are many ways in which CSA has become successful all around the world and we have a page devoted to it on our website here. The basic notion is that you undertake to help us with some of the actual growing over the year. It is reciprocal, of course. In return, you get your veg at a reduced rate. There are many different ways to organise this and what we suggest is that you read our web page, follow its up-to-date links and then let us know if you would be interested. If we can assemble a CSA core group of half a dozen people, that would be fine. Everyone else could then continue as at present. What we propose to do is merely act as co-ordinators and get you to meet up and decide how your group will work, just as many of you have already done with your group collection rotas. We'll tell you what we need and liaise with you but it's up to you to work out how to accomplish this.

What sort of help do we need? The help we need to keep going is not enormous, nor need it be skilled. A typical example would be that Val and Bry from Mur Crusto want to go for a long camping holiday in Scotland during May and June, normally a fairly busy time for us. We ask you - the CSA group - to arrange to keep things in order here will we're away. That would mostly mean weeding outside and in the polytunnel and some grass-cutting. Anything that group members didn't understand, we'd explain in as much detail as necessary. There's little point in going into more detail at this point because first we need to know if there are enough of you to make this CSA work. So please have a think and, if you're up for it, let us know by the end of November. You won't be committed to anything by getting involved at this stage - except, perhaps, a meeting of like-minded people.

If the CSA group fails to get started, we may have to considerably reduce what we grow and the period we produce veg for bags each year. Jill and Mike are more interested in summer to early-winter production because they have mainly field crops; horrible to dig and cut when the weather is freezing, wet or windy. Val and Bry are more interested in winter-early spring growing, on a reduced scale and concentrating on salads/oriental leafy veg, because of that wonderful polytunnel. We don't mind being committed to being here all the time for most of the year, just not May and June when so many crops have to be sown or nursed.

So now, dear customers, it's your turn. Will you help us?

Christmas box and bag dates - Please note! We'll be harvesting and packing your bags and boxes on Saturday 20th December and Friday 2nd January 2009. There will be no boxes or bags on 26th December. We're having one week off!

Contact details:
Val & Bry (newsletter), Mur Crusto, 01766 819109
Jill & Mike, Ty'n Lon. 01766 810915
Email: info@llangybi-organics.co.uk
Llangybi Organics website: http://www.llangybi-organics.co.uk/
Llangybi Organics news blog: http://llangybi-organics-news.blogspot.com/
Llangybi Organics OneClimate group: http://www.oneclimate.net/group/llangybi-organics
Postal address: Mur Crusto, Llangybi, Pwllheli, LL53 6LX.

Cylchlythyr Menter Organig: pwysig!

Drycin a haint: Bu tyfu llysiau yn anodd eleni ar gyfri’r ha’ oer a’r glaw mawr. Collwyd cnydau cyfan, ac mae rhai eraill yn ddigon siomedig. Pen draw hynny ydi bod rhai o’ch llysiau chi yn llai neu heb fod llawn mor flasus ag y dylen nhw fod. Ac mae llai o amrywiaeth hefyd.

Cofier…
1. Sgrifennu’ch tsieciau i Val Lynas, nid i Fenter Organig Llangybi.
2. Talu. Bydd rhai ar ei hôl hi yn ofnadwy, a Val yn gorfod swnian. Os oes criw ohonoch efo’ch gilydd, gallwch anfon siec at Val i Fur Crusto. Neu, os ydach chi’n bancio ar y we, gallwch dalu felly. Holwch Val.
3. Cau’r giât ym mhen y lôn. Os ydi’r giât yn agored pan gyrhaeddwch, rhaid bod cwsmer arall wedi cyrraedd o’ch blaen, neu bod rhywun wedi anghofio ei chau.

Pacio: Efallai eich bod wedi sylwi ein bod ni’n dechrau defnyddio bagiau plastig y gellir eu taflu ar y domen gompost, yn ogystal â’r bagiau a’r bocsus y gallwch eu hail-ddefnyddio. Mae hyn yn unol â disgwyliadau’r awdurdod sy’n rhoi tystysgrif inni, ac yn unol â’n hegwyddorion hefyd. Ond mae hi’n costio cannoedd o bunnau bob blwyddyn, ac rydym yn ddiolchgar ichi am ddychwelyd hynny fedrwch chi, yn enwedig y bagiau gwynion cry rheini, a’r bocsus.

Diolch: Go brin y buasem yn medru dal ati heb gymorth ein gwirfoddolwyr. Diolch yn arbennig i Deio fydd yn cynaeafu yn selog ar haul neu law, ac yn helpu i bacio bob wythnos – oni bai ei fod yn Ffrainc! Diolch hefyd i Rosmary, Arabella a Colin am helpu i bacio, ac i Rosemary, Mayumi a’r Batteniaid i gyd am helpu Mike, Jill, Bry a Val i godi’r tatws, a chadw’r nionod o dan do. Diolch o galon ichi bobol ffeind ac ymroddedig. Daliwch i ddarllen! Rydach chi bron â chyrraedd y darn pwysig…

Menter Organig Llangybi ar ei newydd wedd? Y drefn rydach chi wedi arfer â hi ydi ein bod ni yn tyfu a chithau’n prynu. Ond mae hanner staff Menter Organig Llangybi dros eu 60, ac yn dyheu am gael mwy o amser iddyn eu hunain, a chydig llai o gyfrifoldeb. Mae gorfod bod hyd y lle bob diwrnod o’r flwyddyn wedi mynd yn faich ar y pedwar ohonom, ac mae arnom angen eich help chi i newid chydig ar y drefn. Achos os na wnawn ni hynny – a dyma’r darn pwysig – mi fydd yn rhaid i Fenter Organig Llangybi fynd yn llai, neu fynd i’r wal. Mae’r hyn sy’n digwydd nesa’ yn dibynnu ar faint eich ymroddiad chi i lysiau a ffrwythau organig lleol. Er mwyn parhau, rhaid inni wrth gefnogaeth ‘cymuned’ ein cwsmeriaid. Efallai bod rhai ohonoch yn gyfarwydd â Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Rhyw lun ar CSA yr hoffem ni ei gychwyn yma.

Gwaith CSA: Mae CSA wedi llwyddo drwy’r byd mewn amryw o wahanol ffyrdd. Mae tudalen am hynny ar ein gwefan – mae’r cyfeiriad isod: cliciwch ar ‘CSA group’. Y syniad yn y bôn ydi eich bod chi yn ein helpu ni i dyfu’r llysiau yn ystod y flwyddyn. Yn dâl am hyn, mi gewch eich llysiau am bris gostyngedig. Mae mwy nag un ffordd i fynd ati, a’n cyngor ni ydi ichi ddarllen ein gwefan, ac wedyn rhoi gwybod inni os oes gynnoch chi ddiddordeb. Mi fasai criw o hanner dwsin yn ddigon i bawb arall gael parhau yn union fel y maen nhw. Rhyw gydlynu y byddwn ni, er mwyn dod â chi at eich gilydd i benderfynu sut y byddwch yn gweithredu fel grwp, yn union yr un fath ag y mae llawer wedi gwneud efo’r rotas nôl llysiau. Mi gewch wybod gennym ni beth sydd ei angen, ond eich gwaith chi fydd penderfynu sut mae mynd o’i gwmpas.

Sut fath o gymorth rydan ni ei angen? Tydi’r math o gymorth rydan ni ei angen ddim yn drwm iawn, a does dim angen cymwysterau! Dywedwch fod Val a Bry o Fur Crusto awydd mynd i wersylla i’r Alban yn ystod mis Mai a mis Mehefin, adeg brysur gan amla’. Byddem yn gofyn i chi, y criw CSA, gadw trefn yma tra byddem i ffwrdd. Chwynnu fasai hynny yn benna’, y tu allan ac yn y twnel, a hefyd torri gwair. Waeth inni heb â mynd i fwy o fanylder cyn cael gwybod oes digon ohonoch chi i wneud i’r cynllun weithio. Os oes gynnoch chi ddiddordeb, rhowch wybod inni cyn diwedd mis Tachwedd, os gwelwch yn dda. Fyddwch chi ddim yn ymrwymo i ddim ar hyn y bryd, heblaw cyfarfod â rhai eraill o gyfelyb fryd, efallai.

Os methiant fydd y cynllun CSA, bydd yn rhaid inni gyfyngu dipyn go lew ar yr hyn rydym yn ei dyfu, ac ar y cyfnod y bydd y bagiau a’r bocsus llysiau ar gael. Mae’n well gan Jill a Mike gynhyrchu yn gynnar yn y gaea’ oherwydd mai cnydau cae sydd ganddyn nhw yn benna’. Mae gan Val a Bry fwy o ddiddordeb i gynhyrchu yn y gaea’ ac yn gynnar yn y gwanwyn, a hynny ar raddfa lai, gan ganolbwyntio ar salad a deiliach oherwydd eu twnel. Does dim gwahaniaeth gennym fod yma rownd y ril am y rhan fwya’ o’r flwyddyn – ond nid ym Mai a Mehefin, adeg hau’r cnydau.

Atoch chi rwan, gwsmeriaid! A wnewch chi ein helpu ni?

Dyddiadau bocsus a bagiau Dolig: Bydd eich bagiau a’ch bocsus yn barod yr un fath ag arfer ar ddydd 20 o Ragfyr, ac ar ddydd Gwener 2 o Ionawr 2009. Fydd dim bocsus na bagiau ar y 26 o Ragfyr – wythnos i’r brenin!

Sut i gysylltu: Val & Bry (cylchlythyr), Mur Crusto, 01766 819109
Jill & Mike, Ty’n Lon. 01766 810915
Ebost: info@llangybi-organics.co.uk
Gwefan Menter Organig Llangybi: http://www.llangybi-organics.co.uk/
Blog newyddion Menter Organig Llangybi: http://llangybi-organics-news.blogspot.com/
Grwp ‘Un Hinsawdd’ Menter Organig Llangybi: http://www.oneclimate.net/group/llangybi-organics
Post: Mur Crusto, Llangybi, Pwllheli, LL53 6LX.