We threw a party to celebrate a successful season of growing together. Thanks so much Farmers Paul and Doreen for having us join you on the farm all year! Here’s what we got up to at the party…

Thanks to volunteer Axel for filming and editing this video of our Harvest Party! As you can see we had a great time!

Our video has also been featured on the community video site Video Connected, which showcases what goes on in Cambridge. Fame at last!
http://www.videoconnected.tv/cambridge/archive/cropshare-harvest-party-2012

During the day, CropSharers harvested (and juggled) quite a few potatoes. These will go in the farm store and last into early winter.


Farmer Paul uses the lifter on the tractor to earth up potatoes, then its up to the Cropsharers to find them and  bag them up.

Quite a harvest!

Lovely taters

 We also looked after the leeks by giving them a good weeding. 



Then it was time to fire up the BBQ and rocket stoves and get stuck into some party activities!


BBQ is ON!

CropShare volunteer Iain, who works for the local Wildlife Trust, took party goers on a magical mystery farm tour, taking in the sights and sounds of the farm’s wildlife. See his post last year on the farm’s plentiful birdlife. Thanks Iain!


Farm tour 

Our friends at Fen End Farm and the Cambridge Sustainability Centre partied with us, and brought their spinning wheel, a bag of their homegrown bread wheat and a compost toilet- essential stuff. Thanks very much! 

Vicky was able to help party goers spin some wool from the Farmer Paul’s sheep.

Spinning wheel, and a fleece waiting to be spun


  

Axel cards some wool to get it ready for spinning
Learning how to spin
And thanks to the flour mill borrowed from the Hornbeam Centre, we were able to grind some of the Fen End Farm wheat.

Ella gets stuck into grinding flour!
The small flour mill 
We also had a pile of stooks from our rye field that all the kids (erm, me included) loved jumping around in.
Playing in the stook den
Local band Allotment then played us a solar powered set- all amps powered by the farm’s solar panels! They rocked it- thanks guys. So suited to CropShare- songs about vegetables and growing crops went down a treat.

Allotment in full swing

Simon of Allotment with his hurdy gurdy!

Enjoying the band
Then it was time to start up the bonfire…

Starting small

Thanks for the fire dance Farmer Paul đŸ˜‰


Thanks to CropShare volunteer Jacky who cooked up some Bannock bread for us when the flames got roaring.

Bannock bread is happening now 

Plenty more juggling and tricks when the sun went down…

Impressive, Daniel!

They said it couldn’t be done 

Skills!



Then we enjoyed many many campfire songs. Thanks to our musical chums Anna, Daniel and Jessie!


And finally, thanks so much to Ben, Reggie and Axel for the great photos!