Read all about it!

Saturday 13th February was the first GFE Site Work Day for 2010 and a good turnout of volunteers allowed us to tackle some large tasks.

A major job was giving the willow windbreak its annual prune - a task that gets bigger and bigger every year! Some of the off-cuts were replanted to fill in the thinner areas further down the site, but we will have to decide what to do with the large pile of willow cuttings that are left.

The site for the proposed fruit orchard was prepared. The layout for the trees was agreed and planting holes dug - the ground turned out to be significantly better than expected and we are now ready to plant the trees.

A number of other jobs were tackled - tunnel wall washing, general tiding up - and as usual there was a great spread of food for lunch.

A grand day out in the fresh air!

The cropping plans for the communal growing areas were agreed at the Seed meeting on 9th Feb 2010. A new section has been added to the website showing the plans for the the Market Tunnel and Adopt-A-Plot areas.

Sue has reviewed the GFE seed stocks and sneds the following message:

Here is a spreadsheet showing all the seeds in the prop room with a "sow by" date of 2009 or later.

I have left these seeds in two containers in the prop room (right hand side), with the "sow by" 2009 ones all together.

Also in the prop room I have left a plastic bag of seed packets with a "sow by" date of 2008 or earlier - some may be viable, I suppose. Also in this bag are packets with no dates on them and a few empty packets which I kept in case someone wanted them as a reminder of varieties used in the past.

Many thanks to Sue for this work.

Seed Meeting: 9 February 2010 from 7pm at Connor's house

This is our annual seed meeting to discuss requirements for 2010 seed purchases and seed potato orders – all welcome. This is also an opportunity for members who wish to place orders for individual requirements; these can be added to the GFE annual order saving on any small order levies and expensive delivery charges.

Poolewe Christmas Market

The Christmas market went very well and the day saw a good crowd and plenty of sales, value added products from members made up the majority of produce on sale, home baking jams and some winter veg made for a good day with numerous members sharing the manning of the stall throughout the day.

A rather spectacular cabbage even made it into the raffle prize line up!

Good for ewe!
 

The November (Non)Work Day on 14th November 2009, 10am to 3pm, will be a Members' Site Meeting to discuss our thoughts and plans for the future rather than a physical work day. If you have any ideas on this subject please come along on the 14th and air your thoughts and ideas.

Possible subjects for the day...

Adopt-a- plots
Plot numbering
Short term – long term plans
Gardeners
Any other general ideas you may have

As usual please bring something to eat. This will be a no work day, just chatting and discussing GFE and eating good food.

See you there!
 

We have received a large delivery of fresh manure at the GFE site - just in time for spreading on the plots before winter. It is on the black plastic sheeting at the gate as before, and can be used by members for their own plots or for the communal growing areas.

Many thanks to Donar for delivering the manure to the site.

GFE needs large amounts of manure every year so if you know of any or are able to source good manure please let us know.
 

The 3rd October Work Day saw a major clear out of the tunnels, an inventory of the tools and turning of the soil within the tunnels. As ever a good turn out and many other tasks tackled too. Good food
and good company – what more could you ask for on an autumn morning.
 

3 October 2009 from 10am to 3pm at the GFE Site

Time to tackle some general maintenance around the site.

There is a mix of non-manual and manual activities, both indoor and out, so there should be something for everyone to tackle.

As usual please bring along some food to share at lunchtime.

As we aproach the end of the growing season, there is no longer sufficient produce to stock the weekly Poolewe Market.

The courgettes, squashes, and tomatoes in the Market Tunnel are still ripening so they will be available for sale either from the shed as they are harvested or you can pick-your-own from the tunnel.

The date for this years Good For Ewe Open Day has been set for Saturday 8th August 2009.

More details to follow...

This month's Good For Ewe meeting will be held on Wednesday 24th June
2009 at 7.30pm in the Inverasdale School.

The outline agenda is:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Sub Committee update
4. Set date for AGM
5. Tenancy agreement
6. Funding
7. Action List
8. Any Other Business
   
   • Open Day planning
   • Swapping fish for a glut of vegetables!
   • Market times survey
   • Advertising

Saturday 6th June 2009 was another successful workday at the Inverasdale site.

The weather was good, so many outside jobs were tackled by the many volunteers who attended.

Along with much weeding and grass strimming, a big effort on the communal adopt-a-plot areas saw literally hundreds of pea, bean, and brassica seedlings planted out.

The hot sunny weather allowed us to lunch outside where we were treated to the ususal high standard of food that people donated including fresh salmon and newly picked strawerries.

This month's Good For Ewe meeting will be held on Wednesday 27th May
2009 at 7.30pm in the Inverasdale School.

The outline agenda is:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Sub Committee updates
4. Set date for AGM
5. Possible additional market for salad
6. Action List
7. Any Other Business
 

The Good For Ewe stall is back at the Poolewe Market - every Tuesday morning.

We have Salad bags and other early produce from the Marketing Tunnel for sale.

Members also sell produce from their own plots and value-add products (jams, chutneys, etc) through the GFE market stall.

Our first table at the Poolewe Market for 2009 is booked for Tuesday 5^th May.

We hope to have some early produce from the Marketing Tunnel ready for sale, along with some tomato and strawberry seedlings.

Members can also sell fresh and value-add produce (jams, chutneys, etc) through the GFE market table.

The Good For Ewe April Meeting is on Wednesday 22^nd April 2009, starting at 7.30pm at the Inverasdale School.

The outline agenda is:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Sub Committee updates
4. Policy and Procedure review
5. Website
6. GALE vote
7. Work experience
8. Action list
9. Any Other Business

The April Work Day was held at the Inverasdale Site on 4^th April 2009.

A good turnout made light work of many jobs, despite the poor weather on the day.

Many indoor jobs were tackled, including: setting bean and pea seeds; planting out salad and courgette seedlings, lots of weeding, and fixing some dripping taps.

Some hardy souls attacked a few outdoor jobs but hopefully we will have better weather next month so we can get more done outside.

As ever the food everybody brought along for lunch was very good and we had an enjoyable break and a chat in the shed before getting back to work.

Our workdays are held on a Saturday early every month and everyone is welcome to come along and join in - feel free to bring some food to share for lunch.