Green Tracks Enterprise

Goodbyes are never easy.....this weeks post is dedicated to Bradley. He is moving on after about 18 months with us. We've had our ups and our downs, but there have been lots of laughs and memories made along the way. He worked hard on his last day helping to pick French beans and do some repotting. We even got him to 'model' the two bails of compost and secateurs we bought with some of the proceeds from Marie Holdroyd's yard sale. He was also very please with his framed photo montage of his time with us that was presented at afternoon tea break, over a cuppa a cheese cake!
Bradley we wish you well for the future, Green Tracks will certainly not be the same without you!

We have been a bit busy lately. We have had a new placement start and we've been busy trying to get everything planted and looked after. The veg is looking good and we have started to harvest and sell French and broad beans. With all the busy busy we have found time to just sit and exhale - well at least Brad and Harley did!

We are very grateful to Marie and Pete for donating the proceeds of their community yard sale to Green Tracks. We work on a very tight budget and the money will help with replacing potting compost which we had stolen in a recent break in as well as getting some nice goodies for tea break. We might also be able to get some long coveted 'enviromesh' to help keep the pigeons of the crops. We'll keep you posted on the purchases. In the mean time its a BIG thank you from us!

The plot is filling up nicely now with veg. We know you are all eager to buy our produce however nature cannot be rushed. There is lots of promise of things to come. The first produce should be broad beans, courgettes and beetroot....watch this space

So good and bad news this week. Over the weekend somebody has been in and stolen plants. They have dug up flowers and it would appear they potted them up before leaving as the potting tunnel was a mess and all the compost has gone! They stole flowers from the borders, various pepper plants, some beans, some tomatoes and my personal kiwi plants that were in the tunnel. They would even have appear to use the compost toilet as the loo roll was empty and it was a bit messy in there. They have probably got away with about 60 Quid's worth of stuff, but to a small organisation like us that's quite significant. Anyway the good news is the Polytunnel tunnel cover came today and we were able to get it on and plant some of the tomatoes in it. Can't wait to be able to sell lovely fresh tomatoes soon

Its 'bean' a busy week first planting the Berlotti then the runners. We have also been trying to do the final preparation for the new Polytunnel double checking measurements before the cover was ordered and somewhere in between we mowed the grass.

If your buying plants next weekend please consider getting them from Camphill. Green Tracks has had a lot of support from them over the last two years.

Its a busy time at the moment with lots of sowing and planting to do. Unfortunately as we are well and truly in the hungry gap there isnt actally much to harvest and sell! The courgette ate looking good thugh with the promise of fruits soon. We have also been busy desperately tring to get the replacement tunnel and the new tunnel ready for the polythene to go on. Tomatoes are in the one existing tunnnel and we have some spares for sale at the bargain price of 50p per plant!

We've been making the most of the nice weather. Today the grass at the far end was cut very artistically by Alex! We"ve been getting rid of the old taking out the kale and we are really preparing for the new season. The French climbing beans are germinating nicely. They will follow the beetroot (which Bradley has been keeping nicely watered) in the Polytunnel. Hopefully we should have some ready to sell by June.
We do have a bit if produce available at the moment. There is the very last few leeks, lots of beautiful rainbow chard, rhubarb, spring greens and a little bit of salad and some bought in potatoes, onions and carrots.

At last the weather has improved! We started the week sowing French climbing beans which will hopefully be ready by June. Then we had to face taking down our original Polytunnel that got badly damaged in the last 2 storms. The lads made good work of it. It was particularly hard to get the anchor tubes out of the ground but Alex persevered however we ran out of time, much to his disappointment, with the last one which he can do on Monday.

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Trying desperately to get the ramp up to the toilet, which has been long overdue. The lads did a sterling job shifting soil to bank up the ground at the end of the ramp. We've also been promoting ourselves at a 'moving on' eventhosted by Camphill Wakefield, here we collected up all the coffee cups so we can use them for the tomato seedlings.

So the storms over the weekend claimed out original Polytunnel. I think it is beyond repair as the half of the steel hoops are really buckled. Unfortunately storm damage on the insurance has an excess of £500 anyone any ideas of how to save/repair it at least for this growing season?

Another cold week.....and down in numbers again. However, thanks to the hard work of the main man Alex things are progressing nicely. The floor if the new work tunnel has been leveled and woodchip laid, and we've moved into it! We've also started sowing seeds. Broad beans today and a bit of salad yesterday. We are very much looking forward to the spring now .
Today was Imbolc the start of the new season in the Celtic year. We lit an earth candle to mark this. To capture some of the potential the season brings and to take it down into the earth.

Its been an up and down week weather wise. We've had frost and sleet and sunshine. Thursday morning we were struggling to feel our fingers! The site is really muddy at the moment so we've had to do work to reflect this. We have managed to get the little propagation tunnel covered and started making a wood store as well as cutting up more firewood. Hopefully next week we may sow some seeds....

A cold week. And we were a man down. We kept warm and busy wheelbarrowing and in between harvesting leeks for the customers. We still have plenty leeks they are small but tasty and are £2 a kilo we also have local potatoes at 75p a kilo. Perfect for leek and potato soup! I think I wore Alex out he decided to have 40 winks in the wheelbarrow!

First week back after the holidays is always a shock! We have managed work though, cutting back brambles and taking apart an old fence to reclaim the wood. Alex's signature pose now seems to be doing his jobs sat down. Oh its a hard life....

Well the holiday is finally here. Green Tracks has now closed it's doors until Monday 7th January. Every one has pushed there last wheel barrow and done the last bit of digging for 2018.Father Christmas brought Bradley and Alex got their Green Tracks t-shirts a bit early and some special helpers got some liquid refreshments! We've had a wonderful and productive year and have some lovely customers and friends. We've been given lots of things, the most valuable being time...sh...out outs go particularly to Melvyn and Penny. We have also had some amazing donations. We've had TWO polytunnels given to us this year, lots of bits and bobs for building with, seeds, local apples to sell (and the team to eat!!) local potatoes, gas for the camping stove. We have even been treated to home made Christmas cake by one very kind couple. So we will now rest for a bit ready to start all the seed sowing in the spring. There's also the big box of chocolates to look forward to when we get back! Merry Christmas to all our customers and thank you for you support this year from the Green Tracks team x
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Its been a bit chilly this week and the ground is still wet....so another chance to have a go at the carpark, we also managed to to make willow stars (for sale at 50p each) and make a small fence....and somewhere in between Sharon managed to put the frame up of a small polytunnel which will become a seed sowing/potting up area in the spring.