Author Archives: Dave Thomas

Say hello to Pembrokeshire’s freshest social enterprise…Torth Y Tir…a new bakery based out of St Davids. They bake the tastiest and most honest bread around. What’s more it’s a community supported bakery which means anyone can become a member of … Continue reading →

5 is the number of acres we rent from Caerhys Farm. 10 is the number of volunteers who make up the ‘core group’ that run COCA. 52 is the number of member households that share the harvest every week. 0 … Continue reading →

Everyone should have access to locally grown, healthy food and know who grew it and how. Agree? Then maybe you’d fancy getting involved in running Caerhys Organic Community Agriculture (COCA)… COCA is a community supported agriculture project and one of … Continue reading →

On Tuesday we took a step closer to finishing our new community building Cartref COCA. We spent the day laying the floor which was compacted limestone aggregate – fortunately we were indoors as the weather was typically unpredictable for March … Continue reading →

‘Red mustard leaves in the polytunnel’ was the winning photo for February. It was taken by one of our new EVS volunteers Agnes Pautrel. Our oriental salads are growing well at the moment and the photo captures the colours and … Continue reading →

‘The field of dreams’ was January’s photo of the month. In between the wind and rain, the sun shone for a moment over COCA’s growing field. Although there may not be much growing at the moment, come the summer it … Continue reading →

On 6th January we had fantastic news from our friends at UNA Exchange…thanks to their support we will be welcoming two new arrivals to the COCA team on the 5th February. Agnes and Hugo – both from France – will … Continue reading →

‘Flying dog with wind blown sprouts’ was the winner of COCA’s photo competition for December. The photo was taken during some of the worst of the winds that we had during the month and in the distance you can see … Continue reading →

From tomorrow (1st December) we will be launching COCA’s new monthly photo competition. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned photographer, it will be open to all (members and non-members). It will run from this December to November 2016 and … Continue reading →

This Saturday 7th November from 10am we will be working on the last big thing which will make our new community building Cartref COCA watertight – the lime rendering. We will be going at it from 10am and hoping to … Continue reading →

On Saturday 24th October COCA will be hosting Cassandra again and this time with a Staked Shopping Basket Workshop (photo below). Make a medium sized round basket with a handle suitable for a big load! Using willow grown at the … Continue reading →

From this Thursday (1st October) through to the middle of next week we will be building the straw bale walls for Cartref COCA and putting the roof on. On Thursday, Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday we will be working on … Continue reading →

Cassandra Lishman is once again running courses at COCA for those interested in willow basket making. They are proving popular and we only have three spaces left for the Large Frame Basket workshop on Saturday 26th September and five spaces … Continue reading →

Bathed in September sunshine the straw bales for our low impact community building were baled today down the road in St Davids. They are all now safely tucked up in the barn at Caerhys ready to be made into the … Continue reading →

After the success of the car tyre foundation volunteer day in June, this past weekend saw the construction of the carpentry elements for the straw bale walls. On Saturday and Sunday our talented members Andy Gill and Ben Hughes transformed … Continue reading →

We’re delighted to be welcoming back Cassandra Lishman to COCA this autumn to lead two Willow Basket Weaving Workshops. Saturday 26th September:Large Frame Basket Workshop (photo below)   In one day make a large basket suitable for carrying all your veg! … Continue reading →

After last year’s epic event we will once again be hosting our Harvest Party on Saturday August 29th at Caerhys Farm, Berea. This year we will be kicking things off much earlier with the farm gates opening at midday and … Continue reading →

  Last Saturday 27th June we had a great turnout to build the car tyre foundation for our new community building. Almost thirty people turned up during the course of the day and the help of everyone was greatly appreciated. … Continue reading →

Next Saturday 27th June we will be making a start on the car tyre foundation for our exciting new building – Cartref COCA. It will be a straight forward task – putting the car tyres into position on the ground … Continue reading →

A film crew, for Welsh program on S4C – Boomerang, will be at COCA’s harvest this Friday 15 May filming for harvest action and interviews, it would be great to have as many members and families as possible on the … Continue reading →

Work to build our eagerly anticipated new home – Cartref COCA – will start this Saturday 16th May in advance of building the car tyre foundation in June. The site is currently being used for storage and it all needs … Continue reading →

Feel-good music, sweet apple cider, wholesome cob-oven pizza – is there a better way to spend the last Friday evening of August? The Harvest Party this Friday will be a celebration of all things Pembrokeshire; here is a taster of … Continue reading →

Tickets now for sale for COCA’s Harvest Party on Friday 29th August 7pm at the Barn at Caerhys Farm, Berea, St Davids. There will be live music from two fantastic Pembrokeshire groups – Little Arrow and Daisyb. Little Arrow, who … Continue reading →

Last Saturday 5th July our second UNA international volunteer workcamp of the summer came to a close and it proved to be just as successful as the first one. A BIG THANK YOU to Pelin and Toralp from Turkey, Tatiana … Continue reading →

Organic pest control at its best on Saturday as we built five new scarecrows for the field which will hopefully keep those pesky pigeons at bay! Click on the pictures for a bigger view: Thanks to Stuart, Heather, Emily, Karen … Continue reading →

Looks like it will be a showery one tomorrow so a chance to do a much needed task which can be done undercover – scarecrow making! Bring along any old clothes (brighter the better) plus any old CDs to tie … Continue reading →

This Saturday (28th June) will be Volunteer Day at the farm. Come down to Caerhys from 10am for lots of fun! Caz will let us know the plan at the start but there are plenty of tasks that need doing. … Continue reading →

 Now that our first of three international volunteer workcamps is over I want to say some big thank yous on behalf of the COCA Core Group. Firstly to the four wonderful volunteers who travelled to COCA to take part in … Continue reading →

This is a good article on what community supported agriculture is all about.  Plus some info on two other CSAs (Chagfood and FoodSmiles). http://www.lovefood.com/journal/features/29232/community-supported-agriculture-the-benefits-of-farming-together