Greave House Farm Trust

Thanks to our ingenious volunteers, Pete, Andrea and Alison who managed to fence off the onion patch and newly planted carrots and parsnips.  the chickens were quite flummoxed and not being able to wander at will any more.  I wander how long it will be until they find a gap in the netting.

Saleema planted more seeds in the polytunnel so hopefully we’ll have something to sell at the Green Fair at St Mary’s, Bramall Lane on 30th June (plug, plug). You can now see strawberry plants in the dock and dandelion patch, and Ed strimmed round the soft fruit bushes before Ruth and Brian put down a mulch round them.   Lots of other jobs done – only two on my long list that we didn’t manage. Many thanks once again to everyone who came to help.  Forager Babs 

Debs and myself (Forager Babs) have just done our three day beekeeping course with the wonderful beek Bill Cadmore ably assisted by Charles Austin, our Bee Buddies Head Beekeeper. 

What amazing creatures they are! Did you know that it’s the worker bees who decide what kind of eggs a queen lays? or that drones are made from unfertilised eggs and don’t sting? or that workers have lots of housekeeping jobs to do before they are promoted to flying off and foraging? 

There’s been so much in the news about bees over the last few years which has really raised people’s awareness about their problems.  I’d encourage anyone to learn more about them and help to protect them by gardening organically and planting more flowers or blossoming trees.  Afterall, is it a third or two thirds of all our food is produced thanks to pollinating bees?  We’d be in a sorry state without them.

It was very exciting to see 3 of our 5 hives, complete with bees arrive on site today.  Our two Bee Buddies, Babs and Debs are doing a three day course next week organised by Groundwork Sheffield as part of the Bee Buddy Project.  There are 7 sites dotted arround the city including Graves Park and the Botanical Gardens.  The head beekeeper Charles will be on hand to support us all until we’re confident that we know what we’re doing!

Will let you know when we’ve some honey for sale.

What a great work day we’ve had today, despite the freezing cold and showers.  It was also lovely to see new faces coming and getting stuck in.

Many thanks to those who: planted dozens of potatoes, weeded the onions, seived soil into raised beds, dug over a new veg patch, planted fruit trees and made 120 beehive frames ready for our new bees arriving next week!  Thanks also to the lunch andcake ladies – you know who you are!

Unfortunately we weren’t successful in our Local Food Lottery bid, but we’ve been so encouraged by all the support we get from volunteers, we know that work at Greave House Farm will go from strength to strength and many more people will come to enjoy being a part of this welcoming community.

Many thanks to all our enthusiastic volunteers who managed to plant 420 edible hedgerow trees along a public footpath and 10 more fruit trees in the orchard.  We also planted hundreds of onions and dug up the remaining carrots and parsnips from one of the raised beds.  The polytunnel had a spring clean and dozens of plant pots were washed ready for re-using.

Our next Word Day will be on Saturday 14th April – 10am to 4pm. Along with the usual jobs we will be putting together the frames for the beehives which will be arriving shortly.  We were successful in becoming a Bee Buddy Site which means we will be receiving 5 hives and the support of a beekeeper until our 2 bee buddies are trained up and confident to work on their own – very exciting!  We can all look forward to the Well Field Project Honey.  The Head Beekeeper, Charles will also be bringing an observation hive to the work day for us to have a look at.  It would be great to see some new faces along with the regulars.  We are a very friendly bunch so please feel free to come along and join in.  If you can let us know in advance it will help with catering for lunch, but if you decide on the spur of the moment will can always squeeze another plateful out!

We’ve just added a new work day on our Events Page

New volunteers always welcome and looking forward to seeing familiar faces.