– I would like to volunteer, how do I apply?
We run a drop-in horticultural volunteering session every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am. More details on volunteering here.
– I would like to donate, how do I do this?
We can accept donations by Direct Debit, as a single BACS payment, by cheque, or as a cash donation. Contact accounts@
I have the following items to donate, can you use them?
Chickens
No thank you.
Old plant pots and trays
Our wildflower project leader Nick Hall can make use of large pots if they are washed and cleaned. These can be left in the old pig sheds near the farmyard seating area. We cannot make use of seed trays or small pots. Other local organisations which might be able to take them include St. Just in Bloom and there may be recycling facilities at the Wyevale Garden Centre.
Cardboard boxes or packaging
We can use sturdy boxes which are a medium size for our veg boxes and we can use very large cardboard boxes for mulch if they have no coloured printing and the tape is removed. We cannot make use of small pieces of card or small cardboard boxes. We do use blue plastic mushroom crates and grey catering ice-cream tubs but we have quite a lot already so only need occasional replacements.
Packshare Penzance is set up to receive and distribute excess packaging between organisations.
Tools
We can usually make good use of spades, forks, trowels, hoes. Other tools and machinery we would consider on a case-by-case basis.
Clothing
We welcome fully waterproof coats with working fastenings, waterproof trousers and adult wellies with no holes in. We cannot make use of light, shower-proof coats, coats with broken zips or footwear with holes in.
We welcome overalls and sun hats / caps.
Kitchen crockery & utensils
Occasionally we need replacements of dinner plates, mugs and large cereal bowls. We cannot use any which are chipped or cracked. We welcome very large catering-sized saucepans. We do not usually need utensils and we cannot make use of glassware.
REQUESTS
– Do you have any chickens for sale?
Sometimes we do look for retirement homes for our older hens but we do not have any for sale for the foreseeable. Join our social media pages for updates.
– Can you help our group to get a growing project started? Can we borrow some muscle / tools?
We are happy to support new growing projects with farm tours, advice and connections and we would generally invite you to join us for teabreak at 11am or 1:30pm Mon-Wed to talk through your project and see how we can help you. For a donation we can usually spare a few hand tools for a couple of days to help local charities and community groups to get a project started. We also sell garden waste compost, seeds, trays and wildflower plants at our farm shop.
We would love to have a full ‘library of things’ in future but this would require more staff to manage and maintain it and more funds for insurance than we currently have.
– Do you have any land for rent?
We consider these requests on a case by case basis. We already have a forward vision for most areas of the farm and we also hope to create more allotments in future. All activities need to be in keeping with our overall farm aims, sustainable land management ethos and contribute towards our forward plan.
– Our charity / voluntary group is looking for a new base, is there room for us at your farm? / We are looking for somewhere to put a storage container, or an outbuilding to rent, can you help?
Generally we are not able to accommodate further portacabins or storage containers as we are situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and we do have a forward vision for most areas of our farm. However, we do assess these requests on a case by case basis. In making these decisions we are guided by our capacity to manage tenants, how well it adds to, or detracts from our core farm vision and how aligned the tenant’s activities are with our charitable aims which are primarily focussed on sustainable food production and associated volunteering and educational activities.
– Can I buy plants from you?
Generally all the plants we raise are used on the farm but we do sell wildflower plants and in the Spring this year, volunteers raised veg plants for us to sell from the farm shop. Our capacity to raise extra plants for sale will vary depending on the capacity of our volunteers. Please check our social media pages for updates. We usually invite local plant stall holders to our Open Days before Easter and at Harvest time (early October).
– Do you sell hay?
Our small hay bales are £3.50 each sold at our farm shop. We can offer a delivery service for orders of 10 bales within a three mile radius for a £5 delivery fee. Our hay is cut from our own traditional wildflower hay meadows (“unimproved”) so it is full of different grasses and herbaceous species (i.e. it is not too “rich” with rye-grass), making it ideal for horses. All the ragwort is removed from the meadows before cutting. The bales are small five-foot bales, unwrapped, stored in our open barn. The meadows are unsprayed and unfertilised. We cut late in the season, usually August, to give the flowering species time to set seed, and the insects that thrive in our meadows time to complete their life-cycles.