» Introduction

Canalside Community Food is very much like an organic, vegetable box scheme – members pay a subscription for a weekly assortment of those items  in season.  Being a CSA however, Canalside is much more than your average box scheme, offering the chance to be part of a community that works to support a local farm whilst enjoying a regular share in the harvest.  Members are able to visit the farm and help with the growing, harvesting and weeding(!).  With the community supporting the farmers with labour intensive tasks in this way, it makes the process of producing food a more economically reliable and affordable task.  As well as these opportunities to help work on the farm with the growing of veg, there are also social gatherings celebrating the different seasons, giving members access to the farm so as to enjoy the space.

Canalside Community Food started full scale vegetable production in Spring 2007 and we now produce weekly shares of seasonal veg for over 110 households. All the vegetables in the shares are grown on the project site on Leasowe Farm, where we cultivate 7 acres, including five large polytunnels for tender crops, using organic methods. We are certified organic by the Soil Association.

Example of a Large weekly veg share for August

Click on the picture for our veg share prices and how to sign up for your share of the harvest!

During the winter of 2009-10, we started planting a fruit orchard using a Local Food grant to cover the start-up costs of a fruit project. This will give local residents a truly local and sustainable option for their fruit as well as their vegetables. Organic fruit shares will be available from summer 2011.

If you like fresh food and fresh air, would like to feel more connected to both the community and the countryside around you and would like to be more involved in local  food production, please have a look through our website to see what we can offer you, and get in touch with us if you’d like more information.