Giving thanks for food and fellowship

Dear friends of Pandy Farm,

Autumn is a time of transition and celebration as we harvest the bounty of our summer months and slowly wind down towards winter. At Pandy Farm autumn has been a busy time with several new stone walls built, wood milling for the new tractor shed, plans for a new polytunnel and the ongoing renovation of our barn. Check out the photo gallery at the end of this newsletter.

As always we give thanks to the wonderful folks who are an active part of our community, to all our wonderful volunteers and to the land, trees and river who sustain us!

Harvest Hampers (aka veg box)

If you’ve not joined already and would like to receive updates about our weekly harvest hamper, feel free to join our WhatsApp Group or contact us to add your email address.

This is a great way to eat locally produced food and to support the farm while we renovate our farm shop.

As a farm who does not use any social media we rely friends to help us spread the word. Feel free to pass on our details to friends and family members who might be interested.

If you have any questions please contact us.

Winter Closing Dates

The last hamper notification of the year will be posted on Thursday 19th December - for collection on Monday 23rd December from 3pm. Make sure to order plenty of Pandy veg for your holiday cooking!

The farm will be closed from 24th December until the end of January 2025.

Introducing the Flame Weeder

Lately we’ve had some interest from curious onlookers about our hand-made flame weeder. The device is powered by butane gas, which is carried in a canister that fits neatly into a backpack. The flames burn off small weeds growing in freshly rotivated soil, leaving the bean (in this case) undisturbed in the soil below.

And speaking of spuds..

In September Pandy Farm was invited to supply the Channel 4 TV show Our Dream Farm with spuds and leeks for one of their challenges. Contestants had to calculate the cost of production, set up a farm stall and sell their veg to passers by. The episode was filmed in Portmeirion and will be broadcast early next year.

And more on our spuds…

You can now buy Pandy Farm potatoes at the Porth Penrhyn fish shop in Bangor. For those of you who have not yet been, the Menai Seafood Company specialise in sustainable and responsibly sourced seafood - mainly from the Welsh coast but other key parts of the world as well. We are very happy to collaborate with another sustainable local food provider. https://themenaiseafoodcompany.co.uk.

Don’t forget that you can also buy a large range of our vegetables (and hen’s eggs) at Cosyn Cymru in Bethesda.

Volunteer opportunities - would you like to get involved?

For those of you who are keen to join our team and volunteer in exchange for fresh veg each week, we have opportunities every Tuesday and Wednesday from 10.30pm ‘till 2.00pm (weather dependent). There are also occasional weekend volunteer days.

Volunteering is a great way to learn about local food production, to meet like-minded people and to help ensure food security in our area. It is also fun - and we have a diversity of activities that suit all ages and abilities.

The best way to get updates about volunteering is to join our WhatsApp group (button below) but if you do not use WhatsApp please reach out via the contact page and we’ll keep you in the loop.

Farm Shop Update

Our plan to reopen the farm shop in September 2024 has now been delayed to 2025. We apologies to those of you who are waiting, but do feel free to pop ‘round to the farm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to lend a helping hand in exchange for fresh veg, or sign up for our weekly harvest hamper.

Book Recommendation -

The Lost Rainforests of Britain by Guy Shrubsole

This has been my favourite read of 2024 - a journey through the botany, history, politics and beauty of our native Atlantic rainforests. Guy Shrubsole’s passion and humour drip through its pages like soggy moss after heavy rain. It is an utter delight to read and a highly recommended Christmas gift for any loved ones.

Did you know that Pandy Farm has an excellent segment of native rainforest nestled against our river bank? You can use the interactive map on the Lost Rainforests website to zoom in and see some of the layers of moss, lichen and fungus species that have been identified there. Check out the lostrainforestsofbritain.org.

And ending on a happy note.. (excuse the pun)

.. and on the theme of rainforests - check out this beautiful article in the Guardian last month about a groundbreaking petition to recognise the Los Cedros rainforest’s moral authorship of a piece of music. This is first legal attempt to recognise an ecosystem’s moral authorship and is being submitted to Ecuador’s copyright office by musician Cosmos Sheldrake (son of scientist Rupert Sheldrake) and writer Robert McFarelane.

In 1988 the Los Cedros rainforest was rescued from a mining company by the joint action of several international groups including our good friends at the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia. In a historic ruling, the legal personhood of the Los Cedros biological reserve was recognised by Ecuador’s constitutional court in 2021. In times such as these we must celebrate such rays of sanity. Giving Nature legal recognition, as being inherently worthy of her rights, is a true foundation of a healthy, life-affirming future for all.

Gallery Selection

Here’s a few shots taken over the last few months on the farm