Through the storm of this last eighteen months Joe’s Farmgate is growing up; evolving its identity from CERES’ little sister site into something entirely its own.

Like Baltic pine there are lots of other native timbers we use every day but don’t talk about – Merbau from South East Asian rain forests, Cumaru from South American jungles, even our own old growth Mountain Ash.

In times of trouble we seek sanctuary and in weeks like these CERES, more than ever, feels like a Mother Tree.

So much happening around CERES during this wintery weather! From firewood and awards for Fair Wood, to our waste-free beetroot curry workshop, and Joes Garden Feathery Fundraiser (complete with bird-themed dress up) at the farm gate. Busy season!

My own failed veg box experience was years of composting the limp beetroot and yellowing cabbage my family didn’t eat and feeling a kind of “veg box shame”.

At this year’s Harvest Festival as the passata makers wiped the last sauce spatters away, Rosa Voto and musicians, Sancori, took centre stage to perform Stories of Harvest from Southern Italy to a gathering of harvest revellers primed to let loose.