MEMBERS of a unique agriculture project have begun to harvest their inaugural batch of seasonal vegetables.

Camel Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a local food project based at St Kew Highway. Volunteers are growing their own vegetables for members to share.

The first vegetable boxes were sent out at the end of last week and organisers said the response from members was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Camel CSA secretary, Mike Sadler, said: "It's much, much more than an allotment society. The emphasis is on shared effort and shared reward. There are also the benefits of healthy eating, reduced food miles, exercise, and making new friends.

"Some people said we would never make it, but we have proved that we can. We're grateful to our expert growing team and all the other volunteers who have been turning up on Friday and Sunday mornings, rain or shine."

Many hours of manual labour have gone into preparing the 132ft long growing beds, including spreading compost, digging up dock leaves, sowing seeds, planting out seedlings, hoeing and hand-weeding.

The first standard £8 boxes contained a wide variety of vegetables – newly-harvested potatoes, broad beans, beetroot, Swiss chard, onions, turnip, courgettes, salad leaves and cucumber.

Mr Sadler said: "The glut of broad beans meant that each box received a bonus of an extra £4 worth at shop prices."