Hazelhurst CSA
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The Transition group in Heeley-Meersbrook has initiated a Community Supported Agriculture project called The Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative Limited.
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Notice from Hazelhurst CSA Management Committee
The idea to form a Co-operative to produce locally grown, organic food for the local community began with Transition Sheffield, and more specifically the Heeley-Meersbrook group within Transition Sheffield, in April 2009. In January 2010, Huw Evans Company purchased the Hazelhurst site, and gave Transition Sheffield founders a two year option to buy the land for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project. The Hazelhurst CSA Co-operative Ltd was formed in July 2010 as an Industrial and Provident Society bona fide co-operative. The first AGM was held in September 2010 and a Management Committee elected to formulate a business plan, and source the members and finance to purchase this land. This work is underway. Membership and Pioneer shares were offered for sale in February 2011. The future of Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative will depend on the take-up of these share offers.
To find out more about membership of Hazelhurst CSA or request information about the share offers, please contact: admin@hazelhurst.coop. Alternatively, you can download the following documents:
- Hazelhurst CSA Newsletter No.1 February 2001 (includes share offer information)
- Hazelhurst CSA Contacts Form (this will enable you to join our mailing list)
To contact Hazelhurst CSA Management Committee, contact yvonne@hazelhurst.coop.
This Transition Sheffield wiki meticulously documents the ideas and research that went into bringing the project to life. Hazelhurst CSA now has its own website: http://hazelhurst.coop/, but this has not been developed extensively yet. This work will hopefully take place in June 2011 once the outcome of the share offer is known.
Latest news
- AGM
- Notes and reports from the AGM held on 20th September 2010.
- Norton Show
- At the Norton show, held on Saturday 14th August, a “Growing Fund” was launched and a new leaflet about the project was distributed. We have a £2,000 target for set up costs of seeds, manure and tools. All donations welcome. Please make cheques payable to the Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-op Ltd. and send to Heather Hunt, 212, Shirebrook Road, S8 9RG.
- At the Norton show, many people from local communities of Norton, Coal Aston, Batemoor and Jordanthorpe were very interested to hear about our plans and look at the display we had on show of the work so far on the land. 150 leaflets went before 3pm and nearly 60 people filled in our survey that will help with our business plan. We started our Growing Fund with sales from Marion's honey and donations for organically grown veg we'd brought from our allotments. We are very pleased to make the link with the local communities near the site on Hazelhurst Lane. Thank you to local farmers who encouraged us to take part.
- Public meetings
- Provisional dates have been set for two public meetings to discuss the project, Monday 10th May 2010 and Monday 5th July 2010 and for the first AGM, Monday 20th September 2010.
- Rules and legal proposal
- The Hazelhurst CSA Committee has agreed to propose that the project be legal constituted as the Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative Limited an Industrial and Provident Society bona fide co-operative, using the Somerset CSA model rules.
- Conservation and Biodiversity List
- A new email list has been set up to coordinate work about conservation and biodiversity, please join it if you want to get involved.
- Domain name
- The project now owns hazelhurst.coop and a basic web site has been put up and @hazelhurst.coop email addresses are available, contact chris@hazelhurst.coop if you want one.
- Heeley to Hazelhurst Walk
- Around 40 people had an enjoyable walk from Heeley to Hazelhurst and onto Ford and then a bus back to Heeley after a stop at the pub, some photos from the day have been added to the walk page.
- The 9 acre field
- Has been sold by the farmer to Huw Evans' company on 25th January 2010, Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative will have a 2 year option to buy it from Huw Evans' company.
The project
The plan is for the Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative to buy a 9 acre field in the Moss Valley and to use this to produce a weekly supply of fruit and vegetables for members.
For general discussion about the Hazelhurst Community Supported Agriculture Co-operative people did initially use the Meersbrook-Heeley-Food list, the list has open archives.
More information
- See Hazelhurst CSA Committee for links to notes of the committee meetings.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Sourcing for proposals for a ethical purchasing policy for the co-op.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Software for options for applications the project could use.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Principles and Purpose for some draft proposals for a principles and purpose document for the project.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Affiliations for a list of organisations that the co-op might want to consider affiliating to.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Social Audit for notes on social accounts.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Shares for notes on future share issues.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Rules for information the different rules the Hazelhurst CSA Committee is considering proposing that the project adopt.
- See Hazelhurst CSA Business Plan for notes on developing a business plan for the project.
For background information about the project see Heeley-Meersbrook, Community Supported Agriculture, Moss Valley, Category:Hazelhurst and the Category:CSA pages.
