Plant Based Business Opportunity in Cornwall

If you already live in Cornwall or dream of living in Cornwall, and have aspirations to run your own plant based business then La Cantina Cafe at Mount Pleasant Eco Park, in Porthtowan could be just the opportunity you are looking for.

As a multi-purpose events space, Mount Pleasant Eco Park is a vibrant and popular destination for veggies, vegans, and those with a passion for the environment, community, great food and cracking music.  The year round events at the Eco Park reflect this diverse audience and include everything from gigs, conferences, retreats, markets, and weddings to its annual Tropical Pressure Festival, frequent Roots Reggae Roasts and supper evenings.  The park also includes busy workshop units, community gardens, an organic allotment (run by the Down to Earth Foundation), a wild camping field, and at the heart of it La Catina Cafe; all of which are perched magnificently overlooking the beautiful north Cornish coast.

If you are a chef with a passion for plant based, fresh, organic cooking and you like the sound of working in such a happening and beautiful place, then you could be just the person the Eco Park is looking for to take over La Cantina Cafe and make it your own.  Experience (at least 5 years catering experience) and drive is a given but armed with both of these they are looking for someone who can grow the business to its full potential and even possibly expand.  

For full details on this exciting opportunity and for details on how to apply, check out the Mount Pleasant Eco Park Job Vacancies page. You can also drop Sophia at the Eco Park an email to discuss this opportunity in full.  The Facebook page also gives loads of information, up to date happenings and a great general feel of what the Eco Park is all about.

A Land Base for The Naturally Vegan Plot!

A couple of years ago we wrote about The Naturally Vegan Plot, a veganic gardening project set up by two Cornish vegans, Elaine and Jim.  Since then they have tirelessly worked towards growing this project but have had various set backs centred around the land they had rented.  As a result, and to ensure the future of the project, Elaine and Jim have decided the only way forward is to buy land as a permanent and secure base. To this end they have set up a Crowdfunder campaign to raise enough money for at least one acre of land.  With their plants and resources currently in storage, this campaign represents the make or break of the whole Naturally Vegan Plot project.  

As vegans we tend to be more switched on than most as to where our food comes from, the importance of growing our own, the protection of the soil, land and wildlife.  Basically on the most simple level, being in touch with and protecting the land is a crucial ingredient in securing our future food needs, let alone all the other factors associated with the less sustainable and non vegan food production options.  

So please, if you can afford to do so on whatever level, support this project by contributing to this Crowdfunder Campaign.

To read more about the project and to find out about their other events and fund raising activities visit The Naturally Vegan Plot's Facebook Page.  There is also loads of information on the Crowdfunder Campaign page.

Eau De Badger

In the depths of the hot summer we had installed a Belfast sink in the front garden to serve as a watering hole for the increasing amounts of wildlife that hone in on our tiny green patch.  The small bird bath and dog bowl offerings that we had previously provided had seemed insufficient and required daily (sometimes twice daily) top ups to keep up with demands in the heat of the moment.  

However, the water in our expanded 'pond' has been disappearing quickly too, to the extent that I was thinking there might be a leak.  Daily sips from next doors cats, the flock of 40 odd sparrows, and the clumsy bathing antics of the collared doves still didn't seem to account for the daily loss.  There had however been no puddle under the sink to indicate a leak.  I knew that the badgers had utilised the previous dog bowl facility I had provided (evidenced by the gathering of jowly grit the next morning after a fresh filling the night before).  However despite this, I don't think I had fully accounted for the slurpability of the black and white bandits when it comes to a good water supply.  

After another watering can of water was emptied into the depleted sink, I made a mental note to borrow one of the trail cameras from work again and duly brought it home the next evening.  The results indicated that indeed I had very much underestimated the value of the new bar we had recently opened in our front garden for our black and white clientele.  At least 30 seconds (that is as much as I had set each clip to record) of slurping was sucking up the pondy cocktail on occasions throughout the night.  The water obviously tastes a whole lot better with green garnishes from the pond than straight from a clean dog bowl.

Humorous slurping noises aside (turn up the volume on the top clip), this all very much highlighted something I am quite passionate about.  Many people choose to feed birds (I do and it is possibly one of the reasons for the increased sparrow population in our garden over the years - along with the tall safe vegetation we offer) but many forget that more importantly wildlife needs a good clean source of water.  It may have been highlighted more this summer but the truth is, wildlife needs this all year round, including during icy winter periods too.  So dog bowl, pond, sink, washing up bowl, or old re purposed/reused plastic container; fill it up and stick it out there and you'd be amazed what might come along and set up its bar stool in your garden.