Thatchers Cider Open Day
5 years ago
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
much needed rain and graft after care
The weather has been lovely lately-beautiful rain! It would have been perfect if we could have had half of it a month ago, but our water butts are full (for the vegetables) and ht eearth and trees refreshed.
I must take some still photos to upload here, for the last few years I have concentrated on the YouTube channel whcih has developed quite an international following with 1,600 subscribers and 1,890,000 views so far.
The latest video I posted yesterday is also the longest ever at 15 minutes, and that was after editing. Several people have tried their hand at grafting after watching my videos, and I was getting a few requests about troubleshooting and after care. I'll see if I can post a link.
I must take some still photos to upload here, for the last few years I have concentrated on the YouTube channel whcih has developed quite an international following with 1,600 subscribers and 1,890,000 views so far.
The latest video I posted yesterday is also the longest ever at 15 minutes, and that was after editing. Several people have tried their hand at grafting after watching my videos, and I was getting a few requests about troubleshooting and after care. I'll see if I can post a link.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
heavy fruit set
Hi everyone, sorry again few posts here-I have been catastrophically busy. I have just completed 2 weeks annual leave from the daytime job, if I tell you that I didn't get fishing even once -in MAY!!! , even given that I paid up front for a season ticket on a local trout lake, plus coarse fishing club, you will know I have been busy. Boring stuff like tidying the shed, clearing out the apple store and cider house, washing bottles, making a huge new bottle rack, spraying, spraying, spraying, blending and bottling the 2010 cider (only so-so quality I'm afraid due to weather related ripeness problems) taking junk to the car boot sale and then unsold stuff to the dump. I even did some medical teaching, including a time critical course planning meeting with colleagues which with other people's inflexibilities could only be held in my holiday, a local teaching assignment (if you turn it down, you might not get asked again) and a trip to Birmingham after an anxious phone call from a national learning organisation I work with who were let down by a speaker pulling out a week before. Oh well, they paid me well and I earned some good little boy points, but all the same.........
Above all, it has been orchard work and as I type I have pins and needles in my fingers from all the FRUIT THINNING. I have YouTubed about this, plus the heavy stump removal work I also did. Due to the hot sunny weather on the blossom , there has been a ridiculously heavy fruit set on the plums, we have had to reduce by 80% to get decent fruit size and avoid broken branches. The apples are less extreme but still a lot of work. Today is Bank Holiday Mondaty, and after breakfast I will be off to the orchard to thin about 45 Lord Lambourne which have a heavy set. Due to good control of pest and disease problems (the Calypso did for the blasted ground chafer bugs that wiped out a third of our crop this time last year, although they still damaged a lot of fruit. The flock of starlings helped a lot too) the fruit are growing fast and well.
We are beginning to see and feel the benefit of removing so many fruit trees over the last 2 winters. The Lambournes I mentioned on MM106 9 feet apart are now 18 feet apart due to the removal of alternate trees. Drastic, and arm aching work with spade and axe (some helpful wags on YouTube suggested explosives or a tractor, we have access to neither and didn't want the collateral damage!), but now the trees are filling out into the space. We can get around them more easily to mow, thin, prune and spray and even in the first year after a 50% tree reduction we think the saleable crop will only be down 30% due to easier, therefore better, management and more light and air penetration. And indeed, better water foraging for the roots. The drought continues..................
will try to take some still pics to post, usually I forget as I make videos for the YouTube channel, see stephenhayesuk. Bye for now
Above all, it has been orchard work and as I type I have pins and needles in my fingers from all the FRUIT THINNING. I have YouTubed about this, plus the heavy stump removal work I also did. Due to the hot sunny weather on the blossom , there has been a ridiculously heavy fruit set on the plums, we have had to reduce by 80% to get decent fruit size and avoid broken branches. The apples are less extreme but still a lot of work. Today is Bank Holiday Mondaty, and after breakfast I will be off to the orchard to thin about 45 Lord Lambourne which have a heavy set. Due to good control of pest and disease problems (the Calypso did for the blasted ground chafer bugs that wiped out a third of our crop this time last year, although they still damaged a lot of fruit. The flock of starlings helped a lot too) the fruit are growing fast and well.
We are beginning to see and feel the benefit of removing so many fruit trees over the last 2 winters. The Lambournes I mentioned on MM106 9 feet apart are now 18 feet apart due to the removal of alternate trees. Drastic, and arm aching work with spade and axe (some helpful wags on YouTube suggested explosives or a tractor, we have access to neither and didn't want the collateral damage!), but now the trees are filling out into the space. We can get around them more easily to mow, thin, prune and spray and even in the first year after a 50% tree reduction we think the saleable crop will only be down 30% due to easier, therefore better, management and more light and air penetration. And indeed, better water foraging for the roots. The drought continues..................
will try to take some still pics to post, usually I forget as I make videos for the YouTube channel, see stephenhayesuk. Bye for now
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Blossom due, even begun!!!
Its raining gently today, thanks God, but last week's very warm sunshine after a dry, mild March led to opening of the peach blossom (Julia planted 2 peaches by the apple store) and over the weekend the damson blossom is almost open. There is due to be a catastrophically beautifal show of bl;opssom on hte new pear orchard, where I am training to pyramids on an absolutel minimum pruning regime and there is tight fruit bud right to the tips of most of the pear trees. Its going to be the blossom show of the decade. Will post images later. Once again, the daytime job has got out of hand since November and I have been posting videos on YouTube so tended to neglect this blog, but will try to post some kind of orchard diary this growing season. Kind regards. PS an old friend came unexpectedly round last night asking for an apple tree. I told him thet Blackmoors had just sent out an email saying today was theuir last date for bare rooted orders as the season had moved on. Decided to let him have 2 young trees at his risk but will need watering like mad. It is now really too late to plant for this year. STOP PRESS Apple day and folk music even planned for Durley Memorial hall Saturday 29th October, tickets will be £7 in advance, £8 on the door and all profits for the noble recycling and development charity Tools for Self Reliance. Much more on this later but keep the date free.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Almost spring!!!
Hi everyone, its nearly springtime! I have been very busy with the job that earns the money (doctoring and teaching about skin cancer diagnosis) and have also got so mixed up with ever changing complexifications of passwords and accounts that I hardly ever come here, but will try to make a few posts this year. Most of the action has been on my YouTube channel where I am currently looking at grafting. see you all later
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Hi, I'm back
Hi everyone. Sorry about my failure to respond to comments posted here, I will try to catch up.
Truth is I've had a busy year with work and family and I have been concentrating on my YouTube channel, which you can find easily enough. I am just a few views short of a million and almost 1,000 subscribers. The limited time I have interfacing with the world about my orchard has gone into this. And I lost my pasword, it got all conmplexified and I all but forgot about this blog.
The orchard is not in a happy state due to the drought and a severe infstation of red spider mite. I have just struggld throughthe logstics of gettnig some serious acaricide which Julia began applying today (I know, the women do all the hard work, I meanwhile was at the clinic earning money that keeps the apple project afloat).
I expect to post more often from now on, bt anyone interested in the week by week goings on at the orchard woudl be better off subscribing to my YouTube channel.
all the best, back shortly
Truth is I've had a busy year with work and family and I have been concentrating on my YouTube channel, which you can find easily enough. I am just a few views short of a million and almost 1,000 subscribers. The limited time I have interfacing with the world about my orchard has gone into this. And I lost my pasword, it got all conmplexified and I all but forgot about this blog.
The orchard is not in a happy state due to the drought and a severe infstation of red spider mite. I have just struggld throughthe logstics of gettnig some serious acaricide which Julia began applying today (I know, the women do all the hard work, I meanwhile was at the clinic earning money that keeps the apple project afloat).
I expect to post more often from now on, bt anyone interested in the week by week goings on at the orchard woudl be better off subscribing to my YouTube channel.
all the best, back shortly
Friday, 8 January 2010
Wassailing
Wassailing has been in the news recently, with the usual discussions about what is the correct dates, origins of the custom, what to drink etc. There was an item on our local BBC TV news programme yesterday evening, which was fun but slightly annoying for reasons I'll mention.
We usually have a wassail on the second Saturday of January, mainly for our friends in Wickham Morris. Regrettably, due to the exceptional weather it was necessary to cancel due to the state of the roads approaching the orchard. Ordinarily they are merely very bad with potholes, narrow, neglected and winding with horses and their riders 'Ectually, eh DO own the road, dahling!' round every corner, but add to this an inch of compacted ice and it would have been irresponsible as well as just too much like very hard work to go ahead.
We were first asked to consider making our orchard available for a wassail about 11 years ago after moving to Botley, when I joined Wickham Morris as a mandolin player. The Morris squire was sensitive to the fact that as Christians we might have a problem with a 'pagan' practice. I researched wassailing and couldn't find anything any necesarily more 'pagan' about it than, for example, string quartets or harvest suppers. We made a start and apart from a few cancellations or greatly reduced celebrations due to inclement weather have done our 3 wassail for 10 years, with up to 100 guests.
Your good health!
The word 'wassail', as one of the team said on the TV past night, is an Anglo Saxon greeting or salutation meaning 'good health' or 'be thou whole!', so if that's 'pagan' then so is wishing someone good morning or happy birthday. The 'essential' ingredients for a wassail are some sort of communal warm spiced drink, generally cider or beer based, some song and fun outdoors, or at the door of a big house where some food and drink would be brought out. This latter sort of wassail is described in Thomas Hardy's novel 'Under the Greenwood Tree' where the members of the 'Mellstock Quire' perform sacred and secular songs from door to door in the village where they are both the 'barn dance' and church music group. Several of the traditional wassail songs request food and drink to be brought out to the revellers in the street, or let them in and give them 'your mouldy cheese and some of your Christmas loaf'.
Guns and cider don't mix!
The Somerset/west country wassailing custom is more to do with orchards, and 'traditionally' involved a bonfire, discharge of shotguns into the trees, putting toast in the trees 'for the robins' , beating the trees with sticks, and sundry other customs. Morris dancing is NOT part of any wassail tradition, but has been inserted since Morris dance sides are just the sort of folks who want to do wassailing!
There is no authoritative wassail 'tradition', and just as with Morris dancing itself, wassailing has been re-invented as various folks saw fit, picking and choosing which bits to include, leave out, or make up. We certainly leave out the guns, although they are very traditional. We put bags of peanuts and fat balls in the trees for the small birds, and have also added to the tradition by putting up bird boxes in some of the larger trees! We sometimes pray and give thanks to the God of the orchard, well I do anyway. He will see to any evil spirits, they're not afraid of sticks or guns! I see the tradition as neither Christian nor pagan, merely 'folk' or 'people', or 'country'. Or indeed, just fun with friends and a seasonal reflection.
Some people find the idea of 'paganism' very exciting, certainly more 'sexy' than Richard Dawkins' stark atheist materialism which is increasingly being rammed down our throats, others are profoundly put off by it. This is not the time or place for a sermon or long essay on Christmas trees, Puritanism, symbolism in Christianity etc, and I don't particularly want a load of comments on this. But to strongly assert that wasailing is 'pagan' could mean Christians felt the need to avoid wassailing, which would be a pity.
Anyhow, Wassail to all!
RECIPE
simmer some orange zest (remove with a potato peeler, then squeeze in the orange juice and discard the pith) and an orange stuffed with a dozen cloves in 2 pints of apple juice with a stick or 2 of cinnamon for half an hour or so. Add 6 pints of strong dry cider, add sugar to taste and bring up to a sensible temperature and serve in stone mugs, preferably around a bonfire with good friends in an orchard.
SONG (irregular, to tune of 'the miller of Dee' or similar. Or whatever you like!)
Old apple tree, we wassail thee
and hope that thou dost bear
for the Lord does know where we shall be
when apples come again another year
for to bear well, and to bloom well,
how happy we shall be
let every man take off his hat
and shout to the old apple tree
old apple tree, we wassail thee
and hope that thou dost bear
hats full, caps full
bushels, bags and barrels full
and a little heap under the stair
hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!
We usually have a wassail on the second Saturday of January, mainly for our friends in Wickham Morris. Regrettably, due to the exceptional weather it was necessary to cancel due to the state of the roads approaching the orchard. Ordinarily they are merely very bad with potholes, narrow, neglected and winding with horses and their riders 'Ectually, eh DO own the road, dahling!' round every corner, but add to this an inch of compacted ice and it would have been irresponsible as well as just too much like very hard work to go ahead.
We were first asked to consider making our orchard available for a wassail about 11 years ago after moving to Botley, when I joined Wickham Morris as a mandolin player. The Morris squire was sensitive to the fact that as Christians we might have a problem with a 'pagan' practice. I researched wassailing and couldn't find anything any necesarily more 'pagan' about it than, for example, string quartets or harvest suppers. We made a start and apart from a few cancellations or greatly reduced celebrations due to inclement weather have done our 3 wassail for 10 years, with up to 100 guests.
Your good health!
The word 'wassail', as one of the team said on the TV past night, is an Anglo Saxon greeting or salutation meaning 'good health' or 'be thou whole!', so if that's 'pagan' then so is wishing someone good morning or happy birthday. The 'essential' ingredients for a wassail are some sort of communal warm spiced drink, generally cider or beer based, some song and fun outdoors, or at the door of a big house where some food and drink would be brought out. This latter sort of wassail is described in Thomas Hardy's novel 'Under the Greenwood Tree' where the members of the 'Mellstock Quire' perform sacred and secular songs from door to door in the village where they are both the 'barn dance' and church music group. Several of the traditional wassail songs request food and drink to be brought out to the revellers in the street, or let them in and give them 'your mouldy cheese and some of your Christmas loaf'.
Guns and cider don't mix!
The Somerset/west country wassailing custom is more to do with orchards, and 'traditionally' involved a bonfire, discharge of shotguns into the trees, putting toast in the trees 'for the robins' , beating the trees with sticks, and sundry other customs. Morris dancing is NOT part of any wassail tradition, but has been inserted since Morris dance sides are just the sort of folks who want to do wassailing!
There is no authoritative wassail 'tradition', and just as with Morris dancing itself, wassailing has been re-invented as various folks saw fit, picking and choosing which bits to include, leave out, or make up. We certainly leave out the guns, although they are very traditional. We put bags of peanuts and fat balls in the trees for the small birds, and have also added to the tradition by putting up bird boxes in some of the larger trees! We sometimes pray and give thanks to the God of the orchard, well I do anyway. He will see to any evil spirits, they're not afraid of sticks or guns! I see the tradition as neither Christian nor pagan, merely 'folk' or 'people', or 'country'. Or indeed, just fun with friends and a seasonal reflection.
Some people find the idea of 'paganism' very exciting, certainly more 'sexy' than Richard Dawkins' stark atheist materialism which is increasingly being rammed down our throats, others are profoundly put off by it. This is not the time or place for a sermon or long essay on Christmas trees, Puritanism, symbolism in Christianity etc, and I don't particularly want a load of comments on this. But to strongly assert that wasailing is 'pagan' could mean Christians felt the need to avoid wassailing, which would be a pity.
Anyhow, Wassail to all!
RECIPE
simmer some orange zest (remove with a potato peeler, then squeeze in the orange juice and discard the pith) and an orange stuffed with a dozen cloves in 2 pints of apple juice with a stick or 2 of cinnamon for half an hour or so. Add 6 pints of strong dry cider, add sugar to taste and bring up to a sensible temperature and serve in stone mugs, preferably around a bonfire with good friends in an orchard.
SONG (irregular, to tune of 'the miller of Dee' or similar. Or whatever you like!)
Old apple tree, we wassail thee
and hope that thou dost bear
for the Lord does know where we shall be
when apples come again another year
for to bear well, and to bloom well,
how happy we shall be
let every man take off his hat
and shout to the old apple tree
old apple tree, we wassail thee
and hope that thou dost bear
hats full, caps full
bushels, bags and barrels full
and a little heap under the stair
hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
