The 2016 Harvest

I'm often asked which fruit trees have done well in our Community Orchard and I can never remember. This year I've photographed the fruit to show the trees that have produced the best crops.

Bloody Ploughman, dessert apple

This is an old variety originating in 1883 in Carse of Gowrie in Scotland. It is said to have received its name from a ploughman who was caught stealing apples on the Megginch estate and was shot by the gamekeeper. His wife received the bag of apples and threw them on the compost heap, where a seedling then grew and was given its name. 

We have two Bloody Ploughman trees in the orchard and both have produced fruit this year.

Bramely’s Seedling

This well-known cooking apple is an old variety, originating In 1809 from Nottinghamshire. It was raised between 1809 and 1813 by Miss Mary Anne Brailsford and planted in her garden at Church Street, Southwell, Nottingham. Her cottage, along with the tree, passed to a Mr Bramley a local butcher, and Henry Merryweather offered the tree for sale. 

Issac Newton Tree, culinary apple

This is a very old apple tree originating from Lincolnshire in 1629. It is believed to be a descendant of the tree that inspired Isaac Newton in 1665 when the ‘notion of gravitation came to mind’ after watching an apple fall. Cuttings were taken from the tree in Isaac Newton's garden in Lincolnshire. The apple is the extremely rare variety ‘Flower of Kent’ which was first mentioned in the fifteenth century. 

The tree is supposed to produce a distinctly ugly cooking apple…. but our apple doesn’t seem to match the description. It was the first tree we planted in the orchard, so there was no chance of muddling the names up. We’re not convinced it’s the right tree!

Fiesta, dessert apple.

This is a modern variety originating in Kent in 1972. It’s a cross between Cox;s and Idared. The orchard tree has produced an excellent crop this year.

 The Fiesta tree

  

Red Windsor, dessert apple.

This apple tree was sponsored by my dad and obviously a good choice because it’s produced an excellent crop of small red apples. It’s a modern variety bred in Kent in 1985 and recommended for growing in the north

Red Windsor

Kerry Pippin, dessert apple.

This variety originated in 1802 in Kilkenny, Ireland. It is the second year this tree has produced a good crop of small golden yellow fruit in the Community Orchard. It is sponsored by my sister-in-law, Sarah Burn, in memory of her Irish husband.

Katy, dessert apple

This is another 20th century variety originating in Sweden in 1947 from a cross between James Grieve and Worcester Pearmain. Ours is only a small tree but it’s got a good crop of several bright red small apples.

Keswick Codling, dual purpose apple.

An old variety originated in Cumbria in 1793. The tree hasn’t produced much fruit but they are big apples.

Sunset, dessert apple

This community orchard apple tree has compact growth and quite a few apples. It originated in Kent in 1918 and is recommended for growing in the North 

Lord Lambourne, dessert apple.

This apple was raised in Bedfordshire in 1907. It’s forming a reasonable sized tree but hasn’t cropped very heavily. 

Hessle, dessert pear

This is the only pear that has grown in our orchard this year :( It’s a very old variety from Hessle in East Yorkshire where it is known locally as the Hazel pear and is described as one that will grow just about anywhere! 

Hessle

The birdsfoot trefoil has been beautiful in the orchard grass

Tom cutting the grass - some very careful maneuvering was necessary!

Looking across the fields to Hunting Hall and beyond to the sea. The poplars in the foreground were plated with our holiday cottage guests' carbon offsets to provide a windbreak along the side of the orchard.

Ox-eye daisies in June

On a breezy June afternoon the orchard grass is scattered with a flurry ox-eye daisies 

Tom's cut some of the grass with the tractor, but we've left the rest long as it is full of clover and birds foot trefoil

The windbreak of poplars, which we planted along the side of the orchard, is growing well. These trees were purchased using the carbon offsets bought by guests to Hunting Hall's holiday cottages. You can see the farm in the distance.

New Life in the Orchard

We planted a new quince tree in the orchard this afternoon to replace a sadly deceased walnut tree. Here Tom is making sure the tree roots can be spread out in the (odd shaped) hole I dug.

The tree in place - it's a 'Lescovaka' organic quince sponsored by Wendy. Quince are a very old fruit, a little like pears, but usually have to be cooked to be edible.

These snowdrops were planted by Hospice Care Northumberland a few years ago. They look so pretty in the orchard grass along with a handful of purple crocus from the local Rotary club.

It was great to see the first apple buds just beginning to grow.

Wassail!

On a rather wet and windy evening we were to be found wassailing in our community orchard. The King and Queen of the Wassail led the proceedings as we sang wassailing songs, blessed the trees and frightened away evil spirits. Afterwards we returned to the Piggery at Hunting Hall to some fantastic entertainment from the Rag Bag Morris dancers. A huge than you to everyone who helped make our evening a success, especially to Andrew and Hannah who stepped into the roles of King and Queen at the last moment.

The King and Queen of the Wassail lead the Procession. The king is carrying the Wassail bowl (or cup) which will hold cider used to sprinkle the trees. This is to encourage a good crop next year.

Andrew, King of the Wassail

Hannah, Queen of the Wassail

The Queen blessing a fruit tree and sprinkling it with cider. Later everyone dipped toast in the cider and hung pieces from each tree to encourage a good crop of fruit in 2014.

Back in the Piggery at Hunting Hall, the musicians are warming up for the Morris dancing to follow.

The Rag Bag Morris Dancers entertaining the Wassailers

The Wassail Queen trying out some morris dancing 

Audience participation. Which way do we go now? 

Wassailing 2014

First Harvest

2 very special apples; Laxton's Superb (left) and Irish Peach, the very first apple crop of Lowick Community Orchard. They were a nice surprise, hidden amongst the branches of the very small young trees. There are only a handful of tiny apples... but it's a start!

Bees

Lowick Community Orchard and Lowick in Bloom, with support from a Sustainable Development Fund Grant, have bought a community bee hive and bee keeping equipment to help local people learn about bee keeping. Bees will play an important role in pollinating our orchard, and we've under-sown the trees with a grass full of wildflowers which will provide a vital source of nectar and pollen for the new bees.

The Lowick Community Hive is one of three hives at Hunting Hall Farm. The second hive belongs to Philip, a local bee keeper, who has kindly agreed to help us look after our bees. The third is Tom’s 50th birthday present. We're really excited about the new apiary! A huge thank you for the grant, Northumberland Coast AONB SDF!

The community bee hive and Tom's hive came in a kit - so here he is making them in the old tractor house.

Philip at the apiary at Hunting Hall :)

Calming the new bees in the travel box with a smoker

The new bees on a frame that will be put inside the brood box (the big box on the bottom of the hive).

This is the brood box here the bees will breed and live.

Philip putting the lid on the brood box. Once it becomes full and the bees are well established and starting to make honey, another, smaller box will be added on top called a 'super'. The super is where the honey is stored by the bees that we can harvest.

Philip feeding his new bees with a sugar solution to keep them going until they can make enough honey to feed themselves.