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.

The orchard in early summer

We've let the grass grow long between the trees because it is full of wildflowers.

The nasturtiums and borage we've planted in the raised beds are growing well

 A Medlar flower

We're delighted that Lowick in Bloom has received a Sustainable Development Fund Grant to purchase a community bee hive. We'll put this in a field close to the orchard, and hopefully the bees will benefit from the clover, birdsfoot trefoil and oxeye daises in the orchard grass. If you would like to learn a little about bee keeping, please come along to one of our sessions at the hive - we'll have bee suits and all the necessary equipment. Contact Karen Burn for further information 01289 388652

Spring Work in the Orchard

We've been hard at work in the orchard recently, ready to welcome the Northumbria in Bloom judges.

Tom's cut the grass with the tractor and the used the lawn mower to trim the edges of the paths. He's also strimmed around all the signs.

Here's the new ramp to the belvedere. It still needs the footpath taken to its edge. At the moment wheelchair users have to do a bit of 'off-roading' to get to it!

We've 112 trees now - this is looking down the row of  M106 apples

keeping the orchard paths free of weeds is still a challenge. Here's Tom flame weeding (again). It keeps his wellies warm!

This smart new donations box was an antique letter box. It's been mended, painted and attached to the belevere with a brass plaque. We're very grateful to Cheryl Grieve for the donation which made the restoration possible - we had £4 in it last week, which will go towards the gas for flame weeding the paths :)

The herb beds

It's the judging for Northumbria in Bloom on the 29th of April, so I've been tidying up the orchard herb beds. I planted nasturtiums, which is said to deter codling moth... not that we have any fruit yet, but it's good to be prepared :)

I added an organic compost to the herb bed soil.

The new belvedere ramp

 and donation box

Alice walked up to join me. It's not easy digging invasive mint out of a raised bed!

The medlar in bud