Here’s some good news from the Community Orchard trustees:
On Saturday March 7th, we had a good morning with a few sunny patches and No Rain! With seven enthusiastic and cheerful volunteers, we really started to make a difference. We chopped up and stacked dead wood to create wildlife.
Our very own Tim Walker who makes the delicious cider with our apples, came and gave us some advice about our young apple trees, which are doing well, and he kindly pruned a couple of old trees that needed attention. He is saying that if we clear more dead wood, we’ll be able to make more room for more young trees.
We dug up lots of docks with our vintage “dock lifters”. These are what people used before weedkillers came along. They are brilliant tools which, with a little fork at the end and a bar to put your foot you can get whole docks up, long root and all, very easily! You can find them in museums round the country. We want to have a few so that we can clear our orchard of docks without using weed killer. So if you know where we can get one, or have one gathering dust at the back of your shed, and you didn’t know what to do with it, please let us know.
We also planted three wild Devon damson trees. So in three years time we’ll be making damson jam! Before the Virus came and changed all our lives, we had decided to hold a work morning on the last Saturday of every month, but that will be an idea for later. Now that Spring has really sprung, do take a chance to enjoy the peace and bursting new life in the Orchard.
Best Wishes from the Orchard Trustees, Anna, Jim, Nicky and Lucy.