Harvest 2010

How lucky we’ve been with such a dry start to the autumn.  It’s our favourite time of year and it has been beautiful.  Dry warm days and the handpickers are racing to keep ahead of the starlings!  At this time of year huge flocks of the birds form and they love the fruit as it starts to get soft and a little overripe.  They have been known to descend en masse and devour an entire crop.

The cider crop is looking good and with the dry weather all the work is getting done with the minimum of mess - a boon for pickers and processing alike.

Crop wise we are definitely down in volume.  Sugar levels are up, as we predicted and the quality and ph levels are fine.

At this time of year we also like to see what kind of one year extension growth we have managed to achieve, because that is the future of our crop.  The one year growth is looking reasonable.  We probably left a little bit too much fruit on the younger trees, which hasn’t given us quite as much growth as we would have liked, but we’re hoping to put on a bit of a spurt in the spring.

We’re going to be experimenting with putting more nutrient on a little earlier in the season.  We had a bit more scab than we would have liked, which is probably us being mean with the spraying, and we have a little bit of codling moth damage on the dessert fruit, but not anything excessive and no problem for juicing.

We have sent off our scab leaf samples for analysis and when we get the results back in a couple of weeks we will decide on our actions.  Some people kill off all the leaves with a very heavy spraying regime, but we would prefer not to do that.  Old traditional orchardmen put sheep into the orchards to eat all the leaves so there would be no carry over of spores to the next year.  Depending on the results of the analysis we might do a little judicious spraying with copper - a little spraying, with a natural product, at the right time, can save you a fortune later.

SWECA

The South West of England Cidermakers’ Association (SWECA) held its six monthly meeting last week.  Hosts were John and Martin Thatcher at the family farm at Sandford, Somerset.

SWECA is a group dedicated to supporting the needs of cider makers, apple growers and enthusiasts in the South West region.  Its objective is to link with NACM on behalf of the cider industry, and to promote the interests of those engaged in the region’s cider making industry.

About 50 people attended last week’s meeting at Thatcher’s and were fascinated to hear what the company has been up to recently.  John and Martin Thatcher have invested heavily in new plant this year - an expression of confidence in the future of the industry.  

They discussed the new harvesting machinery they have acquired to harvest cider apples with a shake-and-catch technique which minimises bruising and improves cold storage times.

John Thatcher is regarded as a great mentor for all in the cider business, tremendously enthusiastic and forward looking.  “He is ahead of all of us!” said Orchard Ground Force's Neil Macdonald.

Group members shared their outlook for this year’s crop, with Devon predicting a 100% crop, Somerset 80% and Hereford 120%.  Everyone expressed optimism in the growth of the cider market - 6% over the last twelve months - with similar predictions for the growth of the apple juice market.

Perry pears have had a good year, with the market looking robust.

SWECA welcomes new members who are fruit growers, cider makers or enthusiasts.  For more details contact Bob Chaplin on 01749 334007 or email bob.chaplin@gaymercider.eu.com 

Stream Farm

We are very pleased to be bottling the first apple crop from Stream Farm in the Quantock Hills, Somerset.  The juice is a blend of Red Windsor, Bramley, Red Devil, Egremont Russet and Red Falstaff. 

Stream Farm is an 250 acre organic farm with an interesting vision - its owners have started several farming businesses on their land with the intention of handing each one on once it is profitable to farmers who see things as they do. 

Henrietta and James bought Stream Farm lock, stock and barrel in 2002. It had a small herd of 28 Dexter Cattle and a small flock of 26 Hampshire Down sheep. They have increased the herd to 200 and the flock to about 300. 

They sell their award winning produce online and at Food Festivals and Farmers’ Markets. Thus far they sell organic beef, chicken, lamb, pork, mutton, and stream fed, line caught trout.  For more information see the website at www.streamfarm.co.uk

If you have apples that you would like pressed and bottled do get in touch with us.

Appropriate clothing

We have lots of schools visiting our orchard (see School visits tab) and we always remind them to wear the right clothes for the outdoors, and particularly the right footwear.

We were delighted to see that Wells Cathedral School took us very seriously!

Apple Scrumping Day 2

It was a beautiful sunny day and we had an overflowing car park by 11.00 in the morning.  Everyone worked flat out all day chopping and squishing and pressing to turn the apples people picked in the orchard into juice to take home.  Huge thanks are due to Camilla and Amanda from Vigo who brought along one of their fruit presses and a big yellow muncher cruncher to chop up the fruit.  
Anyone who has more fruit than they can eat should certainly think about turning it into juice and a small Vigo press would really come in handy.  See www.vigopresses.co.uk or telephone 01404 892101.
We had such a lot of fun and the general public worked hard too, lots of dads and kids taking turns at the presses.  Thanks to Jasmine for the bacon butties, and to Fergus (not quite 7) who was her right hand man.

We're definitely up for it again next year.

Apple Scrumping Day

We’re doing something new on Sunday 12 September.  We’ll be offering to turn the apples people pick at the PYO into juice, bottle it and even give the bottles personalised labels.


Vigo, who provide us with equipment, are coming along to help and bringing some extra kit.  We’ll be chopping up the apples, pressing them for juice and pasteurising the bottles so the juice keeps.  So much easier than storing the apples for winter in the attic, and so much more fun to be able to offer your guests your own juice!


People can even make up their own blends from the fruit in the orchard - we have fifteen different kinds of apple to choose from and four different varieties of pear.


The sun is supposed to shine, and we’ll have a barbeque for hungry customers.


We look forward to seeing you all - West Bradley Orchards, 10.00 - 5.00 Sunday 12 September.

First PYO weekend of 2010 a success

Lots of people came to West Bradley for the first weekend this year of Pick Your Own.  The weather stayed sunny - more or less - and the fruit is looking really good.  People were filling wheelbarrows with apples and pears.  Many were intending to store the fruit until needed, and some said that their eyes were just bigger than their brains!  It is wonderful to see a whole orchard bursting with ripe fruit, each one a beauty.


Pick Your Own will continue on each weekend throughout September. All apples and pears are £1.10 per kilo. 


The harvest begins next week with our own pickers coming in during the week, and then it's absolutely full-on until Christmas.