Our Edinburgh Project Manager, Chris, opens his ears to the sounds of the orchard in winter. He also considers ideas for community events that will tap into these aural pleasures. What seasonal sounds in January and February, do you associate with your orchard? Is it the rhythmical ‘snip’ of secateurs, as fruit trees are given their winter pruning? Or is it the ‘squeak’ of a wheel barr
Blog
To Bee or Not To Bee..
by Stephanie Irvine, one of our London Project Managers. We need to talk about honey bees! Many urban community orchards want to keep bee hives, and you can understand why.…
Diary of a CICO student
Our Certificate in Community Orcharding (CICO) is the UK’s first and only accredited course in community orchards. One of our committed students, Tamasin, has kindly shared her CICO journey with…
Orchards Against Climate Change: Nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions (NbS) can play an important role in tackling the climate crisis. It is currently something of a buzzword among environmentalists in fact. In this blog, we unpack how and why NbS help mitigate the impacts of our changing weather patterns, and call for urban community-run orchards to be…
How to set up a charity: in conversation with our co-founder
Carina Millstone is a Co-Founder of The Orchard Project (TOP) and is now an Ambassador. She is a permaculturalist, who first noticed the opportunity for more orchards within London’s environmental…
10 YEARS AT TOP: a grand anniversary for our London orchard legend, Lewis McNeill
Last month Lewis McNeill celebrated ten years of working at The Orchard Project. Over this time, Lewis has built up a considerable reputation among the London community gardening sector and…
Claybury Orchard – a sanctuary for both wildlife and the mind
This is an orchard report from one of our CICO6 students – Daniel Strangleman. He was asked to gather information about Claybury orchard and produced this lovely personal piece. For…
CREATING COMMUNITY ORCHARDS DURING LOCKDOWN IN WALES
We have been very excited this winter to work with local groups in Wales designing some brand new community orchards. These are located in local parks close to the centre…
Jargon Busting!
From eco- to bio-, with a bit of agro- in between, our Finance and Operations Manager, Kathryn, helps us decipher the basics of food growing terminology. Kathryn joined The Orchard…
Women in Cider
March marks International Women’s History Month, so what better way to celebrate than to highlight the important role of women in cider! Cider production in the UK has a long, rich…