Picture an orchard: what do you see? Most likely, you’ll see fruit-laden trees. But what is growing below and between the trees? And what is living in and around the them? Recent research conducted at the University of Reading delved into the impact of growing wildflowers beneath apple trees on the insect population and how […]
apples
A wee Scottish orchard odyssey
My job involves co-ordinating aftercare for our newly planted orchards. I recently went to Scotland to attend our Orchard Gathering in Glasgow and used it as an opportunity to visit as many of the orchards as possible – a plum job! This is a round-up of my trip. Linkes Food Forest, Glasgow First up was […]
Juicing with schools
It’s the time of the year when our fruit trees look bountiful and we are looking forward to harvesting the fruit from our orchards, as a reward for our hard work over the last year. Apples, especially, always seem to be abundant. After the fruit bowls have been filled and the pies and crumbles baked, […]
The Gower Wassail
Recently on Gower there was a loud hullabaloo coming from down in the valley! You might have been forgiven for thinking that a riot was happening with all the shouting and pot-banging! Going closer into the pushing, shoving, yelling crowd – if you dared – you might have spotted a small herd of decorated horse […]
The magic of mistletoe
Mistletoe is a familiar Christmas feature, steeped in ancient folklore. An evergreen plant with forked branches and pairs of symmetrical leaves, mistletoe plants are either male or female. Both are needed for the characteristic white berries to form from winter to spring, but they only appear on the female plants. It is an unusual plant […]
A little patch of nature
A spontaneous decision to try something completely different was a life-changing moment for Satu Fox. The 38-year-old attended our orchard open day with Lewisham Homes just a few minutes’ walk from her London flat. The next thing she knew, she was signing up for five hours of orchard management training with professionals and park keepers […]
Take a walk on the wild side
We’ve gathered some ideas from our popular Certificate in Community Orcharding Course to help get you started on making your garden or orchard more ‘wild’ and encourage more beneficial pollinators to take up residence there: What’s already there? Explore what natural habitats already exist before you decide what to do next. Wildlife such as nesting […]
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 us below. We currently have a course open for registration in South-west London, if you’re considering signing up to the course (info here), her reflections […]
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 more information our CICO course, click here. Claybury orchard lies within Claybury Park and is situated to the south-east of Claybury Woods, an ancient forest […]
The Mums who planted more than a seed to unite their local community
Meet Emma, Rachel and Janet: the mums with a mission! Along with other local mothers from Sale in South Manchester, they set out to improve their local park and ended up bringing almost 1,000 people from the community together in honour of apples. Their much-loved orchard is now a very special community asset, which will […]