The work day on 12th October had a good turnout. We managed to pick crates full of apples from Mark’s existing trees which were rushed off by Mark and Gwen to Day’s Cottage orchard for juicing, bottling and pasteurising.
As has been the trend so far the weather was lovely, having started foggy and cleared by the time work started in earnest.
After running the gauntlet through the field full of apple-loving horses, all of us evidently smelling of freshly picked apples, we began work to plug the newly formed “plughole” in the pond, clearing weeds for a picnic area, yet more thistle clearance and measuring and marking out the positions of the initial set of trees to plant.
This was followed by a lovely shared lunch, including by all accounts some fantastic apple pie, and some bags of extra apples to take home.
The following week saw the orchard featured in several local papers, including the full cover of Stroud Life. Hopefully this will help further raise the awareness of community orchards in the area.
Those who participated in the picking have since redeemed their “options to buy” at cost price (for the bottling and pasteurisation) on the apple juice and we can confirm the juice is delicious!
The 2009 planting plan is close to finalized, and we will be planting in February.
We are still looking for extra members for the community orchard. If you are interested in taking part please contact us.
