FOWEY ESTUARY ABUNDANCE PROJECT
See below for Abundance blog... updated 28th February 2011
What is Abundance ? Its a community project which harvests and distributes locally grown fruit which is going to waste - in particular apples, pears, plums, greengage etc. So if you donate fruit you will get a share of the harvest - the rest of the fruit is distributed in the local community particularly to local groups in need.
Anne-Marie Culhane founder of Abundance (winner of Observer Ethical Award 2010 Grassroots project) lives in Lostwithiel and will share information and learning in the hope of forming a cross generational harvesting group in the Lostwithiel area. All are welcome including: people with fruit trees, people interested in harvesting trees and people interested in cooking and processing including jams/chutneys/cider/juice etc.
If you are interested please contact AM on 07849074494 or mail@amculhane.co.uk
Here is the project flyer for more info - let me know if you want any to print out at home or you can pick some up from me.
ABUNDANCE BLOG
FEBRUARY 2011
LOSTWITHIEL: On a sunny February day perfect for pruning we helped St Winnow School prune their small orchard of apple trees. The trees are fairly young and in generally good condition so just needed a bit of tidying. They do get a bit of battering from children racing around and a few are being shaded out by an overgrown willow archway which needs to be cut back.
Pruning the small trees at St Winnow School
Andrew explained the basics of pruning to parents who help maintain the veggie beds, orchard and soon, a new sensory garden.
MIXTOW: In the afternoon we headed over to Mixtow to help prune some of the trees which supplied apples to Abundance last year. They range from very elderly (but still producing a good crop of apples) to newer and more vigorous trees. We were kindly repaid with the the 2 bottles of apple juice from last year's apples.
One of the elderly trees which only David was brave enough to hack away at
A younger tree that was pruned hard last year and responded with lots of vegetative growth
NOVEMBER 2010
We have pretty much wound up harvesting for the year though there are still apples on the trees and still some major orchards that haven't been harvested which we hope to work with next year. During the season we realised that an apple press would be of great value...so look forward to trying to get one of these and put it to full use next year.
Please get in touch at any time of the year to find out how to get involved. Thanks to the volunteers and all those that donated apples.
OCTOBER 2010
We have also been back to Mixtow to harvest more apples and some quinces and deliveries were made to STAK in St Austell (St Austell Community Kitchen) and Cornerstone Community Centre which hosts various community groups and St Petroc in Bodmin.
I took some of the surplus to Efford in Plymouth where I was running an apple pressing day – loads of kids got involved and helped out for most of the day and went home with a bottle of juice.
Kat, Jo and I had a first attempt at a stunning tree in the centre of town, again making full use of our pickers and ladders because the tree is so tall. Not sure what the apples are...but we think they will be great for cooking and juicing.
We held a CHUTNEY NIGHT on October 13th in Bodinnick which was really good fun and we made two batches of chutney - apple chutney and the special Abundance 'mother in law' chutney! Next chutney and apple mincemeat making night on 25 November in lostwithiel from 6pm. Soup is provided and you can take away some chutney and mincemeat made from Abundance apples and the rest will be sold for donations for the project.
More deliveries have been made to Cornerstone Community Centre who can get through lots with all their various groups and we also harvested up by the Dutchy Nursery, a house which has 4 apple trees, three of which are huge and ancient...a mix of apples and cookers. We had a lovely afternoon picking the apples and drinking tea and making full use of the apple pickers.
SEPTEMBER 2010
Visited the oldest apple tree in Lostwithiel with Andrew – may be up to 200 years old! A remnant of Kit’s Orchard the apples are already tasty and just starting to fall. This tree is a monster and will be a real challenge to harvest but we hope to come back with permission from Sylvia and her neighbour to give it a go.
Also gathered some wild plums along the River Fowey at low tide – so beautiful to find these deep blueblack soft sugary globes at the river edge.
I’m noticing lots more apples here, fewer pears and soft top fruits – plums, gages and damsons - although this is largely what I’ve been finding in Plymouth parks where I’ve been working – cherry plums and cherries.
We did our first two harvesting trips on Friday and Saturday 3 and 4 September
Lostwithiel
We were invited to harvest a small domestic orchard with trees fairly well laden with apples and a pear. Lots of cooking apples lovingly plucked with Kat’s telescopic apple eater and some nice eating apples and pears in a garden with six trees aided by Luka aged 5 and Kat, Finn (9 months) and Jo . Harvested several boxes and a box of seconds went to Eden Project for their daily public juicings.
Finn points out the ripe ones
Kat with her famous extending picker
Mixtow
With Adam and family, Andrew and Catherine and David, Jo and Finn
At Mixtow we harvested mostly from three trees for at least two hours. Catherine and David have planted a lovely small orchard which is now bearing considerable fruit! The biggest of these was a bountiful cooker/eater, which was at the Farm when they moved in - huge apples especially around the very high crown of the tree which we scratched our heads about how to get up to. Some ladder antics and competent climbing ensued but still left with loads on the branches. We decided not to shake the tree as we are aiming for apples that can keep as long as possible and we don’t yet have a juicer of our own to do regular juicing sessions. Jo and Catherine improvised a long handled plucker made with bamboo a tent peg and some gaffer tape which requires some canny manoevering and working in pairs, one to pluck, one to catch.
We also harvested two trees which are Cornish Pine – lovely crisp red mottled eating apples which seem to be keeping ok and also cook up nicely.
How many people can you get in a tree?
Catherine bought out some of last year’s juice for the thirsty harvesters. We left with a car full of perfect apples and a big box of 2nds. We all agreed to come back in a couple of weeks for another go at the remaining apples and the trees that weren’t quite ripe.
The following week I delivered a load of fruit to St Petroc’s Society which caters for single homeless people in Bodmin and Lostwithiel Community Centre for their various lunch clubs including Headspace and I’m hoping to deliver to Cornerhouse Community Centre in St Austell who will distribute fruit to parents and toddler and disabled groups. Eden project is happy to take all our seconds for their daily juicings and any real rotters are going to feed the pigs at Trevalon CSA in Herodsfoot.
Harvested a huge tree in Lostwithiel, part of what was Kitts Orchard a long time ago, which required the mighty 3m picker. Lovely bramley apples especially the ones at the top! Andrew tried out the protective headgear and we learnt some really interesting history about this part of Lostwithiel.
Never too young to sort (or munch!)
