Soteriologic Garden, Evelyn Community Gardens, & Woodlands Farm, 10th, 24th & 25th October respectively. Apple days always turn out to be the main event of the year. In this case I knew it to be a farewell for the alotments. Quite a few people turned up and as usual the kids got stuck in with chopping apples and grinding. I am writing this report months after the event so it is a bit of a blur now. I do recall it to have been an excellent time. I fired up the oven for one final turn. I looked at the ecoshelter and wondered if the allotment committee would pull it down, considering that it used the same style of building technique as the other one I made furtheer down the hill. One of the best design features of the site was the platform or stage. Because of it the apple press can be bolted down onto it whilst the decking provides good level and grip. I think I recall also that this last event produced the best pizza I had tasted here.
Evelyn Community Gardens was washed out, but like true stalwarts we battled through and then the rain did eventually stop. Putting up a tarpaulin was absolutely essential. There is a link to photos available on flickr. One thing I notice about kids is that give them something to enjoy and they work llike bulldogs. There was this intense passion amngst them. Anyhow, later in the day I did some grafting techniques and eyed up the possiblity of grafting on to wild rootstock. In this case it was the blackthorn shrubbery in the corner. I subsequently returned and, for what I can gather, the 6 grafts of peach, apricot and plum look like they had taken, months later.
And finally, Woodlands Farm has become one of my favourite spots. They draw a big crowd there and I always get the nice barn. Unfortunately I can't peg down the press because of the concrete, but the straw bales allow me get cosy. There is enough room to display my wares, and this includes the bottles of juice and plants for sale. I do pretty well there every year, and manage to sell a couple of plants to the director for a bargain price. I keep trying to convince them to allow me to manage courses around the orchards and to start up a nursery. I think that will eventually follow but progress is painfully slow, and I may not be around for it when it does eventually happen. There is an orchard of which contains only one specimen per variety of fruit, mainly apples and pears. Perfect material for a garden nursery, considering they need to get their funds up and run on contributions only.