The orchard is buzzing away with a new apiary managed by “bee man” Paul Wheeldon. We have two hives, both from local suppliers, and both busily occupied. Steve Lewis and the crew from the council very kindly constructed the protective cage around the hives.

The hives are placed so that the bees enter and exit through the side closest to the stone wall. This means that they should fly up and over the hives, and away from the ground.

The bees seem to be settling nicely into their new home, and we’re happy to have them here!

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The next meeting of the Friends of the New Mills Community Orchard will be on Thursday 3rd June 2010 at 7.30pm at the New Mills Community Orchard, if weather permits.  All are welcome.

If you’re not sure how to find the orchard, here’s a map.

If the weather turns unpleasant, we will meet at the The Queens Arms instead. The Queens is at on Church Road at the junction with Union Road. Here’s a map.

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Part of our Breathing Places Lottery grant was allocated to buying orchard-related books. Rather than keep these solely for the use of the Friends of the Orchard, we decided to donate them to the New Mills Library (next to the Town Hall). They’re on a dedicated shelf in the library and anyone is free to consult these reference books.

Many of the books are available for purchase through our online Amazon shop.

Here are the books aimed at adults:

• The Apple Grower by Michael Phillips. After looking at this book, I immediately ordered it for myself, if that’s any kind of recommendation!
• The Apple Source Book by Sue Clifford & Angela King. Published by  Common Ground. Read more about the book.
• The Northern Ponoma: Apples for Cool Climates, edited by Linden Hawthorne (great name for an author who writes about trees!) Read a review of the book in the Telegraph, or learn more about it and related books from the publisher, Pomona Publications.
• The Fruit Expert by D.G. Hessayon. More information about the author and the Expert series is available at his publisher’s website.
• Success with Organic Fruit by Yvonne Cuthbertson.
• Bob Flowerdew’s Complete Fruit Book. The well-known author writes about less common as well as more popular fruits.
• In a Nutshell by Neil Sinden. Published by Common Ground, and available to buy directly from them.
• Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale by Michael Pooley & John Lomax.  Co-authored by two of the founders of Shropshire Apple Trust. The authors provide more information and you can buy the book directly from them.
• Success with Apples and Pears to Eat and Drink by Alan Rowe.  Alan Rowe also has written articles about Wine, Cyder and Perry and Making Real Cyder and Perry for the Fruit Forum, “a web space for anything and everything to do with fruit”. The Fruit Forum also has a blog.
• Apples and Pears: Favorite Recipes by Rose Mari Donhauser. In case you need help deciding how to prepare fruit from the orchard!
• The Vegetable and Herb Expert also by D.G. Hessayon.

Several of these books are also reviewed at Orange Pippin, along with others that may be of interest. Happy reading!

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The next meeting of the Friends of the New Mills Community Orchard will be on Thursday 13th May 2010 at 7.30pm at The Queens Arms. All are welcome.

Please note that we are meeting on the second Thursday of the month in May. We usually meet on the first Thursday, but have changed the date because of the election.

The Queens Arms is at on Church Road at the junction with Union Road. Here’s a map.

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On a sunny Sunday afternoon in March, we met to plant 29 rhubarb crowns of various varieties. We received a grant from the Mayor’s Charity Fund for these plants (Thank you!)  Many hands make light work, so the crowns were quickly set into the ground.

Lots of helpers make fast work of planting rhubarb

While the crowns are still quite small, you can see them as soon as you walk in the gate — just look up to the right, through the willow planting.

Hard at work planting rhubarb

It’s important to remember than rhubarb needs to be left alone for the first year after planting. Roots need to develop before any leaves can be taken; taking leaves in the first year will weaken the plants. Next year, we’ll be able to harvest a few leaves from each plant, and the following year they should be well established.

So remember: Please don’t pick the rhubarb!

Thanks to all the volunteers, and to Steve Lewis and crew for staking the area for us (and for planting crown 30, which was misplaced temporarily!)

Volunteer rhubarb planters

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Over several wintry Sundays in February, members met to learn the art of apple tree pruning. Alan Ruff, a local horticulture expert, very graciously demonstrated how to prune several trees. He then set us to work in groups, putting our lesson into practice.

The following Sundays saw various folks put their training to work. We pruned the apple and pear trees, as well as making a few cautious attempts on some of the other tree fruits. There were several amusing “conferences” — four or five of us looking at a tree together and deciding which branches to prune.

Alan checks our work

While we still have much to learn, we feel more confident than when we started. Thank you, Alan.

In March, Alan visited the orchard again to review our attempts to prune the trees. Visitors from the Bradwell Community Orchard joined us on the walkthrough. The picture above comes from their site — check them out!

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The next meeting of the Friends of the New Mills Community Orchard will be on Thursday 1st April 2010 at 7.30pm at The Queens Arms. All are welcome.

The Queens Arms is at on Church Road at the junction with Union Road. Here’s a map.

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It’s been a cold winter at the orchard. We’re all enjoying the milder spring weather though, and soon the orchard will burst back into life.

There have been a couple of changes to the website, firstly, there is a new section called “In the Orchard” which as well as the Orchard guide, which lists our trees, now includes the comprehensive Orchard Management Plan, provided by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. It’s a very comprehensive document, based on two very thorough site visits from the Trust - it makes fascinating reading, and will be a useful reference for the coming years.

Also, we would like to encourage you to get involved on this page, by recording any wildlife sightings in the comments at the bottom of the page. If anyone sends pictures, we will try and make a photo gallery on this page too.

And don’t forget to keep looking at our Gallery, especially Pat Stanway’s photograph albums, which are frequently updated.

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The Community Orchard’s owl mascot was officially named on 13 February. “Scrumpy” had his big day when he was named by young Tom, who came up with the name.  You can see photos of the event on the orchard’s Facebook page. More pictures are available in Pat Stanway’s online collection.

In gratitude for his efforts, Tom was presented with a copy of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson.

Scrumpy, along with the other wood carvings on view at the orchard, was created by local artist Andrew Frost.

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The group officially adopted its constitution on 4 February 2010. A copy is available here.

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