Fruit trees in gardens

[Arrowfoot]

It's been a pants year for fruit this year here chez Casa Reynard. No stone fruit worth picking, one solitary fig, but surprisingly, a decent crop of grapes. Mine are green (phoenix) and are almost sweet enough for eating straight off. I do have some apples (mainly where I can't reach!), but the muntjac get to them as soon as they fall off the tree. Poor year for nuts as well, as the squirrels are having a go at the holly berries - never seen that before.

But I have managed to forage some apples. Some kind of russett from a nearby hedgerow that have really sweetened with keeping, plus this afternoon, One Bites, Green Harvey and Lord Burleigh apples from the community orchard in the village. No one takes them as they're keeping apples and need to be stored prior to use. But I've got the space, and they're free, so why not.

I've also foraged some medlars and some quince pears. Not everyone's cuppa, but useful in their own right.

I'll be using the One Bites to make grape and apple jelly for my morning toast. The others will migrate into crumbles, I reckon.

BTW, if you have a surfeit of either plums, cooking apples or pears, then make fruit butter. It's really easy. Clean (peel, core, stone) your fruit and weigh. Weigh out half the amount of sugar and set aside. In a big pan, put your fruit, plus about half a mug of water, and cook till really tender. Add the sugar slowly. Then cook down on a low heat until really thick - you should be able to draw a clear channel in the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Then jar up. This isn't as sweet as jam, but is really good on hot buttered toast, or as a cake filling, eastern european style.

I am impressed by the in-depth knowledge that some of you have about produce, the variety and what they are good for. School did not teach any of this. Staff at the supermarket would educate me. I just feel that I am missing out on so many good things that comes from the ground.

 

[annedonnelly]

I am impressed by the in-depth knowledge that some of you have about produce, the variety and what they are good for. School did not teach any of this. Staff at the supermarket would educate me. I just feel that I am missing out on so many good things that comes from the ground.

Not sure that supermarket staff around here would be much help - the supermarkets don't have much variety of, say, apples. I get excited when I find russets in the local fruit shop!

Once going through the till in Asda, the young assistant held up a courgette and said "what's this?" I wouldn't want to rely on him for an education on fresh produce

If I ever get offered an allotment I'd like to try having more interesting varieties of fruit trees.

 

[mudsticks]

I wish that people who have lovely apple & pear trees in their gardens would either pick the fruit & use it themselves or invite others in to pick. It seems such a shame to let the fruit go to waste.

Though I managed to get a couple of pocketsful of windfall apples that have fallen onto the public side of a fence yesterday.

I know what you mean Anne.

There's a few groups round our way that have a communally owned larger sized apple press where people can take their apples for processing into juice or cider, which they can then take home.

And I know of at least one cider maker who does collect from other people's under used orchards.

It's often the case that people, just don't know these schemes exist, or feel they're ' not for them'.

What we don't sell from our orchards, or can't pass on , or process, does get left for the birds to enjoy, and fed to chickens

And pigs when we kept them - it was sort of funny to see pigs running about gleefully with a shiny apple in their mouths 🐷I'm kind of glad they didn't get the trad culinary reference .

By keeping the small birds happy and fed it means they're around and ready to feed on aphids that may threaten new growth on the trees in the spring , so it's not really 'waste'.

The other thing that people are short on is of course time and storage space for the processing.

Plus a bit of 'how to' knowledge too , I suppose.

 

[mudsticks]

Not sure that supermarket staff around here would be much help - the supermarkets don't have much variety of, say, apples. I get excited when I find russets in the local fruit shop!

Once going through the till in Asda, the young assistant held up a courgette and said "what's this?" I wouldn't want to rely on him for an education on fresh produce

If I ever get offered an allotment I'd like to try having more interesting varieties of fruit trees.

So minds might get blown at the prospect of this being a courgette too

It's become a bit of a cliché to say that people don't understand food, how it's grown or where it comes from .

But it is sort of true too.

Many of us farmers and growers are trying to do more and better engagement on all this..
(On top of everything else)
That's something the internet has been useful for.

But beyond a bit of goodwill, we don't get much reward for it.

Plus of course there's quite a lot of 'behind the scenes' reality in the food system, that people would either rather not see, or have seen..

I'm at the acceptable rather more 'bucolic' end of things with a trad mixed farm.

The realities of how supermarket produce gets there isn't much aligned with the ruddy cheeked, plaid shirted, jolly bewhiskered farmer sat munching an apple on his apple crate in the slanting October sunshine, however..

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I agree on the subject of waste, I hate seeing fruit rotting. Quite by chance I found a relatively local community group which presses apples into juice and makes cider. My neighbour has a load of apple trees and once I've filled my freezer I take the remains to them. There were five large sackfuls last time.

My neighbour also shoots and, get this, they have to pay for someone to take away what they shoot! So I can have as many pheasants, ducks etc as I wish (free). Shame I don't eat meat and don't really agree with shooting, but my hatred of waste is greater, so I take some for cooking for others. A friend's son is a trainee chef so I give him several to practice on.

In my garden I've planted several fruit trees (plums, gages, mirabelles, apples and a damson). I didn't expect any fruit this year, as they are still young, but I got enough gages for a couple of crumbles. I also have a highly prolific blackberry and some raspberries.

 

[Chief Broom]

Not a 'tree' i know but when i have a garden again i shall grow some Oregon thornless blackberries. They can be trained up on a wall or fence and apart from the fruit the leaves are very attractive and colour up in the autumn.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Ah yes, mine's a thornless blackberry, Loch Ness. I've remembered I've also planted a tayberry and a loganberry this year, but may move them as the soil is poor where they are. High winds overnight, better check they're tied in OK.

 

[annedonnelly]

It's become a bit of a cliché to say that people don't understand food, how it's grown or where it comes from .

But it is sort of true too.

I think it's probably very true for some young people who live in very urban settings with parents who, for whatever reason, provide meals from packets, jars, ready meals and takeaways.

When we were kids my mum was able to choose fruit & veg from about four different stalls on a thriving market in our town centre. The market is about 10 stalls now & none of them are fruit & veg. Also my grandad had an allotment so we actually saw things growing & as he had hens we knew where eggs came from. It's a lot harder to give kids that experience now.

@mudsticks I've wondered before - are you the actual farmer or do you work for someone?

 

[mudsticks]

I think it's probably very true for some young people who live in very urban settings with parents who, for whatever reason, provide meals from packets, jars, ready meals and takeaways.

When we were kids my mum was able to choose fruit & veg from about four different stalls on a thriving market in our town centre. The market is about 10 stalls now & none of them are fruit & veg. Also my grandad had an allotment so we actually saw things growing & as he had hens we knew where eggs came from. It's a lot harder to give kids that experience now.

@mudsticks I've wondered before - are you the actual farmer or do you work for someone?

I am the actual farmer Anne..

I work for myself, I have others working for me .

I've even got two tractors of my very own.

An unusual bird that started from scratch
(New entrant from a non farming background)

With an actual bought and paid for on the produce of the land, farm..

Not inherited, or married into.

But it wasn't easy, and it's even harder now, that the price of land has shot up.

Getting in is extremely difficult.
The price of food hasn't budged really, so returns aren't great, even if you direct market like I do..

I probs wouldn't be able to pay a mortgage on this land now, just with food sales.
Too much completion from other non farming buyers, who want the land for glamping, or rewilding, or some other pet project.

So whither our food then??


I grew up in the city but my parents and grandparents did as yours did or at least mother's side did.
So I learnt it as a youngster.

But if you've not grown up with it, it's all a bit mystifying.

Interestingly one of the elements of the new defra farm support scheme, is public access and engagement, so expect to see a few more farm tours on offer in the future..

 

[oldwheels]

I think it's probably very true for some young people who live in very urban settings with parents who, for whatever reason, provide meals from packets, jars, ready meals and takeaways.

When we were kids my mum was able to choose fruit & veg from about four different stalls on a thriving market in our town centre. The market is about 10 stalls now & none of them are fruit & veg. Also my grandad had an allotment so we actually saw things growing & as he had hens we knew where eggs came from. It's a lot harder to give kids that experience now.

@mudsticks I've wondered before - are you the actual farmer or do you work for someone?

My father ran a market garden but also had some exotics like grapes, figs, peaches and melons which were for our own consumption as well as a range of soft fruit.
My grandparents had a croft with livestock so I was lucky I suppose and during the war years we were better fed than many. I was also good at catching rabbits and we got pheasant and pigeon sometimes as well. Happy days.

 

[Poacher]

@mudsticks I've wondered before - are you the actual farmer or do you work for someone?

What a glorious and irresistible opportunity to post this - Are you the farmer? from Withnail and I

 

[Arrowfoot]

An unusual bird that started from scratch
(New entrant from a non farming background)

Power to you. Thats really impressive. Plus envious.

 

[mudsticks]

Power to you. Thats really impressive. Plus envious.

Thanks..

Like anything it's not all butterflies and rainbows..

You never get to the end of the jobs list.
And the monetary rewards aren't huge, but there are other benefits.

A lot of younger people would like to come into this more human scaled ecologically benign method of food production.

But there are a lot of social , economic , and political barriers to that happening.

Not least access to land.
Illustrated even on a smaller scale by long waiting lists for allotments.


A lot of my union work centres around breaking down some of those barriers..

But that's verging politics-wards .
So I'd better leave it there..

 

[Reynard]

I am impressed by the in-depth knowledge that some of you have about produce, the variety and what they are good for. School did not teach any of this. Staff at the supermarket would educate me. I just feel that I am missing out on so many good things that comes from the ground.

Funny, I've gotten friendly with the fruit & veg bods in the local Tesco, and let's just say they've learned a fair bit from me.

I buy a lot of wonky fruit & veg, so the varieties can be so pot luck, but it really does open your eyes to really good tasting produce that exists outside of the well known and much more commercially desirable varieties. I also buy veg from a chap who grows and sells produce in the village, and that's certainly thrown up some interesting bits.

But there's far more to an apple than a granny smith, golden delicious or pink lady, for instance. It's actually amazing how the flavour and texture really does vary across the varieties.

My personal favourite is Jonagored - which is a cross between Golden Delicious and Jonathan, far less common than Jonagold. I've got it in my garden. It's crisp, juicy, sweet and sharp all at the same time, and makes the most wonderful crumbles. Although I tend to pair it with a Bramley for the soft, fluffy sharpness as a contrast.

The community orchard is full of interesting local varieties, some better than others. No one takes the keeping apples as they're not sweet enough to eat right away, so I usually go and take my share. Although I wouldn't pick the windfalls in there because it's an area that's very popular with dog walkers.

 

[annedonnelly]

@Reynard Is the community orchard in an urban area? I've read a bit about urban community food growing projects in the last couple of years. They sound great though I think you have to accept at least a small level of vandalism/mindless damage.