We will be re-starting our evening work sessions in March, once the clocks go forward (this happens on 26th March in 2017). If you'd like to get involved please get in touch and we can add you to our mailing list.
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
2017 activity
So what do Orchard49 volunteers get up to? This 'Year in an Orchard' graphic created by the People's Trust for Endangered Species serves as a useful prompt for getting jobs done.
We will be re-starting our evening work sessions in March, once the clocks go forward (this happens on 26th March in 2017). If you'd like to get involved please get in touch and we can add you to our mailing list.
We will be re-starting our evening work sessions in March, once the clocks go forward (this happens on 26th March in 2017). If you'd like to get involved please get in touch and we can add you to our mailing list.
Apple Day 2016
We were blessed with a gloriously warm, sunny October day for Apple Day. It was an early start to let the BBC radio Manchester crew in at 8.30 am. They came to do some outside broadcast work promoting the event to listeners. Volunteers started to arrive at 9 am and by 10 there were plenty of people busily prepping apples for pressing.
The BBC left around 10:45 taking a bottle of freshly pressed juice with them for the studio presenters Phil Trow and Chelsea Norris to taste. You can listen to the programme here ( whizz to 1 minute 26:20 - 1:30:25 then 1:51-1:56 then 2:54:20-2:56).
We had a new machine to test out as well. Helping Britain Blossom asked Alfred Chow to create a pedal powered juice machine.
The idea is someone can pedal the trike to power the machine that pulps the apples before they go into the press (the machine is called a scratter). At the back of the trike you can also see a larger apple press which we used in addition to the smaller press that you can see in the first photo.
We had lots of delicious cakes baked for the day, all but one included apples and everything was enjoyed by those who visited.
As in the past we did apple tasting, giving people a chance to taste some of the apples from Orchard49. There were 12 different varieties available for tasting, including a few that we've not been able to try before (because they had already been picked and eaten). Firm favourites were Merlin's Apple, Lemon Pippin, Dog's Snout (for the aroma of these apples), Yorkshire Cockpit and Ladies Finger of Lancaster. The last three of these are all cookers, but everyone found them to be far less sharp than the widely available cooker, Bramley. The highlight of the apple tasting was the adventurous children who happily tucked into anything and everything, often returning for more.
As always, thanks go to all the volunteers who made the event possible. The bakers, the choppers, the refreshments whiz, thanks so very much for your time and enthusiasm.
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| Volunteers busy preppiing apples for juicing |
The BBC left around 10:45 taking a bottle of freshly pressed juice with them for the studio presenters Phil Trow and Chelsea Norris to taste. You can listen to the programme here ( whizz to 1 minute 26:20 - 1:30:25 then 1:51-1:56 then 2:54:20-2:56).
We had a new machine to test out as well. Helping Britain Blossom asked Alfred Chow to create a pedal powered juice machine.
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| Pete using the mobile juicer |
The idea is someone can pedal the trike to power the machine that pulps the apples before they go into the press (the machine is called a scratter). At the back of the trike you can also see a larger apple press which we used in addition to the smaller press that you can see in the first photo.
We had lots of delicious cakes baked for the day, all but one included apples and everything was enjoyed by those who visited.
As in the past we did apple tasting, giving people a chance to taste some of the apples from Orchard49. There were 12 different varieties available for tasting, including a few that we've not been able to try before (because they had already been picked and eaten). Firm favourites were Merlin's Apple, Lemon Pippin, Dog's Snout (for the aroma of these apples), Yorkshire Cockpit and Ladies Finger of Lancaster. The last three of these are all cookers, but everyone found them to be far less sharp than the widely available cooker, Bramley. The highlight of the apple tasting was the adventurous children who happily tucked into anything and everything, often returning for more.
As always, thanks go to all the volunteers who made the event possible. The bakers, the choppers, the refreshments whiz, thanks so very much for your time and enthusiasm.
Regular evening work sessions resume
The evenings are light enough for the regular evening work sessions to resume. We've changed the date from a Monday to Thursday, so hope to see some people who weren't able to make Mondays.
During the first session last Thursday Debbie and Lorna were busy tying in the raspberry canes, tidying up the grape vines and thornless blackberry plants that climb up the pergola. We also weeded amongst the trees grafted in March and put some bamboo canes and string around the nursery bed to alert people to the tiny trees. The majority of the trees grafted have taken, so next May we will be able to sell these to raise some money for Orchard maintenance.
These sessions run from 6.30 - 8 pm. Do come and lend a hand, even if you only have half an hour to spare. Aside from anything else, given how healthy the raspberry canes look, we're going to need plenty of people to pick and eat the fruit so none is wasted.
Some other orchard images to entice you down to lend a hand....
During the first session last Thursday Debbie and Lorna were busy tying in the raspberry canes, tidying up the grape vines and thornless blackberry plants that climb up the pergola. We also weeded amongst the trees grafted in March and put some bamboo canes and string around the nursery bed to alert people to the tiny trees. The majority of the trees grafted have taken, so next May we will be able to sell these to raise some money for Orchard maintenance.
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| One of the grafted trees |
Some other orchard images to entice you down to lend a hand....
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| Baby pears |
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| The fruit arch - the trees are growing well |
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| Pergola and bench |
Sunny volunteering day, April 2015
On Thursday 23rd April Orchard 49 hosted 10 volunteers from Vodafone. We'd been approached by Sharon Browne at Community Service Volunteers last year about having a group come and lend a hand on the orchard, and we were lucky that on the day the sun shone!
The volunteers worked really hard - from 10 am til 3.30 pm with a little break for lunch. Having so many people on the Orchard for a whole day makes such a difference at this time of the year. We will be starting our regular Monday evening sessions very soon, and this year we won't feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work, because the Vodafone crew did so much!
In the course of the day the shed was re-felted. The felt had come off in one of the winter gales and a team tackled sorting that out before lunch.
Another team studiously weeded and mulched all the trees along the path fenceline.
Bees will be arriving on the Orchard soon, and another task was to prepare the apiary area - which involved digging quite a large area of ground and levelling it. Because it has been so dry the ground (clay) was baked hard, so this was quite a task.
A donated shed was also re-located - it will be used to store the beekeeping equipment.
We also weeded and mulched the raspberries and the gooseberries and gave all the trees a welcome water. We use land drainage pipe, put in place when the trees are planted, so that we can be sure that the water is reaching the roots. As the trees were coming into blossom, this was another really important job.
Finally, some of the crew made some bee boxes, which will be sold to raise funds for the Orchard at one of OTAGS' events.
It was a lovely time to be on the orchard, as many of the trees were starting to blossom. Here are some images taken on the day.
A big thank you to everyone for working so hard. Thanks also to Sharon at CSV for putting Orchard49 in touch with the group.
The volunteers worked really hard - from 10 am til 3.30 pm with a little break for lunch. Having so many people on the Orchard for a whole day makes such a difference at this time of the year. We will be starting our regular Monday evening sessions very soon, and this year we won't feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work, because the Vodafone crew did so much!
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| Team back row left to right: Matt, Amelia, Lee, Cliff, Carl, Simon, Kevin. Front row: Chris, Dan, Emma | (photo Debbie) |
In the course of the day the shed was re-felted. The felt had come off in one of the winter gales and a team tackled sorting that out before lunch.
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| Shed re-roofing in progress, Lee and Dan busy at work (photo Chris) |
Another team studiously weeded and mulched all the trees along the path fenceline.
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| The weeded and mulched fence line trees (photo Debbie) |
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| Amelia (left) and Emma super weeders! (Photo Debbie) |
Bees will be arriving on the Orchard soon, and another task was to prepare the apiary area - which involved digging quite a large area of ground and levelling it. Because it has been so dry the ground (clay) was baked hard, so this was quite a task.
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| The heavy digging team at work: Pete, Cliff, Lee, Simon and Kevin (photo Chris). |
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| Matt and Chris working with Rob re-locating a shed for apiary equipment. |
We also weeded and mulched the raspberries and the gooseberries and gave all the trees a welcome water. We use land drainage pipe, put in place when the trees are planted, so that we can be sure that the water is reaching the roots. As the trees were coming into blossom, this was another really important job.
Finally, some of the crew made some bee boxes, which will be sold to raise funds for the Orchard at one of OTAGS' events.
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| Emma, Carl and Lee making bee boxes (photo Debbie) |
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| Carl working with Pete on bee boxes (photo Chris). |
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| Completed bee boxes (photo Chris). |
It was a lovely time to be on the orchard, as many of the trees were starting to blossom. Here are some images taken on the day.
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| Apple blossom |
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| Cherries - Stella and Morello |
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| Pear - inherited possibly conference |
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| Grandpa Buxton |
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| One of the pears we grafted in 2012. |
A big thank you to everyone for working so hard. Thanks also to Sharon at CSV for putting Orchard49 in touch with the group.
Apple Day - 2014
We had a fabulous day last Saturday, with hundreds of people joining us to celebrate the apple harvest. The sun even shone for us, which had looked unlikely as the sun came up.
Here are some photos from the day. A big thank you to everyone who helped on the day, baked cakes, made soup, designed bug trails, bought pizza ingredients, cleaned the pavilion, tidied up before hand and at the end of the day. A great voluntary effort from all.
Amongst the display we had Lord Derby apple muffins and Chocolate and Apple Cake and Grandpa Buxton apple pie made from cooking apples from the orchard.
We gathered kilos of apples from plotholders on the allotments, and some fallers from the orchard to press. We had queues of people wanting to taste and buy bottles of freshly juiced apples.
The pizza oven we have on site was built by plotholders at a cob oven building course in 2012. The course was funded by the grant we had from Local Food for Orchard49. Its been such a fantastic resource. Thanks to all the hardworking pizza makers on the day.
We raised £276 on the day and all that money will be used to maintain and develop Orchard49. Again, thanks to everyone who made it possible.
Here are some photos from the day. A big thank you to everyone who helped on the day, baked cakes, made soup, designed bug trails, bought pizza ingredients, cleaned the pavilion, tidied up before hand and at the end of the day. A great voluntary effort from all.
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| The day started with BBC Radio Manchester doing an outside broadcast from the allotments. |
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| Some of the baking - which raised £140 pounds. |
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| Apple pressing, a highlight of the day. |
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| Lots of interest in the process of apple pressing. As the handle gets lower the children get stuck in too. |
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| Pavillion begins to fill up with visitors |
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| Pizzas from the cob oven sold out by the end of the day. |
We raised £276 on the day and all that money will be used to maintain and develop Orchard49. Again, thanks to everyone who made it possible.
First substantial harvest of 2014
Looking back over photos from previous years to see when we took pictures of fruit we'd harvested we can see that fruit seems to be ripe at least a couple of weeks earlier than previously.
This week we had lots to take away, shared between the 4 volunteers on the session. We picked figs, apples (a couple of trees
seem to have ripe fruit), pears, blackberries and the last of the mid season raspberries (Polka).
Here is the evidence!
This week we had lots to take away, shared between the 4 volunteers on the session. We picked figs, apples (a couple of trees
seem to have ripe fruit), pears, blackberries and the last of the mid season raspberries (Polka).
Here is the evidence!
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| Harvested fruit 18th August 2014 |
Thanks Abi
At Orchard 49 we really appreciate volunteers, the Orchard can't do without them. This year Abi Paine came along, she found out about us via Google and volunteered very regularly on our Monday evening sessions. Sadly though, at the outset she said she'd be leaving for Australia so wouldn't be around for long.
That may be so, and we said Bye to Abi last week, but while she volunteered she was a star. On our last session it was raining really hard, so we made bee boxes under cover and here she is with her bee box.
And with bee box builder, extraordinaire, Pete Abel...
These boxes will be painted and sold to raise money for the Orchard.
Abi also set up an instagram account for the orchard. If you'd like to follow us on Instagram look for Orchard_49
That may be so, and we said Bye to Abi last week, but while she volunteered she was a star. On our last session it was raining really hard, so we made bee boxes under cover and here she is with her bee box.
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| Abi with her bee box |
And with bee box builder, extraordinaire, Pete Abel...
Abi also set up an instagram account for the orchard. If you'd like to follow us on Instagram look for Orchard_49
Work session 21 July 2014
We were 6 yesterday for the work session. It was a glorious warm sunny evening to be outside. We had a fair bit of weeding to do due to the OTAGS strimmer being out of action. Damien and Nicklaus (visiting WOOFer from Austria) got stuck on at the back of the orchard pulling bind weed out and tackling the weed growth.
Abi noticed that the raspberry plants which were only planted in March had some fruit on them, so we picked those and shared them at the end of the session. Debbie also picked some blueberries, these plants are still in pots until we build a raised bed for them where we can use ericaceous compost. These were also very tasty!
Lots of work done and a group photo taken at the end of the session. Thanks again to all: Abi, Damien, Debbie, Gemma, Lorna and Nicklaus.
Postscript
Last week's session included making a pond - which was great. Trouble was the plant transplanted from a nearby allotment turned out to be poisonous and mistakenly Debbie injested some and was quite poorly as a result... Lesson is, wear gloves when handling plants like Bog Arum. It is high in oxalic acid and even small amounts entering your bloodstream (don't know how it got in my system) will make you very sick. 4 hours in A&E to get checked out isn't a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon! Here is a picture of the pond and the plant!
Yes its small - the Orchard is all about what can be done in small spaces, so its a small pond. Lets see how long it takes for frogs to find it. We also sowed some phacelia and red clover in the area that had been dug.
Abi noticed that the raspberry plants which were only planted in March had some fruit on them, so we picked those and shared them at the end of the session. Debbie also picked some blueberries, these plants are still in pots until we build a raised bed for them where we can use ericaceous compost. These were also very tasty!
Lots of work done and a group photo taken at the end of the session. Thanks again to all: Abi, Damien, Debbie, Gemma, Lorna and Nicklaus.
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| Left to right: Abi, Gemma, Debbie, Damien, Lorna, Nicklaus |
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| Lovely raspberries - some of them! |
Postscript
Last week's session included making a pond - which was great. Trouble was the plant transplanted from a nearby allotment turned out to be poisonous and mistakenly Debbie injested some and was quite poorly as a result... Lesson is, wear gloves when handling plants like Bog Arum. It is high in oxalic acid and even small amounts entering your bloodstream (don't know how it got in my system) will make you very sick. 4 hours in A&E to get checked out isn't a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon! Here is a picture of the pond and the plant!
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| Pond and Bog Arum |
Work session on 7th July
We were three this evening and got busy with:
Thanks to Lorna, Pete and Debbie for their time.
- uncovering a mound of manure which had rather a large number of weeds growing in it
- more pruning of trees to encourage fruit buds to form (many more trees to do)
- pruning one of the grape vines (variety Brant for those interested in such things)
- finishing fitting tree protection to the trees on the fruit arch, so the trunks don't get strimmed
- weeding around the base of one of the large trees we inherited
- picking up quince tree leaves - to try and stop blight from re-occuring (Quince Portugal)
- taking some photos of some of the trees. Mainly (Quince excepted) they are looking great and growing really well.
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| Apple: Plot 52 |
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| Apple: Ladies Finger of Lancaster |
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| Not all top fruit - Blackberry Chester |
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| Apple: Withington Welter |
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| Apple: Yorkshire Cockpit |
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| Quince Portugal with blighted leaves |
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| Quince Portugal without blighted leaves |
Busy Busy work session
We had another busy work session on Monday 30th June. Two new volunteers got stuck into barrowing manure and compost into the raised bed that Pete had made the week before. Great work by Gemma and Mark. Meanwhile, Debbie and Abi busied themselves pruning and training pear and trees growing around the fruit arch and the cherry trees that are against the bakery wall.
Lorna tackled protecting the trees that were planted to grow over the fruit arch with tree guard material so that they don't get damaged when the grass is strimmed. Oh and Abi also put up some bird feeders. Last but by no means least Claire popped in to say hello on route to the OTAGS committee meeting where she represents Orchard49.
No pics this time, but it was a lovely evening once more. Thanks to everyone!
Lorna tackled protecting the trees that were planted to grow over the fruit arch with tree guard material so that they don't get damaged when the grass is strimmed. Oh and Abi also put up some bird feeders. Last but by no means least Claire popped in to say hello on route to the OTAGS committee meeting where she represents Orchard49.
No pics this time, but it was a lovely evening once more. Thanks to everyone!
Mid summer work session 2014
We had a glorious work session yesterday evening. Warm and sunny, its not rained for at least 2 weeks so the ground is baked hard. We busied ourselves with watering the trees (using the land drainage pipe put in when the trees were planted to get straight to the roots), giving the trees a foliar feed, building a raised bed, pruning and tying in of vines.
Here are some pics taken yesterday.
We have a percola with a bench underneath which has two grape vines and two thornless blackberry plants climbing up it. Lorna isn't a giant, she is standing on the bench!
Here are some pics taken yesterday.
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| Lorna tying in the grape vine |
We have a percola with a bench underneath which has two grape vines and two thornless blackberry plants climbing up it. Lorna isn't a giant, she is standing on the bench!
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| Pete building a very long raised bed. |
We share a fairly ugly fence line with a bakery, and in the winter we planted some raspberry canes along part of it. This is the next phase - we will plant more fruit, training it along the fence to hide the metalwork.The raised bed is made from recycled scaffold planks.
The next two photos are of the fruit arch - which is coming along nicely (needs some prunign and tying in too) and the long fenceline which has cordon apple, pear and plum along its length.
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| Fruit arch - apple and pear |
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| Fenceline with cordon trees. |
We are always keen to have more people helping on the orchard, and I can't think of a nicer way to spend a mid summer evening! We're there from 6.30-8 pm on Mondays.
Spring and Summer 2014 work sessions
With the evenings getting longer we can resume our regular Monday evening work sessions. These will resume on Monday 12th May. The sessions will run from 6.30 to 8 pm.
We've also got a couple of weekend sessions organised so please put these in your diary and come along.
17th May 10am - 2pm
31st May 10 - 2 pm.
Hope to see you there.
We've also got a couple of weekend sessions organised so please put these in your diary and come along.
17th May 10am - 2pm
31st May 10 - 2 pm.
Hope to see you there.
Sewa Volunteer Day - 6th October 2013
In August I was contacted by Hemma Mistry to ask if we could host a group of 15-20 volunteers on the Orchard. Sewa Day is a national event where people give a day of their time volunteering on a community project. Hemma had seen the display we put up in Unicorn Grocery and got in touch through that.
And so it came to pass that we were delighted to host this group of volunteers. There is always plenty to do on the orchard, but the main concern was what would we do if the weather was poor? We needn't have worried as the sun shone brightly for us all day.
We did lots of clearing of weeds on the orchard, planted some narcissus and primroses and built half of a raised bed, which will be planted with more trained trees and soft fruit between November and February. We also constructed bug boxes to sell to raise money for the orchard, these were filled and painted by the children who came on the day.
Here are some photos from the day.
To all the wonderful volunteers, thank you for choosing Orchard49 for your day of volunteering, please come again, you were fabulous.
And so it came to pass that we were delighted to host this group of volunteers. There is always plenty to do on the orchard, but the main concern was what would we do if the weather was poor? We needn't have worried as the sun shone brightly for us all day.
We did lots of clearing of weeds on the orchard, planted some narcissus and primroses and built half of a raised bed, which will be planted with more trained trees and soft fruit between November and February. We also constructed bug boxes to sell to raise money for the orchard, these were filled and painted by the children who came on the day.
Here are some photos from the day.
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| Group photo :) |
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| Building the raised bed |
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| Bug boxes filled and painted by the children |
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| Taking a break in the sunshine. |
Sunday September work sessions 15th and 29th 10-12am
Claire is
running two Sunday sessions between 10-12 on the 15th and
29th September
Please do come along and pitch in. If possible we hope to be starting to build some raised beds (wood delivery permitting) as well as the usual tasks. There also may be apples to sample - we picked some Tydeman's Early Worcester and some apples from one of the trees that were planted before we took on the plot on Monday and they were delicious (plus some pears and figs).
We also have a large group of volunteers (15-20) coming on 6th October. They are taking part in something called Sewa day and have chosen the orchard as a place to volunteer. If you'd like to help out on that day, please come along. I'll be sending out an email about timings for that later.
For 15th and 29th sessions as always weather permitting and ring or text at the gate if you don't have a key and the gates are closed. Claire's number is: 07914 793 625 (new number)
Finally - there might be an apple day happening on 13th October at the allotment site (to be confirmed).
Please do come along and pitch in. If possible we hope to be starting to build some raised beds (wood delivery permitting) as well as the usual tasks. There also may be apples to sample - we picked some Tydeman's Early Worcester and some apples from one of the trees that were planted before we took on the plot on Monday and they were delicious (plus some pears and figs).
We also have a large group of volunteers (15-20) coming on 6th October. They are taking part in something called Sewa day and have chosen the orchard as a place to volunteer. If you'd like to help out on that day, please come along. I'll be sending out an email about timings for that later.
For 15th and 29th sessions as always weather permitting and ring or text at the gate if you don't have a key and the gates are closed. Claire's number is: 07914 793 625 (new number)
Finally - there might be an apple day happening on 13th October at the allotment site (to be confirmed).
Sunny day on The Big Dig
On Saturday 16th March Orchard 49 took part in The Big Dig. All over the country community gardens opened to volunteers to get busy growing food. In Manchester, the sun shone (on and off) and we had a great time.
Food and drink was on hand to keep everone's energy levels up and we spent the time pruning all the trees and weeding around the base of the fruit trees and then giving them all a lovely thick mulch of horse manure. Thanks to everyone who helped.
Here are some photos:
Food and drink was on hand to keep everone's energy levels up and we spent the time pruning all the trees and weeding around the base of the fruit trees and then giving them all a lovely thick mulch of horse manure. Thanks to everyone who helped.
Here are some photos:
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| Claire putting back the tree guard after mulching |
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| Damien weeding along the fence line of cordon trees |
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| We had some lovely bunting! |
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