Meadow Lodge Farm

Yes , the cold store really did come off the back of a lorry!  A refrigerated unit from the lorry of a well known supermarket - can you guess which one?  Clue is the colour of the floor! .With the aid of the telehandler, people power and some wooden fence poles, we moved it into position. The mathematically  brained amongst us calculated that  it should store 150 trays of fruit.We also took delivery of some large apple boxes ready for later in the season. Fruit picking is in full swing , we have so far picked Herman, Sanctus Hubertus, Czar and Rivers ( all purple plums)and Opal (red)  We have just started on the greengages with the first apples (Discovery) now ready for picking too.                                                                        wat...

 Having watched the trees come into blossom, then the fruit start to appear, we are now seeing the apples and pears start to swell.  We appear to have a good crop of pears and Cox apples but without having been sprayed, some of the other apples have succumbed to disease and pests which we expected.  We hope to have a visit from a local  representative of the  Apple and Orchard Association  next week to help us identify the fruit and plan the management of the orchards.   They knew Mr Wallis and his orchards well and apparently know where most of the apples are in the orchards and also the pears and plums  We have started picking some of the plums now and sold16 trays to a local farmer/supplier. They were also popular with customers of Oxholme Farm and sold out with hours of them being on sale! 

 This week  we noticed our first plum crop was ripening which we believe to be the Herman variety. We have about 8 trees so Richard and Julianne picked these last evening and got about 16 x 12 lb trays. Surprisingly the quality appeared quite good with few damaged or bad ones. We are selling a few via Oxholme Farm shop and a farmer/wholesaler Richard knows,offered to take and sell the rest!  I also saved a few to make our first home made jam from our produce - plum and cinnamon.

 When I arrived at the farm this afternoon I heard that there was  kayaking on the pond!    I went down to see what was going on but Richard, William and George had just pulled the kayak out onto the bank.  However I was sent a photo see below!   Think we need to get some life jackets!   George in kayak, William on bank Oscar  Aaron and Oscar   I also checked to see how the fruit was growing, they're getting bigger although doesn't look like a large crop of plums but plenty of apples and pears.    Victoria plums pears cox apples   wildflower meadow

 Over the past few months, a machinery shed has been under construction to house the various bits of machinery we seem to need!  Just need the electrics now, hence Sam was winding down the door manually!      

Now most of the plum, pear and apricot blossom has finished, we can see the tiny fruits forming. Lots of pears, quite a few plums but only the odd apricot due to the frosts in April.  As we wont be spraying, not sure how many fruits will develop and be good enough to eat but its interesting watching them grow. plums pears a single apricot

 In order to map out exactly what trees and types we have, Julianne decided to mark them out so she can record them on a spreadsheet!   So with a little help, she walked up and down the 10 acre strip and cox orchard nearest the farmhouse and knocked in numbered stakes.