April news
The weather has been gorgeous and everything is growing merrily, and we hope soon to hold a third meeting. This will be on site and at the weekend and will be followed by a meeting in the village hall once the now imminent transfer of land has taken place. Meanwhile we have had further positive interest from grant-making bodies: see the links on this page.
An important question has been asked by the Phillimore Estate. In what condition should the land be made available to us? Ploughed or seeded? Organic or not? Please contribute your views by email or by leaving a comment on this page. One good local source of wildflower grass mixtures is http://www.wildflowerfarms.com/
Please continue to refer interested friends to this website and get them to sign up for the email newsletter!
Comments
I think that an organic Orchard, although difficult, is something that a rural village can really be proud of. Any other method strikes me as against the rural ethos and it is an opportunity to educate school children about "clean" food (i.e food not genetically modified or fed with chemicals). It is sad that most of the food we buy now contains things other than the food itself.
Regards ,
Laura
:)
I have concerns about the chemicals that have regularly been spread on the land planned for the orchard and about the safety of fruit that borders land that is regularly sprayed with chemicals. It would be good to get the soil analysed and find out exactly what chemicals are sprayed annually. The fact that the land is lower than the field to which it is attached will also mean that the orchard will receive run-off from the field which will bring any pollution with it.
I garden organically but the sad fact is that much of the land in this area is treated purely as a business and if it is cheaper in the short term to achieve the best yields using chemical sprays, whether to feed the crop or kill the pests, then that is the method used. The soil contains a lot of clay but does not seem to contain much organic matter which is needed to keep the soil in good health, hence the waterlogging during wet spells and the amount of dust that is blown off the land during dry weather.