Orchards: Are they inadvisable?

[Danllan]

Our old place on the edge of the Chilterns had an apple orchard and what was left of a plum orchard; the plums were not for eating, their skins used to be used to make a dye. When we came back to the home of other side of the family, here in Wales, I brought grafts of my favourite apple trees and our old cider presses, but it might be twenty years or more before we can use them properly...

@asparagusbrain where are you from? My grandmothers both used to be in charge of poultry in orchards, one in West Wales and one in Hertfordshire - both used to have a mix of chicken and geese too.

 

[asparagusbrain]

@asparagusbrain where are you from? My grandmothers both used to be in charge of poultry in orchards, one in West Wales and one in Hertfordshire - both used to have a mix of chicken and geese too.

A bit further away than that, I am from south-eastern Ukraine originally. The idea seems to be quite universal though.

 

[Danllan]

A bit further away than that, I am from south-eastern Ukraine originally. The idea seems to be quite universal though.

And pigs?

 

[asparagusbrain]

And pigs?

When I was a kid, pigs were not normally allowed outside at all because of the significant local wild boar population and constant (probably exaggerated) fears about the African swine fever. The old wisdom was to let them free range pretty much everywhere, I guess orchards included (photo from early 20th century).

 

[Danllan]

When I was a kid, pigs were not normally allowed outside at all because of the significant local wild boar population and constant (probably exaggerated) fears about the African swine fever. The old wisdom was to let them free range pretty much everywhere, I guess orchards included (photo from early 20th century).

The next obvious question is, how on earth did an agriculturally minded Ukrainian girl end up in the middle of one of the world's biggest cities?

 

[asparagusbrain]

The next obvious question is, how on earth did an agriculturally minded Ukrainian girl end up in the middle of one of the world's biggest cities?

Being agriculturally minded is neither a diagnosis nor a life sentence. As many farm kids, I escaped what I perceived as life of patent drudgery once I had the slightest chance to, and worked on a more glamorous career, which eventually landed me in the City. Now in my thirties, and feeling a strong pull back to the dirt, so researching and planning. A decade ago, I could have sworn on my life it would never ever happen to me, but there you go.

 

[Danllan]

Being agriculturally minded is neither a diagnosis nor a life sentence. As many farm kids, I escaped what I perceived as life of patent drudgery once I had the slightest chance to, and worked on a more glamorous career, which eventually landed me in the City. Now in my thirties, and feeling a strong pull back to the dirt, so researching and planning. A decade ago, I could have sworn on my life it would never ever happen to me, but there you go.

Sounds very, very familiar... after the family farm over here and that of relations in Zimbabwe, I 'escaped' to the Army, after that I went to university and then ended up as a Barrister. But a few years in London had exactly the same effect upon me as upon you, and now here I am back in farming. The best thing I can say for my time there is that it paid well, the worst is that I'll never get that time back again. I am occasionally thoroughly p*ssed off with being covered in crap or having to work in the cold and wet, but I have not once regretted my decision to farm again .

 

[asparagusbrain]

Sounds very, very familiar... after the family farm over here and that of relations in Zimbabwe, I 'escaped' to the Army, after that I went to university and then ended up as a Barrister. But a few years in London had exactly the same effect upon me as upon you, and now here I am back in farming. The best thing I can say for my time there is that it paid well, the worst is that I'll never get that time back again. I am occasionally thoroughly p*ssed off with being covered in crap or having to work in the cold and wet, but I have not once regretted my decision to farm again .

A really interesting journey. A part of my qualification is in contract and tort law (US and UK, but strictly in the insurance context). Do you find your legal training useful in any way in your new life? I want to make my transition back as gradual as possible, just in case I have a rosy view. I took two weeks off last summer to help with some menial tasks on a dairy farm, just to understand that I want to stay as far from dairy as possible.

 

[beefandsleep]

Free range eggs could be a good way to fill the cash flow gap while you wait for your first crop.

 

[Danllan]

A really interesting journey. A part of my qualification is in contract and tort law (US and UK, but strictly in the insurance context). Do you find your legal training useful in any way in your new life? I want to make my transition back as gradual as possible, just in case I have a rosy view. I took two weeks off last summer to help with some menial tasks on a dairy farm, just to understand that I want to stay as far from dairy as possible.

My uncle's place was in dairy until foot and mouth and has been beef and lamb since, my cousins wish the change had happened years before that and, horrible though it was, think that things have worked out well. Dairy is not my first choice either, but necessary.

My legal knowledge is useful now in that it can avoid disputes from starting since my contracts and terms are always very clear and, anyway, most people are as loath to legally challenge a Barrister as they would be to square up to a professional boxer for a fight.

Tort is a thing peculiar to the Common Law, although the concept is mirrored elsewhere, not my favourite field, but I know people in Chancery who do well out of it. I went for crime and international trade, a mix of the interesting and the remunerative.

If you make things too gradual they may never happen. I was on a tube one day, it was held up, everyone was hot and p*ssed off, and I just thought 'Sh*t on this' and started organising my change the next day. Don't sacrifice real life on the altar of career....

 

[Chasingmytail]

The woodland trust paid for just over 2000 fruit and nut trees in our agroforest/silvoforest. They are planted on and off contour off keyline with space in between to crop and grow further crops. These will be organic. We have top quality stock in variations. They are set out in in patterns that are not typical of an orchard ie 1 pear, 2 hazel, 2 apple etc therefore no row is the same.

 

[Chasingmytail]

 

[beefandsleep]

The woodland trust paid for just over 2000 fruit and nut trees in our agroforest/silvoforest. They are planted on and off contour off keyline with space in between to crop and grow further crops. These will be organic. We have top quality stock in variations. They are set out in in patterns that are not typical of an orchard ie 1 pear, 2 hazel, 2 apple etc therefore no row is the same.

Sounds inefficient and difficult from a management point of view, I suppose not such a big issue if organic. I wonder if pollination would be affected?

 

[scrumper]

Did anyone hear how @asparagusbrain and @Wild Carrot fared? I would love to know.

 

[Vincew]

As this thread has been resurrected I would just like to add that if people have land that they want to put trees on to for the long haul or even for future generations to appreciate and use the fruit they produce for hundreds of years to come, yes that's hundreds of years. Can I suggest people look at planting Perry Pear trees. These should be on pear seeding rootstocks.

You will get a tree that could grow to 20m tall and live for up to 700 years.

Only last year I was harvesting pears from a 500 year old Perry pear tree, 600kg from the one tree, would have been more but about 10 years ago someone butchered the top 3rd of the tree.

We are losing Perry pear varieties all the time because they will not turn a profit for may be 25 years and as they are not a woodland tree charities are not interested in funding their planting.

They are not on anyone's radar and they are being lost. The national Perry pear collection is at https://www.nationalperrypearcentre.org.uk/ and they should be able to help you out in what varieties are in real danger of being lost.

Thanks for reading and anyone in Wiltshire that thinks they may have a Perry pear tree on their farm I would be interested to hear from you. The normal way to tell is they taste horrible, however there are DNA schemes running where you can get apples and pears DNA tested for an accurate identification https://www.fruitid.com/#help

Thanks for reading