Plans

Plans are afoot at The Farm.  We have decided to plant an orchard in rough patch of land adjacent to the vegetable garden.  Gorse and bracken are perhaps not the ideal starting point, but much has been cleared already and don’t forget we have Farm Force at our disposal.  For this is not to be any old orchard but a heritage one, full of old Devon varieties.  A worthy attempt to give a home to some of the rarer fruit trees, grown for years in this county and especially adapted to our unique environment.  It is unlikely the fruit they bear will be air brush perfect, or uniform in size, but they will have personality, to my mind a far preferable trait.

This morning Slasher and myself did some test pits on the potential site and the results were better than expected.  The sun shone and we imagined blossom filled trees full of pollinators, seating areas full of appreciative guests and the severe scrumping controls we would have to put in place (tigers perhaps?).  We talked logistics and protection from beasties, access and diggers. Emails were sent to specialists, research began in earnest.  Cider may have been mentioned more than once.  It is beginning to look like it might happen.  We shall try very hard not to choose varieties purely because of their name.  Except of course Farmer’s Glory and Fair Maid of Devon, and naturally Spotted Dick.

Later this afternoon the ponies showed their approval of this soon to be idyllic spot, although I think Tiny may have have gone a little over the top in his enthusiasm.