Harvest Home

The final harvest of the 2009 season is in. 48 sacks of Vilberie cider apples, plus 22 sacks of unknown yellow sharp apples and a few cookers to blend in. That's about a ton, and I've got my work cut out to press them over the next two days...

Once again the weather in the orchard was wonderful, more late Summer than early Winter. I was helped on this visit by my sister-in-law Susan, who's hard graft ensured we had plenty of time for a lunchtime refresher at the terrific Crown & Trumpet, a local CAMRA award winner. The Crown & Trumpet is what Karen refers to as 'a proper pub', and it is too. Great ales from Stanway Brewery (and decent Hogans Cider), a real fire, real friendly locals, and festooned with old Flowers Brewery memorabilia to add interest. Another good reason to visit this part of the Cotswolds.

Once again we were lucky to have the loan of Johns mighty Land Rover. The orchard is getting pretty muddy at this time of the year, no place for a man with a white van. All four wheels needed to be engaged to get to the top of the orchard without mishap, though unfortunately the day was not entirely free of misfortune...

The Vilberie apples have now fully ripened, as judged by their flavour, waxy skin, and the fact that most of the apples had now fallen to the orchard floor. This was a bit of a shame for Sue and myself, since harvesting apples from the grassy floor is so much harder than when shaken down onto a tarpaulin, and additionally the fruit will need more thorough washing prior to milling and pressing. What a difference a week makes, the apples were still clinging to the trees last weekend, though very easily shaken down, but the blustery weather of the last week beat us to it, and very little fruit was left for us to shake down this weekend.

The good news is the amount of sharper fruit we've managed to harvest at this late stage in the season. The Vilberie is a very good quality bittersweet cider apple, that is to say it is high in tannin and sugar but low in acidity. I've been a little concerned at this lack of acidity, so I'm very pleased at the 2:1 ratio we've achieved of bittersweets to more acidic fruit.

So what of the misfortune? Well that's a painful story! Throughout this year's long harvest, from early October right through to late November, we've avoided any serious mishap in the orchard. No injuries, no major strains, nothing much to get the Health & Safety people in a froth. So it was particularly disappointing that on the very last turn around the orchard, when all the harvest was in, and all that was required was to transport the apples down to the van, I managed to get stung by a not-so-sleepy Wasp hiding in an old rag in the Land Rover! Needless to say, it's been entered into the Rockingham Forest Cider accident book, so we can all have a laugh about it in years to come...