Welcome to the Harrowbarrow Community Orchard pages

In response to local demand, Tamar Grow Local has set up a community orchard in Harrowbarrow.  With the help of local people, we've created a traditional orchard of 24 trees - all old Tamar Valley varieties, with another 80 planned for next year. As the orchard establishes, events will be held such as grafting workshops, apple pressing and wassailing. Funding to set up the orchard has come from the East Cornwall Local Action Group.

Orchard news update December 2011

Our beautiful new community space, located opposite St. Dominic Park, is in the process of being transformed into a traditional Tamar Valley orchard which will eventually house apple and cherry trees, soft fruits and, become a beautiful place for the villages to enjoy. Still very much a work in progress, part of the orchard was rotavated over the summer by a hardworking team of Oxford Sandy and Black pigs before the first apple trees were planted in October.

 
Many local hands and a great deal of help has come in from all around to get the orchard up and running but big thanks go to James Tancock who has been a huge help with gates and fencing; Graham Carter for help with pig feed;  Mole Valley Farmers in Liskeard who very kindly donated a pig trough and assistance with equipment to get ‘The Pig Society’ up and running; and to everyone who has put in a lot of hard work to get us this far!

 
After a well attended first AGM in October, a Brew Club formed for orchard members to swap tips and knowledge on cider, wine and cordial making . At the first meeting, the group tried some wonderful wines made by Andy Walton created from fruit and vegetables and everyone went home thoroughly inspired to try making their own. The group now meets at The Carpenters Arms on the last Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm.  All welcome!

 
The orchard currently has three colonies of honey bees. Our resident bee expert Dave Ledger placed the hives in the bottom corner of the orchard (bee corner) and they settled and were very productive in their first year considering they had not been on site for very long. We had enough honey to give all who have purchased honey futures one 12oz jar this year (so a quarter of a ‘future’). The bees belong to the orchard but the hives are on loan until we can raise enough funds to purchase our own. Anyone with any unused hives or surplus cedar wood who may be interested in donating them to the Orchard, please contact diverdave123@hotmail.com A working group also planted  over 100  ‘edible’ hedgerow saplings in November down near the hives which were kindly donated by The Woodland Trust.

The eucalyptus tree on site are being felled as part of an ongoing  chainsaw training course before the remainder of the site can be ploughed ahead of more fruit trees going in. In order to raise much needed funds for the orchard, it has been decided to sell logs from the eucalyptus trees as part of a wider wood co-operative for the Tamar Valley.  A volunteer is needed to see if there is interest in the village for a bulk wood purchase of wood fuel to save money on winter fuel bills. The eucalyptus can then be added in to the purchased wood. The eucalyptus will need to be seasoned for at least one year before burning and, due to the high sap content, would not be suitable for open fires.   Anyone interested in co-ordinating a wood co-op for the villages, please contact hmvillageorchad@hotmail.co.uk

 
A Christmas Food & Craft fair took place in December in aid of the orchard and raised £198.77 which will go towards buying our own bee keeping equipment and more fruit trees so thanks to everyone who came along. It is hoped the event will run again in 2012.

 
Orchard membership is open to everyone. A founder membership fee is £10.00 per household. To find our more about any of the orchard activities, please get in contact on the email above.

Saturday 17th December - Wassail!

Join us in the orchard at 2.30pm.  Paint the Green Man, join in the singing of the wassail song and bang on whatever's at hand (bring pots, bin lids or whatever you can)...and of course drink our home produced cider to thank the orchard and encourage it to produce even better crops next year!

Intitial funding for the community orchard has come from the East Cornwall Local Action Group. The Local Action Group is part of the Local Action for Rural Communities fund running in East Cornwall, investing funds from the EU with Defra as the managing authority, and Cornwall Development Company as the Accountable Body.