Category Archives: Apple juice

Summer & Autumn 2021 at Fruitfields

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It has been a mixed summer. Quite dry but not a huge amount of sunshine. Both our apple and honey crops have been reasonable. Everything has cropped late this year and the cider apples and later apple varieties are still being harvested.

We have been hugely thankful to family and friends and local supporters. Much of the apple juice process relies on bodies (unless you completely mechanize for thousands and thousands of pounds) to help with apple picking, apple washing, milling, pressing the pulp and tanking the apple juice prior to bottle filling and pasteurising. These helpers have made the harvest relatively easy this year and helped with various other projects.

We continued the bee experiences over the Summer which were extremely enjoyable (I think we just had one experience of an elusive queen) and these experiences ensure we are not complacent with our amazing honeybees.

We had tree work completed in our coppice by Hopwood Tree Surgeons who have made safe our historic Ash & Oak, we have had School groups and the Scouts to the Orchard as well as the Eventures (Home Schooling) families on three separate occasions.

We continue to relish the onset of Autumn and the literal ‘fruits of our labours’. We had the first good crop of ‘William Crumps’ apples (a Worcester Pearmain/Cox cross) which bode well for future years and the best year ever for our Pitmaston Pineapples.

We enjoyed our open day in the rain in early September. Well done to the brave souls who joined us and we look forward to the pre-Christmas stalls over the next couple of months. A good year through to harvest. Thankyou to all of Fruitfields supporters.

& we launched our Fruitfields cider. Check out our online shop!

Many of the pressing, milling & bottling crew 2021!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle Filling

Bottle Levelling

 

 

 

Fruitfields honeybees loving the summer sun.

Glorious Egremont Russets.

Our Red Devils with dragonfly.

Capped frame of honey waiting to be extracted.

Honey frame uncapping.

Fruitfields honeybee swarm collecting.

Bottles!

Fruitfields cider

The launch of our 500ml Fruitfields Cider bottle

 

Storage Creation Crew

Chief Panker

One of our Picking days, Autumn 2021

Ready for our Fruitfields Open Day, Autumn 2021

Greg & Sian, Mid-harvest at Tardebigge Cider, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

2020 at Fruitfields

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What a year it has been at Fruitfields! Despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, Brexit, the American election and more we are not just surviving but thriving due to focusing on our bees and trees and the support of our apple juice & honey stockists and everyone who has bought our products.

Throughout the Spring and Summer we tended to our fruit trees and beehives. We are pleased to have doubled the number of honeybee hives we have and our fruit trees are starting to establish themselves. We caught a couple of honeybee swarms at the end of May and one of these stocks has become quite prolific with a strong laying queen. We cross fingers they over winter well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During mid-summer we took advantage of the season, and were able to carry out a great amount of work in the orchard soon after sunrise. We have always thought it a stunning location with the combination of the North Worcestershire Countryside and Upper Bittell Reservoir adding to the surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been able to develop some nucleus bees from splitting our existing beehive colonies to help prevent swarming and to grow the number of colonies we have. It has been good to pass on beekeeping skills and introduce members of the public to our honeybees via our beekeeping experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From August on-wards we have been extremely busy with the harvest. Starting with the extraction of our Fruitfields honey in August before apple picking throughout late August, September and October. Having picked the apples we then wash, mill and press the fruit before bottling and pasteurising the apple juice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are part of an amazing local community. Apple pickers included friends and colleagues, the Barnt Green Girl Guides and many families, individuals and members of the network of villages which we form a part.

We used the facilities at Tardebigge Cider in order to scale up our position to process the 5 tonnes of apples collected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have also invested in bottles fillers and our own mill and hydropress which give us the ability to process smaller runs of apple juice such as a limited number of pink juice using a single variety called ‘Red Devil’. From our harvest this year we are delighted as a business to now be offering the following products:

A medium sweet apple juice (Made from Browns & Dabinett)

A medium sharp apple juice (Made from Bramley, Sandlin Duchess & Ashmeads Kernel)

A single variety Ashmeads Kernel apple juice

A single variety Red Devil apple juice

Honey in both 1 lb and 8 oz jars and either liquid or soft set. All these products are subject to availability!

Our winter wassail in conjunction with Barnt Green Parish Council

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On the 27th December, 2019, two community walks set out from the centre of Barnt Green at Millenium Park. The first walking group undertaking the 5 mile round trip comprised 42 adventurers and the 3 mile route was made up of 50. With approximately thirty people coming to our orchards directly or on their own walks, a crowd of c.130 made for a wonderful 3rd Barnt Green Wassail.

It was the first year we had members of Alvechurch Morris dancing on the top track and we were again able to process round the trees with Jez on the drums and Andy on the melodium. We were also joined by Steve as green man, aka ‘the hedge’. He really is a sight to behold, (if you notice he is there).

As the sunset and the mist came in, the crackling bonfire lit up our Fruitfields stall and Sian and myself were busy running the Wassail and dishing out the hot & cold apple juice & hot & cold cider.

We hit pots and pans and made noise as we processed around the orchard. We enjoyed a few wassailing verses and as well as hanging toast on our trees with the help of children (to attract the robins the guardians of the orchards and the noise was to keep away evil nasties) we ‘toasted’ with a ‘wassail’ and ‘drink hael’ response.

We wished the health of the apple trees for another bumper harvest in 2020 and to thank them for their bounteous crop we’ve experienced in 2019.

Thanks to Barnt Green Parish Council for their help leading the walks and promoting the event. It seems to be building each year and this year was certainly bigger & better than previous years…

Love and joy come to you and to you your wassail to… Here’s to a great start to 2020!

We must thank James Crockford (James Crockford Photography) for capturing some great shots of this event:

 

Summer & Autumn at Fruitfields

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It has been a fun summer tending to the trees and making sure they are well staked. We continue to check that our growing apples are bug and disease free and that our bees have the best possible chance to develop and be strong enough to gather nectar to make honey.

High winds and gales and our lack of thinning the apples have meant for a couple of broken apple tree limbs but this has provided a lessen for thinning apples in oncoming years.

Highlights of the summer have included running beekeeping experiences and being up close and personal with the bees. This has been sooo much fun and it is great to introduce new people to the life and setup of the honeybee.

Our apple varieties are coming on now. We have had small crops of Redditch Doddin & Pitmaston Pineapple as earlies and the Worcester Pearmains, William Crumps and other varieties such as Red Devil, Sandlin Duchess and Ashmead’s Kernel are on the way.

 

Storms before the calm? March 2019 in the UK

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We’ve had a few weeks now of rain, wind and challenging conditions here in North Worcestershire in the UK. We are hoping this is the ‘storm before the calm’ and all settles down for the main blossom and pollination period in May.

Pictures speak a thousand words and we have at last worked out why our fruity pictures from last season would not upload (pixel size). Therefore we are pleased to share with you some of the pictures from the 2018 harvest and from the last few months. We have been busy pruning the trees, cutting our willow and selling our apple juice and honey through local stockists.

If you want to contact us please look at our facebook site @fruitfieldsjuice

Fruitfields Apple Juice is now available!

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We have had fun this autumn producing c. 150 litres of juice from a few different varieties including Redditch Doddin, Worcester Pearmain, Sandlin Duchess and Red Devil. Our trees are young and the amount of juice is on an exponential curve so we are expecting at least triple the amount next year…

In order to scale up our position earlier and start our local business ‘Fruitfields’ we have picked just over 2 tonnes of apples from a local orchard in Barnt Green with the help of the Girl Guides and it is now available for sale. Using the facilities at Tardebigge Cider, Tutnall and the huge experience of the owner Steve Cooper, we have produced over 1,500 750 ml bottles of lovely tasting apple juice. It has been a learning curve, with us understanding the logistics of moving c.130 15kg bags of apples through the washing/milling & pulping/cheese pressing/bottling and pasteurising process (before storing & distributing!).

We are delighted to confirm that our Fruitfields Apple Juice is now available for sale at:

Blackwell Convenience Store, Blackwell, B60 1BL

Fresh @Burcot Garden Centre, Burcot, B60 1PW

Warwick’s Butchers, Barnt Green, B45 8NL

Alpaca Park Farm, Snarestone, DE12 7DB

& we are in talks with a few other local establishments…

We have also attended our first shows and have a few more planned. We loved being involved with Barnt Green Fireworks & the Bromsgrove Christmas Lights Switch on & are attending the following events over the next couple of months:

November 22nd   Blackwell School Craft & Local Producer Fair

November 24th    Parkside Centre, Bromsgrove Craft Fair

December 7th       St Andrews School, Barnt Green School Fair

December 8th       King’s Norton Farmer’s Market, King’s Norton

December 15th     Parkside Centre, Bromsgrove Craft Fair

December 27th     The 2nd Barnt Green Wassail at our orchards off Bittel Farm Road

Please do like & follow us on facebook or look us up on Instagram and if you ever fancy a bottle of fresh local apple juice then please do visit one of our stockists or come along to one of the events above. All of the above would not have been possible without the help of numerous family members and close friends. You know who you are, thanks for making our journey possible!

Autumnal Apple & Honey Harvesting

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We’re delighted to have produced some delicious honey. Ok we’re biased but it’s award winning with a first at a Mid-Wales show for our liquid honey, and a third for our set honey in North Worcestershire. All our followers and Fruitfields community are so supportive. If you want any honey and live in the South Birmingham/North Worcestershire area, please let us know.

We have started taking apple windfalls from the Redditch Doddins/Pitmaston Pineapples/Worcester Pearmains/Red Windsors and Red Devils and are processing apple juice. We’ve had the offer of over 2 tonnes of apples from an orchard locally. All being well, we’ll have the apples processed and juice bottled by the end of October and then we’ll let you know when and where we’re selling through to the end of the year.

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Wow, what a summer!

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The trees and fruit bushes are now looking for some rain which no doubt will be upon us imminently. What a summer we’ve had! From the end of May to the start of July the heat wave has given us a such a glorious long dry spell. All the hay has been cut in surrounding fields, and the apple fruit is coming on and thinking about growing and starting to ripen.

Due to the timing of the blossom this year we’ve had no pears, but so far a bumper crop of raspberries and redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries. The raspberry jam has been delicious and our bees are excited by this long dry spell so we’re crossing fingers for a strong honey harvest.

The bees are now pollinating the blackberry and broad bean flowers in nearby fields, and there is the promise of some plums and apricots.

Despite the long dry spell, the growth of the willow each year staggers me and we’ll cut it as usual later in the year once the shoots have shed their leaves.

Our apple trees are starting to put growth into their side lateral branches having pruned their top shoots during the winter period and now our pruning has meant the growth in the trees is impressive. Our five year old fruit trees may produce a crop!

Pruning Talk at local garden centre and pruning of 60 year old village apple trees

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Well the UK is properly snowed in currently! Traffic chaos, gale force winds and boilers breaking down seem to be the order of the day. We’ve had some wonderful opportunities at Fruitfields to share our Worcestershire apple juice story.

Firstly, to 60 south Birmingham allotment holders at Fresh Burcot Garden Centre. Our pruning talk appeared to muster a good amount of interest and provided the basics on pruning for growth and health in your trees and pruning for vigour and fruit.

We were extremely pleased to have the opportunity to engage with Fresh at Burcot. It’s a huge thankyou to the Burcot Garden centre team for having us and we look forward to engaging with them later in the year to demonstrate some Worcestershire apple juice processing and pressing and sampling!

Today, the 2nd March, 2018 we’ve been pruning 60 year old apple trees in the neighbouring village. This was a fantastic opportunity to carry out some restorative pruning. It’s very important that we don’t kill off the tree by the strength of our pruning. So with that in mind, we removed all the water shoots, obvious crossing branches and upright shooting spurs at the canopy level which was too high. This will bring on growth lower down, and particularly on the existing lateral branches showing strong fruiting buds.

Wassailing and our Fruitfields Wassail on the 27th December, 2017

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To Wassail or ‘Was-hail’ is the middle English for ‘good-health’ and at fruitfields we’ve been delighted to work with Barnt Green Parish Council to combine their annual winter community walks with a Wassail at fruitfields.

Over sixty intrepid adventurers braved the near freezing and windy conditions on the afternoon of December 27th, 2017 and we were thankful that it was dry.

Despite the wind blowing the gas double burner out, the fire pit saved the day and the pre-warmed mulled cider provided a good alternative to the mulled hot apple juice.

We wished the trees good health to provide a bumper crop of apples in 2018 and to thank them for the 2017 crop. We banged pots and pans to awaken the orchard and ensure any nasty bugs were driven away. Everyone made a good amount of noise following Ges our drummer to hang toast at the bottom of the orchard in the oldest trees.

Toast is traditionally hung to thank the trees for the fruit they have provided, and attract birds to dispatch any nasty bugs.

Fruitfields in the snow at sunset!

Hanging toast in the trees to encourage a good crop and remove any nasty bugs!

Robert & Simon doing a sterling job with the banners and as walk leaders.

Walkers warming up aroud the firepit with glasses of mulled cider and apple juice

Walkers warming up aroud the firepit with glasses of mulled cider and apple juice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drunk and sung to the health of the apple trees and this included the following wassail verses:

Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
That blooms well, bears well.
Hats full, caps full.
Three bushel bags full,
An’ all under one tree. Hurrah! Hurrah!

Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow,
And whence thou mayst bear apples enough,
Hats full, caps full,
Bushel, bushel sacks-full.
And my pockets full, too! Hurrah!

Wassail! Wassail! All over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink unto thee.

Wassaile the trees, that they may beare
You many a Plum and many a Peare:
For more or lesse fruits they will bring
As you do give them Wassailing.
Apple tree prosper, bud, bloom and bear,
That we may have plenty of cider next year.
And when there’s a barrel, we hope there are ten,
That we may have cider when we come again.

Chorus:
With our wassail, wassail, wassail!
Joy come to our jolly wassail!

A-wassail, a-wassail! The Moon, she shines down;
The apples are ripe and the nuts they are brown.
Whence thou mayest bud, dear old apple tree,
And when thou mayest bear, we sing unto thee,

Chorus:
With our wassail, wassail, wassail!
Joy come to our jolly wassail!

Love and joy come to you
And to you your wassail, too
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year and God send you a
Happy New Year!