Category Archives: Honey

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!

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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[Show slideshow]

What crazy weather & a quick check on my starving bees (despite trying to feed them)

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Ok we’ve had snow and sledged and snow and sledged and yes more snow and sledged. It was fun the first couple of times. We’d prefer it if there was not a Beast from the East 3 and my bees, the only colony that has survived (colony 2 succumbed to starvation last week despite candy and fondant feeding) is needing a warm spring now and for the flowers to come out, please!

So it was important today to see if there were any stores in the remaining hive and it’s confirmed that the bees are on a knife edge and the candy is essential. Also essential is the local forage including early cherry blossom and willow catkins.

I had an accomplice today which meant some great bee frame close ups could be taken which clearly show the different stages of bee development from upright matchstick eggs in cells (up to day 3) to curly pearly white larvae, to sealed brood waiting to hatch. You can see bees with the yellow pollen on their back legs in their ‘paniers’ to feed to the young brood for their development.

 

Honey extracting

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Barnt Green Honey

2017 has been a good year for the bees – we have 2 strong colonies at the moment and have extracted over 40lbs from the first hive.  Enough for our supplies for the year and a few jars for sale.