Welcome to our winter newsletter. I would like to wish all our customers and friends a happy Christmas, and a healthy and rewarding 2010.

A busy 12 months

Wow! We have just had a really exciting year, which I hope goes some way to excusing the fact that this is the first and last newsletter of 2009. So apologies to all our subscribers; here’s hoping you enjoy the read despite the long wait.
I think as you read the newsletter you will see just what we have been busy doing.

A new plum orchard

One of the most important things we can do as fruit growers is plant a new crop. For some fruits like strawberries, they may only last for a few years, but for others, like apple or plum orchards, they might be there for forty years or more, so it is important to get it right.
Last spring we planted some new plum trees; about an acre in total. The variety we selected is called Opal, which is probably the second-most reliable plum you can grow in Ireland. (Victoria is probably even more reliable, but not as tasty a plum in my opinion). 
Traditionally Opal plum trees were planted far apart from each other, as the trees, typically on a rootstock called St. Julian A, grow quite large, and need a space of at least 5m x 5m in which to grow. The trees also grow tall, and after a few years a ladder is needed for picking. While the plums are so tasty to be well worth the climb, it is quite tricky to get to all of them, and of course the tastiest ones are always at the top of the tree. Sometimes too, after getting the ladder and climbing up, you find that the plums are not as ripe as they looked from the ground. So they must be left for a few more days before they can be picked. The result is a lot of climbing, which though fun when you are young, can be a bit tiring after forty years. How often we have wished that we could have a miniature plum tree, just like we have with the apples. No ladders, and all the fruits fully exposed to the sunlight, as the trees would not be tall enough to be very shaded lower down.
The great news though is that a new dwarfing plum rootstock is now available, although thus far only for growers. It is called VVA-1 or also Krymsk-1, and originated in Russia in 1966, having come from a breeding program commenced in 1956. Krymsk is on the North-Eastern shore of the black sea, and though really only a provincial town, its horticultural station holds the largest collection of fruit plants in any part of Russia or the former USSR, with 9,000 different types of plums, cherries, peaches and apricots, including 2,500 named varieties.
The story of the breeding of this rootstock is an interesting one. It is a hybrid bred using natural techniques. Trees of the female parent Prunus tomentosa from the Moscow garden of the breeder, Dr. Guennadi Eremin, were planted in an orchard of Prunus cerasifera in Krymsk at blossom time. The latter trees (known as cherry plum, often grown in Ireland as spectacular flowering trees for early spring) acted as male parents donating the pollen which fertilized the female flowers. The resulting seeds were sown and one of these gave rise to a daughter which was named VVA-1.
It is considered a unique rootstock of Prunus (plum, cherry, peach etc.) because its characteristics include resistance to low temperatures, dwarf habit and ability to serve as rootstock for quite a number of different species. In 1976, after ten years of observation, and twenty years after the breeding program commenced, VVA-1 was released. However, it was not until after the fall of the iron curtain that the rootstock travelled west, making its way to The Netherlands in 1994, for further testing, and into commercial orchards only in the last few years, practically forty years after the initial plant was selected. Dr. Eremin has continued to breed new plant selections, and as recently as 2005, another of his selections was released for growers to use. However, it seems likely that VVA-1 will be his most significant legacy.
It is certainly the rootstock of most interest to us here, as its ability to keep plum trees small could transform plum growing in Ireland from a niche interest into something much more mainstream. It is for this reason that we planted 1200 trees on a single acre last spring, a planting that would have needed 7 acres using the traditional rootstocks. We look forward to the fruits of our labours, but also the much more significant labours of Dr. Guennaddi Eremin and the state-sponsored research of the now defunct USSR.

In our farm shop

We have our usual range of apples, including really beautiful Elstar, as well as that traditional favourite, Karmijn de Sonnaville. Bramley cookers are also available, as are Golden Delicious. Jonagold will also be available shortly.
Our juices are as popular as ever and really good value, with a case of 12 large bottles of apple juice; enough to keep you going for ages, only 22 euros. 
The sparkling juice is going from strength to strength, with people coming from all over Ireland to get it.
All the juices also make a great Christmas present, either in a presentation basket or bag, or with a few fruits.

Planting Elephant Grass

Another new venture that kept me busy this spring was planting a 10 acre field of elephant grass. Now I’m not saying that I personally planted the crop myself; the land was tilled by local contractor Philip Kiely, and the planting done by rhizome suppliers Tippgen. However, it somehow still kept me busy. Elephant grass is a perennial grass which grows up from its roots each year. It is an amazing plant which in Ireland can grow to ten feet tall in a single year, but yet requires no fertilizer and is tolerant of drought. Its attraction in a world of diminishing fuel supply is as a biomass crop. It can be harvested year after year, and the shoots used in power stations in place of peat, or in homes and industry in place of coal, oil and gas. Because it is practically carbon neutral, it not only offers the hope of a new more-reasonably priced alternative to fossil fuels, but its cost need not rise in line with oil prices, especially if these escalate rapidly as happened almost two years ago. In addition, it does not contribute to global warming, and indeed, research is currently under way to investigate if the carbon trapped in the tap roots might even act as a carbon sink, taking harmful carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. I planted this crop because I feel that as a user of fuels in my daily life (whether driving to town or heating my home), I ought to use the opportunity presented by being a farmer to reduce carbon outputs and become involved in making a positive contribution towards lowering Ireland’s massive energy bill, most of which is spent on importing fossil fuels (the last time I checked, Ireland spent 7 billion euros a year on imported fuels. If we could keep even half of that in Ireland it would solve so many of our financial woes). From a growers perspective, the ten acres will produce about 100 tons of dry matter each year. While that is far more than I would require for personal use, the crop will be purchased by Tippgen, who in turn will use it to supply to their local energy customers. It just seems like such a sensible way to operate. Local energy crops for local energy use.

Spanish tunnels

During what we called our “summer” we were busy with the Spanish tunnels. If you have a look at our website, you will see an aerial photograph showing them. They are low-tech tunnels which are large enough to walk into, and in these we grow cherries, raspberries and strawberries, and from next year hopefully some plums too. While the majority of our strawberries, raspberries and plums are grown outdoors, this is not really possible for cherries, as the weather tends to be too cool at flowering, and too wet during the summer. It is really convenient to have some tunnels for the soft fruit also, as if the forecast is for wet weather one day and dry another, we can organize to harvest the indoor fruit on the wet day, and the outdoor fruit on the dry day. It really suits everyone like this, because on a nice summer day we all like to be out, but if it’s wet, the protection of the covers is much appreciated. The tunnel design originated in Spain, which is how they got their name. They are not suited to stormy weather though, so in the autumn we take off the plastic covers, and in the spring we put them back on again. That is a tricky job, as it is vital that there is not the slightest breeze, as the huge section of plastic first needs to be put in place, and then tied down. Even a little wind when doing this job could lift the plastic (and all who hold onto it) high into the sky. Thus far though, we have always managed to pick a calm morning for the job; a skill I hope that we can repeat again next year.

Irrigation

With the weather we have had for the last three summers, and the incessant rain of recent times, I am almost embarrassed to write about our irrigation project. However, over the past few years, we have been expanding the area of crops that we can supply water to. In December 2004, I wrote about boring for water on our farm, and each year since then, we have added a little to our water infrastructure.
The reason that we decided to build this infrastructure is due to the climate change models, which show South East Ireland having hotter and drier summers, as well as milder and wetter winters. The latest edition of the book “Climate, Weather and Irish Agriculture” goes into great detail, but suffice to say that if it is correct, summers will have dry spells long enough to put crops under stress from lack of water. And as farmers, our job is to minimise the stress on our plants, so that they can perform at their best.
So this summer and autumn we expanded the on-farm network to cover another two apple orchards, as well as the new plum trees I mentioned earlier. It really felt odd to be doing this work when the current weather did not warrant it. However, the climate models are actually gaining more credibility all the time, so I can only conclude that our last three wet summers were down to hard luck. Here’s hoping that the next one will be better. We can all do with the lift that a few weeks of sunshine brings.

A new award

We were honoured to receive an award from Euro Toques, the European organisation of Chefs. It came about after we received a visit from one of their chefs (although I was unaware of the purpose of his visit at the time) and I showed him around the farm one autumn morning, giving him samples of some of our apples, and generally explaining what we do. A few weeks later I received a letter from EuroToques, informing me that I was to receive one of their annual awards for producers. And when I went to receive the award about two weeks ago, who was there but Peter Everett, the chef from “Residence” who had visited me during the autumn. Also there were many other well known people such as Derry Clarke and Ross Lewis, both of whom have Michelin stars, Myrtle and Darina Allen, and so many more. I was especially happy to receive the award from Neven Maguire, who uses our juice in his restaurant in Blacklion, Co. Cavan. The award was given “In recognition of excellent quality standards, traditional and artisan production methods, and outstanding contributions to Irish food.”
And to top off a really exciting day, we had samples of all sorts of wonderful dishes, prepared using the food produced by the award-winners.
Web links:
www.eurotoquesirl.org
www.macneanrestaurant.com
www.chapteronerestaurant.com
www.lecrivain.com
www.residence.ie

A book launch

During November I received an invitation to a book launch from one of our juice customers, Carmel Somers of Good Things Café in Durrus, West Cork. Carmel operates one of Ireland’s most celebrated cafés and also has a cookery school. I was so pleased to be invited that I offered to supply some juice for the launch, which in turn meant that I had no option but to accept the invitation.
Carmel’s book, “Eat Good Things Every Day” has been brought home, and having already tried one of the straight-forward dishes, I can attest to the excellence of the food prepared using her tips and recipes.
Available from usual outlets and at www.thegoodthingscafe.com

Miracle of Apple Juice

So said the front page headline of the Daily Express on January 24th last. The article went on to describe the research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, which showed that mice who consumed the human equivalent of two glasses of apple juice each day did not suffer the normal decline in brain function associated with aging. Dr. Thomas Shea, of the Centre of Neurobiology in Massachusetts also found that the mice who were fed the apple juice produced less beta-amyloid protein in their brains. This is important because beta-amyloid is responsible for forming the sticky plaques in the brain that are commonly found in people suffering from Alzheimer’s.