The Apple Club Newsletter, Winter 2009, Page 2

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.

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.

Newsletter Winter 2009		page 2 of 4

Planting Elephant Grass

Spanish tunnels