Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2000

page 2 of 4 

The Apple Farm Newsletter

Millions employed at The Apple Farm
A work-force of about 2 million was employed at our farm over the summer. It's not that we have a high staff turnover, but rather that the workers are very small. These minuscule fellows are called T.pyri and they are a tiny translucent spider. However, they make no web. Instead they are hunters, chasing, capturing and consuming another orchard pest called the red spider mite. This red spider mite is a serious pest of fruit trees, living on the underside of leaves and sucking sap from the plant. This weakens the tree so that it produces only small tasteless fruits. Years ago growers had to spray for this pest, but that was before they understood that if the orchard is left unsprayed, that T.pyri will do the job instead. 

Our job as growers now is to provide conditions that will encourage enough T.pyri spiders to live in our trees. These then eat the red spider mites and so a natural harmony is set up in the orchard, with numbers of red spider mite remaining low. At The Apple Farm we have had T.pyri spiders operating as predators for almost ten years now, and every year they come back to help. And why wouldn't they - they're getting a free meal. 

An Award
We're celebrating at the Apple Farm this week following the news that ours has been voted the best three star camping and caravan park in Ireland for the year 2000. It's especially nice to receive this award as it is voted for by visitors to Ireland annually, and administered by Bord Failte and The Irish Caravan Council. Congratulations to all involved, and to the many local people who by being kind and courteous to tourists in Ireland, help make peoples holiday in Tipperary memorable. 

Karmine 
Apple juice Our apple juice has been given a new look with a new label. From now on our juice will be branded as Karmine, reflecting the fact that the majority of our juice is made from the Karmijn de Sonnaville apple. On the new label we include some background information on our farm, and also nutritional information which was not there before. We hope that you like our new-look label. 

Eating apples 
Currently we have four varieties of eating apple for sale in our farm-shop. There is Elstar, a juicy bi-coloured (Red and Yellow) variety. We also have Jonagored, a crunchy and very firm red apple. We also have Golden Delicious which are tree- ripened for the very best flavour. Finally, there is Karmijn de Sonnaville; an apple widely acclaimed for its excellent taste. 

Other fruits 
We also grow a small number of pears on our farm. Conference, Concorde and Doyenne du Comice are the three varieties which we have. Conference and Concorde bear typical pear- shaped fruits, while Comice gives the large rounded fruits. All three varieties grew well this year despite the frost at blossom time. However, because we only have sixty young trees, the total yields are very small. Therefore by now they are all sold. With any luck we'll have more next year, and you'll visit on a day when they're on display. 

 

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