Monday, November 30, 2015

Harvest time


Three days after the KCA tea party, inspection showed, as suspected, ominous squirrel damage on both the old and the young bloc.  With two weeks to go until the pickers from Hurstwood Farm were due it was a case of holding your breath, fingers crossed and just hoping that they would not make too many inroads into the crop in that time. Hurstwood need the nuts to be well-ripened for their markets and for processing into oil; squirrels on the other hand go for them before they are even fully formed within the shell - as the photo below clearly shows.
The kernals in these nuts were still soft and undersize when the squirrels attacked


But harvesting could begin on the young bloc and a start was made on August 26th.  Next day I was joined for picking by another Nutter who spotted a fine grass snake, slithering away into long grass: not surprising but the first time I had seen one on the plat. I've been keeping a log book of everything including weather, and the following day was windless and sunny, with thermals rising. Three buzzards overhead were taking advantage of the thermals whilst at nut tree level dragonflies were cruising around.

 At the far end of the young bloc, where the ground slopes downhill, more squirrel damage was evident and the trees were almost bare of nuts.  At this end there is a band of wild hazels and the marauders can dart out and back without fear.  While the hazels are good pollinators it might be best to coppice them over the winter and deprive the squirrels of their cover. Meanwhile we keep picking.
nuts spread out for drying and sorting
Destined for Ightham Mote


The nuts are piling up in the shed where they are sorted and bagged up to go on sale at Ightham Mote. The shed is now watertight and squirrel-proof, thanks to Ightham Mote's head gardener and his team and to another supporter who kindly donated the materials for patching the holes in the roof and sides.










payment is made 'by donation' to the chained box


Daily deliveries are made to the stand outside Ightham Mote's Reception area to catch the attention of visitors and payment is made 'by donation' (with £2 a bag recommended).  It is interesting to average out the daily take!

At the side of the stand there are notices pinned up with facts, figures and recipes for cobnuts, like the one below.


A champion cluster with eleven nuts

















Cobnuts grow in ones or twos and often in larger clusters. The record-holder this year was a cluster of eleven!

Mid-September was when the Hurstwood Farm pickers, thirty two students, were due to arrive but the weather had turned uncertain. Fortunately the appointed day, September 15, started dry, if overcast. Boxes were laid out  and the students were assigned in pairs, one pair to each row.

'Looks a bit like rain!'

A cheerful picker
On the second day it really did rain hard, all day and there was no question of picking: a day lost, and a day's earnings for the gang.  But next day was fine enough and the team were able to complete the task of clearing the whole of the main bloc.

At the end of the day, with a final burst of energy, the team loaded crates full of cobnuts onto the trailer.The farm's Landrover was temporarily out of action and it was this Audi that took its place.
The Audi that thinks it's a Landrover


Everyone lends a hand
There was time to fool around when the work was done.....


.....but some people were just too tired.
Eventually the trailer was loaded up but  the question was....



   ....following the previous day's heavy rain, would it make it up the muddy track to the gate and out onto the tarmac road?  We held our breath.....
Will it or won't it?

There was still picking to be done on the young bloc and students from Sevenoaks School came, as part of their volunteer programme, to help us out.



One of them had an interest in insect life and was fascinated by the numerous ladybirds, earwigs and shield bugs to be found among the nuts and - as far as I can see - doing them no harm at all.
How many shield bugs?


So how good had the harvest been this year?  Had it not been for the squirrels it would probably have been as good as last year and I can see that I am becoming somewhat obsessed.  But while you might enjoy looking at them in your back garden, grey squirrels are a serious pest to growers like us as well as to young trees and woodland.  Last season, perhaps because of a poor breeding year their numbers were reduced, but this year made up for it and probably a tonne of nuts was lost to them. We learn that grey squirrels fail to flourish where there are pine martens (though red squirrels live alongside the martens happily). Well, that's food for thought.

Good-quality, de-husked cobnuts
From the total harvest I keep a proportion of the cobnuts back for trying out new recipes; Gilly Jones's Cobnut and Bramley apple Granola-muesli made its debut at the Shipbourne Farmers'

Market in July and at the Apple and Orchard Day Fair at Ightham Mote at the end of September, and sold well.  A range of value-added products using cobnuts, including chocolates, confectionery and soaps, can be found at fairs and farmers' markets (not to mention high-class stores like Fortnum and Mason), so this is something to keep an eye on.

But now, at the end of a four year stint, and with renewed and hearty thanks to all who have worked so hard to restore the Ightham Mote cobnut plat; with two good harvests brought in and with the regular round of maintenance about to start all over again; now seems as good a time as any to say that this is where the blog terminates - at least for the time being!

Goodbye and thank you for following!

1 comment:

  1. Противные белки, им надо не столько съесть сколько припрятать на "черный" день.
    Рад за вас и окончание сбора орехов, а также за успех вашей работы по обновлению и развитию орехового сада!!!

    ReplyDelete