Cobnut Harvest 2017

This year all the local cobnut-growers predicted an early harvest and the crop looked promising.

Plenty of nuts on the trees

 While some had started picking by mid-August I preferred to have the nuts at a riper stage and we started in glorious sunshine on September 4th.

Perfect nut-picking weather

A week later three volunteer pickers, students from Germany, arrived to help with the crop.  They worked enthusiastically and carefully.  

Sorting and packing

  

Of course they had time off to visit places of interest including Ightham Mote.  Here they are on bicycles setting off to visit Old Soar Manor: an easy ride from the plat but uphill all the way on the return. 

Good luck for the return journey!

There was more help from friends and relations 

including the very young who were not deterred by 

a wet and windy day.

Young helpers eager to lend a hand

A bucketful of nuts between the two of us is not too heavy!

Next, pickers from Hurstwood Farm arrived to tackle the main bloc, coming rather later than I would have hoped when autumn gales had blown most of the nuts onto the ground.They gathered most of them up but found the going tough.  

Those nuts have been de-husked and I understand are destined for M & S stores this Christmas: do look out for them!

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With the harvest done I have started baking muesli again. 

the new-look label features the National Trust logo

The label has changed to reflect the National Trust origin of the nuts and the Bramley apples this year are coming from a grower very near to the plat,  Robert Mitchell.  My granola-muesli can be found on sale at Shipbourne Farmers' Market and at a new deli in Tunbridge Wells, 'Foodies delicatessen'  at 40 Camden Road. Other outlets are in my sights and there is a website now for ordering online at  www.gillyjones.com

On the last weekend of September Ightham Mote holds its Apple Fair and we were there as usual, selling cobnut oil and muesli as well as cobnuts in bags. Thank you to the volunteers who helped on the stall!

Finally, I am sending cobnuts again this year to Northern Ireland, this time to Belfast Zoo.  You might wonder what kind of animals require cobnuts and it is somewhat ironic that while my number-one foe on the plat is grey squirrels, in Ireland the endangered red squirrel population is recovering; and guess what they prefer as a tasty treat?  Last year my nuts went to a woodland in county Tyrone and to the National Trust property of Mount Stewart in county Antrim.  Word gets around in that part of the world and I was pleased to receive an order this year from the red-squirrel breeding programme at Belfast Zoo.

Loading the boxes bound for Belfast Zoo

And that wraps it up for the 2016-17 season but work starts again and this month I'll be welcoming students from Hadlow College who are coming to dig holes and plant up young cobnut trees to fill some gaps in the rows. There will be more about that in due course.

Wrapped up and ready to go