If you have a smallholding and no one else keeps bees in the area, you might want to consider beekeeping to generate smallholding profits. Not only can you generate profits from the sale of honey, you can also generate sales from the wax they produce.

You might think that it takes a calm personality to work around bees. This isn’t always the case. My very nervous father-in-law enjoyed keeping several hives on the family’s half hectare (1-1/4 acre) property. Something about working with the bees calmed him.

Even a compact smallholding can support bees if there are no other hives around the area. Some avid beekeepers say they have kept healthy hives in the city, so if you are out in the country, you have it made. While bees have their preferences, they will gather pollen from any flowers that are available.

Once you get past the initial set-up costs, beekeeping isn’t that difficult. Many people find it addicting. For the most part, if you are patient, the bees will do most of the work for you. Prepare to invest an hour or two every month checking on the health of your hive(s).

While you will have some ongoing expenses, beekeeping can be very profitable. The primary expenses involve extraction equipment, medications and feed for the cold months.

To learn how to keep your beehives healthy and producing the maximum profits for your smallholding look out for our next article on BEEKEEPING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Keeping the Hive Healthy. This article will go into how to prevent an unhealthy hive from draining all of your profits.

Sources of Beekeeping Profits

The most obvious source of profits is honey. If your smallholding is in a tourist destination there are ways to add value to the honey your bees produce. For example, the dark rich honey made by bees that forage on heather should be packaged attractively for the tourist trade. Take advantage of its reputed health benefits and market your honey for more than it sells for in local trade.

Attractive packaging is important no matter what type of flowers your honey comes from. With the options available in paper and printers, you can experiment with producing your own labels. Design labels that fit the type of customer you want to attract. If you are placing your honey in an upscale shop, make sure the labels look upscale. This may require commercial printing. If you are a selling the honey out of your own smallholding shop, then commercial printing becomes optional. Often a handmade feel sells products.

If you have already experimented with cider making, you may want to experiment with making mead. This alcoholic beverage has an ancient history and is mentioned in the earliest literature of England and Scotland. Once again it is a product easily marketed to tourists. Make sure you meet all regulations before selling the product.

When looking at profits, don’t forget the value of the beeswax. Beeswax finds its way into everything from candles to lip balm. Purifying the beeswax for use is very simple. Wrap the wax in a jute/burlap bag. Just place it in a kettle of boiling water and weigh it down so the wax filters through the jute and rises to the surface. This method leaves most of the impurities in the comb behind.

Once all the combs have melted, allow the pot to cool slowly. Don’t accelerate the process. This allows impurities to settle to the bottom of the wax. Some impurities usually show up on the bottom side of the block. Just scrape them away. If you want to sell the beeswax in small blocks, you can melt it again in a double boiler. Pour the wax off into plastic containers. Market your beeswax on the internet if the local interest is inadequate.

Beeswax candles are a potential source of income both locally and on the internet. Add essential oils and market the candles for the healing properties of the essential oils used.

You can also use beeswax as a base for your own brand of healing lip balms, lotion bars, lotions and skin creams. Majestic Mountain Sage offers many recipes that will get you started. Beeswax is also useful in soap making.

Finally, there are profits to be made renting out your hives. Other smallholders may need bees to pollinate their fruit trees and gardens. You deliver the hive and let your bees do their job. Many beekeepers move their hives from spring through autumn. Not only do the bees generate income by making honey. They bring you income by pollinating.

Keeping the Peace with Your Neighbours

When you start setting up your hives, you may meet resistance from your neighbours. If there are other cottages nearby, make sure you place a solid fence around your beehives. This encourages the bees to fly higher so they are less likely to collide into someone passing by. A fence provides other advantages as well. Protecting the hives from the wind prevents excessive chilling in the winter or drying out in the summer. It can also keep nosy children from poking around the hive. In general, something that is out of sight of your neighbours will quickly be out of mind as well.

Bees tend to be less aggressive when there are plenty of flowering plants in the area. When nectar is flowing, bees are contented. Let clover blossom in your lawn. Plant succulent flowers, such as sweet peas. Any member of the legume family will provide nectar and pollen for your bees and the flavor will be good.

As a beekeeper you can also condition your bees to be less anxious by placing the hives near bushes. Because the wind constantly moves the branches, the bees become accustomed to movement around their hives.

When a queen is over a year old, the bees may have a tendency to swarm. Keep a bait hive nearby. Tack a small piece of honeycomb inside. If this baited hive is positioned about 10 to 30 feet away from the existing hives, and about 10 feet above the ground it will be very attractive to a swarm. Your bait hive may prevent the bees from taking up residence at your neighbour’s home.

Many smallholders have discovered that beekeeping creates smallholding profits. To learn how to get started in beekeeping on a smallholding look out for our forthcoming article SMALLHOLDING PROFITS: Getting Started in Beekeeping.

Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange. ]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholding-news-features-smallholding-profits-from-beekeeping/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/sowing-growing/smallholding-news-features-carshalton-lavender-not-for-profit-community-project/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/sowing-growing/smallholding-news-features-carshalton-lavender-not-for-profit-community-project/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:52:45 +0000 Rural Smallholdings http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=2464

Talk of supporting local producers and British growers is widespread, but when it comes to finding ways to sell their goods many market gardeners and smallholders still face major challenges. Sarah Irving finds out about Carshalton Lavender and how this revival of an old agricultural tradition has survived.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the chalky, gently undulating hills now covered by South London suburbs like Carshalton, Wallington and Waddon was blue with lavender – Lavendula Vera. The area was known as the ‘lavender capital of the world’ and the industry supported hundreds if not thousands of jobs, albeit low-waged manual ones.

Every August, the harvesters cut carried bundles of cut lavender to distilling rooms and the resulting essential oil was shipped to perfumers and toiletry manufacturers across Europe. Lavender wasn’t just used for cosmetic purposes – it went into household detergents, disinfectants, insect repellants and food. With around 150 to 200 pounds of the cut plants needed to yield a pound of oil, huge areas were needed to meet demand. Forget Provence – since the sixteenth Carshalton had been the place to go for this versatile herb.

The idea of growing lavender on a commercial scale in the UK is not as unusual as many might think. Existing lavender-growing projects around the UK stretch from Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Kent in the south to North Yorkshire and even Scotland.

But with the growth of artificial replacements for many of lavender’s uses, and increasingly available exotic scents for cosmetic use, the lavender industry declined and the fields fell victim to the urban sprawl of London – although the legacy survived in road names like Lavender Vale in Wallington.

But in the late 1990s BioRegional, the South London social enterprise which was responsible for the BedZed eco-home development, teamed up with local organisations and volunteers to revive the lavender industry. They picked a site at Stanley Road allotments which had become a problem area of derelict land and fly-tipping.

Determined to benefit all sections of the community, BioRegional teamed up with a local prison, Downview, to create a nursery where cuttings from local varieties, often collected from gardens on land where lavender fields had grown, were tended by prisoners being trained in horticultural skills. Prisoners on day release also helped to clear the allotment site and ready it for planting.

Since 1999 the lavender field has been a summer attraction in the area. Community access days engage local people, who can visit the site, learn about the local varieties grown there, help weed the rows and pick their fill of the flowers to take home. In April 2009, Carshalton Lavender also held London’s first eco-dating event, pairing up local singles in ten-minute weeding sessions – a useful variation on speed dating!

Making it pay

Although much of the work at Carshalton Lavender is still done by volunteers, the project increasingly aims to cover its costs. It has teamed up with Naturally Thinking, a local manufacturer of toiletries and cosmetics, to market pure lavender essential oil as well as a range of Carshalton Lavender branded bath and body products.

Because Naturally Thinking is an established business it can offer Carshalton Lavender access to distillation equipment without the project having to invest in expensive machinery, and it also provides a market for Carshalton lavender oil as a raw material. Naturally Thinking’s sells its products via a local shop and online retail, and wholesales to the local heritage centre. The essential oil is sold by BioRegional itself, in local wholefood shops and from stalls at Carshalton Lavender open days at the Stanley Road site.

Maintaining and marketing Carshalton Lavender demands the time and effort of dozens of local people, from the volunteers on the committee which manages the field to the local people who help out in myriad ways and the workers who distill the oil and make it into luxury products. Replanting the rows – which have lasted for ten years, three more than customary for commercial lavender production in Provence – will be a major task. But having drawn together a diverse range of people and engaged both the not-for-profit and business sectors, the project looks to have a good chance of success.

Click on the links below to find out more:
Click here to visit the Carshalton Lavender not-for-profit Community Project website.
Click here to visit the Bioregional website.
Click here to visit the Naturally Thinking website.

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Article by Sarah Irving for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Yurt camping and woodland craft courses such as green wood working, basketry, hurdle making and bee keeping are all available at a new business enterprise called Forest Garden Shovelstrode, located in the High Weald of Sussex.

The setting is based around 6 acres including an ancient woodland and a vacant paddock that has been recultivated into the early stages of a Forest Garden with a newly created wildlife pond.

Forest Garden Shovelstrode is a place for people to come and learn the principles of Permaculture demonstrated in the Forest Garden and also a range of woodland craft. A shop will sell products such as honey, eggs, green wooding tools and locally produced crafts.

Charles Hooper and Lisa Aitken have worked on a plan since 2009, searching for ways to live more self sufficiently and sustainably from a small area of land. Forest Garden Shovelstrode sets out to inspire others in a similar way.

With the help of a European grant, work began in earnest in September 2010, with renovations made to stables creating a kitchen, farm shop, shower and WC facilities, a new parking area and a new storage barn was erected.

Now with Spring arriving, they plan to welcome visitors for camping from the Easter weekend, Friday 22nd April with courses beginning in June.

2 yurts are available for hire, the first being a traditional Mongolian style with painted wooden poles, the other is a locally produced hand crafted yurt made of coppiced wood. The yurts are both located in the woodland in a peaceful environment. The yurts are both fully equipped with a log burning stove and many creature comforts to create a truly wonderful camping experience. Glamping at its best!

Courses begin in May:-

Sunday 22nd May – Intro to Bee Keeping
Wednesday 1st June – Introduction to Vegetable Gardening
Saturday 11th June – Basket Willow Weaving
Thursday 16th/Friday 17th June – Green woodworking
Friday 15th July – Hurdle making
Sunday 17th July – Children’s Green woodworking
Friday 22nd July – Flintknapping
Saturday 20th August- Beeswax Products

Click here for more information on all courses offered.

Further courses take place right up until October.

To learn more click here to visit the Forest Garden Shovelstrode website.

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Article by Forest Garden Shovelstrode for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This post was submitted by Forest Garden Shovelstrode.

Slow Summer Snail Farm re-opens its doors for the summer on Saturday 28 May with Kent’s first Snail Festival and hot snails Spanish style, to celebrate National Escargot Day.

Our edible snails, Helix aspersa maxima, will be enjoying the outdoors at Grow at Brogdale right through until the first frost in October. Brogdale Farm at Faversham is the home of the National Fruit Collection so the snails will be looking forward with us to enjoying this year’s fruit crop.

Slow Summer Snail Farm is registered with Kent Children’s University as a Learning Destination. Admission is free but we charge a small amount for taking part in educational activities. In return we provide a workbook for those who want to get their passport stamped together with paper and crayons for drawing and colouring or writing about snails. Some days there will also be snail races or the opportunity to take part in a quiz or make miniature gardens.

Meet the Snails: You can watch the way the snails use their antennae and mouths to explore the world around them: to see, taste and feel

• Admire their brown and gold intricately patterned shells.
• Tempt them with different kinds of vegetables and fruit to find out which they like best.
• Handle the snails and feel them gently exploring your fingers
• See how they use their muscles to move slowly
• Find out about the history of snail farming
• Learn all about these intriguing molluscs

When we first started farming edible snails it was difficult to find the information we needed. That is why we have produced a Smallholder Guide to Rearing Edible Snails. We also offer a predator proof snail pen so that other people can have a small scale set up next to their chicken house to rear snails for their own dinner table.

Our mini snail farms are proving to be a winner with animal lovers, both adults and children. 6 baby snails and everything you need to look after them: the ideal gift for that special occasion.

Live snails prepared for cooking can be ordered and collected at the farm gate and at special events we offer hot and bottled prepared snails for sale.

From 28 May we will be open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 – 3.30 and at other times by arrangements. Telephone 01227 728613 or email info@snailfarm.org.uk. The snails are available to visit schools all year round to take part in Meet the Snails days. They are accompanied by Helen Howard who is a scientist and qualified teacher.

Open Days for teachers will be held on Saturday 21st May 11- 3 and Tuesday 24th May 3 – 4.45 pm.

Click here here to visit the Slow Summer Snail Farm Website.

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Article by CJ Wildlife for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

CJ Wildlife’s new 108 page Handbook of Garden Wildlife is now available. The latest edition of this ever popular handbook features the widest range of wildlife friendly plants that the company has offered to date, including over 20 new plants to choose from that are great for creating a wildlife friendly garden by attracting beneficial insects, birds and mammals into your garden.

If you like to grow your own there is also a new selection of herb and jam sets, as well as a selection of beautifully decorated bird tables and water dish. The handbook also provides useful hints and tips about the wildlife in our gardens and how best to attract and care for them.

This handbook also features a first; Live Red Mason Bee Cocoons.

CJ Wildlife have been researching Red Mason Bees for several years and their trials in cherry and apple orchards have shown superb results, the outcome of which has led to them now being able to exclusively offer customers the opportunity to purchase their very own Red Mason Bee Cocoons.

Red Mason Bees are hugely beneficial to our gardens and crops as they are excellent pollinators of fruit trees, raspberries, strawberries and vegetables and are fond of a wide range of flowers and tree blossom.

When they emerge and start nesting in your garden, you will be helping to boost the local population of these super pollinators which in turn will help your garden flourish. As this is a seasonal product, bees will only be available up to the middle of April 2011.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list to be kept informed about the ongoing CJ Wildlife Red Mason Bee project, or to register your interest in purchasing bees in spring 2012, please email bees@birdfood.co.uk or visit www.birdfood.co.uk/redmasonbee.

Or to request a copy of the FREE Handbook of Garden Wildlife call 0800 721 2820 or visit www.birdfood.co.uk.

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Article by CJ Wildlife for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Once winter chill sets in, you start looking for things that you can do around the smallholding that don’t require you to work out in the damp and wind. At the same time, temperatures are usually mild enough in most of the UK for smallholders in the drier English counties of Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk to take advantage of dry spells to plant out winter hardy seedlings of spinach, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower.

If you live in the wetter areas of the UK or are plagued with the snow this year, December is best left to laying plans for the next year. Unless you get an unexpected break in the weather, many building projects just don’t make sense, unless they involve refurbishing the indoors.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Before you start laying plans for the coming year, take a look back at the year drawing to a close. What worked? What didn’t? Did you have a budget? If you did, how well did your expenditures agree with that budget?

Now, look at the coming year. Make a list of things you would like to do in the next year.

 Do you plan on a selling produce at market? Then go through the seed catalogues and select the crops you want to grow. If a certain variety has done well for you in the past, stick with it. For example, the tomato Early Girl does well in areas where summers are short and cool. You want to place your seed order this month so you have seed in time to start seedlings in January and February for the cold-weather crops and February and March for warmer weather crops.

 Do you plan on selling eggs? Then work up a budget that includes all the costs you will have, chicken coop repairs, feed, ground oyster shells or other calcium source, etc. Make sure you will be able to turn a profit.

 Develop a garden layout for the produce you plan to grow. This includes planning crop rotations and succession plantings.

 Start looking for new marketing ideas, especially if you want to expand your market. Maybe you have products that you can produce on your small holding that could become value added products—fresh strawberries can become jam, syrup, dried nuggets, blueberries can become jam, syrup, dried berries and frozen pies, apples can become chunky applesauce, butter, dried rings, fruit leather and frozen pies. If you develop flavour intense recipes using wholesome ingredients, you can ask higher prices than the grocery stores.

 Develop some definite marketing plans based on your goals.

 Develop an action plan. Schedule when each task needs to be done and assign someone to do it. Now is the time to develop the general overview for the year and then break everything down into jobs that need to be completed within certain time frames.

 Most importantly, make sure you draft a budget that includes all of your overhead. Remember to include all the business costs—petrol for the small tractor and/or rototiller, seeds and seedlings, bedding for the animals, mulch for the fruit trees, etc. Only by taking the time to look at your real costs can you develop a plan that turns your smallholding into a profit-making venture.

December is the perfect time to look back over the previous year. And it is the best time to look toward the coming year. You will never regret taking the time during this holiday centered month to start preparing for the coming prosperous year.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.

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Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

For all those harvesting the crops on their smallholdings, allotments and in their gardens this month, we’d just like to wish you all a Happy Halloween. We decided to try growing squashes for the first time this year and have had great success. We were put off in the past because we thought they would be hard work, need too much watering and so have been putting off growing them for a few years, but they really were easy and very productive.

We’d also like to share this inspiring video from Ecoworks Nottingham which shows their amazing squash harvest this year, all 2.5 tonnes of them! Ecoworks activities are based on Community Gardens and the FRESH Market Garden and Training Centre, both on the Hungerhill Gardens Allotment Site in St. Ann’s, Nottingham.

Ecoworks is a community organisation with the interests of people and the environment at its heart. They exist to promote the interests and personal development of people who are socially disadvantaged by delivering activities connected with the conservation, restoration and enhancement of the environment.

Click here to visit the Ecoworks website to find out more about:

• Organic vegetable and fruit growing
• Healthy eating courses
• Accredited horticulture training
• Craft workshops including strawbale building and willow weaving
• Chemical-free veg boxes
• Harvest Cafe (vegetarian and vegan catering van)
• Volunteering opportunities (growing, IT, cooking, admin, catering, stalls and festival events)
• Mental Health Support on their community gardens. Also the home of Straw Bale Building.

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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Would you like to reduce the amount of pests in your garden and increase your yields? Your smallholding can yield more and better crops if you pay attention to some of these companion planting secrets.

Companion Planting Secret #1:

Plant a diverse garden. Nothing will help your smallholding more than avoiding a mono crop layout. When you have more plant species in your smallholding garden plot, you attract more beneficial insects and fewer pests. Row upon row of cabbages may be beautiful to behold, but the cabbage butterfly smells the host for its baby caterpillars, and you get plenty of caterpillar holes in your cabbage.

Diversity creates a confusing scent map for would be insect pests. One study done in 1976 at Imperial College in London, showed that aphids had trouble finding Brussels sprouts when weeds were allowed to grow between the plants. So you might wonder why all this emphasis on weeding? It all depends on which weed is growing in the garden. Some weeds do attract pests and others are allelopathic.

For example, chickweed hosts white fly, red spider mite and cucumber mosaic virus. Groundsel carries rust which can infect your plum trees and reduce crop yields.

Companion Planting Secret #2:

Choose your weeds wisely. Some weeds are actually helpful. The hated dandelion, attracts beneficial wasps and bees, while it repels potato beetles. Daisies are a good pollen source for bees as well. Pigweed supports both potential pests and beneficial insects, so you have to decide whether it’s a useful plant are not. Clover attracts pollinators. But it can also shelter ground beetles and supports some species of woolly apple aphids.

Many of the weeds are allelopathic. They produce toxins that injure other plants. Allowing yellow nutsedge to get a hold in your smallholding garden can reduce corn and bean yields by decreasing nitrogen availability. Foxtail inhibits corn growth. In fact, it seems like most grasses are allelopathic to the crop grasses, corn and millet. Lambs quarters inhibit legume development so your bean crop will yield less.

Other weeds harbor disease. Any member of the nightshade family can carry mosaic virus and verticillium wilt, deadly to tomatoes and peppers. Wild blackberries can carry anthracnose. And clover can host root-knot nematodes.

Companion Planting Secret #3:

Include pest repellent plants in your garden. The marigold is the most famous of repellent plants. Their use goes way back to India, where they are still used among vegetable crops to prevent pest infestations above ground.

If you discover that you have a root-knot nematode problem, plant marigolds. You can use either the African or the French variety. At the end of the growing season, plow or rototill the marigolds into the ground. When the roots decay over the winter, the toxins will prevent the larvae from laying eggs without an harm to your vegetable plants. This significantly improves your crop yields because roots remain healthy.

Some herbs have a long history of providing botanical pesticides and repellents. For example, anise is said to repel aphids. It is claimed that catnip repels many pests. Garlic is harmful to various larvae, aphids, and mildews. Nasturtiums repel cabbage worms, while being edible as well. Rhubarb kills aphids, leaf miners and spider mites. Use only the stems to you don’t poison yourself with the oxalic acid from the leaves.

Unfortunately, most of the aromatic herbs offer very little pest protection. Their lovely aroma seems to attract pests.

Companion Planting Secret #4:

Pay attention to root depth. This is probably the most important thing to remember when you companion plant. Plants with different root depths extract nutrients from different levels. They also extract water from the soil at different depths. This can allow your garden to support more intensive plantings. Never plant tomatoes and potatoes side-by-side. They both draw nutrients from the same root zone. You wouldn’t plant beets and carrots side-by-side for the same reason.

Companion Planting Secret #5:

Pay attention to the final size of the plant and how fast it grows. Basil works nicely beside tomatoes except for one problem. If the basil isn’t planted at least two feet away from the tomato plants, and toward the sun side of the garden, it will be shaded very quickly. And once the basil plant is shaded it will stop growing, and you won’t get very much basil. Remember a courgette will occupy at least one square metre, very quickly. Don’t plant slow growing peppers next to it.

Companion Planting Secret #6:

Plant beans near corn. Beans help to fix nitrogen which corn requires. But don’t plant beets near your beans. Common garden lore says that this will stunt the beets. But beets and cabbage are said to go very well together. And cabbage seems to like beets as well. Then there are some vegetables that don’t seem to care what they’re planted next to. As long as they get enough light and enough water and nutrients, they will do well for you.

Companion planting is gradually being verified by science. Much of the traditional lore has yet to be proven, but little has been demonstrated to hurt. In fact, companion planting can reduce dependence on chemical solutions to pest and disease problems on your smallholding. With just a little bit of extra effort, your smallholding can be more sustainable and eco-friendly.

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Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Abundance is a new group of projects aimed at tracking down surplus food being grown across Britain and finding ways to harvest and distribute it. One of the key issues behind sustainable food production is not wasting what is already being grown, and as well as addressing this problem Abundance helps to teach city inhabitants about the kinds of locally produced food they can often find on their doorsteps. Sarah Irving talks to Debbie Clarke of Abundance Manchester.

Abundance Manchester was set up in 2008 by a young woman called Leonie who had heard about the Sheffield Abundance project and, says Debbie Clarke, “just thought it made loads of sense. It addresses lots of issues – primarily food waste but also food miles, food access, health, and the underestimated capacity for urban food production. It also appealed to her love of climbing trees!”

The Sheffield Abundance project had been established in 2007 to harvest surplus fruit and distribute it around central Sheffield and Meadowhall or to can and bottle it, educating people about issues like food sustainability and in traditional skills for preserving fresh produce. In 2009, the project also published a guide to community harvesting for groups wanting to find ways of dealing with surplus food in their own communities.

Since 2008, Manchester Abundance has grown to a core group of six people although, says Clarke “there’s no formal committee and anyone is welcome to get involved.” They are joined by around twenty people who come to picking sessions and a further hundred or so on the mailing list. As well as actually picking fruit and vegetables, members of the group also take stalls to local food events, offering free produce or freshly-pressed juices to educate people about food sustainability. “One really nice thing about the project is that it is has appeal on lots of levels,” says Debbie Clarke. “It’s addressing some serious environmental and social issues but it’s also attractive to people who just want to do their bit for a good cause.

The Manchester Abundance project estimates that this year they’re picked and distributed around 800kg of fruit and vegetables. The vast majority, they believe, would have gone completely to waste if they hadn’t seized the opportunity to make it available. “We only take surpluses, we’re not looking for charity, so we’re really only dealing with produce that wouldn’t be used otherwise,” says Debbie Clarke. “That’s especially true for the domestic fruit trees we harvest – they’re often far too much for one household to use, and some people aren’t able to pick their fruit at all so it just drops off and rots.”

The project usually finds out about fruit that needs picking from tree owners who have heard about them via local papers, friends, information displays or talks at events and community spaces. They’ve put up posters on allotment sites to encourage plot holders to pass on surpluses, and if they find fruit trees in public places they sometimes harvest those too.

Recently, local food campaigners have sometimes been accused of being concerned with small-scale issues rather than worldwide problems. But the Abundance projects are very much aware of the social as well as environmental effects of food inequality. “The main aim of the project is simply to stop food going to waste, and make the most of the abundance of fresh produce that is and can be produced in our city,” says Debbie Clarke. But at Abundance Manchester, the group has prioritised people in the direst need to provide with fresh food they can rarely afford. Abundance works closely with the Boaz Trust, which supports destitute asylum seekers. “We’ve got to know the project well and have seen that what we provide makes a huge difference to them,” says Clarke. Other recipients include a battered women’s refuge, a hostel for young women, a Salvation Army hostel, a day centre and various community events. “Being able to provide fresh food for shelters and asylum seekers is fantastic, and adds another aspect to what we do,” says Debbie Clarke.

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Article by Sarah Irving for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Interest in local and heritage varieties of fruit trees has grown significantly in recent years, according to Hamid Habibi of the Keepers fruit tree nursery in Kent. Sarah Irving talks to him about growing apple trees and why growing fruit is a good path for the smallholder to go down.

“The growth of interest in local produce has motivated people with a bit of land to try and grow fruit,” says Hamid Habibi. “Fruit is a crop which you can produce as a semi-amateur, if you like – it’s not like trying to grow wheat or other major crops. It can be done on a small scale.”

Habibi has run Keepers Nursery for nearly 20 years, since founder Mike Cook retired.

“It started as a hobby for Mike,” Habibi explains. “He worked for Morley Research Station and was a fruit tree enthusiast. After a while, people started asking him for unusual varieties of apple trees – old varieties or new ones which weren’t commercially available – and he built up a reputation. My wife and I got involved in 1991 because we had some land that the nursery could use.”

Over almost twenty years, Habibi has witnessed the growth of interest in heritage apple varieties and in locally sourced food more generally. He attributes public interest in growing food to rising food prices and then to the current recession.

“Apparently people are spending a lot more time in their own gardens instead of going out and spending money,” he says. “Obviously it makes sense for economic reasons, but its also more interesting to grow things that you then eat.”

This widespread engagement with growing food has meant that Keepers Nursery and other selling a broader range of edible plants have bucked the recessionary trend. “We’ve seen a surge in demand in the last three or four years,” says Hamid Habibi. “And the reports I’m hearing from fellow nurseries is that many of them have had a bumper year too. It’s only December now, which is fairly early, but we’ve already almost sold out of many of our trees this year.”

For aspiring fruit growers – whether smallholders or individuals looking for just one or two orchard trees for their garden – Habibi has some words of advice.

“If you go to your local general nursery or garden centre, the choice you get is extremely limited still and it is mainly pot-grown trees, which are quite honestly not as good as bare root apple trees,” he says. And despite Keepers Nursery’s huge collection of over 600 varieties of apple trees, as well as pears and plums, he urges new growers not to “get too hung up” on the idea of growing local or heritage varieties.

“It’s most important that you pick trees which are going to give a good crop, that are disease resistant and which have nice apples that you and your children are going to like,” he says. “That’s not necessarily going to be local varieties – some are very good, but some are quite indifferent. Quite a lot of commercial varieties are also not that good for small-scale growing, because they don’t have resistance to disease and need spraying. So for an allotment or smallholding, by all means go for a local variety – but only if it fits those other requirements.”

Despite this pragmatic advice, Habibi remains concerned about the fate of some of Britain’s heritage fruit varieties. “We are lucky in this country in that there is still a big national collection at Brogdale, although it’s constantly under threat of extinction from lack of funding,” he says. Keepers Nursery, says Habibi, continues “to try to fill that gap,” supplying unusual types to local authorities, National Trust properties and conservation organisations with a commitment to preserving the huge diversity of Britain’s traditional fruit trees.

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Article by Sarah Irving for Rural Smallholdings Magazine