It is a busy time of year as autumn approaches for ‘Love our Fruit and Nuts’ project which is being run by South West Community Woodlands Trust. They are working with a whole range of partners and people to encourage the understanding, planting and eating of locally grown fruit and nuts across the Galloway Glens area, focussed on the Ken/Dee valley in the Stewartry.
Jools Cox and Jenny Stephenson are co-ordinating activities and getting everyone interested in the project, recently running a pruning course at the Garroch Glen Estate Walled Garden. Most of the apple trees in the walled garden are mature and have been untouched for many years which provided a perfect location to run the course. The main focus was on summer pruning to encourage and stimulate fruit growth and winter pruning for maintenance purposes. Although the weather was wet and somewhat ‘dreich’, it was very well attended. Due to this popularity, another free winter pruning course is being run alongside a grafting course during February 2020.
If you can’t wait until February, The ‘Love our Fruit and Nuts’ crew will be running a series of events in the coming months which are all free to attend – so if you have an abundance of apples and not sure what to do with them, or just to find out more, come along to any of these free events:-
Apple Day
Sunday 8th September 2019 (2pm – 4pm)
Garroch Glen Walled Garden, Glenlee, New Galloway
As parts of the Glenkens Food Month, apples will be celebrated with a variety of activities such as apple pressing, games, cakes, refreshments (fresh juice!) – Bring along apples and containers for juice to take home and freeze, 1-pint milk containers work well!
Apple Pressing
- Saturday 12th October 2019, Earth’s Crust Bakery, Castle Douglas (Time TBC)
- Sunday 20th October 2019, Castle Douglas Farmers Market, Castle Douglas (11am-2pm)
Come and meet the Love our Fruit and Nuts team and learn how to press your own apples into juice using their apple press. The juice can be frozen for a later date!
For more information on the above events and activities please contact Jools Cox via email: [email protected].
The ‘Love our Fruit and Nuts’ project has been supported by a grant through the Galloway Glens ‘Our Heritage’ Small Grant Scheme.
Jools Cox and Jenny Stephenson who are leading on the project, said:
“We look forward to seeing you all at our events, there are lots of delicious early apples ready now and please let us have your favourite fruity recipes”
Jude Crooks, Galloway Glens Administrator, said:
“These free events are a great way to learn about our local Galloway varieties of apples and how to get the most out of a modern crop. Whether you have apples of your own or not, feel free to join one of the events to learn about our local fruit & nut history. Keep an eye on our social media pages for info about all events. Many thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support.”
PHOTO CREDIT: GALLOWAY GLENS, L-R back : Participants of the recent pruning course, Front: Jools Cox, Love Our Fruit and Nuts, South West Community Woodlands Trust
