Haddington Farmer’s Market

Yesterday Abundance Haddington set up stall at the Farmer’s Market in Haddington. We had our huge haul of apples, plus some other bits and pieces to tempt in the people. And boy were they tempted! We were busy busy all morning and the overwhelming theme was no-one could believe we were giving the fruit away for free!

Everyone had a story about a tree which was crying out to be harvested, and lots of people were sick of the sight of apples because they’d been working their way through their own harvest. Mostly folk were just pleased to see that this year there will be less rotting apples on the streets of Haddington.

Big thanks to everyone who helped – Polly, Jean and Ross. And to everyone for stopping by to say hello, we hope you enjoyed your apples!

A harvesting we go…

On Friday Polly and I did some mega apple harvesting in preparation for the Farmer’s Market. First we visited ‘Apple Cottage’ at Meadowpark where we were told to help ourselves to two heavily laden trees. Even after an hour we’d hardly made a dent, but we did leave with a large box of delicious looking cookers. Thanks so much to Karen and her family for letting us in to their garden. We’ve been told we can go back to get more which is super generous!

Our next stop was St Mary’s Pleasance public garden where Haddington Garden Trust have given us free reign over their two large apple trees. Their garden is a hidden gem next to the Tyne which has it’s own abundance of fruit trees, including plums, mulberries, walnuts and figs. These trees are there for the community to enjoy and people are welcome to come and help themselves to fruit. Just make sure you leave some for others to enjoy! The Garden Trust are always on the look out for volunteers to help in the garden, and we hope to team up with them in the near future for more garden related projects. If you think you could spare some time to help with a spot of gardening then pop in and speak to Ian the gardener (look behind the big mound if you can’t find him!) or call 01620 823204 and speak to Roger Kirby.

We picked some lovely red eaters, but unfortunately I forgot my camera so I can’t show you their loveliness!
The apples were all packed away ready for the Farmer’s Market….

The kids are alright!

A big thank you from the kids at Haddington Infants Nursery for the apples delivered at the start of the week, and a mention on their blog

Welcome to the jungle…

..well not quite a jungle, but it was certainly a challenge getting into the old orchard today! A gang of us braved the brambles and were rewarded with five apple trees, not as many as we’d hoped but it’s all good. A mixture of eaters and cookers.

We didn’t have enough time to harvest much, so we’ll have to go back next week. It may be an evening visit as my calender is full next week, so I’ll let everyone know. Looking forward to it”

Apples to the Pear Tree?

Provost Richardson’s delightful red apples made their way in the apple trailer to The Pear Tree Nursery yesterday. I think the wee kids are really going to enjoy them

Old old apple orchard

Today I was given permission by East Lothian Council to go into the old orchard at Victoria Park and collect the apples. It’s very exciting as we have no idea how many there are, but given it used to be an orchard and judging by the amount you can see from the street I’m hoping it will be a bumper crop!

There are some health and safety issues involved with this harvest, due to the grounds being very overgrown, so we can only take in a small team and we have to accept full responsibility for our own safety. I’m hoping to get the key tomorrow and go in on Thursday morning to have a look (and maybe pick some while we’re there). Anyone who’s interested in helping can leave a comment here or email Elisa at tiki_mama@btinternet.com

Otherwise I’ll keep you updated on our findings!

Royal apples..well almost!

Thank you so much to our lovely Lady Provost Sheena Richardson for a big bag of lovely red apples fresh from her garden. I have sorted through them, tasted one or two (perks of the job!) and boxed them up. I’ll deliver them to the Pear Tree nursery tomorrow for the little ‘uns to enjoy