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First hay from the meadow - September 2010 and we take the first hay crop from the meadow around the treesHay trailer - September 2010 and the first crop of hay is loaded,covered against the wet and ready to goFirst hazelnuts - Kent Cob at L5 on 9 August 20122013 Queen Cox - The young trees are starting to bear fruit - for example the Queen Cox at B12013 Lord Lambourne - A good crop on the Lord Lambourne at M1Lord Lambourne II Ellison's Orange - 2013 Ellison's Orange at P1Norfolk Beefing - Some of the magnificent crop of Norfolk Beefing 2014 Here we go gathering nuts in ... - …October 2015. Kent Cob nuts from the tree at L5Under pressure - The orchard offers its first crop of Kent Cob nuts from L5 (also some Hazelnuts from L6)H3 H5 F2 ... - ... decoded means that 2019 brought some nice greengages, Victoria plums and mirabelles. Just missing J1, J6 and maybe Z5.Moorpark apricot and tart - The most prolific tree in our first year was the Moorpark apricot - enough to eat and to cook withApricot tarts - Tempting Moorpark apricot tarts baked by Christine, the village tree warden2014 quince produce - The first substantial crop of Meecher's Prolific quinces meant that Mary was able to make some St James Village Orchard preservesQuince Butter - Golden quince butterQuince jelly - Bright autumn sun provides highlights in the quince jellyOld press - In 2015 an old fruit press arrived from a donor in the Cotswolds. This made us think about trying to produce juice from the increasing fruit crop. It wasn't in great shape, the wooden barrel staves particularly needed attention.Made in Italy - A metal badge on the front showed it was made by Flli. Pillan in Italy. They still make fruit processing equipment, particularly for the wine trade, and this model is still available although most of their equipment is now much larger and automatedA bit rusty - The metal parts were fairly serviceable but needed a major clean up to remove muck and rustComplete kit of parts - All the wooden parts were replaced in new beech, the nuts and bolts with food-grade stainless steel, and the mechanicals cleaned, recoated to match the original colours and lubricated as neededReady to go - The original badge was saved and fitted. The capacity was stencilled on the front to match the originalApple preparation - After all that, we had to try it out. Here is the team coarsely chopping apples...Scratter - We also learned that pre-chopping the apples (with a scratter) was essential to get a good flow of juice and so got our hands on one. Note the sophisticated and complex support stand and collection system.Fearsome - Fruit only, no fingersScratter in action - Finely chopping apples ready for the scratter and pressPutting effort into it - The first run of the newly-refurbished press. Much interest and help holding the base steadySuccess! - The first juice from our orchardCheers!Juice by the case - The 2016 season and with more apples we thought to try having them professionally juiced. Our new friends at Norfolk Scrumpers were willing to try a couple of batches for us. Sackloads of apples were despatched and the juice came back in boxes of 6 bottles.
Altogether we produced 113 bottles of juice: 5 to sample and then 9 boxes each of single variety and a blend. These will be used to raise funds to support the upkeep of the orchardSingle variety juice - We decided to try juicing one particular variety that we had a good crop from - Queen CoxQueen Cox Juice - This came out fairly pale in colour but with a distinct Cox flavour and sharpness that is well-suited to lovers of this variety of appleThe St James Blend - Our other batch this year was made from several different varieties and had a richer colour and sweeter flavourThe legal stuff - As well as the credit to and details of Norfolk Scrumpers, our back label had to contain particulars of the juicing process, batch numbers and storage instructionsJuice & Jam 2018 - As the trees mature the fruit crop increases. In 2018 we had enough apples to produce 6 different blends as the season progressed, and over 600 bottles in total. All sale proceeds go to the orchard's upkeep. It was also a good jam year.
