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The specific varieties planted are traditional varieties; 76 new trees have now been planted at 6m spacings a mixture of traditional varieties have been used with some dessert and culinary varieties.

Traditionally managed orchards have considerable inherent value for wildlife.  In an area where orchards are gradually being lost through neglect or development, the old fruit trees and permanent pasture provide an important ecological resource.

As well as being attractive landscape features, old orchards are a source of blossom for insects in the spring and fallen fruit in autumn provides plentiful food for birds such as fieldfare and redwing. Although dead wood can provide a useful habitat for insects, pruning is necessary to promote the longevity of the trees. 

In the old orchard there are 5 Plum trees and two Bramley Apple trees and so far in the new orchard we have planted 44 different varieties of Apple, Pear, Plum and Damson trees. We are getting local volunteers to help us as we are still expanding and planting. We hope that this venture will be beneficial not only to the local community but also for the local wild life.

Traditionally managed orchards have considerable inherent value for wildlife. In an area where orchards are gradually being lost through neglect or development, the old fruit trees and permanent pasture provide an important ecological resource.

As well as being attractive landscape features, old orchards are a source of blossom for insects in the spring and fallen fruit in autumn provides plentiful food for birds such as fieldfare and redwing. Although dead wood can provide a useful habitat for insects, pruning is necessary to promote the longevity of the trees. 

Lichens, an indicator of good air quality, grow abundantly on such old trees. Different tree species support different lichens, and the deep fissured bark of old trees attracts a host of insects that are necessary for healthy tree ecology. 

Ivy was present on one of the trees, though it has been cut. It is difficult to say whether ivy is beneficial or not in an older orchard. There is one body of opinion that believes that ivy kills trees, another that believes that ivy will only hasten the death of an already diseased tree. Either way, ivy provides valuable nectar to insects in November and December, and a niche for over wintering insects, as well as a nesting site for small birds in the spring months. To a commercial grower it would, however, be anathema. Perhaps the best advice would be to cut it away from some trees, yet allow it to remain on some, since the chief objective within this particular orchard will be conservation, rather than commercial production.

Big Society at risk of ignoring potential of enterprising rural communities The Big Society should not ignore the potential of enterprising rural communities. This was the message from rural campaigners the Plunkett Foundation at Better Business, their annual Rural Social Enterprise Conference, held in Telford on Thursday 25th November. “The withdrawal of public services and the closure of private business, including shops and pubs, are having a huge impact on rural communities,” says Peter Couchman , Plunkett’s Chief Executive.

“The Big Society vision is at risk of ignoring the potential that enterprise has for tackling the challenges facing rural communities. Communities are best-placed to address the problems that are affecting them, and they are doing just that: from owning and running shops and pubs to setting up next generation broadband access and renewable energy schemes, co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprises provide a viable long-term solution to the challenges facing rural communities, but this is at risk of being ignored by the Government. Peter Couchman added, “Take community-owned village shops for example. 

Of the 254 community-owned village shops that have opened over the past 25 years, only 8 have ever closed. This means that a staggering 97% of community-owned shops that have opened are still open. Due to the level of commitment this business model is able to unlock from their communities, community-owned village shops are able to draw on over one million hours of volunteer time per year.” At the conference the Plunkett Foundation launched Better Business – Rural communities unlocking their potential together, a new publication which highlights how co-operatives, mutuals and social enterprises are a better form of business for communities. The report highlights staggering statistics, pioneering rural social enterprises and key innovations which highlight what these enterprise models can unlock in rural communities . Better Business is the Plunkett Foundation’s tenth annual Rural Social Enterprise Conference. 

The event, supported by the Post Office, was held in Telford on 25th November. It included keynote presentations from Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, Stuart Burgess, Chair of the Commission for Rural Communities and Ed Mayo, Director General of Co-operatives UK.

see http://www.plunkett.co.uk/newsandmedia/news-item.cfm/newsid/458 for more details 

LEAF President Event
18.11.2010

Over 130 people attended LEAF’s President’s Event, which took place in London on Tuesday. LEAF members, farmers and key representatives from right across the food and farming industry supported the event. Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose gave the key note speech and set out Waitrose’s long term commitment to LEAF. He explained that LEAF Marque was central to their sustainability pledge, ensuring his customers received the highest quality food, grown with environmental care. Other speakers included Jake Freestone, LEAF farmer member, researchers Professors Geoff Squire and Janet Dwyer and Linda Munyao, LEAF Marque flower producer from Kenya. LEAF used the event to unveil two key pieces of research. The first, conducted by CCRI, looking at the economic, environmental and social benefits of being a LEAF member, concluding that it offers clear, tangible and valuable benefits to farmers – read the full report and the other, by the University of Hertfordshire, showing that LEAF Marque is leading the way in environmental food labelling – read the full report and read the research update. Watch and listen to the highlights of the Mark Price's speech see links below. www.leafuk.org/leaf/latestnews/presidentsevent.aspx.eb 

A revolutionary green eco-education centre is under construction on the grounds of a Screveton farm.
30.10.2010

On Saturday Mr David Rose, owner of Home Farm, invited the local community to help with the construction of a new eco-classroom aimed at teaching children of the area the importance of farming and food production.

The centre, which is capable of holding 30 people, is being constructed using primarily natural materials from the local area and one of it's unique features is that the walls are made of straw bails. And Mr Rose said so far he'd had a positive response to the centre and was hopeful the new structure could help make a difference to education in the area. "I am delighted with the project so far. The response from the people of the area has been brilliant, to get so many volunteers to help was a big bonus," he said. "The centre will give students a chance to learn about farming and food in a fun way, but it also caters for young people who are not strictly academic learners. "What we provide here is a hands-on way of learning away from the classroom and I think some kids need that type of thing." Once the bale structure is fully in place the idea is to weather-proof it with lime rendering, and when complete this type of structure is as stable as a similar building made of brick. But it is not only in the construction of the centre that Mr Rose is calling for community involvement, he has urged people to come forward and get involved growing their own fresh produce around the farm on specially designated community growing areas. 

Mr Rose also runs a scheme, in conjunction with Job Centre Plus, where people on Job Seekers Allowance can come and study to learn basic farm skills in the hope of securing employment in the farming sector. And Mr Rose said he believes this is a very important thing for the local community and that schemes like this can also be a useful resource for the farms of the area. "We are aiming to help people who are finding it difficult to get a job back in to work by giving them the basic skills needed to work in a farming environment," he said. "We are always looking for people to come forward and volunteer for work experience here. We benefit from their skills and they get a chance to learn and make themselves more employable."  see face book pagers for more detail.

If you would like to get involved with the construction work at the farm, which continues this Saturday, contact Mr Rose on 078552521512 or email david@farmeco.co.uk. 

Article was written by Newark Advertiser reporter Liam Kennedy and that it was printed in the Bingham Advertiser on October 28.

Food Production can it really be Economic, Environmental, and Social?
By David Rose 25.10.2010

Change can often be unsettling,  post-election euphoria has beed followed by a dramatic dose of financial reality; a realisation that a very large part of the whole economy, including food production, has become largely dependent on public spending. The legacy of the biggest post-war budget deficit will have an enormous impact on government priorities. The burden of this budget deficit will demand that tax payers have very strong shoulders. 

It is time for individuals to take even more responsibility for their own actions and the world they live in, as only the most essential public expenditure will be tolerated. Health, energy, education and food will retain financial support from the public purse. Health, because as a population, we are getting older. Energy, because we are scared about running out. Education, because it leads to job security, resulting in self respect and pride. Food pricing is going to go through the roof and we don't like being hungry. I am suggesting people’s expenditure will be focused on those four sectors. Can the farming industry adapt to this opportunity?

As more and more farmers leave the industry, remaining farms get bigger and bigger, forcing them to produce food for either a large retail sector or the world commodity market. Farmers are becoming specialist growers in mono-cultures who have, in the main, lost that all important link with the local market. We are being encouraged to farm for the environment in such a way that land is taken out of food production. We are paid to develop meadows and hedgerows for the enjoyment of the wild flower enthusiast, on land which, with a bit of thinking outside the box, could be used more productively. 

So, how do we farmers start to take back responsibility? How do we link food with health, energy and education while maintaining high environmental stewardship to create a good life for ourselves and our community? Is it by taking land out of food production or for example, when planting trees, why not plant orchards? Sustain’s Capital Growth project (http://www.capitalgrowth.org/), which has set itself the goal of establishing 2,012 new food growing areas around London before the end of 2012 , has been inundated with requests from people wanting to set up their own food enterprises and is currently supporting nearly 400 projects. 

This desire for people to be involved in all aspects of food production is spiralling around the country with long waiting lists for allotments in most towns and cities. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is pioneering a project called Landshare (http://www.landshare.net/). Landshare was founded to connect growers and landowners, to create direct links between land, food and people. Despite local authorities claiming that there is no interest, Landshare have received over 45,000 registrations although thousands of plots are being offered much more land is still in demand. There are many other initiatives linking food and the community. 

There is strong evidence that the desire to grow food and to be involved with the countryside is growing day by day. I hear you say “Rosie, you’re barmy, get real! What am I going to get out of renting a bit of land to a few greenies?” Okay, if it was just a one off small allotment in the corner of a field with no connection or co-ordination with other projects and with no support from people who have experience with land sharing enterprises, then I suspect the answer would be “Not a lot”. 
But indulge this crazy fool for a moment. Consider if farmers were to allocate a parcel of land, for example 10 hectares and made it available to local community groups or individuals looking for an opportunity to be in food growing projects. Consider if this could be funded through environmental stewardship schemes such as those funded by Natural England or, alternatively, funded from the rent paid by a community group or individual. A partnership of this kind could bring together many benefits; education and mentoring support for the tenant, income from contract services such as cultivation, and the ability to feed your family from produce from your own land. If this was the case would you still think me a raving loony?

Landshare schemes could give farmers an opportunity to interact with the community allowing positive skill sharing, extra resource to manage environmental schemes while creating local food growing schemes and regional food security. If funded in the ways I have already outlined, this would be without financial risk and without taking the focus away from farmers’ core activity. 

The big win with land sharing schemes would be the link created between those currently restricted to small, urban, food production and the high quality food production already achieved by farmers in the U.K. Land can produce high quality food environmentally giving economic and social benefits to all.

http://www.landshare.net/
http://www.northmoortrust.co.uk/ 
http://www.capitalgrowth.org/ 
www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk/about/csa/index.cfm
http://www.ncfi.org.uk/

Let Nature Feed Your Senses

Farmeco are part of an exciting project called Let nature feed your senses which is a Big Lottery funded project run in partnership between LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and Sensory Trust. We are engaging people with nature, food and farming on a network of farms and nature reserves across England. The project is working with people that currently cannot or do not access the countryside because of age, ability or social situation. Let nature feed your senses specific beneficiary groups are as follows; • People who have a disability • People who live in an area of high social deprivation (10% most deprived Super Output Area, regionally), • People aged 65 or over • School children who either have a disability, who live in an area of high social deprivation or attend a school that has been unable to previously access farm visits.

see http://www.letnaturefeedyoursenses.org/ anyone wanting to visit our farm through this project please email me for more information.

events calendar

Yoga for men and women of all ages.Click here for more infomation. (9/2/2012)
It can be as relaxing or invigorating & challenging as YOU want Re-gain some ‘me’ time and improve your general health in an amazing way...I guarantee you will be so glad you did. Places are limited so Call Sandra Now on Tel: 07789 208 311 to guarantee yours. Te:Sandra 07789208311 Or email sandra.fowkes@sky.com

Yoga For men and Women of all ages. Click here for more infomation. (13/2/2012)

Yoga for men and women of all ages.Click here for more infomation. (16/2/2012)