Old Varieties

Celebrating and remembering old fruit and vegetable varieties

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Countryfile Adam is Champion

BBC Countryfile presenter Adam Henson, who own and runs the Cotswold Farm Park was crowned Champion of the Year at the annual farmers Weekly Awards.

The Farmers Weekly Champion of the Year award is presented annually to an individual who has shown outstanding commitment to communicating farming to the public.  Adam collected his award at this years’ ceremony, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Peter Kendall, the NFU president, praised Adam for his dedication and down-to-earth approach.

North Ronaldsay Sheep
North Ronaldsay Sheep in their native Orkney Isles

Through the BBC Countryfile programme, Adam brought the trials and tribulations of farming life to the public eye.  His constant battle with Bovine TB was made even more poignant when some of his rare breed cattle and one of his oxen had to be slaughtered.

Adam Henson runs a mixed arable and animal farm in the Cotswolds and the arm is famous for it’s rare breed conservation work.

Cotswold Farm Park is home to many rare animal breeds including, White Park cattle, oxen and North Ronaldsay Sheep.  The farm is open to the public from March to October.

More information

Cotswold Farm Park

BBC Countryfile

Farmers Weekly interactive

National Tree Week

The Tree Council’s National Tree Week, 27 November – 5 December 2010,  is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, launching the start of the winter tree planting season.

With over 80 National Collections of trees, Plant Heritage works to support Britain’s wonderful historic trees and conserves precious genetic material so that our landscapes and cities can continue to be enhanced by rare, beautiful and useful trees.

Where better to see our native and cultivated trees at their best, than in one of the arboreta sheltering a glorious National Collection?

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire.
Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire.
Wakehurst Place, West Sussex.
Newby Hall Gardens, North Yorkshire.
Bodnant Garden, Conwy.
Crarae Garden, Argyll.

The Tree Council

Government reviews heirloom varieties

Heirloom fruit and vegetable cultivars could be making a comeback into seed catalogues.

The government are planning to simplify the process of registration and encourage sellers to include more conservation varieities in their catalogues. They are inviting those who sell vegetable seeds to amateur gardeners to comment on its proposals.

The European Commission has relaxed the rules which made registering of varieties of seed an expensive and complicated process.  This was done in response to complaints that it restricted genetic variation in vegetable cultivars.

The government also says the demand for heirloom vegetable cultivars and those grown only by amateur gardeners has risen steeply, by about 40% in the last two years.  Such seeds have only been available through memberships of organisations, such as the Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library and seed swaps.

The government believes that making heritage cultivars widely available on the open market, growers will contribute towards the conservation and preservation of traditional varieties.

The consultation will be open until the 29th October 2010

Old varieties under the hammer

According to an article in the Independent, we need to forget antiques and start collecting old fruit and veg.

If you think prices in the shops are high, then just consider shelling out thousands of pounds for a couple of kilos of old spuds.

Sotheby’s launched an “Art of Farming” charity auction in New York, where attendees paid $250 to attend and encouraged to donate $1,000 to purchase heirloom vegetables for local food banks.

Proceeds from the event were donated to a charity that encourages communities to “grow their own”.

See the full article in the Independent

WW2 Apples from Rimini

A small orchard of apple trees is a poignant reminder of the lives torn apart by war and a new life forged in a foreign land.

Apple orchard at the Ukrainian Chapel, Dumfries
70 year old trees, miles from home

During World War II, hundreds of Ukrainian men were forced to join the German Army.  As POW’s, some of them were brought to Scotland from Rimini in Italy.

One of the POW’s, Mr Fallat, brought with him three matchboxes full of seeds.

He said;

“Where this orchard is, will be home”

The apple trees are being carefully tended by the custodians of the Hallmuir Ukrainian Chapel and are still cropping prolifically today.

The Ukrainian Chapel at Hallmuir, just outside Lockerbie, is a carefully preserved remnant of a 40 strong hut complex, designed to house over 400 Ukrainian POW’s, who would never see their home or families again.

Ukrainian_chapel
Ukrainian_chapel

Italian apples

Italy is Europe’s largest producer of apples fruit, and is the third largest in the world after China and the United States.

The European Commission for apples has in fact awarded Italy with three Designations of Protected Origin.

More Information

Heritageandhistory.com – Ukrainian Chapel, Lockerbie

Italtrade.com – The Made in Italy official portal – Italian apples galore.

DPcamps.org – Rimini Displaced Persons Camp