After a lunch break at lake Reschen, we continued pedaling on the Claudia Augusta cycling route.

@rjayasinghe thanks for the route tip 😎! @taseroth it's a super easy and nice #cycling path with long stretches separated from the traffic 😅.

Since the Reschenpass it was all downhill! This was the longest descent we have ever ridden. The landscape started to change already in the upper part of #Vinschgau. Apple #orchards lined up one after another.
#cycling #BikeTooter

This afternoon was spent mowing under pear trees that do t belong to us, but we have permission to harvest from. The first mowing, so it was a bit of work. Sometimes it’s part of the deal we make to get access to #pear #trees, that we maintain them, but it’s also about time to do this, as harvest is approaching, and short grass makes life a lot easier when picking pears up from the ground. #orchards #perry #cider

This is a communal orchard around here - the yellow ribbon means that picking fruit is free. Besides apple trees I found pear, cherry, plum, mirabelle and chestnut trees. The location of the trees was published on https://mundraub.org - that's how we found them.
#gardening #orchards #sharing #germany

@BarMas Very interesting read. Thanks! #cider #perry #orchards

It’s been a wet week, so glad for a short break in the weather so I could do some mowing and maintenance on one of our small nursery plots. The bindweed is coming through despite a layer of cardboard and mulch 🙂 Here we have about 220 young trees, mostly rare and endangered perry pear varieties from Central Europe and England.
#pears #apples #orchards

Right so. Keep saying I will restart on Mastodon, so might as well kick off with todays article on Cider Review, where I explore the reasons why Switzerland, once one of the worlds most significant producers of perry, essentially lost centuries of perry culture.

https://cider-review.com/2023/07/29/the-swiss-tree-murder-part-1/

#cider #perry #orchards

Thanks to The Lily Cafe for the feature! ☺️✌️✨ #Books #Blogs #Gardens #Orchards #MagicalRealism #Nature #Fantasy

The #apples are acomin’. #Cider #Orchards #Apple #Worcestershire

The first #apples of #harvest23 have set in our orchard. About 6mm in diameter right now, they'll grow slowly at first, by cell division for the next 8 weeks orvso. After that, they continue to grow, but by cell expansion. They have about 150 days to grow another 70mm in diameter, to turn out as juicy, tasty, ripe apples by next October.
#Horticulture #Orchards #Jonagored

'In this book #JoannaCrosby explores how apples and orchards have reflected the social, economic and cultural landscape of their times. From the association between English apples and 'English' virtues of plain speaking, hard work and resultant high-quality produce, to practices of wassailing highlighting the effects of urbanisation and the decline of country ways and customs...'

#foodhistory #apples #orchards #England #UK #culture #rural #urbanisation

We’re losing blossom everywhere as hedges and #orchards are destroyed. Loss for #pollinators other insects, birds and the whole ecosystem; as well as humanity being able to marvel at its beauty and scent. 😢 At least the National Trust is trying to reverse loss.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/our-cause/nature-climate/nature-conservation/how-were-bringing-blossom-back

#Worcestershire is #pear country. Right now the old #trees in the #orchards are heavy with #Spring #blossom and promises of late #Summer #fruit and #Autumn perry. #Pure #Joy

‘no flower ever opened
so staunch a white leaf,
no flower ever parted silver
from such rare silver’

Hilda Doolittle

#poem #flowers #petals #white

Today's Flickr phot with the most hits: olive trees and almond trees around Demnate, Morocco.

#morocco #AtlasMountains #town #orchards #landscape #demnate

2. After two passes of the chopper, the prunings are ground down. Over the course of the year (or more) they break down and are incorporated into the soil. This increases the soil carbon content more than almost any other crop. Sequestration in Irish apple orchards has been measured at over 11 tonnes CO2 per ha per year. Carbon sequestered into soils is great for soil quality and soil life too. #orchards #soils #carbon #sequestration #humus #CO2 #sustainability

A traditional orchard with 7 apple trees underplanted with daffodils... In areas where rabbits or deer are a problem if you underplant an apple tree with daffodils, they will keep away from it because they know the bulbs are poisonous.

Bulbs of all natures, chives and garlic are also good, shallow-rooted they suppress grass that could interfere with the nutrients gained by the tree.

Permaculture Research Institute.

#apples #orchards #permaculture #growveg

Taking out #orchards is part of a normal cycle of removal and replacement when people grow #apples. However it seems that UK growers have cancelled most of their tree orders for new orchards, and are removing orchards at a quicker pace. This is matched across horticulture, as can be seem with the #tomato and #peppers shortages.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/kent-apple-farmers-forced-dig-151256792.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIYPIDwV1ruT36nTX3cFmp4v-F-qE811zR41tQp9OS7sPJxwJGPk19FkXNghCW_Vrdbx-efT0th3TrFO92zgj4LQ6hhELGnyGKxT-4TD5xMayntNF9ywm0e11nLAHTpZA3lCpUT_rlTTA7SQfCpmcuYqJcNWw6Tam6fJfKAjrPu0

Report: Community Food Forests and Orchards
Gavin Hardey’s Churchill Fellowship project report — To investigate the potential of community food forests and orchards
https://communitygarden.org.au/2023/02/community-food-forests/
#Theses&reports #foodforests #orchards

The UK is really screwed

While #supermarkets face #food #shortages ...

... #apple growers are digging up #orchards

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-64751224

Kent apple farmers forced to dig up orchards over financial losses

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-64751224

Very sad to see this given the rise in food prices, and the added complexities of importing in the wake of #Brexit, not to mention #ClimateChange and the increasing requirement of #nature to improve #MentalHealth & #wellbeing.

#Apples #Orchards #Kent #UK #Farmers #Farming #CostOfLivingCrisis

"Commercial orchards in the U.S. grew about 14,000 unique apple varieties in 1905... By the late 1990s, U.S. commercial orchards grew fewer than 100 apple varieties—and just 11 of them accounted for 90 percent of grocery-store sales. Experts estimated 11,000 heirloom varieties had gone extinct."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/heritage-appalachian-apples

#trees #apples #orchards #agriculture