The Apple Club Newsletter

Winter 2000

Welcome to the first issue of our apple club newsletter. The aim of this publication is to let you know of current happenings on our farm in a light-hearted, yet informative way. We welcome feedback from you, our readers, and we hope to hear from you or see you in the near future.

Bramley's Seedling apple

In each issue we will profile one of the apple varieties which we grow, or some of our other fruits. We'll tell you where (and when) they came from, why they were chosen, and what they're used for. In this issue we discuss Ireland's No.1 apple, the Bramley's Seedling cooker.
The Bramley's Seedling comes from a seed which was taken from an apple by Miss Mary Anne Brailsford in 1809. She planted this seed in her garden in Church Street, Southwell, England. Some time later new owners moved into the house, but the tree was left in the garden. By 1857 the tree was doing very well, and was noticed by a passing nurseryman, a certain Henry Merryweather. He propagated from the original tree and began exhibiting it in 1876, naming it Bramley's Seedling, in honour of the gardens then owners, Mr and Mrs. Bramley. After the Royal Horticultural Society's congress in 1883 it became more widely known and accepted.
The original Bramley tree was blown over in a storm in the early 1900's, but a branch grew up from the main stem, and it in turn became the main trunk, and the tree which it formed still survives today.
The first commercial planting of Bramley's was in 1890 by a Mr. Smith in Loddington, Kent, England. By 1900, many more orchards had been planted, and shortly thereafter the earliest Irish plantings also took place, at least one of which still exists in Co. Dublin.
Nowadays Bramley is the only commercially available apple used solely for cooking. This is a testament to its extra acid characteristics, which come through the sugar in pies and sauces. Unfortunately, many bakeries and pie manufacturers use cheaper out-graded "pulp" eating apples for their tarts. These products are easily identified because of their over-sweet taste, and also because the Bramley name cannot be used on their labels. However, because of the use of these inferior "pulp" products in confectionery, many people are no longer buying apple tarts and cakes, and this is leading to a decline in the market for Bramley's, and so growers are reducing their acreage of this apple.
All is not lost though; the Bramley's Seedling apple is still the single most popular variety in Ireland and the UK, its annual crop exceeding that of any eating variety, and estimated to be about 100,000 tons this year. Of this, about 1/3 is grown in Ireland (mostly in Armagh), and we at The Apple Farm have harvested about 100 tons this year.
The Bramley has come a long way from that single tree which can still be seen in the garden in Southwell.

Millions employed at The Apple Farm

A work-force of about 2 million was employed at our farm over the summer. It's not that we have a high staff turnover, but rather that the workers are very small. These minuscule fellows are called T.pyri and they are a tiny translucent spider. However, they make no web. Instead they are hunters, chasing, capturing and consuming another orchard pest called the red spider mite. This red spider mite is a serious pest of fruit trees, living on the underside of leaves and sucking sap from the plant. This weakens the tree so that it produces only small tasteless fruits. Years ago growers had to spray for this pest, but that was before they understood that if the orchard is left unsprayed, that T.pyri will do the job instead.
Our job as growers now is to provide conditions that will encourage enough T.pyri spiders to live in our trees. These then eat the red spider mites and so a natural harmony is set up in the orchard, with numbers of red spider mite remaining low. At The Apple Farm we have had T.pyri spiders operating as predators for almost ten years now, and every year they come back to help. And why wouldn't they - they're getting a free meal.

An Award

We're celebrating at the Apple Farm this week following the news that ours has been voted the best three star camping and caravan park in Ireland for the year 2000. It's especially nice to receive this award as it is voted for by visitors to Ireland annually, and administered by Bord Failte and The Irish Caravan Council. Congratulations to all involved, and to the many local people who by being kind and courteous to tourists in Ireland, help make peoples holiday in Tipperary memorable.

Karmine

Our apple juice has been given a new look with a new label. From now on our juice will be branded as Karmine, reflecting the fact that the majority of our juice is made from the Karmijn de Sonnaville apple. On the new label we include some background information on our farm, and also nutritional information which was not there before. We hope that you like our new-look label.

Eating apples

Currently we have four varieties of eating apple for sale in our farm-shop. There is Elstar, a juicy bi-coloured (Red and Yellow) variety. We also have Jonagored, a crunchy and very firm red apple. We also have Golden Delicious which are tree- ripened for the very best flavour. Finally, there is Karmijn de Sonnaville; an apple widely acclaimed for its excellent taste.

Other fruits

We also grow a small number of pears on our farm. Conference, Concorde and Doyenne du Comice are the three varieties which we have. Conference and Concorde bear typical pear- shaped fruits, while Comice gives the large rounded fruits. All three varieties grew well this year despite the frost at blossom time. However, because we only have sixty young trees, the total yields are very small. Therefore by now they are all sold. With any luck we'll have more next year, and you'll visit on a day when they're on display.

In the fruit garden. Advice for December

Raspberries
This is the time of year to remove the old canes. Do this by cutting the old cane with a sharp secateurs at ground level. If there are surplus new canes, these should also be removed, leaving about 10 good canes per metre length of row. The waste canes are best disposed of by composting or burning as they can contain pests and diseases. Now is also a good time to remove any weeds where they have grown into the raspberry row.

Strawberries
The strawberries have long finished fruiting, but still deserve your attention. If you plan to crop the mother plants again, then the stolons connecting the runners to the mothers should be cut so that they do not draw too much energy from the mothers. If you are going to dig runners for planting on fresh ground, then now is a good time to make preparations. Make new drills about 90cm (3 feet) apart and leave them to weather for a while before planting the new runners.

Apples
All your apples should be harvested by now. If you wish to store some, then keep them in a cool dry place, possibly wrapped in newspaper. Do not try to store blemished fruit, as these will rot and be wasted. Remember to also keep an eye on your fruits and use them while they are still good. Regarding the trees, keep the area around their bases weed-free; between now and winter the roots will be growing, and the less competition they face, the better they will do. A dressing of farm-yard-manure is also helpful.

Recipe: Apple cheesecake

Base:
150g of butter or margarine
250g digestive biscuits

Filling:
750g Bramley's Seedling cookers; peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons water (approx.)
225g soft cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
50g caster sugar
2 sachets gelatine
250ml whipping cream

Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs, mix with the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and sides of a 9" (23cm) dish. Chill until firm.
Cook the sliced apples with the water and mash smoothly, add the sugar and leave to cool.
Combine with the cream cheese.
Sprinkle the gelatine over the hot water in a small bowl, stir until dissolved, then whisk it into the apple and cheese mixture. Whisk the cream fairly stiffly and fold into the apple mixture. Put onto the crushed biscuit base and chill until set. If desired decorate with slices of red eating apple.

The Apple Farm by Willem Traas

In 1967 my wife Alie and I came to live in Ireland. Both of us were born in Holland where I was a fruit-grower and Alie a domestic science teacher. We had heard from friends that land in Ireland was cheap. They told us that you could make a fortune growing apples in Ireland, and that Ireland was a great country in which to live. We bought the Moorstown farm from Tommy Sampson who was an electrician in Cahir and who then emigrated to Canada. For the 60 statute acres we paid 9,000.
We became new neighbours to the Stapleton family, the Cullen family, the Hickey families, the Murphy family and the Hyland family. I could write a story about each of these families but all I will write is that they made us feel welcome and treated us well. And of course, we did our best to be good neighbours to them.
Fruit growing in Holland is very organised. The fruit-grower produces his (or her) fruit and the selling is looked after by a co-op. It was very different in Ireland. Everybody had to sell their own produce, so we sold where we could.
Our first apples were sold to Bernie Boles in Cahir. Two shillings for a bucket full of Bramley's, and even then we could only sell one bucket full at a time.
We began to despair.
The Dungarvan fruit-growers society went broke. Showerings in Clonmel paid little. Still we had to make a living. I decided to try to sell the farm. But there were no takers.
But there was a man along the Clonmel road who put up a sign in the spring which read "Cabbage plants for sale". So we put up a sign "Apples for sale', and it worked.
I can still name our first customers; Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Keating, and they may read this little story.
And we made up our mind to try again and stay here, and work our dream to have a fruit farm in Tipperary. That was in 1968 when things were bad in Ireland.
Next time I will write a bit more. 


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