The Apple Club Newsletter

Winter 2001

Welcome to the fifth issue of our apple club newsletter. We hope that you enjoy it.

Fruit tree pollination

Around the world every year millions and millions of apples are harvested. All this is thanks to our pollinating insects and chief among these are the bees. The reason for this is a simple one. For an apple to grow it must contain seeds. And to get seeds you need pollination.
Here in Ireland two main types of bees pollinate apples. There are bumble bees and honey bees. Bumblebees are hardy insects and are well adapted to flying in our cold spring weather. Honeybees on the other hand prefer it a bit warmer. Maybe this is because they're smaller than the bumblebee, or perhaps because the type of honeybee which is kept by Irish beekeepers originated in the Mediterranean region. However, their popularity here is justified, because for the beekeeper they have good characteristics. They are not too aggressive (stinging only occasionally); they produce lots of honey and reproduce quickly.
Unfortunately, their dislike of cool spring weather, when apples can flower means that they're not necessarily the ideal pollinator. And so science has gone in search of a better bee. And where else would one look but in the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan, Kyryzystan and Uzbekistan. In April of 1999 when the apples were in bloom two American scientists went looking for honeybees suited to apples. The location was in the Oxul river canyon near the Tien Shan Mountains. They ascended to a height of 6,500 feet where 4,000 feet below them the Oxul River raged through its gorge. Towering all around were snow covered mountain ridges reaching elevations of 13,000 feet. After descending one thousand feet to some steep-sloping meadows the first honeybee colony was found. Over the next few days a number of colonies were located, one high up in the mountains near the border with China.
When the scientists returned to America they carried out all sorts of measurements and tests to identify these honey bees. To their delight they were able to conclude that they had found a honeybee new to science (although well known to the people of Tien Shan). The next step (which will commence in spring) is to determine if these bees offer any advantages over our long-loved Mediterranean type.

Another award

We are pleased to announce that we have just received a Bridgestone award for 2002. Bridgestone guides are well known for their honest reviews of the very best restaurants, accommodation and food producers, and of course, only the very best receive their seal of approval. Here in Ireland John and Sally McKenna who are well-known food critics both nationally and internationally publish the guides. Having received the Bridgestone award for our apple juice, we can now use the Bridgestone logo: John and Sally McKenna's Bridgestone Guide, Best in Ireland 2002. 

National day of Mourning

A National day of mourning was called to show our sympathy with the people of the United States following the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Our government asked businesses to close on the Friday in question, a sentiment that we fully agreed with. However, due to the short notice given, we were unable to notify the public of our closure in time. As a result we had a number of callers on the day who wished to buy apples. In order to preserve the dignity of the day we decided to give all takings to charity and put up a notice to this effect. Thanks to the generosity of those who called, many of whom even contributed a little extra, we raised close to 300. When I enquired from friends in America, I was told that the relief effort in New York already had more aid (in the form of food, clothes, blankets, medicine etc.) than was immediately required, thanks to the efforts of Americans themselves. In the end we decided to donate it to Concern, who of course work in many of the most deprived areas of the world. I hope that those who donated on the day are satisfied with our choice.

In the fruit garden: advice for winter.

Raspberries
All your raspberries should be dormant by now. However, if ours are anything to go by there are probably still some green leaves about. Now is the time to prune out old canes and tie in the new growth that arose during the summer. When removing old canes use a good secateurs and cut right back to soil level leaving as small a stump as possible. You can remove some new canes also so as to leave the healthiest ones spaced at about 4' (10 cm) apart. Tie in these canes firmly to their supports.

Strawberries
Strawberry plants are now dormant. Little is now required unless you delayed with some of the autumn treatments. If this is the case have a look at the previous issue of this newsletter for suggestions.

Apples
Winter is pruning time. There are a number of principles that you can consider when pruning. Remove any suckers (shoots coming up from the ground level). These will compete with your tree. Remove branches hanging on the ground. Remove diseased branches or diseased parts of branches. Try to get your tree into a pyramidal (or Christmas tree) shape. Do not take off too many branches - this will just encourage lots of new shoots next year. Try to assess how many fruit buds you have - these are the fat rounded buds. A 2 metre tall tree (6 feet tall) only needs perhaps 100. If there is an abundance of fruit buds then prune some off. If they seem scarce then preserve the branches on which you see them. Good luck with the pruning.

Recipe for Easy Apple Cake

With thanks to Margaret Glennon, Golden.

Ingredients:
1 lb (500g) cooking apples
6 oz (175g) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
6 oz (175g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond essence
4 oz (125g) melted butter
Caster sugar to sprinkle

Method:
Line an 8" cake tin with greaseproof paper. Heat the oven to 18O C (35O F) or gas mark 4.
Peel, core & slice apples and put into a bowl of water. Put the flour and baking powder into a bowl with the caster sugar.
Beat together the eggs & almond essence.
Stir into the flour together with-the melted butter. Mix together well.
Spread half the mixture in the prepared cake tin.
Drain & dry the apple slices & spread on top of cake mixture.
Top with remainder of cake mix.
Bake the cake in the pre-heated oven for 75 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown.
Leave to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Animal life on The Apple Farm

by Willem Traas

In the last newsletter I wrote about Bird- life on the farm. This time I will write about four-footed animals on The Apple Farm.
Donkey:
Janey is her name. She often roars loudly. She will have a baby next June. When it's grown up Mr. Gerry O'Looney from Cahir wants to buy it to keep his horses company. What is a baby donkey called I wonder?
Goat:
Our goat died last year. She is buried in the paddock. Her name was Judy and we got her from O'Connors pet shop near New Inn. She must have been the oldest goat in Ireland. She was 24 when she died. John Anthony Hally in Loughloher has a very old goat too. He often gives us hay.
Bullocks:
They are like calves. We feed them apple pulp in the winter. Sometimes they seem a bit drunk because the apple pulp ferments and is like cider.
Charley:
Is our top dog and something like a sheep dog. He came from Listowel in Kerry. He used to go to the shop there in the morning to meet his friends. Now he waits in the morning for John Haide the postman. He sleeps in the shed.
Katy:
She is a Labrador and very friendly. Sometimes she eats apples. When she wags her tail her whole body swings. She sleeps in the timber shed.
Bobby:
Is a West Highland terrier. He travels with me in the car. He does not listen to me. I first thought that he was deaf, but that is not so; he hears everything. He too runs after the postman.
Rabbits:
We have hundreds of rabbits on the farm. They would eat the bark off the trees. So we put netting around them. Rabbits are very good runners and escape in burrows when the dogs go after them. You can catch them by putting salt on their tails. Rabbits are rodents. Mice and rats are rodents too. We have to put poison out around the farm to keep them out.
Hares:
They are bigger than rabbits and sleep on the ground.
Foxes.
There is a family living in the double ditch between Casey's and us. Foxes eat rodents and I saw one eating strawberries. Sometimes they eat small lambs too. Soon we will see the Tipperary hunt with all the Ladies and Gentlemen on their horses with their pack of hounds.
Badgers:
Badgers are night-time animals. They are black and white and have a long. snout and shiny paws for making deep burrows in the ground. There is a badger family nearby. Badgers are protected animals even though some farmers dislike them and say that they spread T.B. in their livestock.
Squirrel:
Once we had a squirrel family in our beech trees. They have long bushy tails and eat nuts. There are red ones and grey ones.
Stoats:
I see them from time to time. They are thinner and smaller than a cat with a bushy tail. There are mink too which escaped from a farm near Ardfinnan.. They are not native to Ireland. They stay near the rivers and there are none living on our farm.
Cats:
We have no cats but Mrs. Stapleton has. Almost every day I see Mrs. Stapleton and Mrs. Murphy walking and the cats follow them.
Hedgehog:
We have hedgehogs on the farm. They eat snails and slugs. Sometimes they fall into the cattle grid so we have to check it and rescue them. One day Bobby spent an hour barking at one that he found. He couldn't harm it because it was too prickly.
Frogs:
These are the smallest four-footed animals on the farm. They live in the long grass and eat insects. The dogs don't know what to do when they see them.


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