Blossomtime - Master Composter stall as part of Compost Awareness Week

On Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday I spent a considerable amount of time basking in the sunshine, in order to offer composting and gardening advice and seed planting at the Blossomtime event in my area:-)

 Both the days were both very hot and sunny and I got sunburn! 

I had a prime pitch for my composting stall,  at the front of the Hall by the entrance,

on Sunday next to a lovely lady called Gilly, from the ONE network of Cider and Perry growers.

and on Monday next to a lovely lady called  Sophie, (this is her, above)  from Pixley Berries who grow huge quantities of Blackcurrants near us, and make delicious cordials from them.

I talked to lots of people about composting and gardening, sold lots of my plants , to raise funds for Garden Organic, did some seed planting with children and had a generally wonderful time at this local celebration of cider and perry making. Compostgirl was there with me on both days and she had a lovely time as well - mainly going around the event with a friend or tending to the animals Paul Hand had brought along :-)

We both enjoyed watching the Leominster Morris Men dance to greet the May

 Some photos, in case the video doesn't work ;-)

I was too hot to join in, though !

 Was a very tiring, but oh so worthwhile, two days of volunteering :-) Especially as I was part of the Compost Awareness Week activities across the UK and World.

What I have been up to recently - May Day weekend.

The weekend of May Day I was at our local Blossomtime event in my role as a Master Gardener and Master Composter.

I had lots of information leaflets on my stall as well as various freebies to give away and compostbins on display so the public could see what the discounted bins actually look like.  I don't actually sell them on the stall, though.

Loading up my car before the event. I provided everything for the stall apart form a trestle table!

Fellow MC, Martin, talking to a member of the public.

I also had plants for sale - these I had grown from HSL seed in organic, peat free growing medium to sell as a fundraiser for Garden Organic. I actually raised funds for their new Peat Free Campaign.

I had help from different Master Composter friends on the Sun and Mon, so was able to go and have a wander around the various other stalls, buy some tools from the Tools For Self Reliance stall,  and watch the Morris Dancers and eat cake and sample cider.

Both days were long and hot, I was away from home on Sun from 11 am until 7 pm and on Monday from 11 am until 6 pm

Compostgirl was with me all day Sunday as her Brownie pack do the teas and cakes and raise lots of funds for themselves - indeed it is one the their biggest fundraisers! So Compostman and Compostgirl made several cakes on Saturday to add to the other cakes on offer.

Making cider 2010

Take 150 lbs of apples, carefully picked and placed in boxes in car boot.

Take them round to friends house where their wonderful equipment can do its stuff

Wash the apples

Feed the apples into the scratter ( to chop them up)



Chopped apples dropping into the tub, waiting to be loaded into the press.

Layers of chopped apples go into cloths ("hairs") inside frames, divided up by boards, until a stack ("cheese") has been built up, then the press gets to work and ....lots of apple juice comes out.

At the end I was left with this pommace (the remains of the chopped apples) wonderful on the compost heaps

and







30 l of cider. ( and another 25 l of pasturised juice waiting for me to go and collect it!)

Thank you Nige and Debs, another lovely session pressing apples!

Beltane!

A bright May Day to you all

I didn't get up and wash my face in the May Day dew this morning, I have done so in the past, but not today ....I don't feel so good and so stayed in bed this morning!


However, I don't have time to be ill as am very busy at the moment, we will be taking part this weekend in Blossomtime. This is a festival of apple blossom and all things cider-y, held every May in these parts as part of The Big Apple. Twice a year The Big Apple Association organise Blossomtime in May and The Big Apple in Oct. Thes are events where the seven parishes of the Marcle Ridge in Herefordshire celebrate their heritage of apples and pears, cider and perry.

This year we are not entering any of our cider for the competition ( want to keep it to drink ourselves!) but instead spent last Sunday walking and writing the clues to a nature trail for families. it was a lovely day and we all three enjoyed the walk!

So in addition to the usual daily tasks here, I am busy today and tomorrow potting, labelling and generally preparing plants (grown by the children and me, as well as donated by other parents) to sell at the Blossomtime event up the road on Sunday at Putley. I will be womanning the plant stall and selling the nature trail sheets to raise funds for Eco Club at school.

BUT I expect I shall get round to having a Bel fire later on today :-)

Monday I shall be having fun with my family, drinking cider and watching Moris dancers do their stuff. And playing in the wood, if I am lucky :-)

Have a very good weekend, all of you, and Beltane blessings to you all.

Cider tasting at the Blossomtime cider festival

We spent most of today (Saturday) at the Big Apple Blossomtime Cider and Perry trials, just up the road from our house. The public events happen on the Sunday and Monday of the May bank holiday, but having entered a demijohn of our own cider in the Novice class we were required to attend the Trials on Sat and judge the entries in our own class, and then taste the other entries as well..such hardship!!



We arrived at the hall at about 11.30 to drop off our entry and were quite suprised at the number of entrants...much increased over previous years!!


here is the table with the Novice classes alone!!




We then went to some friends for lunch. They live in a fabulous, typical Herefordshire Black and White cottage and are very keen on medieval history, so their cottage has lots of interesting items to look at...Compostgirl was enchanted by it all!







After a delicious lunch we all came back to the hall for the tasting and marking session which took all afternoon!






Compostgirl made herself very helpful by handing out glasses of palate cleansing water and biscuits to the participants.





We also had a daring rescue attempt, a Swallow had got trapped inside the hall and despite our best efforts to clear the room, close the curtains and open the doors...it wouldn't fly out of the door but kept on bashing against one high window!




So eventually a ladder was brought (here is Compostman unfolding it)

and one of our friends climbed up and opened the high window.


You should have heard the cheer when the Swallow finally flew out and away to freedom!!

















We had enormous fun, joining in with our neighbours to taste and vote for the cider and perry on offer. Our cider didn't win anything but it tasted ok when compared with the others in our class so we feel happy at that, AND we had a fun afternoon well spent in good company.

The entries were hugely up on previous years...craft cider and perrymaking is alive and well in Herefordshire, at least.

We will be attending more events over the next 2 days...so watch this space for updates!