Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple Day at Karuna, Apple juicing, Apple tree spirit, Community, Edible Landscapes, Food security, Insight design, Johnny Appleseed, Orchard design, Orchard heritage and future
*Welcome all to the… ‘Johnny Appleseed blog.’
And the new ‘Apple Day film’.(click here to see)
Shot and and edited by Brad Edwards.
Here’s a little info on the inspirational Johnny Appleseed, who was well known through his region by his eccentricity, and the strange garb he usually wore;
Johnny Appleseed (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), born John Chapman, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples.
He was also a missionary for The New Church, or Swedenborgian Church, so named because it teaches the theological doctrines contained in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg .The popular image of Johnny Appleseed had him spreading apple seeds randomly, everywhere he went. In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery.
’Downton pippin’. Karuna 2011
Subsistence lifestyle
According to Harpers New Monthly magazine, towards the end of his career, he was present when an itinerant missionary was exhorting an open-air congregation in Mansfield Ohio. The sermon was long and quite severe on the topic of extravagance, because the pioneers were starting to buy such indulgences as calico and store-bought tea. “Where now is there a man who, like the primitive Christians, is travelling to heaven barefooted and clad in coarse raiment?” the preacher repeatedly asked until Johnny Appleseed, his endurance worn out, walked up to the preacher, put his bare foot on the stump that had served as a podium, and said, “Here’s your primitive Christian!” The flummoxed sermonizer dismissed the congregation.
Legacy- Despite his altruism and charity, Johnny Appleseed left an estate of over 1,200 acres (490 ha) of valuable nurseries to his sister. He also owned four plots in Allen county, Indiana, including a nursery in Milan Township with 15,000 trees.Johnny Appleseed folk songs and table prayers are part of American culture.The best song I know of is ‘Johnny Appleseed’ by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, click here to see a short film of Karuna with Johnny Appleseed soundtrack.
Above; ‘Winter Bannana’, Karuna 2011
ATTENTION! Planning…..Karuna is presently seeking planning application support for a Low impact affordable self build. We would very much appreciate your most intelligent supportive comments. click here to view the application. http://planningpa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=LRQCR5TDF0000
The 4th Apple day at Karuna went down very well .Everyone seemed to be having a fun, sound time of it all. Not much cider boozing this year though.,just lots of laughter and smiles and busyness. It wasn’t until a few weeks back that Merav pointed out that I’d drank almost our whole years supply of Cider. This excess was due to overstressful times with planning authorities, and boozing with friends & our ever increasing numbers of students and visitors.
I have managed to save just two bottles which will be racked for a couple of years. Several people got to sample some of Merav’s exquisite ‘Jostaberry wine’ which seems to get fairly positive feedback. Last years cider has turned out to be top quality stuff, even some organic cider experts, people who have been in the business for many decades have told us so.
This year we’ve made just 165 litler of cider. We also had two fantastic weeks of cleansing ,drinking many litres of freshly pressed apple juice. Merav has also pasteurised 2 dozen bottles of our fave apple juice.
A local home education group come over for both a site tour and apple juicing day.
Above- We took a trip out to Dots place for the second year running and filled our trailer with her apples which make great juice and Cider. Dot and daughter Kate really made it a grand day out for us. After all the apple tree climbing & collection work was complete, we took a cool shower then sat on Dots veranda in the warm autumn sun and consumed a few bottles of good wine and one of Dots fantastic 3 course meals. Haaaaa the benefits of being born lucky! Rather than rich.
Our kids are always part of this wonderful juice making process. Indeed they are connected to the whole process as they have helped plant the orchards, and learned to care for the trees. Our son Soma here was just 7 when he planted the trees that he now harvests fruit from. Five years on he has a deep understanding and connection to natures cycles and the myriad benefits of working closely with nature.
Bleinheim Orange.Karuna 2011
Jupiter.Karuna 2011
All Trees can teach us many things.We honour the apple. It teaches us about Open Hearted Generosity, Abundance, Cleansing and Gratitude. The apple is there to help us keep our trust in times of lack, and teach us that our true power is built up by giving, in openhearted generosity.
Scratting mill.It is necessary to thoroughly crush the Apples before pressing to extract as much juice as possible. Electric Garden shredders can also be used. For many people the easiest-and by far the cheapest-approach to arriving at the Apple pulp is to physically crush the quartered apples using a 2m length of timber ,approx 10-12cm square, or if you have access to woodland ,a pole or any timber of similar diameter. You can drill laterally through the pole 6-8 cm from the top and insert a short length of 25mm dowel to provide a handle on either side.Then place quartered apples in a food grade plastic bucket or wooden pail and pulverise the apples with the pole. ‘Jonny Appleseed’ is a good song to sing as you go about your work! In the best tradition of repetitive rhythmic physical work ,songs aid labour and undoubtedly extract more juice. This is an opportunity to sing, and gain a feeling of connections, actually physically living part of a long,long tradition.
Merav & I are members of the ‘Shropshire Organic gardeners’ who have kindly let us use their pressing equipment for the past 4 years. We feel it is time to upgrade to a larger press and aim to apply for a grant to enable us to do this, the press will continue to be used for community support events as well as help the our business progress.
Eeeeeeek!….We cater for all kinds at Karuna…This Pixie is getting some practice in with the Maori tradition as she and her family are soon leaving Shropshire and returning to live in New Zealand.Good luck!
Throughout the day people arrive and leave Karuna. The numbers just about remained manageable. People were obviously happy to have experienced the beautiful forest Gardens and leave with litres of fresh, lush apple juice. A group of cyclists from Bishops castle came over with panniers bursting with apples to identify and press. The Apple is quite exceptional among fruits having such diversity of shape, colour, texture, flavour and cropping season. This appeal attracts diversity within the community, one reason why a broad spectrum of interesting people always arrive.
Scratterers scratting…..Brad on the right, Karuna’s cameraman for the day. A Shrewsbury lad in his second year studying film making at university. Click here to see Brads film of ‘Karuna Apple day’.
Comment Left by Gill Otto of Ford, Shrewsbury….“Lovely to Bring a friend’s son & let him experience the apple to juice process. It’s how appreciation of our food is encouraged & valued”.
Combination of colours, sweet Karuna eaters make delicious juice.
A community group from the ‘Wintles’ or the Lentils as Merav calls it, an eco-house development in Bishops Castle. They were very grateful to us for the opportunity to press apples from their orchards which were developed before the Wintles were set up.
Winston. Karuna 2011
Winston is an high quality desert apple raised in the U.K. in 1920 from Cox’s orange Pippin & Worcester Permain. They have a good aromatic flavour,sweet and slightly acid. People comment that it’s been a good year for Apples, for fruit in general. When practicing diverse methods of agriculture/forest gardening the yields are always good!
Karuna fruit nurseries have done very well this year despite our very dry summer.I observed that lthis years graftings are almost as big as the year before’s, this is due to location. One being better located at the base of a slope whilst the other actually being located on the slope, which dries out quicker. *We have many varieties of Apple trees, on different rootstocks for sale.
Katja.Karuna 2011
This is one of our favourite Apples. Also known as Katy. Raised in Sweden in 1947. The RHS ,Rosie Sanders book states - ‘this apple doesn’t taste quite as good as it looks’. We don’t agree with that at all,it’s a wonderful looking and tasting apple. It is being used commercially, Katy cider is available in supermarkets.
A beautiful shot taken just yesterday. But ho so full of blues.
What is happening with our climate?
This Leathercoat apple tree is just blossoming now , October, at 900ft on the long mynd and just last week we had hailstones here..
Close Observation leads to understanding!
Our food security is at risk. Forest gardens are an obvious response to the devastating impact caused by climate change. Susceptibility to drought is minimised, owing to soil being in prime condition with high levels of organic matter from being kept covered, and owing to having a perennial based system. Suceptibility to pests and diseases is minimised by means of diversity of plants and by designing for a more complex system of plant interdependency than is the norm.
Read ‘Tasting the vission’ article by Vanessa Spedding in 2011,winter issue of ‘Permaculture Magazine’.
Vanessa talks about her experience at Karuna during the forest gardening course,led by Chris Evans.
Fanx Vanessa.
ENDS.
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