Having got rid of most of the rubbish during the previous workday, we went back to the brambles and various other tasks.  An old gentleman living in one of the Monmouth Rd houses backing onto the orchard had contacted Jenny and offered to donate £20 towards buying fruit trees.  He also mentioned that he was having trouble keeping his back hedge trim, so two of us tackled that, resulting in some rather impressive hedge laying.  Others worked on the bushes outside the fence and cleared up the path, while the rest of us carried on with the endless 20ft brambles.  Further down the plot, those who favour the slash and burn approach (without the burning, obviously…) were busy annihilating everything in their path.  Luckily, a more sensitive soul spotted a couple of currant bushes which were then lovingly unswathed of their cloak of brambles, then our soft fruit experts proceeded to hack them to bits anyway (it’s called pruning – Ed).  We left the site feeling heartened that yet again, despite the daunting scale of the work to be done, we had manage to achieve real results.  All we need now is a shredder

We are hiring shredders to start on the mammoth task of shredding our great piles of brambles. Come along to the Railway Orchard on Monmouth Road to help.

This Saturday.

We will be having a skip delivered so the more people to help the better. The skip is for all the dross and rubbish that was left by the previous encumbents and which has accumulated on the site in the last 25 years by people dobbing rubbish over the fence.

The scrap men have been on site today and have removed a large load of metal at no cost to us. That’s 1 less task for us.

If you have a wheelbarrow and are able to get it there please bring it along.

Ian

By Anita Harries (View from Dorchester)

The aim of this ancient custom is to awaken the cider apple trees from their winter slumber and scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit.

A large group of people gathered around the largest tree and poured cider onto its roots. Pieces of toast soaked in cider were hung from its branches to attract robins, the guardian spirits of the trees.

The wassailing carol was sung, a traditional wassailing rhyme recited by those present, and a great deal of noise made to chase away any evil spirits whomay be lurking in the area.

A genuine three-handled wassail cup was filled with cider and handed round, and homemade Dorset apple cake and apple and cinnamon slices were enjoyed by all those who had braved the appalling weather to take part in this traditional ceremony.

Children threw cake at the tree, and a toast was drunk to the mighty apple tree and the success of the orchard.

Transition Town Dorchester’s community orchard group took over the Railway Orchard site last year from Network Rail, and work days have been held to clear the overgrown area ready for planting. They aim to demonstrate to the people of Dorchester how plots of land, however small, can help meet the town’s need for food while at the same time bringing the community together.

Transition Town Dorchester are striving to engage a significant proportion of the people in their community to work together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address one main question: “for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)”.

Anyone who would like to get involved in the community orchard, or indeed any of the other Transition Town projects, can call Jenny Shackleford on 07760 313305 or send an email to info@transitiontowndorchester.org.

PICTURE: Joining together for the singing of the wassail carol

The Orchard is coming on apace! We have just had our third work day and most of the seven foot brambles are now chopped down and we can begin to get a feel for the size of the land. Lots of rubbish discovered in the process- some where old allotment sheds and cold frames have collapsed and some people have chucked over the fence. Network Rail have agreed to provide a skip so our next work day will be filling it up – them comes the massive task of shredding all the green waste.
We were really lucky to get three newly qualified tree surgeons to help out, Sam Keel and Dan Croler (and another Sam) did a brilliant job and worked for a day and a half to get the trees down and chopped up. If anyone is in need of any tree surgery we cant recommend them enough !
Our next meeting is imminent, on 6th Jan 7.00pm at the Bakers Arms. All welcome !