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Bentleys Castle Fruit Farm juice wins at Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards
Earlier in the year, Cotswold Life magazine asked its readers to nominate their favourite food and drinks from Cotswold farmers, producers manufacturers and retailers. The results were then judged by a panel of industry experts.
In the drinks category (excluding ‘Ale, Beer or Cider’), the finalists included Three Choirs Vineyards, for their Classic Cuvée, Gibson’s Organic Liqueurs, of Westwell, for their Elderflower Liqueur, and yours truly, for our cold-pressed Pear Juice.
And the winner is …
We are very happy to announce that our Bentleys Pear Juice was chosen as the winner of the Cotswold Life Drinks Product of the Year award ‘for having no added products or preservatives’ … With ‘a flavoursome taste and striking packaging, judges commented that it was a drink that can be enjoyed by all ages.’
They also said:
‘We champion the best local producers, suppliers and businesses that are passionate about the Cotswold countryside and the future of our local environment.
‘Thanks to both the nominations of the public and our well-respected judges, we have picked a winner worthy of the “Drinks Product of the Year”.’
See the article on Cotswold Life magazine website or find out:
The latest buzz – recognition for helping pollinators in Gloucestershire
We are thrilled to announce that Castle Fruit Farm was recently awarded the 2017 Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) Silver Pintail Trophy in recognition of our commitment to sustainable agricultural practices and wildlife protection! This year, the Gloucestershire award was focused on creating food and habitats for pollinators, through a range of interventions and land management practices. Over recent years, there has been a dramatic decline of bumblebees and other pollinators, and two bumblebee species have gone extinct since the start of the 20th century.
As a family business growing fruit and preparing hand-made apple and pear juice, we are committed to cultivating the land to ensure biodiversity for generations to come. This means that wherever possible we use natural, biological and cultural methods to control pest, disease and weeds thus minimising the use of agrochemicals.
The farm, near Newent in north Gloucestershire, has a microclimate that is ideal for orchard fruit. Stonefruit, in particular, can be affected by early frosts and the form and situation of Castle Fruit Farm enable the reliable production of plums and gages. Pollination is key to good cropping in orchard fruit, and pollinators are key to the health of the ecosystem, supporting the lives of many other species. The diversity of pollen and nectar flowers, combined with overwintering habitat, are vital for maintaining good insect numbers. To this end, we are doing the following:
- Rotational hedgerow cutting, every two or three years, to yield more and varied spring blossom
- Improving diversity in the shelter belts by including maple, hazel, goat and grey willow, wild privet and small-leaved lime
- Establishing more wildflower species in any undisturbed areas
- Drilling clover, and other hardy leguminous herbs into grass alleys
- Leaving every alternate orchard row unmown to encourage the diversity of plants and habitats for insects
- Planting goat willow around the lakes
- Woodpiles and other overwintering materials are left where they will not be disturbed to provide habitat for fauna and insects
- We have established a species-rich pollen and nectar mix in the middle of an orchard area
A study has already shown that there are high numbers of pollinators in our orchards.
We are doing many other things, too, such as experimenting with the use of wood chips to prevent soil erosion and using locally sourced green waste compost to improve soil organic matter contents. We have installed solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the cold store roofs and barn which contributes to a saving of electricity from the grid. A device has been installed in the farmhouse which diverts any surplus PV generated electricity into heating the water; in effect a way of storing energy. We are always open to receiving visitors and sharing our vision for sustainable fruit production with schools and community groups.
We will continue to create and improve habitats for beneficial insects within the orchard and continue our policy of developing diverse habitats in and around our orchards.
You can read more about the FWAG Silver Pintail Trophy here.
Support our efforts in sustainable farming by purchasing our delicious fruit and cold-pressed juices from our Farm Shop today!
Harvest is over!
So harvest is over! Our summer family of pickers are mostly homeward bound after a very busy and lucrative time here. They go home to their communities hoping for good snow as many of them work in the ski business in the winter. They were a good crew and we hope we will see most of them next year. We are still waiting to hear what the procedure for bringing in harvest labour will be next season. All growers here totally rely on this labour – whatever high ideals there are about jobs for local people it is an entirely impractical and unrealistic suggestion. Of course, we could all stop growing and just import from Europe…..
The last Jazz and Braeburn were brought in last Friday. Then Bristol gleaners took a couple of tons away last week to distribute to Food Banks and through Fair Shares.
We now look forward to the next wave of gleaners: the thrushes, redwings and field fares will swoop noisily in,
chack chacking and clear every last bit of fruit from the trees and the ground and hopefully clearing away some bugs too. Amazing that our unpaid army of birds and pollinators together with soil, sun and rain plus some hard labour from us and this amazing crop is produced! We are but caretakers and our aim is to be sustainable commercially and environmentally so we were particularly proud to have our efforts recognised by FWAG which stands for Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. Their mission is to “promote and enhance the conservation of wildlife, the environment and the landscape in relation to modern agricultural needs”. We won the Gloucestershire Silver Pintail Award in recognition of our commitment to sustainable agricultural practices and wildlife protection”
We now go on to the Regional Barn Owl Award and are galvanised to put into action some more practices which will benefit biodiversity here in our orchards.
The big topic at this time of the harvest is why are there so many apples left on the trees? The main reason is lack of colour or that the fruit are too small or too large! Why does this matter? Well in spite of what we all say about not minding, we all choose the colourful apple and we are particular about size! It does not easily colour if the fruit is shaded, low on the tree or there is not enough sun, or the nights are not cold enough or the clone does not colour easily.As for size, it is hard to influence that except by judicial thinning and even that is not always with predictable results.
So enjoy the harvest! We are particularly enjoying Comice pears with Stilton Bassett Blue Cheese. I use apples everywhere – in salads, in with the sausages, chopped on porridge or cereals or stuffed and baked and popped in the microwave. Serve with custard or cream! Enjoy the harvest.
Harvest Part 2.
Harvest is half way through ! The plums have all been picked and packed and sold and the conveyor was put into storage and a cheer went up from Mr B and Damian our packhouse manager. It has been a good year but as you may have noticed Autumn came early , the chill was in the morning air by August 8th and this hastened all fruit into ripeness. Clive and the teams worked long hard hours to get the plums in and now the apples are following fast and earlier than usual.The packhouse worked hard to pack and despatch 147 tons of plums….
In the case of the plums the trees were picked several times to ensure that the plums were ripe enough but with enough shelf life to last in store. Many growers pick their plums bullet hard which never become a sweet delicious plum. This leaves many plum buyers disappointed and put off English plums whereas Waitrose specifies their plums from us must be nearly ripe. Our pickers are very carefully supervised and the whole process more costly but more satisfying.
So now to apple harvest. First were the Delbar , next Smitten and Elstar. Conference pears are safely in. A good crop but with lots of pears of the wrong shape…. We are given very precise specifications for pears which sadly reflect the unwillingness of the customers to eat all pear shapes. Packaging helps this by including in the bag varying pears – all tasty but definitely some more shapely than others! Fruit with Attitude…These pears are destined for juice.. award winning Pear Juice however so a good use. Nevertheless we should all be working for less fruit and food waste.
Apples are again picked according to their starch levels and colour as the first pick apples go into store to be trickled out over the next months. Trickled out because we do not grow enough English apples to fulfil the home demand and supermarket buyers are easily tempted by highly coloured fruit from Europe. Our Fruit growing is at a disadvantage as our labour is properly paid and yields are lower due to cooler climate and light levels. We have some great tasting new varieties like Wellant and some interesting ones like Papples. Come and try some as our seasonal shop is now open daily until Christmas. ( Closed on Sundays)
Harvest is starting at Castle Fruit Farm. The Team arrives !
The year is flying by !
I am going to introduce you to our team. The weather, the pollinators, the condition of the trees are all important but above all it is our team that brings the orchards literally to fruition with great quality fruits which keeps us an economic thriving fruit farm. Small family farms like ours are under threat as the economies of scale favours much larger operations than Castle Fruit Farm but we hope that there will continue to be a place for orchards like ours in the rural economy.
Michael and Chrissy Bentley came to Castle Fruit farm in 2002 from an arable background. We were very ably supported by Clive Maile our Manager who has amassed a wealth of experience and knowledge over his 37 years on Castle Fruit Farm. We have now been joined by son Richie , together with wife Claire and sons Oskar and Rudi who bring a great new energy to the farm !
The rest of the team is Nick , Mechanic, John our longstanding semi retired tractor driver, Artur, our senior tractor driver, Konrad our Field Foreman, Radek, Slavi and Arek. They are all hardworking young men from Poland who have been with us for some years. They are adept at all sorts of practical work and are not daunted by long hours when needed or working outside in all weathers.
Field Foreman
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Nick , Artur and Slavi together with Asen Maya and Ivan from our Summer family
Radek
Come harvest time we welcome our Summer family of workers from Chepelare in Bulgaria . Chepelare is a ski area and so in winter many of them are involved in the ski resort : ski instructors, guides, ski room managers . It suits them therefore to come over here for our seasonal harvest work in Summer. And we need them. As I explained in an earlier blog , harvest requires crucial timing and that may mean early start if the fruit is ready and the day hot as well as long hours to ensure our very precise daily orders are met. We would not find enough local people with transport who want the long hours of physical work outdoors just during the summer months. They work hard, are skilled at the different aspects of the work, earn well and go home in the early Autumn. Long may this continue as harvest seasonal workers are vital to our and many other agricultural businesses.
It is the start of July and the cherries are coming in thick and fast and amazingly the first Herman plums were harvested on July 4th and we had the honour of delivering the first English plums to Waitrose this season . The Opal plums are ripening and though smaller than usual because of the drought ,their flavour is more intense and I have already eaten too many….
Next blog will be recipe ideas for plums….barbecued, dipped in chocolate..
The rest of the team arrive this weekend and then harvest is truly underway. Look out for English fruit and remember that buying local keeps small family farms, rural businesses and our wonderful diversity of landscapes.
Pollination and the weather so far this season 2017
The magic of pollination has happened and we have a myriad of insects to thank and above all think about. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male anthers to the female stigma which is essential to kick start cell division and set the fruit. Poor pollination leads to poor fruit set and yield and misshaped fruits, neither good news!
There are many insects that pollinate and to encourage large populations we need to provide sources of pollen and nectar right through from March until September. We must also provide habitat for all these pollinators nesting places and winter hideaways. All our non tree acres must be managed for these very important workers and here on Castle Fruit farm we are increasingly working to provide for them . We leave hedgerow margins, we don’t prune hedges every year, we are planting wild flower banks and keep as much brush, bramble thickets, dead trees and vegetation as possible . We mow every alternate alleyway to let flowers set seed and provide habitat. This is all a far cry from previous practice when farmers were urged to be tidy and cut and trim and spray everything in sight.What ignorance and with what sad results. I was talking recently with a bee keeper and he was very clear there is overall much less forage for today’s bees. This is something we can all do something about : plant flowers, shrubs , trees wherever we can and be untidy where possible.
We have been working with Sam Ardin who is doing research into pollinators here at Castle Fruit Farm. She is comparing our pollinator populations with other farms and we are pleased to know we lead the field in numbers and varieties of pollinators. We have active populations of very effective pollinators such as leafcutter bees
(left), some of the larger mining bees, 
left is the tawny mining bee, which was very active and some of the most effective hoverfly pollinators (two images below):
She was clear from her data that these contribute greatly to pollination in our orchards.We look forward to hearing more about these workers needs as we are keen to improve their habitat in any ways we can.
If you would like more information on Pollinators and other environmental issues a great website is :
http://www.cfeonline.org.uk/home/
In conclusion we are pleased we have had a good pollination and we have not suffered greatly from frosts. We are fortunate to have sloping land and the frost largely flows away. Rain and warmth have come and we are set for a slightly early season but then all these things can change overnight…
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