Since June, orchard members at Horfield Organic Community Orchard and trees have suffered three months of heat, drought and high winds. Our harvest is being further devastated by plagues of plum and codling moth grubs, hungry birds, foxes and squirrels. Some trees are dying before our eyes. Sadly, in spite of our love and care, it looks like there won’t be a share of long-keeping apples for orchard members this year. There is no surplus of fruit for juicing.

The orchard was full of hope around the time of our Summer Orchard Open Day event. A good fruit set, spread evenly over most of our trees, was a tribute to years of good pruning, mulching, and other acts of care. These actions combined to persuade trees away from the habit of fruiting every other year. In previous even-numbered years, most of our trees were barren, having fruited excessively the year before. It helped that our 2025 harvest was well managed and moderate.