Sometimes these meetings are real corkers, in the summer we had one where they all slid down a hill on a massive tarpaulin with water, last month they swam and had chips on the beach and this time we headed down to our walled garden. We have a fab couple here who manage this walled garden as an employability project to help people who are long-term unemployed develop new skills and regain confidence. It has been such a success since it started three years ago.
Last year at Harvest time Nick got all the children to help pick the apples so they could go off to be juiced as we have our own Ashburnham Place apple juice to sell. This year he went one better as he had invested in an apple press so we could juice our own.
First off the kids got the last of the apples off our trees and then picked some beetroot and rhubarb to compliment the apple and provide us with a variety of juices.
Then it was time for us all to set to work and get the fruit ready for juicing. First, the fruit all needs an external wash.
Then it needs chopping into smaller rough pieces so it can easily be shredded for juicing.
Once the apples are shredded up they can then go in the press and the heavy works starts but it is so satisfying watching that juice come running out.
The finished products, we have apple juice, apple and rhubarb and apple and beetroot, which was really delicious and of course looked beautiful too.
Thanks so much to Nick for a wonderful educational time.
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