Pumpkins

Pumpkins now in, little ones, medium ones, big ones, huge ones...

Pumpkins for cooking or carving...

Prices start at £1.00

and they are grown by us!

Apple Picking

Apple picking is in full swing now, you'll find the following apple varieties for sale in the shop:

Bramleys
Cox
Summer Festival
Summer Red
Worcester
Spartan
Russet
Greensleeves

and there are more to come!

Worcester Pearmain Apples - now picking

We're now picking Worcester Pearmain apples for the shop,

a very popular early season English apple

that some folk say sometimeshas a strawberry like flavour.

Try some at £1.00 a kilo and let us know what you think.

Victorias

Need we say more?

£2.50 a kilo punnet

£6.00 a 3.2 kilo chip (7lbs)

Apple Juice

Did we ever tell you that we are now stocking apple juice?

It's absolutely delicious and the juice tastes just like the apple variety

and the best thing of all is that it's the juice from our own apples grown right here at the orchard in Begdale, Elm.

Runner Beans

Most days now we have a few freshly picked runner beans for sale in the shop, come early, grab them while you can cos nothing beats the taste of fresh picked runners.

Plum Time

Hello, we've been so busy here that this blog has been somewhat neglected, forgot to tell you that the plum season has started. We have Tzars, Opals and Golden Gages at the moment. Of course what everyone is waiting for is the Victoria, we'll keep you updated on when picking is about to start.

Pork and Bramley Apple Bake

We still have a few of the 2010 Bramleys for sale in the shop so we thought we'd share a favourite Bramley recipe with you.

Ingredients:

450g/1lb potatoes

4 small onions,

sliced into wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

450g/1lb (approx 3) Bramley apples, cored and sliced into wedges

lean pork steaks

1 tbsp fresh sage leaves or 1 tsp dried sage

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Fan 180ºC/400ºF/ Gas Mark 6.

2. Parboil the potatoes

3. Place the potatoes, onion and oil in a large roasting tray or dish. Toss together and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven, then stir in the Bramley slices and lay the pork steaks on top. Season and sprinkle over the sage and then return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the pork is golden and the Bramleys and vegetables are tender.

5. Serve.

Chives

We often have a few plants for sale at the farm shop, they usually represent enormously good value for money, for example this week we have some pots of the herb chives at 50p a pot.

Strawberries

Yes we know it's still April but this weekend we are delighted to be able to offer you real English strawberries. They are an early variety, Sonata, which taste the way strawberries used to before they were available 52 weeks of the year with the supermarket foriegn imports. They are sweet, juicy and delicious, but don't take our word for it pop by the shop and buy yourself a punnet, you won't regret it.

Seasonal Eating - Easter Weekend

A very happy Easter to you all.

At their best at this time of year:

New potatoes
Broccoli
Rhubarb
Asparagus

Also in season:

Carrots
Cauliflower
Maincrop potatoes
Leeks
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples and pears.

Dandelions - Dandelion Wine

Lots of dandelions flowering in the orchard at the moment so we thought we'd share a recipe for Dandelion Wine:

• 2 litre jug of dandelion heads


• 4 oranges


• 1500 grams of sugar


• 4.5 litres of water


• 50grams of all purpose yeast plus 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient

1. Cut away the green from the flower heads.Boil enough water to pour over the flowers to cover them completely and leave for two days to steep.


2. After two days, squeeze the oranges, retaining both the peel (without white pitch) and the juice separately.Gently re-boil the mixture with the peel of the oranges ,allow to cool slightly.Whilst cooling, add the sugar to a fermenting bucket and then carefully strain the hot mixture through a fine cloth or muslin. Stir the mixture afterwards to dissolve the sugar completely.


3. Allow to cool, before adding yeast nutrient, orange juice and yeast.Move into a fermentation jar and fit airlock, store in a warm dark place and allow to ferment.


4. Rack off as required & bottle when cleared.

Seasonal Eating - this week

At their best at this time of year:

New potatoes

Broccoli

Rhubarb

Asparagus

Also in season:

Carrots

Cauliflower

Maincrop potatoes

Leeks

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples.

Cowslips

We have cowslips for sale in the farm shop

at £2.00 a pot

they look wonderful planted with forget-me-nots.

Blossom Time

The apples are in blossom

The Orchard Today 7th April

Our plum trees are a mass of white blossom

The apple trees a mass of green, but upon closer inspection, nestled in those little green leaves are

blossom buds.

If this warm spell continues it won't be long before the whole orchard is a froth of blossom.

In the Orchard - Plum Blossom

Our plum trees are a mass of blossom at the moment, beautiful but fleeting. A windy day may well send all the petals fluttering to the ground where they will lay like snow. But not before the fruit is set, we can look forward to a delcious harvest of plums in just a few short weeks.

Asparagus

This is a snap of the very first asparagus of 2011 in the farm shop. It's English, grown just a few miles down the road, in the next village to us and it's delicious. We LOVE asparagus and it's arrival is one of the super things about Spring.

Seasonal Eating - this week

At their best at this time of year are:

Broccoli

Rhubarb

Cauliflower

Purple Sprouting Boccoli

Also in season:

Carrots

Leeks

Potatoes (maincrop)

Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples.

The Orchard Tea Room - Proposed Plans

So here are the proposed plans for the Orchard Tea Room

Work on the tea room will commence shortly.

The Orchard Tea Room - Exciting News

Exciting times here at the orchard on Redmoor Lane, Wisbech, we've been granted planning permission for a Tea Room.

Once upon a time chickens lived behind this coldstore, in the not too distant future you'll be able to enjoy a nice cup of tea (or other beverage) and a slice of cake in our new tea room which will be overlooking the orchard.

Well Seasoned Apple Logs

Brrr! It was chilly this morning especially after all those gloriously sunny days. If you feel you need to light a fire we have well seasoned apple logs for sale at £3.00 per sack. Just pop along to The Orchard Farm Shop, Redmoor Lane, Wisbech, PE14 0RN, we're open from 8 -4 weekdays and Saturdays, 9-4 Sundays.

If you're lucky enough to weekend at the Norfolk coast why not get a sack or two to keep in store just incase it turns really cold of an evening as we all know it can do even in August.

Cauliflowers

We had a delivery of really splendid cauliflowers today from a local grower. The ice and snow before Christmas ruined the cauli crops so it's great to see them looking so good again.

The Orchard in March

Above is a photograph of apple tree buds in early March, since then we've had several days of glorious sunshine and unseasonally warm weather

which has brought the leaves out, won't be long before the trees are in blossom.

Bird Apples

We usually have a number of large nets of apples for sale, they aren't perfect, they might be getting a little soft, have a slight bruise or some other mark. We call them bird apples, the birds absolutely love them, especially blackbirds, and lots of our customers buy them for their garden birds. At £1.00 for a large net they are terrific value.

As you can see from the sign their use isn't limited to the birds, we do have customers who make their own cider and of course they make the perfect treat for horses (and iguananas!)

What will you use yours for?

English eating apples still available in March

Cameo

We grow a large variety of apples here at the orchard on Redmoor Lane, some of which are still available this late in the season. Cameo is one of the best keeping apples and should still be available to purchase throughout the country in April. It is a fairly modern apple, delicious and sweet.

Jonagold

Here at the Orchard Farm Shop we often say that Jonagold is for sharing. It's a large , tasty, sweet apple that has become a firm favourite with our customers.

Royal Gala

Royal Gala is known for its' good keeping qualities and its' pleasant, sweet flavour.

Ida Red

Ida Red is another really good keeper, and a stunning looking red apple, as well as eating it can be used for making apple sauce, cook with the skin on and you'll get a pink tinge to the sauce.

So you see if you have a farm shop near you there really is no need to buy apples imported from other countries even in March and April.

Seasonal eating - this week

At their best at this time of year are:

Rhubarb

Cauliflower

Purple Sprouting Boccoli

Leeks

Also in season:

Carrots

Parsnips

Swede

Potatoes (maincrop)

Onions

They can all be found in the Orchard Farm Shop along with the last of our 2010 crop of apples.

Rhubarb

We've just started cutting the first rhubarb stalks for the farm shop, grown just a few yards from the farm shop car park you won't find fresher or more locally grown!