Pink Fir Apple Harvest

Our priority this morning was to dig the last two rows of potatoes as we have frost forecast for later this week and our allotment site which is quite exposed. I've never grown them before and we've had quite a bumper crop - they grow in rather novel shapes, one of which looked like the Michelin Man (For those of you whose memories go back that far!) Anyway I forgot my camera this morning so no action photos of the digging!

It's been quite an exciting day as far as the allotment is concerned - the Wentworth Estate (who owns the allotment land and currently rents it to the Parish Council)) had put it up for auction in London. This was to take place on Thursday - so there have been lots of extra allotment meetings where allotment holders have discussed possible actions and pledged money so that the site can be taken out of the auction. (We missed most of the excitement as we were on holiday.) At the meeting tonight we were just £1500 short the £15000 pounds that was their reserve price and are now feeling very confident that the land can be purchased on behalf of the Parish and gifted to the community in perpetuity. The last thing we want is developers coming along thinking they can build on the site - a possibility given the conservatives proposals to allow development on green belt sites.

Power to the people! The problem is that in the past allotments were set up to enable people on very low incomes to feed themselves and their families (and we still have members that fit into this income bracket). If we didn't also have some fairly affluent members then this action simply wouldn't have been possible.