Scything Redruth’s Orchards & the Art of Peening


As part of our Redruth Orchard Project we invited Tom Waters from Scythe Kernow to lead a peening instruction workshop for volunteers at Trenoweth Community Orchard last weekend. The volunteer team have been caring for the orchard space using scythes since June 2023 following an ‘Introduction to Scything Workshop’ some of the team attended which we organised to take place at St Ives Community Orchard. This dedicated workshop helped to hone skills and give confidence in getting the most of the blade, as well as introduce scything to some participants who have not yet done any practical scything.

Caring for and knowing how to get the most from our tools is important. Scythe blades, when well cared for, can be used for many many years and we hope that local people will still be mowing by scythe here in Redruth, using these same blades, for many years to come!

Not only is cutting the grass and brambles by scything far more pleasurable than using a noisy, smelly & polluting strimmer, but it is also a great workout AND helps ensure a greater level of biodiversity.

Here are some of the other reasons we scythe:

Least disturbing mowing method – Ensuring any wildlife has a greater chance to jump aside as the steady blade of the scythe edges closer.

Earth-friendly – Energy from people, rather than burning fossil fuels.

More control – Can get close up to tree trunks or other obstacles without causing damage; allows the scyther a higher degree of selectivity about what is cut and how, and therefore more awareness of what is growing.

Health & well-being – It’s a pleasurable activity, quiet and peaceful, and can be done at your own speed, taking breaks to sharpen the blade at regular intervals. Scything is a good physical work out!

Rake up and remove the grass, which is often trickier with strimmed grass, as it is shredded into small pieces. Removing the grass on meadows helps to ensure useful plant populations are not smothered out, and reduces soil fertility, supporting wildlife flower populations rather than just all grass.

Mulch – Can use the cut grass as a mulch elsewhere on food growing beds.

If you’d like to learn to scythe we hope to organise more ‘Introduction to Scything’ courses for Community Orchards in the future.

OR if you wish to organise a session, or are an individual contact Tom at Scythe Kernow in West Cornwall, or for East Cornwall you can contact Kevin at Skygrove Scythe School who is running scything courses now, check it out. Skygrove Scythe School even organises a Cornwall Scythe Meet – maybe we’ll see you there!

This funding has been allocated from Cornwall Council’s Community Levelling Up Programme. The Community Levelling Up Programme is part of the Good Growth Programme, which is delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.

Orcharding heritage in Cornwall, Tamar cherries, orchard wildlife & the future

Fancy listening to something full of hope & inspiration?!

Try this latest episode from Nature Connects podcast, produced by Tamar Valley National Landscape. Full of optimism for the future and lots of inspiration for orcharding and nature recovery in Cornwall & Devon.

The Beauty of Blossom and Benefits of Hedges – latest Nature Connects podcast released – Tamar Valley National Landscape Tamar Valley National Landscape

Thanks to Mary Martin and James Evans for sharing their wisdom and fascinating observations from within their orchard and more, and for Nature Connects/Tamar Valley National Landscape for producing this.

Listen to this for some uplifting chat to encourage you to get back to your own orchard or to plant a new one next season! 
#tamarvalleynationallanscape

Cornwall Orchard Network Spring Gathering 2025

Fruit Futures: Sustainable & climate-resilient fruit growing in Cornwall
Following on from our successful inaugural Cornwall Orchard Network meet up at Kehelland Trust in 2024, we invite you to join us at University of Exeter, Penryn Campus on Saturday 3rd May 2025. It’s FREE – thanks to funding from Forest for Cornwall who continue to support you to plant up new orchards across Cornwall – with refreshments & buffet lunch provided but spaces are limited so please book now!

CORNWALL ORCHARD NETWORK | 2ND ANNUAL MEET UP | Sat 3rd May 2025 Tickets, Sat 3 May 2025 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

Welcome grant funding for Redruth Orchard Project

Redruth Orchard Project has been given a boost with some welcome support from Cornwall Council’s Community Levelling Up Programme, which is part of the Good Growth Programme.

This funding allows us to take on some freelance community orchardists to run the project, bring more people into the orchard for enjoyment, social connection and positive action in response to worries about food insecurity or climate change. We aim to get more people practically involved, work with other organisations, schools and experts and to provide opportunities for local people to develop orcharding skills within the Redruth community. This will ensure local people can care for these orchards in the longer term and provide green skills that will be helpful to people in other areas of their lives, whether at the allotment, for those seeking employment in horticulture. Our community orchard sessions are also a place for social connection, for practical exercise and help to boost mental well-being.

The funds will allow us to install a metal storage shed & park bench at Trenoweth Community Orchard and plant more fruit trees at Trefusis Orchard. We also have the opportunity to work with with Redruth Town Council’s facilities team to plant up a new orchard at East End Park. We will purchase more tools and resources to support volunteers to care for the trees and orchard spaces, as well as more fruit trees, and supporting perennial plants and shrubs. Other opportunities are listed below, please get in touch.

Trenoweth Community Orchard
Trenoweth Community Orchard group volunteers have been meeting up regularly for over 2 years now to plan, prepare the site, plant trees, fundraise for tools, metal shed and other resources. With this new funding we have been able to ensure the installation and preparation of the base for the metal tools shed; run a series of sessions over Winter to help care for the space, hedgerows and trees; provide some opportunities for volunteers to visit older orchards in the area to gain practice in pruning older trees; water harvesting installation; add support plants and more fruit trees as some examples.



Trefusis Community Orchard
At Trefusis Community Orchard, we have been working with local people to create bug hotels to attract beneficial insects into the orchard to help improve the health of these trees. Volunteers have mulched the trees and so far two new apple trees have been planted, with Kew and Manaccan plums to be included here. New beds with perennial and woody plants will be added around the fruit trees to attract more beneficial insects.

East End Park Community Orchard, Redruth

At East End Park we will be working with Redruth Town Council, a local school and the local community to plant a new orchard. The trees to be planted include apples, plums and a medlar and we will be holding a community planting day in early February 2025.

Other activities have included visiting Tehidy orchard to collect branches to grow as own root trees.

Some upcoming opportunities to get involved in the Redruth Orchard Project:O

  • Bird box making with Harmony Permaculture’s Sam Tancock on Saturday 21st December at Redruth Library. Either take one way with you or build one to install at one of the orchards at a later date.
  • Peening & scything management workshop (for those with some scything experience)
  • 2 x pruning practice opportunities open to Redruth volunteers in older orchards (20+ yrs) in Redruth area.
  • Plant a new community orchard at East End Park with us & Redruth Town Council in early Feburary 2025.
  • Join weekly orchard sessions at Trenoweth Community Orchard, Redruth, see flyer above.
  • Tree planting at Trefusis Park & creation of forest garden beds Dec 2024 onwards Wednesdays & Saturdays. please get in touch: resilientorchardscornwall@gmail.com

This funding has been allocated from Cornwall Council’s Community Levelling Up Programme. The Community Levelling Up Programme is part of the Good Growth Programme, which is delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.

Thank you also goes to Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C) for a grant from the Communities Working Together Innovation Fund that helped us to purchase the metal shed and some tools.

Also to South West Water’s Neighbourhood Fund to help us with a grant to install water harvesting as part of the Redruth Orchard Project.

Apple tree lace bugs & other orchard loving species

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Members of Cornwall Orchard Network took a trip to Haye Farm (Haye Farm Cider) which has contained an orchard for many many years. According to the proprietors, cider has been produced on the farm since the 13th century using apples from its orchards. There is a mixture of aged trees, most of the them mature, with some older, some middle aged but lacking younger trees to take over when the older ones start to die out.

We are really grateful to Keith Alexander (Invertebrates specialist), Paul Gainey (lots of specialisms) and Pauline Penna (Fungi specialist) for sharing their knowledge with us and identifying species. An exciting find was the Apple Tree Lace Bug Physatocheila smreczynskii, found mainly on lichen-covered apple trees (for more info and past sightings: Untitled (cisfbr.org.uk) ). It is featured in the Red Date Book for Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly (2009) and is a Species of Principal Importance for the conservation of biodiversity.

Also found was evidence of the Large Fruit Bark Beetle Scolytus mali on a dead apple tree.

We discussed the variety of habitats favoured by these species within each tree and how to ensure, when pruning and caring for older orchards, that we maintain these features. The different habitats favoured by different species – dry wood loving beetles, wet and rotting wood species – within just one tree.

Many thanks to Haye Farm Cider for allowing our visit. Do you have an old orchard that we could visit to have a search, learn and share? We’d love to hear from you. Or have you surveyed your orchard and found some interesting species?

Creating abundance of fruit in our communities, using free and low cost approaches.

We are passionate about helping to create fruit abundance and resilience in our community. The more opportunities for sharing and connecting in order to make this happen, the more likely this will be successful.

Here are some useful ways to do this:

1. Scion exchanges
We’re joining the Community RiseUp 5th Annual Seed Swap at Mount Pleasant Eco Park nr Porthtowan, on Sat 3rd Feb 2024 with a small collection of scion wood varieties to share for those who want to graft their own fruit trees at home. Please come and see us, bring your own scions to swap, come and chat, or just take away what you need. If you don’t live close by why not set up a local scion exchange where you live? The National Trust at Cotehele sell apple tree scion wood from their Mother Orchard every year in February and will even show you how to graft it onto a rootstock there and then, in a 15 minute slot, for a fee.


2. Community grafting sessions
We hold grafting sessions to teach people the skill of fruit tree grafting – a skill they can take away with them and go on to create their own trees every year, for free. Get in touch if you’d like us to come to your community to share orchard skills.

Rootstocks are going up in price each year, currently at about £3.90 per stock if bought in small quantity, less if bought in bulk. However, this is still cheaper than buying a whole new tree that a nursery has grafted and grown on. Grafting it yourself also allows you greater flexibility than buying from a fruit tree nursery. You have full control over which rootstock and which variety to choose, whereas a nursery may not use a rootstock you prefer or variety you’d like. In addition, to go completely free, you could graft directly onto an existing tree, with no need to buy any rootstocks. Create a family tree or graft onto a hedgerow tree that you’d like to convert to something more useful. There are so many possibilities once you have the skill under your belt. And you don’t need to spend a penny.

3. Buying rootstocks in groups via orchard networks
Cornwall Orchard Network has members from all areas of Cornwall, if you’d like to link up with others who might be interested in purchasing large quantities of rootstock try asking others to get cheaper deals when bulk buying. Buying small quantities of rootstock is usually a lot more expensive, so it definitely works out more affordable if bulk buying with others.

4. Grow your own fruit tree from seed
As is well known, growing an apple from a pip is unlikely to result in an apple that resembles its’ parent – it could be completely different in taste, colour, size or usefulness, and the tree itself could be any size or shape as well. The diversity of genomes in an apple seed are huge. Regardless of this unknown quantity, it is still worth growing apple trees from pips. You might grow a really tasty or useful apple, more likely you won’t, but you can graft onto it if it turns out to be a strong enough tree. Not only this, if you plant and grow on pip grown trees you are adding to the diversity of apple trees out there which undoubtedly aids with pollination and fruit set, and increases diversity in the apple population. In the past, before the availability of commercial rootstock, people would do just this. They would grow apples from seed to create stock to graft more favourable varieties on to. We have been including seed grown apple trees in orchards for several years and encourage anyone to do so. Experimentation like this could be really helpful for the future of Cornwall apple growing – It’s also fun and free!

5. Take hard wood cuttings from apple trees that root
Whilst many apple trees won’t root easily from hard wood cuttings, some do. This is a successful method if you have access to a friend’s existing orchard, are linked to a community orchard or know someone doing some pruning. If the apple tree has burrs on the branches then this is a good indicator of it being able to root successfully. Take a branch cutting of 2nd year’s growth and place it in the ground like you would other hard wood cuttings from fruit bushes, for instance. Rooting should have formed by Spring. Place it directly where you want the tree to grow, with a stake for support, and you won’t need to move it once it starts rooting and growing on. This is useful if you wish to plant more of a particular variety you like, though remember your final tree won’t necessarily have the same vigour or disease resistance as the original, grafted tree. A list of useful own root trees can be found in ‘The Cornish Pomona’ by Mary Martin and James Evans and include the varieties Ben’s Red and Sweet Larks.

6. Top graft onto existing trees in hedgerows or gardens with useful or tasty varieties
A completely free method of creating more orchard abundance in your community. This method is pretty successful and is done at the normal grafting window just before bud break in Spring. Graft onto an existing crab apple, a wild apple, or an apple that you don’t like the taste of. Why not add a few varieties on one tree and create a family tree? Likewise you can graft onto hedgerow trees, including medlar and pear onto hawthorn trees.

Recent local & regional media appearances

‘Planting Hope for the Future’ at Trenoweth Communty Orchard, Redruth.

To read the full article download the file below.

We have appeared in a fair amount of regional and local media recently. You might have caught us on BBC Radio Cornwall last weekend following a visit from Matt Shepperd to the new community orchard in Redruth at Trenoweth Estate. Michelle from ROC along with local resident Shelley (who also volunteers at St Day Community Orchard) discussed how and why we went about planting an orchard there, what it brings and how it benefits us all. We also encouraged anyone across Cornwall who wants to set up a community orchard to do so, there is funding for trees from Forests for Cornwall and others, support, advice and guidance we can happily point you in the right direction. Listen to the show here

You can also read about the Redruth Orchard Project in the 2nd edition of the Redruth Life Magazine, see a copy of the article ‘Planting Hope for the Future’ above.

386590197_299742886111571_3145458312258803746_n-1Download

Last month we also featured on ITV West Country news.

Redruth Orchard Project Update Summer 2023

Members of Redruth Orchard Project & St Ives Community Orchard take part in a scything workshop led by Kevin Austin and Tom Waters of Skyegrove Farm, Cornwall

Scything the land
We organised scything training for members of Redruth Orchard Project in June run by Kevin Austin and Tom Waters from Skyegrove Farm, alongside members of St Ives Community Orchard at their site. Everyone learnt about the benefits of scything in place of strimming or machine mowing within an orchard setting. Not only is it far more pleasurable than using a noisy, smelly & polluting strimmer, but it is also a great workout. It is hoped that with what is normally considered a chore and therefore hard to get people to do it, it becomes an enjoyable, communal task that everyone looks forward to and feels exercised at the end.

Here are some of the reasons we scythe:

  • Earth-friendly – Energy from people, rather than burning fossil fuels.
  • More control – Can get close up to tree trunks or other obstacles without causing damage; allows the scyther a higher degree of selectivity about what is cut and how, and therefore more awareness of what is growing.
  • Health & well-being – It’s a pleasurable activity, quiet and peaceful, and can be done at your own speed, taking breaks to sharpen the blade at regular intervals. Scything is a good physical work out!
  • Rake up and remove the grass, which is often trickier with strimmed grass, as it is shredded into small pieces. Removing the grass on meadows helps to ensure useful plant populations are not smothered out, and reduces soil fertility, supporting wildlife flower populations rather than just all grass.
  • Mulch – Can use the cut grass as a mulch elsewhere on food growing beds.
  • Least disturbing mowing method – Ensuring any wildlife has a greater chance to jump aside as the steady blade of the scythe edges closer.

The Redruth Orchard Project now has 2 Austrian scythes to help manage orchards which have been put to good use recently at Trenoweth Community Orchard, Redruth. Thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work!

Here is a flyer that gives a little more of an update on the Redruth Orchard Project.

Redruth-Orchard-Project-UPDATE-2023-5Download