Cambridge Apple Day

After a hiatus last year, I’m delighted to confirm the return of the Cambridge Apple Day for 2014.  Just like Glastonbury, we’re returning better than ever.

We’ve set the date – Sunday 5 October. Usual venue.

Put the date in your diaries and start securing those scrumping privileges for your neighbours’ trees.  It looks like a bumper year for apples in Cambridge, but fruit is ripening pretty early after all of that sun.  It’s never too soon to start thinking about storage.

A small group volunteers got together on Saturday to bottle the fermented juice we had left over and, although we were generally very abstemious, we did sample a little of the cider and it was fantastic.

One of the challenges this year is what to do about our scratter.  Regulars will know that a few years ago I adapted a wood chipper and it’s served us very well so far.

The emerging consensus is that we need to move to the next level in safety and capacity, buying our very own “purpose-built” fruit mill so that we can continue to provide delicious juice and cider for our neighbours, friends and family.  More news to follow on that project.

We’ll also try to use the blog to document the cider making process a bit more thoroughly this year.  It’s been great to get lots of feedback and ideas from fellow cider-makers and people who’ve been inspired by what we do to give it a go for the first time.

Apologies again to the many people who’ve asked, but the Cambridge Apple Day is still an invite only affair. We might open it up to the public one day soon, but for now it’s only for neighbours, friends and family. Drop me (Phil) an email if you want an invite.

Here’s a few photos from the 2012 Cambridge Apple Day.  It was another great day.  Stunning weather, loads of happy volunteers, delicious cider and a great hog roast.

Not as many apples as previous years, but enough to make it all worthwhile.

Thanks to everyone who got involved.

For more photos, check out our facebook page.

Just look at that pile of apples!  It’s been a brilliant effort by all of our volunteers over the past few days and, in spite of the terrible apple harvest, we’ve got a great haul already and we know that there’s more coming tomorrow.   Looks like a full day pressing ahead.

We’ve been busy cleaning and setting up the kit today and it’s all  looking good.  We’ve just sampled the barrel of cider and it’s a corker.  Jane’s got the hog roast in and the apple sauce and stuffing is already made.  We’re good to go.

If you’re planning on coming, check out Jane’s blog post below for tips.  In brief: bring apples. bring clean containers for juice, bring food (and bring raincoats).

Do yourself a favour and leave the car at home though.  You don’t want to miss this cider!

This mysterious box of apples appeared this evening.  Could it be the work of the Cambridge 28th Scouts?  Whoever is responsible, we thank you.

Progress is unusually slow on filling the tump this year.  Such a bad harvest.  There’s loads of unloved apples out there, so let’s give it one final push before the big day.

The tump is starting to look more respectable now – not least thanks to a sterling scrumping effort (again) from Phil McBrien on Sunday and a brilliant haul from the Sutton clan.  This is a picture of the wonderful Bethan who is very pleased with the sudden arrival of a tonne of apples in the garden.

Sunday isn’t very far away, but there’s plenty of time for a last minute scrump.  We need some more varieties if we’re going to create cider as delicious as last year’s batch (which is being heralded as a classic).  Remember, we can take eaters, cider apples, cookers and crabs.  It’s all about the mix.

If you haven’t already, then let us know if you’re coming.  Jane will be making the legendary hog roast and we need to get an idea of how many to cater for.  Please bring a dish to share if you can.  We’ll have the usual competition for the best and most inventive apple related dish.

BBC Weather forecast is predicting rain on Saturday, but dry on Sunday.  Sorry to say that no sign of a re-run of last year’s heatwave though.  Whatever the weather, we’ll have lots of apple juice, cider and great company to enjoy.

A great day scrumping today. After a false start with one heavily laden tree that we were denied access to, our friends at the Newnham Model Railway came up trumps again. We managed to fill about five sacks from their beautiful trees and left a goodly quantity of cider behind for the guys to enjoy.

We’re also hoping that our friends at Cambridge 28th Scouts will be gathering some apples for us this week.  Obviously, the scouts will be paid in juice not cider!  This could be an exciting new partnership between Cambridge Apple Day and the scouts.  Other troops take note.

We’re still in need though.  It’s been such a tough year for apples that many of our best regular scrumps are completely bare.  With only a week to go, it’s looking a bit worrying and we need every lead that we can get.

We’re not short of volunteers up for a bit of scrumping, so please let us know of any trees with fruit that is likely to be going to waste.  We can turn them into apple juice and delicious cider.

More details of the Apple Day itself on the blog over the next few days. Don’t forget to let us know if you’re planning on coming along.

After much procrastination and deliberation, I am pleased to announce that the 2012 Cambridge Apple Day will take place on Sunday 14 October at the usual venue (Jane and Phil’s back garden).

It’s a radical departure from our usual date of the first Saturday of October and we apologise to anyone who’s already made plans thinking we’d do the same this year.  Jane and I are both overseas with work a lot this autumn and this is pretty much the only day that we can make work for us.

We’ll need to rely on our faithful band of volunteers even more than usual, particularly for the scrumping, as we won’t be around the week leading up to the big day.

On the plus side, there’s loads of cider left over from last year’s bumper harvest and none of it has exploded.  So everyone who comes and helps out will be rewarded with lots of delicious cider and apple juice.

So what can you do to help?  Start spotting those apples and get your scrumping privileges sorted now.  It’s been a mixed year for the apple harvest, so we’ll need to work extra hard to get the crop in.

Don’t bag any windfalls yet – unless you can store them at home.  We’ll open the tump in the back garden on Saturday 29th September, giving you a whole two weeks to fill it up before the day.

Let us know if you’re coming and whether you’ll be able to bring some apples (what kind and how many would be useful too).

Apologies to the many people who’ve asked, but the Cambridge Apple Day is still an invite only affair.  We might open it up to the public one day soon, but for now it’s only for neighbours, friends and family.  Drop me (Phil) an email if you want an invite.