Apples are back in season. Over the weekend I was talking to Jason from Hazeldean Forest Farm about the faith involved planting an apple orchard. It takes around five years before a new planting starts to pay back and often the planting doesn’t work out first time. Jason reckons over the last 30 years he has regrafted or replanted about a 1/3rd of his orchard, sometimes regretting it later.
“The faith you have to have is that generally human needs don’t change; people will still want what they want now; crisp, juicy, flavoursome fruit”
Jason talks about farming in a way where all the things that make it an occupation too scary for many to contemplate …