Leitrim’s Organic Centre will hold its Apple Day Harvest Festival on Sunday, September 29 from 12:00p.m to 4:00pm.
The centre will have all the seasonal sights and smells that make up its eagerly awaited free event.
There will be talks and tours from apple aficionados including the centre’s apple and tree expert, Phil Wheal.
Botanist, Maria Cullen, will update the attendance about the threat of fireblight to our natural hawthorn and apple trees.
Wildlife, including the osprey birds of prey discovered locally, will feature with an information stand hosted by NPWS ranger, Robert Wheeldon.
The inspiring ‘Leitrim Women Through Time’ exhibition will be on-site. There will be craft demonstrations, stone carving, weaving, wool spinning and food alongside the centrepiece of apple pressing.
“Apple day is always a wonderful family event in the calendar year. It’s a harvest festival with a difference. Children get a chance to watch the organic apples from our site being pressed into juice and to drink the results.
“It is a real farm-to-fork event but in this case farm-to-cup experience,” said Dervilla Keegan of the Organic Centre.
There will be plenty for families to enjoy including heritage games from ‘Heritage Crafts Alive’, and a nature walk with ‘Green Shoots’ coordinator and former ranger, Fiona Wheeldon.
Natural craft will be the focus with artist Sarah Lundy. Live music will be part of the programme and all things apple will be on the menu of the Grass Roof Cafe.
‘No dig’ guru to visit
Meanwhile, internationally acclaimed British gardener Charles Dowding, author and a pioneer of modern ‘no dig’ gardening and organic soil management will be at the Organic Centre for two single day courses on Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27.
With 40 years of vegetable growing and ‘no dig’ experimentation including comparative plots side by side, he shares his results through his teaching, his popular YouTube channel, and as a prolific author, through his books.
Questioning traditional wisdom and being curious is a healthy mindset, he contends.
‘No dig’ involves an inherent appreciation of life in the soil that is helping plants to grow, and every time a spade or fork goes into the soil, he contended, causes a lot of disruption.
The ‘no dig’ method of caring for vegetable beds is seen as good for increasing crop output with less labour involved, but is also a great benefit to the soil and the wider environment, according to the centre.
Charles observed that the number of weeds that grow with ‘no dig’ is fewer than with conventional gardening when its soil has been disturbed. Other identified advantages of the ‘no dig’ approach include improved drainage, he said.
It is also seen as significantly better for the environment, according to the event organisers: “Soil that is dug is exposed to the elements and releases CO2, whereas the ‘No Dig’ approach is beneficial as it traps significant levels of carbon in the soil.”
Charles sees the ‘no dig’ model as a good way to combat slugs as less damage to the soil potentially ensures that the slugs predators like ground beetles survive to eat the slugs’ larva.
“I find the Organic Centre is such a great place for teaching and learning because there are so many capabilities for demonstrating and gardening,” Charles said.
The two single day courses come at a perfect time for those who wish to convert to the ‘No Dig’ model, the centre said.