Picking, Pressing and Prizes!

The blackcurrants ripened very late this year, which meant our first Wwoof-er of the summer had to tread water weeding, while the cassis took their own sweet time to swell sufficiently.

Heuresement Justine, from an engineering college in Bordeaux, was a very cheerful and hard working etoile. Below we see her setting about a particularly unkempt raspberry row.

And apres

Meanwhile the more experienced farm workers were left to operate the heavy machinery

Gibson's Organic now has a regular pitch at Deddington Farmers Market (4th Saturday of every month) and a glamorous part-time sales and marketing manager, Roz, (full-time glam, part-time worker).  Her mini Eton messes drizzled in raspberry liqueur went down a storm with the public as does her general bonhomie.

Eventually the blackcurrants, taking pity on Justine's la vie en weeds, were ready to pick and two more tres sympa undergrads also from Bordeaux - Audrey and Florine arrived to help.

It wasn't long before there were enough picked, 60kg, to do the first pressing of the season and start the 2012 vintage of blackcurrant liqueur.

                                         Pulp left after pressing

I always remember my childhood hero 'King' Kenny Dalglish response on winning Shoot Annual's Goal of the Season - 'it's nice to win awards, I've won them in the past, the thing to remember is keep your feet on the ground'.  It is with these words in mind, and with a groundedness befitting a farming enterprise, that I must report a series of recent accolades for Gibson's Organic Liqueurs.  At the end of July we heard that we had won a Great Taste Award gold for the blackcurrant liqueur, and both the raspberry and the blackcurrant have been commended at another prestigious food and drinks award, though I am not allowed to reveal which one until September...!!  This month we also heard that we have been awarded a scholarship to Jamie Oliver's Big Feastival Sept 1st-2nd as a 'homegrown hero'.  In the parlance of the less modest breed of contemporary footballer - GET IN!

Returning to terra firma, below are the first precocious raspberries of the autumn crop - the real stars of the show.

BUDY MARVELLOUS!

..but first the close of winter

A romantic Jan. afternoon with the shepel

Finishing the planting of the raspberries after the thaw:

Last year's rasps also needed to be pruned right down to the ground.  This year a cutting disk was attached to the strimmer and I got through it in no time compared to previous years when I'd cut each cane by hand.

Before

                                                                       
                                                                           After



The canes burn up something lovely

Now re. that budding: I know there's some story about woman coming from Adam's rib or whatever but if I were to chop off my finger and stick it in the ground I don't fancy the chances of a son and heir springing forth a few weeks later.  I am still staggered by the ability of currant bushes to reproduce themselves in this way.



These shoots were snipped off their mother plants and pressed into the hard earth barely 2 months ago and have had to endure their matting being repeatedly blown off, severe frosts, very little rain and yet regard the life force of these delicates!

And at closer quarters: the fine order of the buds burst into leaf, progressing from top down.  This is the moment for me, whatever happens next feels almost unimportant....I'll keep you posted however!