Putting Sandford orchard in a chipper mood!

A few plucky locals and the local parish council have instigated a community orchard near the village hall in Sandford-on-Thames. Never to shy away from a new challenge, a new task, and a new part of Oxford to explore, 6 Goodgymers wrapped up and got to work with helping set up the site.

The Saturday shift managed to get 700(!) hedging whips into the ground with a mixture of hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, dogwood and dog rose, so the job for Sunday morning was to clear up the deadwood and branches to prepare wood chip and mulch for the newly planted trees.

Some of us collected the deadwood from the ground, others helped dig up dead roots with the task master Peter, while the majority sorted the wood into "wood chip friendly" of less than 4.5 cm in diameter and larger pieces for preparing habitats for local insects and wildlife. The wood piled high while trained locals applied the wood to the parish council-owned wood chipper. The resulting mulch was applied to a large chunk of the hedging whips already in the ground. We also managed to clear an area of large tree logs and trunk bases to set up another habitat and to make the area usable again for locals.

It was a very productive morning and hopefully the orchard can be kick-started after long delays. We hope to be back again soon to help progress the community project.

Thanks all for helping!