Histon Feast 2012

Well, here we are again. HICOP is pleased to say that we will have a stall at the 2012 Histon Feast – come along and say hello on Sunday 1st July, we’ll be out in front of the Barley Mow by the drive to the back of Station Cycles.

The feast stall marks an anniversary of sorts for HICOP as our stall at the 2011 feast was the first public appearance to gauge support for the idea of a Community Orchard in Histon and Impington. That day we received an enormous amount of support and encouragement for the idea and that galvanized us all to start work in earnest on the idea.

In the course of one year – among so many other things – we have:

Without doubt, it’s been a great year for us. The year ahead looks even busier as work on the orchard starts to move forward. Thanks to some fantastic financial support that means we’ve been able to start ordering some things. Here’s what the rest of 2012 looks like:

Dates Activities
May–Oct 2012
  • Cut the sward to reduce strength of grass & encourage seed bank germination. Remove cuttings where possible.
June 2012
  • Remove a strip of turf from a number of squares to expose top soil. Land sow mixed wild flower seed in some squares (neutral pH soils) and leave others; record which plants grow.
September 2012
  • Prepare boundary for hedge planting. Turn soil over. Order hedge plants.
  • Prepare ground (10m-20m wide strip along arc) for meadow seeding. Turn soil over or remove soil if suitable disposal area can be found.
  • Seed prepared ground for meadow.
  • Plant seeds for producing plug plants for inoculating rest of site (keep meadow plants off the central circle). Involvement of schools?
  • Site to be fenced with post and rail fence: 1.2m (tbc) high post and rail fencing on 150 x 0.75 posts at 1.8m centres. Gates to be specified.
Nov 2012
  • Plant hedging, according to orchard plan layout. Whips double staggered, watered and mulched.

Of course, we’re going to need lots of help to get through that list, so please get volunteering and do pop along to meet us at the Feast stall. Finally, to bring us back to the beginning again, we would like to express an enormous amount of gratitude to HICCA, who not only gave us their stall at the 2011 Feast, but also helped to staff it.