This year I’ve decided to do our annual newsletter a little differently. I’d like you to write it. After all the blog posts I’ve sent out over the last year I’m sick of the sound of my own voice and I suspect you are too! So please share your experiences of 2016 at Velwell Orchard, and your hopes for 2017, using the comment box at the bottom of the page. Feel free to write a few words, or a long essay, a poem, as you see fit. I’m looking forward to reading it.
If you’d like to send in photos or videos you can email them to me and I’ll put them up. Please make sure you have the permission of all those appearing in them.
To get the ball rolling, I’ll put up some photos…
A massive heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been involved in any way here at Velwell Orchard during 2016.
Please scroll down to read comments and add your own.
Velwell Orchard 
December 28, 2016 at 6:19 pm
I had the most wonderful welcome when I went down a few weeks ago from absolutely everyone, most heartwarming. I also got apple juice to die for. God bless Velwell Orchard. Jeremy is the very best! A Happy New Year to all. Love peace and joy to you ………….Eileen xxxx
December 28, 2016 at 6:32 pm
At this stage I should probably admit that Kate actually runs the show and does all the hard work while I take all the credit.
December 28, 2016 at 9:01 pm
Hi Jeremy, It’s a bit long but i just wrote this, hope it suits…
Focus (my word for 2017)
I have been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks both on a personal and wider societal scale. We have been bombarded from all sides by disturbing headlines, horrific happenings and some just plain weird human behaviour. I think most of us are all too aware of these events so I won’t go into detail. The scale and regularity of these events can feel a little like being slapped around the face repeatedly. So is it any surprise that we can quickly find ourselves feeling despondent and overwhelmed by what can seem like insurmountable global and environmental issues.
Especially as on a personal level so many of us seem to live such busy lives just holding the everyday tooings and frowings together. What I experience when I let myself be pulled in all these different directions is a dispersion of my energy and will power which only deepens a sense of hopelessness and feeling of ‘not doing enough’. I know this can easily happen to me anyhow, I have always had difficulty focussing and seeing things through without getting constantly distracted by peripheral happenings (Just writing a piece like this without going off on obscure tangents is an act of will!).
The practice of Aikido has helped me greatly in this. It has been a constant and supportive companion for more than half of my life now. It is partly through Aikido that I have come to be thinking about the nature of what it is to focus and nurture one’s life force as opposed to allowing our energy to be pulled in so many directions.
I have started imagining that I have a light before me or it could even be a head-torch lighting the way for instance. I can choose where to shine it and also encourage it’s brightness. Even when I can feel myself swerving I simply need to conjure up this image and it settles me. Now I realise I’m waffling about myself but what I am trying to get around to is that we all have these head torches or lanterns or however we want to imagine our focused energy. When we choose to collectively shine our metaphorical head torches on something, that something greatly benefits from the attention. Velwell is a perfect example, It simply wouldn’t exist if people didn’t choose to focus their energy and intention on it’s survival and success. Perhaps I’m simply spelling out the obvious, however my point is that however hopeless events may seem we ultimately have the ability and responsibility to focus our energies on what we see to be truly beneficial to ourselves, fellow humans and fellow living beings. So I’m going to let my imaginary head torch light up my 2017 and hopefully I won’t be veering too far off my path or bumping into any large obstacles.
Wishing everyone a fruitful and focussed 2017.
Thank you, Mel x
(Disclaimer; Imaginary head-torches cannot be lost, stolen or trodden on by accident however they may not get you down an actual dark path at night).
December 29, 2016 at 3:00 pm
“Foster and polish
the warrior spirit
while serving in the world.
Illuminate the path
According to your inner light.”
Morehei Ueshiba
Founder of Aikido
December 30, 2016 at 5:09 pm
The best thing about 2016 for me was the food. Jacob and Kate permformed miracles over the summer months as they transformed daily the fresh garden produce into food fit for kings and queens. I’m not quite sure what sort of magic was at work in our outdoor kitchen but I’m really looking forward to another summer of tasty nosh and bloody hard work.
January 7, 2017 at 4:44 am
Looking back at my journey over the last year and my six months spent on a work exchange at Vellwell Orchard, I remember the the day I arrived there, sometime around the end of March. The air was still, and the trees stood quietly, watching over bare naked earth. The crows circled over, crying a cold echo of winter, and so it began, a journey into the unexpected through the seasons with the community at Vellwell.
It wasn’t long before the magic of nature transformed this muddy, grey shrouded field I was to call home into a hub of life, teeming with toddlers and animals, buzzing with bees and beasts alike.
Clear as crystal, I can remember the first task of the year, hanging a new gate at the lower boundary between Nick and Leslie’s land, where the stream passes the bottom of the field. After much sweat, my fair share of digging and more than enough coffee, I remember looking with satisfaction at our morning’s work. That feeling was to continue as the months flew by, working in the dirt with one’s hands doesn’t always lends itself to visions of utopia, but in that moment, basic as is was, that was how it felt. Two individuals creating a better environment within which to thrive.
And so it was to continue! There was more sweat tasted, and more coffee drank, the legend of Kate’s cake spread far and wide and drew in flocks of eager children and parents alike, all keen for a slice of the pie!
During the summer months, hay was made, pizzas baked, birthdays celebrated, steaks were eaten, logs were were stacked, seeds were sown, and many vegetables and flowers planted, crops were harvested, prepared and eaten in the field kitchen, at many of the courses and events held over summer, not to forget, the many mice eaten by Baggins the resident burglar!
If you are familiar with Vellwell, you will know that many helping hands have been contributing to, and working hard on Velwells star project, dubbed in the past as “Gucci loo”, this project has come on leaps and bounds over the last year. Under the direction of Jeremy and with the efforts of the many woofers and volunteers who frequented the orchard during the sunny months, this project was central to much of our efforts invested outside of veg production.
As the Autumn closed, with it so did my time at Vellwell, but it is with relish that I anticipate what is in store for us this coming year in one tiny field, tucked away down the lanes in Devon.
January 7, 2017 at 9:22 am
From Derek:
Ye Olde Walnut Tree
Actually it’s only a millenial I planted as a whip at the turn of the millenium. You will be extremely interested to hear that it’s grown even more during the year, in it’s width over 2 metres, so it is now 19m across. However, this is a little worrying as it’s trunk and main branches look slender in comparison and only grew about a half inch each, and, the bark is splitting badly in several places, due I assume to it’s efforts in containing the growth forces overall. It has of course become the major feature of the orchard.
January 7, 2017 at 9:27 am
Wwoofing at Velwell Orchard…
This year, 2017, I’m planning to be at the orchard full time from the beginning of April until the end of September. There’ll be lots to do on top of the usual fruit and veg production, so we are looking for helpers to camp during these months on a wwoofing basis. We’ll feed you in exchange for 5 mornings of work per week. If you’re interested, or know of anyone who is, please get in touch.
January 7, 2017 at 11:31 am
2016 has been another financial success here. We have £89 per month coming in now as regular donations and this makes a huge difference. Aside from this we’ve had many one-off donations and we finished the year with just over £900 in the bank. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.