Across the country orchards have been grubbed up, and local varieties of apples have vanished. Although some of these varieties are preserved at Brogdale National Fruit Collection, the true way to preserve them is to encourage people to eat or drink the different varieties, and celebrate their flavours and characteristics. Once lost from our food culture, they become mere museum pieces; culinary curios.

Sadly it is increasingly difficult to sell unusual varieties through shops. "I can take Braeburns, Gala and Cox" is the usual reply.

We grow over 40 varieties of apple and pear trees. Most of these are unsaleable through greengrocers. Did you know each variety of apple has a pollination date, a picking date, and an eating date? Natural sugar levels rise after picking increasing the flavour and aroma.

New commercial orchards are planted up with apples that supermarkets know they can shift, leading to large single variety plantings. These monocultures are harder to control for pests and disease. They are also more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions than a diverse orchard. At the beginning of May 2011, we were in the grip of a drought that was affecting many of our trees. But not all of them. This is the key to one of our principles - to build diversity into our production so that we are less vulnerable to the extreme conditions that we are increasingly experiencing.

It also builds a diversity into our landscape, provides better habitat, and feeds the soul!

Please note we have scaled down our apple juice production. However, it is still available to purchase through Brockweir & Hewelsfield Village Shop and The Dean Forest Food Hub.


Our Approach to Soil Fertility and System Health ~ by Matt Dunwell

Added: February 15th 2017, Ragmans Farm

Ragmans Farm is a 60 acre organic farm in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. We use farming practices that regenerate the land, using permaculture as a guiding design principle. Between the three main enterprises at the farm – Ragmans Lane Farm, the Willow Bank and Ragmans Market Garden, we provide emplo... read more

 


Added: May 13th 2016, Ragmans Farm

Aerobic or Anaerobic? By Juanfran Lopez Microbes  - Drawn by Miriam, age 4   I would like to introduce this thought with a simple and easy question comparing two different well known similar tools, but with different final purposes, just to put this article in context... it would be something like th... read more

 


An interview with Jairo Restrepo

Added: June 23rd 2015, Ragmans Farm

Columbian champion of Organic Farming and for the rights of small holder farmers. "my dream is to construct a being, an ideal state of a being, so that I shall not be the ideal being of the State". Jairo Restrepo is a passionate educator and activist in the field of sustainable agriculture and food s... read more

 


Added: March 23rd 2015, Ragmans Farm

A Wonderful Time at Ragmans by Yanthe Oosthoek - Student Summer 2014 Being back in Holland made me realise how amazing my time at Ragmans had been. While cycling through the Dutch landscape (which is not very impressive compared to the beautiful Wye Valley Ragmans is surrounded by) I notice myself pointing out diff... read more

 


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