Description
A meeting to celebrate community fruit growing and wildlife organised by the Community Orchard Collective in collaboration with NHSN
Please note: this Eventbrite page is for information only. This meeting is free and open to all, but please book to secure a place. Please tell friends, family, and colleagues too.
Location: Clore Suite, ground floor, Great North Museum: Hancock
Date: Saturday 23 March, 10.00 am-3.00 pm
(This meeting is free and open to all, but please book to secure a place. Please tell friends, family, and colleagues too.)
We're excited to have as our main guest speaker James MacDuff of Ystwyth Valley Apple Breeders travelling all the way from Aberystwyth in west Wales to give us all a practical introduction to apple breeding. Although James has a very impressive professional CV and similarly impressive and informative website (giving in depth theoretical and practical information), he assures us that it's entirely possible for all of us to have a go at fruit breeding - from a sustainability angle it's a very good idea to broaden the genetic base of our fruit rather than just relying on the narrow genetic base of repeated cloning.
Historically amateurs have played important roles in discovering new varieties, whether that's a young Mary Ann Brailsford planting the seeds which gave birth to the Bramley apple, or, more locally, Margaret Joughin nurturing a surprise seedling which gave us the Jesmond Dingle; you don't need a lab, a degree and a white coat to play a part and there are lots of approaches but James is coming to share his experience and to show us how we might go about a process of selectively breeding apples on a small scale.
Plus plenty of time for networking around Community Orchards