Category: artists

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Far Orchard Artist for 2023/4 Announced

Image: Grant Anderson

It has always the intention for Far Orchard Artists Robbie Coleman and Jo Hodges to take a back seat after the first year and to invite different artists to work with the network. The Far Orchard intends to develop over time not just by adding new trees and hosts but by using creativity as a way to explore and deepen our understanding of the natural world around us. By introducing new artists to the Far Orchard, tree hosts will be able to engage with the project in new ways.

We are delighted to welcome Caitlin Dick as the Far Orchard artist for 2023/24. Her practice is inspired by the environment, utilising sculpture, film and printmaking to realise her ideas. She focuses on the intersections between people and the environment, specifically she likes to concentrate on the minuscule, the microscopic and the parts of nature we overlook. Most recently, she has been interested in the role of care through relationships in nature, questions how care can be presented and nurtured. Caitlin graduated from Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen in 2017 and went on to complete a Masters at Edinburgh College of Art in 2018. She is also a beekeeper.

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The Beekeepers Tea Party

The Far Orchard Anniversary Event

We are delighted to announce The Beekeepers Tea Party at the Barn on Sunday 23rd April. 1-3pm at The Barn

The Beekeepers Tea Party will be a warm and family friendly event, with tea and cakes, sampling of local honey and a chance to meet beekeepers and talk to them about their relationship with bees. Participants will be be able to make a Bee Hotel to take away, there’ll be advice on planting bee friendly gardens and interactive installations exploring pollinators.

At this time of year when the apple blossom starts to open and pollinators become active, The Far Orchard is keen to deepen our understanding of the pollinating insects in our landscape. Like much of the natural world, insect pollinators are under pressure from pollution and habitat loss and the event offers an opportunity to learn more and to find ways to support them. Without pollinators we would have a much harder time growing the food we need.

This event marks the one-year anniversary of the planting of the Far Orchard and is a great opportunity to celebrate the anniversary and meet with other hosts. Creating opportunities to build a rich and connected community network is a key element of the ethos of the Far Orchard. See HERE for images of the event.

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Plenty? A Festival Exploring More and Less

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Plenty? event at the Barn on 22/23rd October. As well as being a traditional harvest festival with apple pressing and juicing, the event explored ideas around how we can work together to live with less to keep planetary ecosystems healthy and sustainable into the future. There was music, film, installation, participatory activities, exhibitions, workshops and talks exploring these themes. https://www.thebarnarts.co.uk/article/plenty

We were there with The Far Orchard Zone, talking about the project and exploring how we might create new networks of care with an ecological focus.

Below: Apple pressing at the PLENTY Festival.

Images Grant Anderson

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Visiting Deeside CAN

We spent a lovely afternoon in the company of Mark and Fiona Hope who are members of Deeside CAN (Climate Action Network) (a great organisation (http://www.deesidecan.org.uk) They took us on a guided tour of Banchory and showed us two sites where they planted apple trees in 2021. These trees will be joining The Far Orchard Network and we are looking forward to collaborating with Deeside CAN in their various projects including the Wildlife Friendly Village initiative.

It was a real pleasure to see more of Banchory in the company of long term residents with lots of stories.

If you’d like to join The Far Orchard with an existing tree, please click through HERE

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Meeting the Trees

We travelled to meet Andrew Lear the ‘Apple Tree Man’ at his tree nursery near Perth. Andrew had put aside more than 70 trees for The Far Orchard. It was great to see the trees, which are two years old and to hear from Andrew about growing fruit trees in Scotland.

Andrew is so knowledgeable and generous with his knowledge and we enjoyed picking his brains on the difference between the cultivar’s, how far bees will travel to pollinate apples trees (up to 5 miles!), how you get an apple to spread along a wall, and how far North apple trees will grow.

He has agreed to come up to our planting day on the 24th April – the day that The Far Orchard hosts come to the Barn to pick up their trees. He will hold court and answer any questions that people have about planting and care for their small trees. 

He has such an infectious enthusiasm for all things apple related that he will be great member of the team on the day.

Andrew’s website : https://plantsandapples.com/

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A Start

We are coming up to Banchory! We have done most of the work on the project with The Barn over the phone or on Zoom, which, like most people, we are tired of.  It will be great to meet people in person and we are planning another visit for the Planting Day in April, where we are looking forward to introducing ourselves to The Far Orchard hosts. Every time we think into the future of the project, we imagine sharing creative activities, events and new ideas that have been suggested from within the Far Orchard community.

We feel more and more that arts projects like The Far Orchard that create a sense of shared endeavour with others are an important part of our future. And at the moment, during quite a dark period, projects that are about optimism, connecting to the natural world, growing and sharing and solving problems together seem to be the right sort of adventures to have.