Despite the dry summer, it was a good year for fruit trees. That means a large harvest, also at the Fruithof in Frederiksoord. Today many people come to pick and collect to have the finds expertly pressed.
“In a good year we go to the 10,000 kilos of fruit that we collect,” says Bouwe Ruiter, of the Fruithof board. “We will collect the very last fruit next week. It contains the most acids and bitters, tannins, for the cider. We are working on our fruit court cider, which also contains about 1,000 kilos.”
Yet there is still enough on the tree to invite others to the orchard. Families, volunteers, those interested in food forests or, for example, apple pie lovers, a broad target group is traveling to Frederiksoord today to make their move.
“It’s like hide-and-seek sometimes,” says Silvan. “It is sometimes good to search.” Together with Amber, Maya and her parents, he entered the eight-hectare orchard. They are free because of the autumn holidays. He now has a few buckets full. “We only left a few buckets at the press, otherwise we won’t get it. I think we have close to a hundred. I personally like the sweeter apples and pears the best.”