Page 16 - Frittenden Parish Mag - July - 2021

Kent in the Kitchen Student View

The Taste of Student

Sissinghurst in

Cherries

Rebecca Brown talks to Hugh and Corona…
Pauline Skinner of Aragon Farm The Cherry Hut, Aragon Farm is now open
(opposite Sissinghurst Gardens) Alex Brown

Is there anyone in Frittenden who doesn’t Having seen off the pigeons and crows, battle We all know how Covid-19 has affected I was also in catered accommodation, which
associated summer with cherries? Charles Dickens commences against smaller enemies such as daily life in Frittenden but many families made the experience even more bizarre.
in the Pickwick Papers (1838) certainly did: “Kent, aphids, caterpillars and drosophila, as well as the in the parish have students who have The canteen was set up like an exam hall,
sir—everybody knows Kent—apples, cherries, microscopic bacteria and fungi. Growing pollen/wild
hops, and women.” flower strips has helped to promote predatory insects spent much of the year away from with single tables and chairs spaced out
such as ladybirds and hoverflies, who work on our home, experiencing the pandemic in with 3 metres between them to allow for
This month Hugh and Pauline Skinner of Aragon side and reduce the use of the sprayer. a very different way. Alex Brown has social distancing. It sounds bad, but I did
Farm (opposite Sissinghurst Castle) are talking about just finished his first year at Edinburgh grow to quite enjoy it. You could still talk to
growing cherries in the Weald of Kent. (Knitters note By late June the fruit is changing from blush pink to
– they also produce lovely knitting wool from their cherry red. From here on in, it’s flat out picking and University and gives an insight into life in a couple of tables around you, and it also
sheep: www.aragonfarm.co.uk/aragon-yarns.) selling, with fruit going to our farm-gate stall, local a student Hall of Residence. meant you were never embarrassed to eat
shops and some to the London markets. alone – but maybe that was just a bit of
The cherry cycle begins in the winter with the Universities have had a tough time the past
planting of the 1-2 year old trees, then mulching, Many lovely people come to The Cherry Hut, from as year and it’s fair to say it has been a strange Stockholm syndrome…
staking, feeding, irrigating, pruning, training and far away as Brighton, Essex and Thanet. They seem experience being a student this year. And tuition? Well that was all online for
keeping the bugs at bay. After about 4 years a small to love our cherries. We sell honey too, made by the most of us – which meant most days were
first crop can be picked. bees that pollinate the cherry blossom and we also Accommodation was the first hurdle.
sell juice made from the smaller fruits. Splitting people up into households makes spent in your room on your laptop watching
Cherry trees need covering for protection against lectures that felt more like YouTube videos
the rain and also against birds. Most of the early It’s a family effort: son Peter looks after the picking sense when everyone lives in individual than lessons. It was nice to be able to do
ripening varieties such as Early River, Merchant, gang of students in the orchards, Pauline runs houses like in Frittenden, but when the
Van, Samba and Hertford are very rain-susceptible, the stall and Hugh covers irrigation, spraying, ‘household’ you are not supposed to be in lectures whenever you liked, but without
whereas our last variety Regina, resists rain fairly deliveries etc. contact with is the room next door, it feels the routine of going out to live lectures, it
well. Kordia, Georgia and Summersun are mid In a normal year, we get about 10 to 20 kilos off each a lot stranger. In my Hall, flats had about was easy to let work pile up, or to make a
season and we have two new ones, Grace Star and one-hour lecture last far longer, by pausing
Areko, coming along. tree. This year, following 20 nights of frost in April, 18 people in them, pretty big for university it every thirty seconds to catch every fine
some varieties have produced no cherries at all. We halls, but I know others in much smaller
For covering we use tried most things ... fires, fans and spraying in the flats who found themselves stuck with detail. It’s frustrating to know we won’t
Spanish tunnels and get early hours but the weather was not for helping! get refunds for tuition this year, despite
a team of 30 men from 4 or 5 complete strangers. You won’t be not having access to any libraries or live
a nearby farm Cherry harvest usually last for 6-7 weeks, followed surprised to hear we almost all went down teaching, but I think expecting reduced
to do the job in a by the Big Clean-up Operation. Nets are removed with Covid within the first fortnight, fees would have been a touch unrealistic.
and stored, covers are removed, the trees are pruned
day. Afterwards, as it swept through the Halls. A few people
we get a much and then sprayed with copper to prevent canker. went home to avoid infection; most of us Hopefully next year will be more normal,
smaller team to help It’s nice when it’s all done and we can have a rest...! just had a fever and then got on with life. even if I’m not looking forward to having
us put the bird nets up, 9am lectures for the first time!
another full day.

16 Frittenden Parish Magazine July/August 2021 Frittenden Parish Magazine July/August 2021 17