During Spring into Action 2026, a group of people gathered at Claver Hill on a Thursday around lunchtime, eager to find out more about the apples, berries and other produce growing at the community food growing project at the top end of Lancaster’s Ridge Lane.
The theme was Share the Harvest, and we were taken around by Moyna Hargest and Ros Jones before enjoying a picnic of food that people had brought along.
Moyna uses the community owned apple press to make tasty juice with people who bring in their surplus fruit from home. It’s an enormous effort, and last year she made juice out of a whopping three tonnes of apples. Some of the juice was even turned into cider, which is always a bit of an adventure as you never know how it will taste in the end.
Ros runs Wildlife Wellbeing Walks, and supported the walking tour with fascinating facts about the local plants and wildlife. For example, we learned why the hedges were buzzing with St Mark’s Flies at this particular time of the year, just as the hawthorn flowers are bursting into bloom.
The Claver Hill orchard is really a diverse collection of fruit trees and bushes dotted around all over the community farm. We were introduced to some interesting varieties of apples, such as the Bloody Ploughman (ouch!) which is red on the inside, or the Love Apple tree which has gorgeous red flowers. Other blossoming fruit trees like damson and various berry bushes were also admired.
After enjoying a picnic which included fresh greens from the Claver Hill polytunnels, it was time to find out a bit more about Share the Harvest, and all the things that would be going on once the apple, damson and berry blossoms had turned into fruit later in the year. Share the Harvest is an annual festival coordinated by the Closing Loops project and run collectively by community groups, organisations and individuals across Lancaster District. Last year, 14 organisations were involved and 83 events and activities took place.
The best time to sign up for supporting the harvesting efforts is now, and anyone is encouraged to sign up either with Closing Loops gleaning coordinator Jay to help with fruit picking, or with Moyna to support the juicing.
Other ways you get involved include talking to neighbours and other people that have fruit trees and might want help with harvesting (Closing Loops has leaflets you can use, or even put through people’s letter box with a note!), putting up Share the Harvest leaflets and posters during September, and of course organising your own fruit picking activity. Eggcup has harvesting equipment like extendable apple pickers, step ladders and crates available to borrow, and you can also drop off surplus produce in any quantity, big or small, at Eggcup.
