Burning Issue

Courier Countryside Column for 18 July

The Burning Issue at the Orchard

A debate is raging in the Community Orchard.  Every winter I have around 2000 apple trees to prune.  Generally I leave the cuttings on the ground and then get a helper to make small piles of them every 50 meters or so. The idea is that we’ll use the tractor to collect them into a few really large piles where they can be left to rot down naturally, in the meantime serving as excellent wildlife sanctuaries.

Many’s the time Myrtle can be found with her nose poked into the pile of branches excitedly sniffing out some warm bloodied creature whose nest or burrow is safely hidden in the middle.

The problem is that we’ve been waiting for ages for forks on the front of the tractor with which to collect the cuttings and transport them to the big piles.  Just as we were about to commission someone to make up a set, the tractor was stolen.  Now, finally, we’ve replaced it with a relatively modern (well  late 1970s anyway) Fiat.  This is, I have to say, pretty much the ugliest agricultural vehicle of all time.  It is utterly utilitarian with no concessions whatsoever to design.  Which is particularly surprising when you think of Italian motor vehicles like Ferrari and Alfa Romeo and Lancia with their classic elegant lines. 

Whatever. The tractor doesn’t need to be elegant.  It just needs to clear unsightly piles.  And after the ministrations of ‘Tractor’ John (whose nickname I bestow not just because he’s built a bit like one but because, as I’ve mentioned before, he seems to favour them over cars every time) the Fiat now has an excellent set of pick up tines or spikes on the front loader.  So it’s ready to move the piles of cuttings. 

But, and you just knew there’d be a but, the committee has in the meantime decided that it would be quicker, easier and tidier to burn them instead.

I’m rather against this for several reasons.  Firstly because, unless you have dozens of fires all round the orchard, you are still going to have to move the prunings into one or two big piles.  Secondly burning anything adds CO2 to the atmosphere – in this instance completely unnecessarily – thus increasing global warming, and thirdly it destroys valuable habitat for wildlife.  For me it’s a no brainer, but I have yet to persuade my fellow committee members.