15th October 2018: They told me that apples don't grow in Malawi, where apples are imported from South Africa and Zambia and are very expensive. Undaunted we got some rootstock and scions from Irish Seed Savers in Scariff Co Clare, and with their European Passports, took them
18th August 2018: These are apples grafted last year and will produce some apples at the end of the year here at the Centre for Learning. It is our intention that all our girls will learn all about apple growing, which will be most beneficial to them
17th February 2018: They said it couldn't be done: The experts, that is, told us that apples don't grow in Mzuzu, where our farm is located in Malawi So I went to our long time friends at Irish Seed Savers in Scariff, Co Clare. They gave me
5th July 2017. This is Adamson, the farm leader showing me how he is using a technique called air layering to produce new apple rootstock. Last year we bought our rootstock so they are using many systems to produce our own. We have about 8000 apple seedlings at
13th November 2016: This year we began the production of apples in our seedling programme. We employés a new man Adamson from Mphompha, a region in the North in the direction the lake. Like his father he is an expert on apples. We bought the rootstock about 500km
1st July 2016: No matter what else is happening the farm just goes on. This is the horticulture section where the guys are trying out new varieties of bean, both local and imported. We are always interested in finding local varieties of all plants, as those have
19th June 2016 Adamson came to work for us on the farm after Christmas. He is an expert on apples and with his help we will have in excess of 5000 apple seedlings this year. Where did he learn all his skills? - from his father of
5th February 2016: Rose visited the farm today to look at Laston's plans and discuss issues and progress of new employees. Laston is the farm manager; The Boss Looks like the tangerines, oranges, mango and the rest of the fruit are about to ripen, that they are
5th November 2015: Yes, these are Irish apples, cropping very well in Northern Malawi. Almost all apples available to buy in Mzuzu are imported from Zambia, Zimbabwe or South Africa. They told us that it couldn't be done, but here is the proof. We brought the scions for this
26th June 2015: Benjamin sent us pictures from the action on the farm today. Main pic shows Laston grafting Mango with scions bought about 70 km away close to the lake. These will produce large and better fruit and will be ready to plant out in January
8th January 2015: Since we arrived in Malawi I always had a view that Malawi should contribute to its own development. Pumps and wells are what we are there for and are free to everyone. However we started farming to show what could be grown and how