Our girls have been producing delicious apple juice as part of an award winning sustainability initiative. And we’ve all enjoyed their delicious product this week!
The sustainability project started in the depths of the lockdown, four former pupils; Lizzie, Eleanor, Amy, and Lili entered a competition run by the Goethe Institute during the summer before they entered Year 12. They won €5,000 for the school, to invest in a sustainability project. They decided that they would like to plant apple trees (12, all different varieties, were planted in the area up behind the terrace outside the dining hall) and to use the apples to make apple juice, which could then be sold to finance future projects. Luckily, we didn’t need to invest in all the equipment, because the Biology department already had it all and were happy to pass it on to us.
This year, we had huge amounts of apples donated from girls and staff, but we did also use apples from the girls’ apple orchard, which was very exciting. Twenty-nine girls took part, from Yr 7 through to Yr 13. They all mucked in, helping out with all the different stages, from picking apples, to washing them, to throwing them into the ‘mincer’, to transferring the ‘mush’ to the apple press, to collecting the juice in jugs, sieving it and bottling it. There was also a whole team of people preparing the bottles, putting on the bottle tops and labels. We made 68 bottles of juice in total. They were on sale from the end of the school day, and all of them were gone in under an hour.
Each bottle was sold for £5. Any profits will be put back into future sustainability projects at OHS. This year, the profits will be far less, as we bought 50 new bottles at £4 each (once V.A.T. and shipping were added), but the bottles are being returned, so next year, any money made on sales will be pure profit.
Huge thanks to the OHS team behind this delicious initiative; Mrs Liebrecht and Mrs Chorley both of whom spent time in Devon on an apple pressing and juicing course, and all the pupils who were actively involved. The Girls had a few things to say too:
“It was so nice to interact and work with people from different years towards a shared goal. My friend and I didn’t want it to end!” Naomi
“It was such a fun experience, and it was a chance for me to get closer to farm life, which is so rare in cities.” Ruoying
