Vagrant's Pomona
A Vagrant’s Pomona begins with the thought that you might take an apple.
You didn't buy that apple. You didn't ask if you could have it. You just picked it from the branch of a tree whcih isn't yours or up off the ground you have no rights to tread and walked away.
From there, the book follows that act wherever it leads. Into orchards and across fields. Into questions about who owns the land and who gets to use it. It looks at what’s been lost over time, and what still lingers at the edges.
It was meant to be a visual arts project at first. It didn’t stay that way. Other voices came in. Cider makers, writers, people who work close to the land. The book grew out of that. It became something shared.
As you will no doubt already gather, I make cider in the countryside, using wild fruit and what can be gathered. That shapes everything here. The work is practical but contains a thoughtful practice. Apples aren’t symbols to start with. They’re something you pick up, press, ferment, and taste. But they don’t stay simple.
There are orchards in this book. Old ones, remembered ones, and ones still standing. There’s a look at what they mean, and why they matter. There’s a look at scrumping itself: whether it’s harmless, whether it’s wrong or whether it says something about the way land has been closed off over time.
There’s a run of journeys into eleven orchards. Fruit is taken, cider is made, and the results are tasted and recorded. Photographs follow the work. Other people weigh in. They bring their own thoughts, their own ways of seeing things.
Beyond that, the book keeps going. Old records of people punished for stealing fruit. Notes on how to reuse bottles and waste less. Thoughts on who belongs in the cider world and who doesn’t. There’s even a catalogue of wild apple trees and orchards across Cornwall and Devon. Real places you can go and find, if you’re willing.
It all holds together. It's a bit messy.
There isn’t another book quite like it. It's a morass of cider making, history and something like a quiet argument. It isn't loud and I don't want you to be persuaded one way or another, but it's there if you want to take it.
Like the apple at the start.
If you'd like a copy, take a look on the shop page, there are a number left over.