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“Der Apfelbote” is an interesting and entertaining magazine about the apple wine and orchard culture in the region. The new edition is now hot off the press and not only contains exciting and informative reports as usual – this time the Apfelbote exclusively presents the first winners of the award “Orchard Commune of the Year”.
Orchards are considered the cradle of apple wine and are a unique natural area. But which municipality is most committed to maintaining and maintaining them? To find out, the FrankfurtRheinMain regional association launched a competition in the spring.
“The applicants didn’t make it easy for the jury,” was the conclusion of Rouven Kötter (SPD), first deputy of the regional association and responsible for the topic of orchards. The reason: Many applications were excellent, and more than three municipalities would certainly have deserved a prize. But the jury had to make a decision. And so the choice fell on Langen, Maintal and Reichelsheim, each for different reasons.
The city of Langen in the Offenbach district, together with its neighboring municipality of Egelsbach as a cooperation partner, has set up the “Siebenschläfer” product range. This is why the municipality receives the award in the unofficial category of “marketing”, so to speak. Whether apple wine, cider, barbecue sauce or praline with a shot – a dormouse is depicted on all products as a distinguishing mark, which has its home in the woods of the orchards. The proceeds from the sale benefit the preservation of the meadows.
In Maintal in the Main-Kinzig district, on the other hand, the orchard working group excels. With a five-year mapping project, he is making an elaborate inventory of the orchards there. At the same time, the association addresses daycare groups and elementary school classes with environmental educational projects. Overall, Maintal is very exemplary in supporting the local orchard players and therefore receives the award for its “complete work”.
Reichelsheim in der Wetterau is being recognized as a “newcomer”, as the numerous activities here are to be significantly increased in the coming years, as the city’s concept envisages. For example, there should soon be numerous other feathered residents in the orchards. The community has a hundred bird nest boxes made by the Wetterau workshop for the handicapped, and the topic of orchards is also increasingly on the agenda. The jury would like to support these efforts with the election of Reichelsheim to the orchard community in 2021. The award is intended to serve as a further motivation and impetus to continue and strengthen what has been started.
All three municipalities can look forward not only to the award and certificate, but also to a voucher each for a day of mobile wine press of the MainÄppelHaus in their municipality as well as for a one-day further training of their active members with the orchard expert Josef Weimer.
And the municipalities that didn’t win? “I very much hope that this award will be seen as an incentive and motivation to do even more to preserve our orchards,” said First Alderman Kötter. “We will advertise the award again in 2022 and are already looking forward to the new applications.”
Of course, the new apple messenger has even more to offer: An interview with the pomologist Werner Nussbaum and an article about the fruit distilleries in the region. In addition, the Apfelbote gives tips on gifts for friends of apple wine and the orchard. This and of course the latest news from our region. The magazine provides information twice a year about all the dates relating to the route and appears in spring and autumn. Actions and dates of the active members from the regional loops are published in each issue.
The apple messenger will shortly be available from the association’s municipalities and the members and partners of the five regional loops of the Hessian apple wine and orchard route. On the portal www.streuobst-frm.de you can download the current issue digitally.
(Text: PM Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain)
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