Branched hazel, destined to become pea sticks
A couple of big orders have more or less cleared us out of pea sticks. Great for us but I fear there may be disappointed customers ahead. I’m not sure if there’s been media mention of hazel in the garden recently, but interest in locally produced materials seems to be definitely on the up. I called Hugh Ross at Rawhaw Wood to see if he had any spare and he didn’t. Good to have an excuse to talk to him though, not that I should really need one. Enthusiasm for local produce is great for us as all our sticks and beef are much better directed at a local market.I am however, trying to come up with ways to deal with customers who come to us from far afield. The excellent coppice products web site is our usual suggestion, but I have managed, by chance on a couple of occasions, to organise shared delivery of sticks, thus making one longish trip more effective and sharing the costs of time and fuel amongst several customers.
We got completely soaked yesterday and decided to retire to the warmth of home. The forecast today was for rain on and off so we thought a day of paper work would be in order. In fact no rain has fallen here at all so I’m feeling pretty frustrated. We have though, achieved quite a lot in the web site updating and catching up with customers stakes. Tomorrow’s due to be dry so I’m hoping to spend a good part of it cutting hazel in an attempt to satisfy orders. Hope the forecast is right.