Ah the bluebell – that beauty of our ancient woodlands, that brilliant woodland welcomer of spring. They are flowering right now in our tiny bit of ancient woodland and they look gorgeous in the fragile April sunshine. So welcome in a sea of vivid green, after months of grey and damp. As we all know, […]
Cutting willow isn’t something to be done in bad weather if it’s not essential; we try to avoid it anyway. It’s physically demanding and is miserable in the rain but hey, we’ve got hats!The worst of it is not being willing to take a vehicle over the ground to pick up all that’s been cut […]
Cut down trees. Do it now; you know you want to. It’s great therapy even when some swearing’s required when the poor old saw doesn’t start first time. I managed only two hours cutting hazel yesterday before needing to get back to other things on the farm. Actually it’s still a bit early in teh autumn because the […]
It would be great to have more time to… well for all sorts of things. Spending time with spouse, children and friends comes top even though I know I’m luckier than most in that regard. Playing music, singing, walking, cooking, cycling, reading. That list could be a long and pitiful one so let’s stop there!A […]
It’s hard to ask for help. Pride, perhaps mixed with the certain knowledge that the help we might request is for work that is hard, cold and pretty dull. On many occasions over the last few years however, visitors have suggested we tell them when we need a hand; but we’ve not been good at asking.This year we did and things turned out […]
I got into the swing of hazel over Christmas and have cut a bit now. I like to cut a little, process it, then cut more; that way, by alternating activity, I avoid spending too much time doing either (and the associated muscle pain), but more important it avoids creating a cat’s-cradle of fallen stems that’s a pain to unravel.I’ve […]
We’re doing a bit of experimental work making willow ‘fascines ‘ for a potential client in Cambridgeshire. This is an interesting diversion and work so far suggests that we will be able do the business using a mix of living sallow, Salix caprea, and a couple of our plantation-grown willows (species and varieties yet to […]
I woke up early this morning, thinking to get some paper work done before getting out to use all the light the day can muster. Of course I forgot the weather. It’s raining hard and the forecast suggests that it could continue through to the end of Christmas Eve. I did know this but had […]
In the usual run of things, I wouldn’t usually have much to say on the subject of ‘the toilet’. Poor hygiene or a complete absence can of course be irksome, but that’s about as far as I would usually go. However, for some months I’ve been searching the net for bog blogs and tales of alfresco pooing. Suddenly I’m fired up […]
A couple of weeks ago I built a four metre long tunnel using hazel poles. This was for a client who is developing a great garden and wants to grow more veg. She spent the day helping which was great too. The idea is to create something that will carry climbing plants – lots of […]