A few weeks ago, when it was still allowed, we met some friends for a walk in the woods. It wasn't a sunny day, and my pictures are all rather gloomy, but goodness, isn't time spent with friends precious at the minute? While we were in the woods, we spent a lot of time talking about trees. Partly the trees we were walking near, but also our trees. I think I've skirted round this a little on here, because I wasn't convinced it would happen, but it seems pretty close to certain now, so here's a little announcement - we're creating our own little woodland. These two fields, it seems, will soon play host to 1000 trees. avoiding the power lines, of course and leaving plenty of views. Aspen, beech, sessile oak, silver birch, field maple, hawthorn, and even plenty we can harvest - crab apple, elder, willow, hazel (some for coppicing for fuel), and blackthorn.
I hadn't looked at the list of trees until yesterday, so while I'd been getting excited about trees generally, I'd not really thought too much about what we might be able to harvest from them, but now I am beyond excited about the amount of sloe gin I can make with 100 blackthorns. I'm slightly daunted. Planting a woodland feels like changing the landscape - for the better (in my opinion, in this case), but still changing. That will affect other people, and for the next couple of years it won't look that exciting. I've woken in the night fretting about signing contracts with the national park, making sure we don't block the power lines or the view, worrying about the neighbours, and all manner of other things, but I'm trying to let those things go and focus on the trees (and the gin).
1 Comment
Maria
11/12/2020 10:25:51 am
That sounds very exciting indeed!
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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