Season of mists

 

John Keats To Autumn, first verse

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsWith a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

And so it is upon us. Arriving at the woods yesterday it was gloomy and the air was still. Not a whisper of a breeze and virtually silent, apart from the occasional clatter of a falling leaf on the dry floor. The trees are semi-bare of leaves now. Mother nature stripped down to her underwear. Ooh err missus! A hard frost and some windy weather will quickly dispatch the rest. It’s probably at it’s most colourful right now. I particularly like the beech trees because at this point, the remaining leaves are multi-coloured.

It was to be a day for working mainly. My first plastic wheelbarrow had split with the weight of logs, so I bought a new sturdier one which needed assembling. My last visit had left me a big pile of sycamore logs which needed splitting and stacking while still relatively green. So much easier than when they have dried out. I decided a good place to stack them was next to my logshed (which is full) and had brought some wooden pallets, kindly donated by my builder-neighbour. I had a small, rotting pallet with a  few logs on, so decided to replace it with a bigger new one. Whilst dismantling it, I found a ball of chewed up hessian that was obviously the start of a mouse nest. I know exactly where that hessian came from – the sack in the logshed that has been slowly disappearing! An hour of chopping and stacking warmed me up and created yet another pile of firewood to season for next winter. It’s tiring but incredibly satisfying work.

Time for a fire, a brew and to draw some blood! So I needed some kindling which I was going to make, by splitting some small dry logs with a razor sharp axe. I have a handy stump by the campfire for chopping. Now boys and girls, the correct and safe way to chop kindling, is not by holding the log on the stump with one hand whilst chopping it vertically with said razor sharp axe. I know that and even told myself that it was dangerous practice and likely to end in tears. But Nigel, my internal chimp, said it would be OK if I was careful ( see The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters for an explanation). The razor sharp axe made extra swift progress through the log and into my thumb. Fortunately it was just a deep cut and not a parting of ways. Cheers Nige!

My good neighbours “L & R” arrived and we later had lunch together around the campfire. That is such a good feeling, sitting in the middle of an autumnal wood to eat your food, messing about with a fire and chatting with mates. I feel so lucky to be able to do that.

I spent another hour or so pulling bramble. Another tiring but rewarding job. Some of it comes up really easy if you grab it near the root and you are usually rewarded with some very long trailing pieces which seems to clear a decent area. The tougher pieces often respond with some encouraging swear words like “come on you b*****d”

We changed the clocks back an hour the night before, so by 4 pm it was getting dark and time to head home. I’ll leave you with a couple of small fungi I found earlier in the day. You couldn’t get two, more opposite in appearance, both beautiful in their own way.

 

Connections

I have no photos of yesterday’s visit and nothing much to report in terms of woodland activity. If you’ve found this post looking for information on forestry management or pretty pictures, then sorry you’ll be disappointed today. I still want to post something because yesterday was significant to me in several ways. I’ve entitled it Connections because that was what it was all about. If you decide to read on I’ll explain and if any of it rings true to you, then you have made that connection too.

I’ve said it many times, that owning my little piece of woodland is more than just that. There might be numerous reasons why someone wants to own one – a hobby, a financial investment, a place to watch nature, a source of timber for fires or woodwork and it’s all of those. For me though, firstly it is a place to connect to nature and the earth. As human beings, our heritage is about being a part of nature but sadly, in this high tech age, we have largely lost touch with that connection. I wanted to re-connect to the planet and Mother Nature and refresh my part in it. Look around you, we are the only living things that have wilfully shaped and transformed this planet into something unnatural. Although we have benefitted with a comfortable and relatively safe lifestyle, we have lost so much of our true nature, which is to live in harmony with the earth and the other life-forms that share it. Apart from the oceans, woodland is the most richly diverse habitat for living things. Compare a rain forest to a desert in terms of living things. Then look at a typical first world city or town. Take away the humans and what is left – a concrete desert? So it’s no surprise that many of us head off to the coast, the hills, lakes and forests to recharge our batteries at the weekends and what we are doing, consciously or not, is re-connecting with nature and our true selves.

There are other types of connections that are important to us humans too and I’m going to tell you about some of those that I made yesterday. I’ve had my piece of woodland over two years now and surprisingly, never driven around it. It sits like an island in the middle of farmland – flat, open fields which are now devoid of crops, just bare earth and scrubby, organic debris. I guess I always want to spend the maximum time I can in my woods. I have seen how the woodland lies on a map but wanted to see it from the outside. I was not disappointed. I drove part way around it and stopped for a while, imagining I had x-ray eyes and could see inside it to my small plot. I know what the inside looks like and marvelled at how rich it is in life forms. Thousands of different lives are hidden from the outside world and the casual observer. How it nurtures, feeds and protects them. The food chain in perfect synchronicity – lichens, mosses, fungi, insects and invertebrates, small plants and animals, birds, mammals and trees. It was then that a fantastic wave of calm euphoria came over me. All I can say is that it was of being fully connected to my location and the moment. Not just to my little piece but to the whole landscape that surrounded me. It is hard to describe but if you have ever felt like this when looking at a wonderful sight, you will know what I mean. I get this feeling almost every time I am in my woods but this was the first time I have felt that way for the whole area. It felt like I belonged there. Like home.

The other connections I’m talking about are with people. I am always pleased to meet the woodland neighbours, to catch up on their lives and swap notes. I met five yesterday and must have spent half the day chatting to them. The plots over the border from mine have just been sold and the new neighbours were there, a lovely young family full of excitement and enthusiasm. I gave them the grand tour of mine and explained a few things and it was a relief to know I have neighbours I like and will get along with. My good friends on the other side of me were there too. You know that not all people you meet will connect with you but when you do find that bond, it is like gold. As I get older, I value friends more than ever before. That leads me to one last thing to tell you about. Through my recent interest in bushcraft and country life skills, I have made some very good new friends and one of those is an artisan blacksmith called Simon Reed. He won’t mind me naming him. He is funny, feisty, kind and caring and has lots of stories to tell. He makes beautiful small items of jewelry and other ornamental things and is definitely one of my connections. He wrote this poem for me and I think it is wonderful.

Oh wise man o the woods

Loving and being loved by mother earth

In touch with things untouchable

Seeing the unnoticeable

In awe of nature and accepting her complicity

Enjoying not taming.

Thank you Simon, you nailed it with your usual high quality craftsmanship. (Not so sure about the wise bit though!)

Check out Simon’s website and Facebook page. He operates out of the forge in the farmyard at Temple Newsham House near Leeds. He runs one-to-one blacksmithing sessions and if you fancy bashing some hot metal (as he puts it) book yourself in, it’s a unique experience.

http://lilliputforge.co.uk.websitebuilder.prositehosting.co.uk/home

Lilliput Forge Facebook

 

Woodland Trust and more fire

Yesterday’s main reason for visiting my woods was to meet with Robin from the Woodland Trust but more of that later. It was a dull start again and I got stuck straight in with some chainsaw work. Cutting up some of the small sycamore I felled two weeks ago, chopping and stacking. It really is so much easier when the logs are still green. You hardly need to do more than let the heavy axe drop onto it to split it. But onto the more interesting part of my morning – continuing to “pimp” my shelter by adding a fire reflector.

One of my regular readers, I shall call him John (cos that’s his name) asked what I meant as the only definition he had heard was concerned with ladies of the night and immoral activities. Now that’s not what I am aiming for but if times get tough after Brexit, who knows? So maybe I should explain the word “pimp” used in this connotation. There was a tv program called Pimp My Ride where they would take an old banger (wreck to you John) of a car and tart it up – sorry I’m slipping back into John’s world yet again. I mean smarten it up with lots of accessories and modifications to make it a bit of a head-turner and more fun to drive. So that’s my use of the word.

To shield the fire from wind and help divert smoke away from the shelter I wanted to add a fire reflector. It also helps to focus some of the heat forward too. It’s just some green cut logs held between some stakes but I think it looks cool and adds some authenticity to the camp. I’m brewing up here.

A spin-off from my woodland activities is buying up old axes, or usually just the heads, at car boot sales and renovating them. I normally pay just a pound or two and they are covered in rust and blunt. I clean them up, re-profile the bit (edge) and sharpen to razor sharp, fit a new handle and might add a leather mask (cover) and collar (protects the handle or haft from scuffs). This is my latest one which I brought to try out. The haft is original. I really like the look and feel of it.

Now onto the visit from the Woodland Trust. Robin has been before and has been helping small woodland owners to slowly restore neglected ancient woodland to a more natural state by selective thinning etc. He has proposed an idea whereby he will investigate bringing in a professional contractor to fell some of the bigger trees that we amateurs don’t want to tackle. It’s not worth them coming to us individually to fell a handful of trees but if several people are interested, the cumulative numbers might be worth their while. The idea being that they keep the timber to sell on and use that to offset the cost of labour. So we might get the work done at zero cost to us or even make a small profit. I’m certainly interested as it would push my plans forward considerably. We spent a good hour and a half chatting about it and walking my woods. I always enjoy a visit from Robin. We also discussed a possible volunteering position for me with the W.T. but I am saying no more about that right now.

The shelter camp is looking better with the new fire reflector so until next time, bye for now.

Pimping my shelter

What a gorgeous day to spend in the woods. It’s very dry at the moment, it was mild and still felt like summer was hanging on as long as it can. I took the chainsaw with good intentions of processing the trees I cut down but what I really wanted to do was pimp my shelter. I ended up doing no serious work and spent the whole day playing. Still hard physical work but fun. Up to now the shelter felt like somewhere to hide from the rain and I want it to feel more confortble and sort of homely. So the first job was to make a fire pit and light it. Because there are trees growing very close, I didn’t want to scorch the roots, so I placed a concrete flagstone as the hearth and some stones from home around it to contain the hot embers. It was a real joy to see the flames reaching up as I lit it for the first time and brought it to life. I had given my new campsite it’s soul, and I utilised it for a brew.

The trouble was, and gentle as it was, the wind was blowing the smoke right into my shelter so a lot of the time I had to sit behind the fire! I think the solution will be to build a small log wall known as a fire reflector behind it.

Next job was to find a place to stack some logs where they would stay dry. The sides are where I want them so they don’t take valuable space but the walls aren’t particularly waterproof. I fixed a cheap plastic tarp to the inside of one wall to keep driving rain out and built a small stack of logs. Started to feel more like home. Not that my main home is made from tarps and logs! But you know, sitting there in my shelter, with a fire going and the dappled sun coming through the beech trees, I felt truly at home. It’s hard to explain the feeling to someone unless they have spent time in the woods and felt the deep connection you get to it. I felt content and as if I belonged there. I could have just sat soaking it all in for ages without being bored.

The picture above means I’m going to have to replace the cheapo plastic tarp that is the roof. A small dead branch must have dropped last week and gone through it. I haven’t been satisfied with the roof anyway so I eventually replace it with some corrugated sheets which will be more resilient. Lunchtime came and I used the fire to heat up my can of vege curry. I shall be doing more cooking there in future. (Did that count as cooking – not really.)

Last time I was there, I spotted a “barley twist” ash branch growing in an area I haven’t particularly explored before. The twist is caused by a vine, in this case honeysuckle, that has grown up around the small branch and restricted it’s growth giving it this characterisitic shape. They are much prized by walking stick makers and are rare and hard to find. Someone once asked, “When’s a good time to cut them” and the answer was, “When you find one”. So I went back this week and cut it. I’m dead chuffed. looks like something Gandalf in Lord of the Rings might use.

I did a bit of foraging and this time I collected a hazel nut, an acorn, two conkers and seven sweet chestnuts. The chestnuts were still unopened (ha, beat you to it Mr squirrel). I don’t know if they will be viable as seeds but I’ll dry them and wait till they open to see what’s in there.

One of the last jobs was to move “Bambi”- the log bench I made a few weeks ago, into the shelter. It’ll keep it dry and will be a useful addition when I’m spending time in there. I didn’t want to leave, had such a contented and satisfying day and I can say my shelter is starting to feel more alive and workable. Bye for now.