The weather has turned from wintry to warm and balmy in a few days and the trees and plants have responded. This time of year is my absolute favourite, when everything starts to burst forth in a riot of fresh green. The Wood Anemones are at their peak and the bluebells not far behind. Not all the trees are leafing up yet but the beech, hazel, elder, hawthorn and the cherry are providing a smattering of bright green.
First job was to fill a couple of trugs of logs for home. These are from the four year old pile I dismantled last visit and look grotty but they will burn fine. One of my neighbours had kindly allowed me to take down a couple of his small diameter larch to use for building projects. Larch is quite resilient to decay, unlike the sycamore that I have an excess of and which I have used in the past. It decays or gets eaten away after about two to three years. I drove round and selected two, fairly near the ride and felled them. All went well apart from the fact that the first one was already dead. At this time of year, the new leaves are only just bursting and because they are very tall, unless you take some binoculars, you can’t tell if they are alive or not. The only new growth is right at the very top. When it fell, the top several metres shattered. A pity because the the thinner upper part is the most useful for what I want it for. The rest wasn’t rotten though and will be useful. I cut them into manageable lengths and transported back to my place. Not a bad couple of hours work for an old bloke on his own!
The hard graft wasn’t finished though. I made a start chopping the fallen birch that I cut up a few weeks ago. It splits nicely and will make lovely firewood. I kept a few pieces for some craft work, which leads me to the next subject which I am excited about.
I have booked myself onto a four day event near Durham called the Northern Bowl Gathering. People will gather, mainly to work green wood into craft items. There will be several, experts giving demos and running short courses. Subjects will include pole lathe turning, bowl carving, shrink pots, blacksmithing and more. You can camp there and there will be food provided in the evening and the opportunity to sit around the fire, chat and maybe do a bit of whittling. I bottled out of the camping this time and booked myself a cheap hotel room! I can’t wait and will do a special blog edition of it when I get back.
I bought a new laptop last week and spent days trying to set it up and get my head around Windows 11. I’ve put off upgrading for a few years and was quite happy with Win 7 but it was time to bite the bullet. This post has been written using it so I hope it publishes OK.
I had a good walk around, just marveling at the beauty of a broadleaf woodland in spring. The freshness soon fades in a few weeks, so we have to take it in now. I’ll leave you with a few photo taken on my rounds.
Diary of a man and his woodland 