Anybody got a spare ark? (26th September 2012)

 Home from another lovely family break, this time for the annual  Buttermere gathering, with all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandad.  The weather, for the wettest valley in the Lakes, was surprisingly dry; infact Saturday blessed us with blue skies and an epic adventure up Haystacks was accomplished in style. 

Two days later and what a difference! It has been teaming down since Monday-The whole country has been on flood alert and we tentatively ventured down to the land to assess any changes.

 

Sensibly, husband acquired the flood plans for the land before we committed and we are reasonably assured that the river does not completely flood on a regular basis. However, according to the Environment Agency this week is a 'once in a hundred years flood event'.

 Look at the swell on our river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Two weeks ago the children were wading, ankle deep, across here.

 

 

 We've even got a waterfall.  This is actually a natural run off from the road above. Prior to this week there had been no more than a little trickle of water.  Thankfully, husband had cleared it of debris and cut a channel at the bottom so any water would drain off and connect to the river.  The ground here was always quite waterlogged and on wetter days we had a rather large muddy puddle.  Today it is flowing freely, well done husband, that was definitely a timely job-how are you at building bridges?

Or maybe it would be more beneficial if you began building us an Ark? 

 This is the meadow! Or at least, this was the meadow, now it is half submerged and looking rather the worse for wear.  The river hadn't burst its' bank as such; in certain stretches the banks are considerably lower and there are obvious signs, such as flattened grasses, that it has risen high enough to overflow the top of the bank.  But here, on my lovely meadow was a lake large enough to launch small boats on.


Here I am, looking ever so impressed by our lake.

We knew that this would be a long term project but I can't help feeling a little disappointed. Just when I had allowed my mind to jump months in advance; thinking of planting, growing, (and even selling!).  Now I am sinking (er yes literally!) not only in mud but also in the thought that I know a raft (again-see what I did there!) of proverbial phrases quite suited to the occasion;  'Don't run before you can walk', 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket', 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing', to name a few.  I also noted that these phrases depict a somewhat negative undertone.  What I am not about to do is to dwell on the negatives; namely that my beautiful meadow is apt to flooding, but concentrate on the positive aspects, or more appropriately- begin finding the positive aspects.  So, after initial considerations, what we actually have here (albeit with a lot of ingenuity, time, patience and more work) is; an ample supply of water- which every gardener knows is essential during the growing season and a pond-again brilliant for encouraging wildlife. Plus there is always the option of creating some drainage for the meadow.  See, positive aspects; or to quote the proverb of John Heywood (1546)-

'A hard beginning maketh a good ending'.  Now that's more like it. 

And breathe ( weekend 7th Sept)

Looking good

The weather over this week has been glorious, for a change, and once again we packed picnics and dedicated the weekend to work at  the woodland; this time armed with numerous sharp bladed tools to begin chopping the low hanging branches. 

view to magic corner, before chopping.

We have decided to make a start on the sycamore as these create the most shade over half of the meadow.  Throughout the week, whilst husband was at work, I spent several hours a day chopping the smaller branches from the trees.  Not only am I pleased to contribute to the physical labour the land requires but I found this very therapeutic work.  My experience of this type of work has, so far, been limited to the confines of our garden, where I have been known to unwittingly kill off previously healthy plants with my over-zealous 'pruning'.  Needless to say I was a little apprehensive as I didn't want to damage beyond repair this beautiful space.  As I tentatively began chopping the leaf ends off the branches it became obvious that this needn't be a concern; within a very short time the benefits became clear; I could almost hear the land sighing with relief as the sun began to shine through onto the previously shaded soil and I allowed the outline of the trees to dictate which branches should be removed.  By the end of the week I had chopped and sawn off all the branches that could be reached without using a ladder and was rather pleased with my handy work. (picture below)

As the week progressed I became more excited about the arrival of a chainsaw for the weekend. Naively, I thought the power tool would cut through the wood like a knife through butter.  My common sense soon got the better of me when I watched husband cutting through the first large branch.  It didn't look easy; infact it looked just as hard as using the handsaw but immensely more dangerous and I swiftly declined from using aforementioned powertool.  If I am to be honest, I found the noise and power from the machine slightly discomforting and it took great amounts of tenacity for me to remain on the same field as it, let alone pass it up and watch husband set to work, balanced precariously on a ladder, 6 foot up a tree.  This is not to say I wimped out entirely; I sensibly nominated myself in charge of the handsaw.

In these pictures I am trying to show how far the branches reach into the centre of the meadow.  The embankment is barely visible beyond them.

 

 I apologise for the mumble jumble of pics-Ive not figured out how to format them to fit; clicking on them doesn't work and so far I can only edit the first uploaded pictures- Any suggestions? 

 

Time Flies

I'm desperately trying to catch this blog up to date.  The children have returned to school so our activity list has doubled whilst our amount of freetime has decreased accordingly.  Which means very little time to work online.  Regardless, we've been really busy at the woodland. Things are so new and exciting I am tempted to skip straight to the current news, BUT, this would be defeating the object of keeping this record of the project.

Here are just a few more things that have taken place between then and now....

Scattered haphazardly around the land are a lot of raspberry canes and blackberry bushes which we will eventually (possibly) transplant to a more organised spot.  Similarly, the thought of planting other fruit trees is quite appealing so...

We have planted our first fruit tree on the meadow.  This Apple was grown from a seed by one of our children, about 6 years ago, and has been happily residing in a large planter in the garden until a more permanent home could be found. TA-DA! I wonder how many trees constitute an orchard?  My mind is already wandering to scrummy recipes of fruity jams, pies and puds. 

At the moment, I like the way these four Ash trees (just visible behind the apple tree) appear to have seeded themselves in a line across the meadow, creating almost a partition or natural division, so I plan to leave them where they are; at least for the time being.

Look at that face, priceless! Proof that size isn't
everything!

Our 10 year old son, a very keen and competent fisherman, has pulled his first fish from our stretch of the river.  A Perch (apparently).  We were all extremely pleased, not only has this spurred him on with his fishing attempts, but this is such a positive sign for a river which, over the years, has seen less than optimum conditions for wildlife.  Surely if there is one fish then there will be more?

Sticking with the nature theme, we have had several exciting sightings recently.  Late into one afternoon a red deer sauntered past on the opposite bank.  There was a small group of us sitting at a favourite fishing spot, not being particularly quiet, when one member spotted the deer.  Wowzers!  There are tales galore describing sightings of deer within the area but I have never, despite extensive exploring, been witness to this myself.

  

We also had a surprise find when clearing away some rubbish and overgrowth.  We picked it up, and handled it  only for the purpose of this photograph and then very carefully placed it back where we found it. It's definitely a newt!  We've also seen a shrew scurrying across the meadow and the odd glimpse of what we think may be a bank vole-though we haven't been quick enough to capture these On photographs!

Ups and Downs

This week has been a mixture of ups and downs. 

On a positive note the paperwork for the woodland work has been authorised; work can now begin in earnest, raising tree crowns and clearing sycamore and other saplings.  In terms of timing we couldn't have asked for better; the children return to school in the next few days so I am hoping to be able to spend longer hours there midweek.  I began feeling a little selfish expecting the children to spend all their time down at the land.  Yes they have fun and enjoy it there, but equally they have heaps of other things they both love and need to do as well.  Some days they want nothing more than a 'down day' where they can chill out at home.  Now the initial excitement of acquiring the new land has faded (albeit only a little) and the first major necessary task (the Balsam) has been completed I  am attempting to regain some balance.  I always find balance and routines disappear over school holidays at the best of times, so having this new project was bound to create a stir. Of course, we want to be there as much as possible but I am now thinking that this project, being a lifelong venture, will naturally become part of our routine and we will gain a perfect workable balance; one that is dictated by our needs and those of the children, plus the need to spend time at the woodland-dependant on various factors, season, growing, animals etc. 

So, husband is in the process of acquiring a chainsaw and we have penciled in the weekend to making lots of noise and a massive improvement to the woodland-Yay! In the meantime, I will forsake housework (what a shame!) and spend the majority of the school day chopping at some of the smaller branches.

 

The sad news is that we were visited by sly red fox who has taken 5 out of our 6 hens. We have housed the girls in our garden for the past 20 months.  They have a large walk in, aviary type space with their coop enclosed so they are not totally free range, but have lots of space to roam, dirt to scratch, trees to roost in, and have been free to come and go as they please; so semi-free range seems the appropriate term.  They were excellent pets.  Ok, they sometimes got a bit smelly and messy, especially in the wet weather, when they would scratch and churn up the mud looking for tasty bug snacks. BUT, they were great egg layers and never failed to provide us with a constant supply of eggs.  Which I might add, I am sorely missing and despite only previously buying free-range, cannot bring myself to once again purchase from the supermarkets; maybe this is some strange mourning or odd loyalty I'm not sure! Plus they made an interesting addition to the household; being quite friendly creatures they happily chirped away whilst we worked in the garden and never failed to hustle and bustle between themselves in an attempt to get nearest to whatever edge of the pen we were closest to, eagerly waiting for us to throw in the odd worm, dandelion leaf or other tit-bit.  The garden is certainly a lot quieter without them; it feels strange cutting up veg, or weeding the garden and not putting the scraps to one-side for the girls.

Sly red fox has been spotted in our area for years.  The milkman regularly comments on early morning sightings of foxes as he is doing his rounds.  Our neighbours' hens became victim of a fox raid over two years ago and he believes there is a den on a small patch of wasteland a few streets away.  We have also seen the fox in our garden several times; one time was no more than a fleeting glance af a red/brown streak running across the lawn.  One early morning visit had the children shrieking with excitement and concern when they spotted the fox stalking close to the rabbit hutch; The noise they created had scared it off before I got to the door. The most recent visit occurred mid-afternoon when myself and a friend ran shouting into the garden and came within a foot of it before it thought best to flee.  Never before have we seen any signs of attempted entry to the chicken coop.  As I have mentioned previously we are hoping to keep animals at the woodland.  We certainly were not about to rush into this and would have spent considerable time etc making sure the housing was both adequate and secure.  However, this recent visit has certainly made us more wary.  The terrible thing about a fox attack is that they do not simply kill to eat-the horrific sight that we awoke to that morning can only be described as a massacre, that the fox killed for what seemed like the sheer fun of it.  Only one bird had been taken; maybe the fox was disturbed before returning for the rest.  However, clearing away the mess of four killed birds was quite upsetting and seemed unjust.  I would have more respect for the animal if it had taken just the one bird and left the rest unharmed.  If, for example, it had been a new mother, desperate to feed her cubs then I would not begrudge her one bird.  But, to cull most of the flock and leave it to waste is not natural to me as a human.  How the one girl managed to survive is a mystery.  Several months after settling into their new home, the girls stopped going into the coop at night and began roosting in the branches of one or the trees.  They used the coop to lay eggs so this was not due to any infestation (I regularly check and de-lice the house!).  All we can think is that this lucky hen ran into the coop and escaped the attack.  After several days of TLC she appears to be making a full recovery.  She suffered a small skin wound on her back and she was obviously in shock at first as she would not let me near her. Thankfully, the wound has healed and she is now back to laying regular daily eggs.  She is however, lonely; she spends a lot of her day stood in a bush where she can look into the shed window.  All the girls used to battle to be the first to do this whenever anyone went into the shed, as this is where their feed is kept, though the amount of time she spends there has led me to believe that she is actually looking at her own reflection in the glass for company-poor girl.

What a difference a day makes.

Ok, so it's been slightly more than a day, 5 days to be precise. It's the 30th August and we came back from a lovely weekend in the Lake District eager to pop down to the land for a sneaky peek. In all honesty the woodland and its' progress had been on our minds all holiday; most of our walks had an underlying motive, to collect as many seeds, mostly grasses, as possible whilst also looking at the various types of trees, flowers and grass that grow in our forests and countryside.  We really want to keep the land as natural as possible by growing native and naturally occurring species.  Anyhow, what an exciting sight there was waiting for us at the meadow.  Tiny, new shoots of GREEN grass peeping through the mud!!



I did this!

I know it may not look much, but to us these tiny GREEN shoots represent many, many hours of hard work finally beginning to take shape and the beginning of 'The Meadow'; and I am so happy (sad but true!)

There also appears to be lots of dock and more nettle coming through but we will deal with that at a later point (Apparently Dock lies dormant in the soil for up to 8 years, so we realise that this will need some form of control).  And it looks so GREEN; the weather (mainly rain) over the past few days has definitely worked its' magic.

These pictures are taken looking up and down the meadow. As you can see the edges are looking quite lush and there are small patches of new grass seed showing. Have I mentioned how GREEN it looks?

Unfortunately, our optimism with sowing the seeds under the low hanging branches hasn't yet been justified.  It's too early to tell whether or not the seed will take in this dark, damp, area.  We really need to begin chopping or 'raising the crown' of these trees, to allow more natural light through. Ideally, we should have done this before sowing the seeds BUT we were eager (no, not impatient!) to make use of the end of the growing season; plus we were told that the paperwork may take around a month to come through.  Fingers crossed for that; I'm slightly excited and apprehensive at the same time about the prospect of power tools!

Not being the type of person to sit back and relax whilst there is so much exciting work to be done, I made a start on the top corner of 'The Meadow'. This spot must be accessible from the road above as it has gathered a considerable amount of fly-tipping materials (Grrrrr!). So, I have made a start clearing bags of rubbish and pulling up some ivy that is rambling over most of the ground space. I managed to, easily i might add, fill a bin bag full of old shoes! What on earth would make people throw their old shoes into a field? rather random!  That said, it is, or will be a lovely area; it is sheltered at the back by the embankment and appears to get quite a lot of the sunshine.  At present, there are a few ferns growing but not much else. I think it would look lovely filled with colour from early flowering bulbs and other woodland plants; think snowdrops, bluebells, aconites, anemones and  foxgloves.  Or, possibly create a herb corner, it has shelter, provided from the embankment and is a lovely sun trap-perfect for herbs etc.   We also have an idea to keep the large felled tree on the far left, the one covered in ivy, to make some kind of seating out of it and have the area as a 'Magic Corner' where one can sit and gaze across the meadow contemplating...because obviously, one day, I will have lots of time to sit and contemplate. 

Sowing the seed (19th Aug 2012)

Over the past few days I have spent countless hours raking the meadow free of all the Balsam and Nettles.  This was mainly done by yours truly as 1) dearest husband has a 'real' job to go to; in which money and the capacity to adequately care for our family is the main motivating factor and 2) it is still the childrens' school holidays and we are happy to spend hours messing about in a field for amusement.  Which, out of interest, is how I optimistically and rather naively envisaged the task!

After the first few hours, I was covered in a rather unladylike amount of perspiration, struggling to straighten my spine, and well on the way to developing larger bicep muscles than some males.  Why did I find such a simple task as raking so hard? oh yes-probably because I have never attempted gardening to this scale, plus, the ground is covered in hillocks and tussocks of weeds and mounds of uneven stature a plenty! Consequently, the next few hours turned into quite a few days work.  I began each session enthusiastic and keen to make a difference to the project, however, when the time became necessary for a break, I would look up to find that I had hardly covered any ground at all.  Slight dismay and feelings of negativity began to creep in; namely that the whole task was insurmountable and that one female could not readily make a difference to what had taken mother nature years to create.  Naturally, I began to question my own sanity whilst feebly uttering desperate statements such as "I can't do this anymore!, surely there has to be an easier way?, can we not just rent a goat?"

Both husband and I are eager to plant the grass-seed to give it time to grow before the weather turns too cold.  We hope that planting some rigorous growing grass will possibly inhibit some of the weed growth or allow us to manage the rate of growth by regular strimming/cutting whilst also provide stability and nourishment for the soil over winter.  Having (extensively-ha!) read up about green manures and pasture grass we decided upon a horse and pony mix that we will hopefully turn into a useful compost.

14kg bag of grass seed, to cover approx 1 acre, hmmm!

So, the meadow was finally weed free (ish) and the grass seed arrived.  First impressions-you definitely don't get much for your money and will this (small) bag be enough to cover an acre?

We set to work sowing the seed.  Again, with our reading on the subject this was done using exact scientific methodology.  Ok, we liberally sprinkled handfuls of seed over the entire meadow; optimistically including the as yet shaded areas under the trees.

This done we left for a well earned family holiday in the lake district.  We will all subconsciously pray for rain and send positive growing vibes to our little seeds and when we return to the land next week we shall be greeted a lush, green pasture; oh yes-the power of positive thinking and optimism is the key!

With a little help from my friends (4/5th Aug 2012).

So the weekend continued with more Balsam Bashing. 

 

Thankfully, we were visited by many members of the family, excited to come and see our new project, who swiftly found themselves armed with scythes, shears, and gloves.

 

This was a lovely sight to behold. The weather was on our side and the sun shone down on the meadow-it's a real little sun trap; the occasional car passing down the private road that runs alongside the land was the only sound to remind us that we were still in the middle of our hometown and not miles away from anywhere. The children happily filled their time doing all manner of things that children should be able to do; exploring, fishing, climbing trees and building dens, whilst the adults got stuck into the task with a real sense of enthusiasm. 

 

The encouragement and positive comments received throughout the weekend were greatly appreciated.  To date I had some reservations about the responses we would get when we told people our ideas (Not the family I hasten to add-I'm sure they love us warts and all!).  Yes, it is a massive undertaking, No, we have never done anything like this previously BUT anyone who knows us will realise that this is something we are passionate about and have the tenacity to make it  into something both usable and wonderful.   If we can create a safe environment in which our family and friends can spend time then we will have succeeded with the basics of our plan.  If we can expand this idea and maintain a sustainable woodland and meadow that will provide a natural habitat for the diverse range of wildlife we know is in our area then we will be happy.  If we can grow fruit, vegetables and other produce on the land and keep a greater range of livestock then we will be truly blessed.

 

Picture 1, looking up the meadow with the river on the left.

Here are some pictures at the end of the Balsam Bashing weekend. As you can see the whole meadow has been cleared and you begin to get a real sense of the space. 

The children are stood in the middle of the meadow with photographs taken from each end to show both views.

In picture one, the river is on the left side.  The embankment is around a metre high in most places and we have decided to leave the strip of plants in place; both to provide a natural border and to maintain stability of the riverbank.

 

 

This picture is a view down the meadow, again with the children at the middle point.  At present the greenery visible to the left of the picture are low hanging branches from the trees that border the meadow. These are covering the majority of the width and the shade they create means very little is able to grow underneath; Barr the odd Balsam and plenty ivy.  As an ancient area the trees are covered by a woodland protection order and permission from the local council is needed before any work can be carried out.  From the research that husband has done, this doesn't appear to pose any problems and a meeting has been arranged to discuss our plans.  We do not want to remove the trees or to destroy any of the natural environment, just to manage it and guide it back to its' original and enhanced state. 

 

So the Balsam is down-Hoorah! The next job is to rake it clear and seed the whole area with a meadow seed for overwinter.  This, we hope, will work twofold; by protecting the soil during the winter weather and also allow the weeds to be managed via strimming or such, when they do start rearing their ugly heads. 

Balsam Bashing (4/8/12)

Today the work began in ernest.  Armed with a packed lunch, four children, several pairs of gardening gloves, and bags full of enthusiasm the Parkers headed down to the woodland to become better acquainted with the project.  We have decided that the task taking priority is to rid the meadow of the Himalayan Balsam.  This weed is already towering way over our heads, the seed pods ripening in readiness to pop; each plant capable of scattering approx.800 seeds up to 7 metres...

 

Now, where did we put the picnic?.

Not wishing to use chemical means of removal we spent a back breaking but therapeutic few hours hand pulling plants from the soil.  Ok, so it really wasn't as idyllic as that-for anyone not familiar with Himalayan Balsam (and considering its' widespread occurance and classification as a non-native invasive weed I'm sure that isn't many of you!) this plant is not dissimilar to a 2 metre high tube full of water; ensuring a thorough soaking of the anyone in the vicinity upon removal. Also, to our dismay, the only thing capable of surviving amidst the thick cover of the Balsam was the Stinging Nettle-Joy! By the end of the day I had vowed to find a way to acheive some small measure of revenge and/or appeasement for the almost intolerable, skin-crawling, itching, tingle that covered our arms, hands, and faces until well into the evening-Nettle soup anyone?!

 

 

 

 

New Beginnings

So here it is, the first entry of what I hope will be a long and prosperous blog.

 

I aim to use this space to create a written and pictorial record of our woodland project as it progresses.  Mainly as a reminder to myself; so that in years to come I can look back and marvel about how far we have come. But also to share with you guys; my friends and family.  If I can spark any inspiration, imagination or even interest along the way-then that will be a bonus!

 

First things first; An Introduction to The Woodland Project.

 

The adventure began on the 3rd August 2012 when we purchased just over two acres of ancient woodland near our hometown of Wigan, England.

 

Having not been managed for the past 30 years, the area has been allowed to ramble along, with only mother nature as its' guide,  which is fine. However, we have a dream, a vision and this space seemed the perfect place to begin creating that dream. 

 

To give you some idea of what we have purchased, the land is bordered by a beautiful stretch of river; central to the space is a meadow of approximatley one acre (as you can see from the picture this was completely overgrown with Himalayan Balsam but that's another story!), bordered at each end by natural  woodland; mainly ash, too many sycamore, hawthorn, elder, some alder, a few splendid oaks, several silver birch, the odd willow, and some newer beech saplings. 

 

One final note for this post; I realise there is a time difference between the actual date and the date the blog is intended to cover.  Having only just started writing about the project I have lots of catching up to do to bring the blog up to date.  I could apologise for this confusion but I'm not going to; instead I will finish by saying thanks for taking the time to read this and please call back soon, there is a lot to look forward to!