Hedge-laying

Well, we've had a busy and productive weekend off - none of this lazing around malarky!  We decided to try our hand at hedge-laying.  All along the field (which we are still in the process of buying one end of) is a very neglected and overgrown hedge.  We have photos from the 50s of a very well kept thick hedge, but it hasn't been touched for 30 years or more and so is now made up of very leggy trees.  We have done a little bit of hedge-laying and know the theory, but have never tackled anything quite as unkempt as this.  The theory of laying a hedge is that you cut almost all the way through a trunk - ideally about as thick as your your forearm and about eight feet tall.  This doesn't kill the tree as long as the bark is continuous and it then shoots from the cut base and all along the trunk which you lay down at an angle of about 30 degrees.  So, you then have a good thick hedge as each subsequent trunk is laid down on top of the previous one.  This needs to be done in the Winter and it will all shoot back into life in the Spring.  As you can see from this picture, our 'hedge' doesn't meet any of the ideal measurements!  On closer inspection it appears that something (probably sheep or rabbits) has been nibbling the bark in years gone by.  The bark is the means of getting water and nutrients to the rest of the tree and the easiest way to kill a tree is to cut a small ring of bark away all around the trunk.  Just a small amount of continuous bark will keep it alive though and so you can still lay it.  Trouble is, most of these had been barked on the wrong side and we found ourselves trying to twist them gently after cutting them on the wrong ide to keep the bark. 
Now that would actually work and be quite easy on a tree that was only eight feet tall, but these were about thirty and so not so easy to control!  Quite a few just snapped off as we were gently trying to cajole them into place . . . . well, that's more firewood I guess! So, the finished thing looks a bit sparse (it always looks very drastic when a hedge is first laid), but each stump will sprout loads of new shoots even without an attached trunk and we found some baby hazel and holly growing around and have put them in the gaps.  Just have to wait now until the Spring to see what happens.  We only dropped one tree on the workshop by the way which I don't think was too bad going!  Our method was to tie a rope as high up as possible and then Bob did the chainsawing while I hauled on the rope to persuade the tree to fall the way we wanted.  That worked well most of the time, but this particular one was a bit on the big side and as Bob cut I could feel it falling away from me and there was nothing at all I could do except pull like mad to one side to try to stop it falling straight on to the ridge of the shed.  It fell to one side with the heavy bit between the shed and the retaining wall behind and so didn't do any damage except to pop the stop end off the gutter (and that just clipped back into place), so I think we got off lightly! 

It took a while to cut it up and get it out of the gap between wall and shed though.  As you can imagine, there is quite a lot of twiggy rubbish at the top of the trees . . . . actually, there's a wole lot more than you would imagine!  So today we thought we'd have a bonfire to get rid of it all.  I guess it was all just a bit too fresh and green and it just didn't really get going and so we had to abandon that plan.  Maybe  we'll try again in a couple of weeks - unless it rains incessantly of course.

 

So, instead of a bonfire day, we got on and redesigned our composting arrangements.  We now have a two bin system - one we keep filling and then when that's full we move onto bin two.  As you can guess, we have made it from stuff we have lying around - namely wriggly tin from the old barn we took down to build the workshop.

It looks a bit rustic doesn't it?  But it'll do the job for sure.  We transferred the stuff from the top of our old bin to the right-hand side and the stuff from the bottom which is ready to use, to the left.  Must say, the ready-to-use stuff looks luvverly . . . . delicious!  Very friable I think is the term, but that always seems a little odd to me as I can't think why you'd want to fry it, but that's what they say.  I guess we end up with quite a good mix with chicken bedding and poo, green garden waste and kitchen scraps - I think most people end up with too many grass clippings and then just get slime.  Without a lawn, we don't have that problem!

Other things we've done in the last couple of weeks are:
Very nice dinner at Phil and Ann's
See a comic poet at a pub in  a nearby village - very funny, in fact the young lady behind us had to dash out in the middle because she was closer to wettting herself laughing than she'd ever been before
Mystery guest - turned out to be male
Work at M&S
Proper shopping trip to Shrewsbury - even bought clothes and everything!
Make scaffold board furniture
Bought a new microwave
Pub
Sainsbury's
Knitting
Yawn
yawn
yawn!

All one happy family

The chickens appear to have stopped fighting (thank goodness) and Lottie now follows Horse around all day.  If you were to put it into human terms, I get the feeling that Horse views her as a pesky, annoying little sister.  Lottie still thinks she's in charge, but as she doesn't know her way around it doesn't really work very well as once she's bustled up to the others in a bossy way, she then has to wait for them to show her what to do.  Quite funny really.  A few days ago, when the others were still very wary of her, Bob went up to check that they were all tucked up in bed.  They were, with Horse and Peggy squashed at one end of the perch and Lottie at the other, but surprisingly Dot was down Lotties end looking sleepy.  She woke up when Bob opened the door and looked horrified to find herself on her own at Lottie's end and very quickly shuffled to the other end.  They are funny.  Anyway, they all tolerate each other now and Lottie is learning the ropes and seems to be quite enjoying her new home and friends.  It has been quite hard to get a photo of her because she is quite well camouflaged against the mud and fallen leaves, but here she is with her giant friends:

Finally, finally, finally after asking for ever, I have had an extra day added to my contract at M&S which is good . . . . . isn't it . . . . . extra money, always useful . . . . no, honestly, I am pleased . . . . really!  So, I will now work four days a week which I really need to do, but to be honest I wish I didn't.  At least I won't have to rely on the very unreliable extra hours at their whim and I should be able to just do my contracted days and know where I am, so it is good really - I just can't get that excited about it. 

We have a mystery guest visiting this weekend.  My friend from a million years ago is coming for the weekend - we had our first babies the same night and made friends in hospital, so not actually a million years, but 27 which is nearly as long!  It will be lovely to see her and catch up on all the news of the last few years and she is bringing a 'friend', but we don't know a name, boy/girl or any other details, just that they eat anything, so that's the important thing.

Bob has a stall at a craft fair at the local art gallery at the end of November which is exciting.  We have been hunting all around to find all the bits and pieces of stock we have stored ready to sell.  We have found enough to make a good display along with the new chairs he's made and I have made some greetings cards, so it should look OK.  The stall only costs £20 so you don't have to sell too much to cover costs and it's a good first step to getting his name known and a chance to give out some business cards (so long as we get around to making some!).