Orchard Time Again

Really? How long since I last wrote something here? Two years!

Not for want of trying, but learning to cope with the continuing impact of Covid has made a lot of things much harder for me. As I am limited in what I can achieve I don’t have so much to write about. I am slowly improving and that means I can start anew with some much shorter pieces.

One thing that I have managed is some gentle work in the small traditional orchard I helped to establish in an unused corner of a local field. That’s over 10 years ago now and the orchard is doing well. Though we manage primarily for the environmental benefits, as traditional orchards are increasingly rare around here, the harvest is growing every year. The three Katy trees, a Swedish cross between James Grieve and Worcester Pearmain where it is known as Katja, are an early variety and already well into their harvest. How did we get here already?

As you might expect I do have a plan for these apples. Hint – here is some I made last year! Katy is not a cider apple, but it does make a very nice cider all the same.

That’s all for now. But I do hope to be able to write more regularly now.

Not the Bodgers Ball 2021

This is the weekend of the year when us bodgers gather in a field somewhere in the UK for the Bodgers Ball. The annual get-together of greenwood workers and woody types. Hand tools only. It’s also the weekend when Alison gets to have a good clearout whilst I’m away at the Bodgers Ball. Not this year. For the second year running the bodgers took the difficult decision – early in the year whilst not to hold the ball.

But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening – thanks to the efforts of a great team – You’re all invited to Not the Bodgers Ball 2021 on Facebook here – on throughout this weekend 6th – 9th May 2021 in a virtual field somewhere.

The event has opened, people are turning up with their tents and tools – no chainsaws please – have a look at whats happening – join the group if you want to take part fully – and the bar is open! Maybe see you there! Bit of an odd bar mind you, we normally encourage people to bring their own containers to drink from – but now you have to bring your own drinks and nibbles as well.

Hello Katy

Please excuse me if this comes out somewhat more garbled than normal – but WordPress have updated the editor and I am more than a little rusty without any changes on top.

I’m sure I’ll have the hang of it before long – but in the meantime – say hello to ‘Katy’ one of our apple trees planted as a kind of hedge-cum-orchard in the tiny front garden of our cottage. I’ve been able to admire the apple crop developing on the trees as like a lot of people I’ve been spending more time than usual in and around home than I normally do at this time of year.

Katy, or more accurately Katja, isn’t actually an old English variety – it was bred in Sweden in 1947. But being a cross between James Grieve and Worcester Pearmain I am more than willing to overlook the Swedish angle as the tree crops prolifically and the medium sized bright red apples taste refreshingly crisp and sweet straight from the tree in early September.

I took the photo a couple of weeks ago – just before an early gale brought down most of the apples. Way too many to eat before they spoil.

So I wonder where I should store all the apples?

I know – I’ll put them in a bottle!

Katy makes a very nice single variety cider – as do a lot of apple varieties. Though it’ll be a while yet before I find out whether mine is acceptable or not. There are varieties which are so sharp (acid) or bitter (tannin) in taste that they aren’t a lot of use for anything except making cider – often known as cider apples – but that doesn’t mean that a lot of well known dessert or cooking varieties won’t also make a nice drop of cider… or two.

I’ll drink to that……more in a while when I’ve finished pressing the apples, but for now….

….cheers

And now for something completely different……

 

Cucumber on Tap

And now for something completely different.

After all it has been a very different year. You’d have thought I’d have managed to post something before now? I had expected to post on the bodgers ball, the scythe festival and all the usual events of the season – it’s a big shock to realise that the summer is almost over and as we’ve now had our second gale in August there is a definite Autumnal feel in the air.

One bright spot has been a little more time to work in the garden – right at the moment we’re at peak cucumber – with them ‘on tap’ as it were if you’ll excuse the pun, just outside the backdoor. I can’t claim to have put in most of the hard work of growing them, but I am working very hard on their consumption!

Time for a Ball – The Bodgers Ball

The Bodgers Ball – the largest national coming together of Bodgers – aka greenwood workers – is this coming weekend. This year around 500 of us will be on a field next to Wimpole Hall near Cambridge.

Last year, together with Julian Bell and the Sussex group of the Bodgers –  I had the pleasure of hosting the Ball at the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester.

Here is a behind the scenes photo tour of last years Ball  – 2018 – giving you something of a flavour of what we will be doing this weekend at Wimpole.

By the way – as the event has grown over the years – it’s now a 4 day event including the two days of craft courses before the Ball – it’s less of a sit-down-meal-and-a-ceilidh-in-evening-Ball affair  and more of a giant skill share with competitions and events. This year the saturday and sunday will be open to the public to come and find out what bodgers do all weekend.

First thing to go up is the marquee – a 160ft x 40ft traditional canvas and pole marquee in this case. Big tent.

Next up – some wood to turn. In this case some ash logs had been delivered to the museum woodyard from a local woodland and the museum timber crane, newly restored timber trailer and one of the Shire horses delivered the logs to the field.

In Style.

‘Peter Jameson’ and ‘Top Dog’ are not words you expect to go together. On this occasion Peter excelled himself helping to get the very impression pit-saw-on-tower going for courses and demonstrations.

Meanwhile in the Big Tent Ade ‘I Just Wanna Turn Bowls’ Lloyd teaches a course.

…….and the Hazel basket makers course….helping to redefine Parkinson’s Law for Bodgers….work expands to fill the time and space available for it!

Up in the woods above the museum the charcoal burners light the earth clamp – by standing on it and pouring embers down the flue. Don’t try this at home folks!

Our lovely Bar Sign – thanks Clau –  ‘The Firkin Froe’ – a firkin being the 9 gallon barrel that draught beer is still served from in the UK, though steel and rarely wooden these days.

One of the demonstrations in the field. 20 years ago – 1998- the last time the Ball was held at the Weald and Downland Museum Mikail Schutt visited as a Journeyman and demonstrated adzing a finial. We prevailed upon him to do the same again with his ‘old hoe’ and he held us spell-bound – talking, measuring and adzing away for 40 minutes.

What do Ball Organisers do with a few spare minutes? They whittle their time away of course – Julian Bell and Clau Cecil whittling in the rain.

Jeremy and Gerald. Just a couple of clog makers. Now there is a sight you won’t see every day? Gerald Getkate is a Dutch Clogmaker – the wooden clog blanks visible on his horse – Jeremy Atkinson is an English Master Clogmaker – the English clogs having leather uppers and wooden soles where as the dutch clogs are typically all wooden,

David Saltmarsh using his original cordless drill on a medieval style oak stool an entry for the stool making competition.

Just one of the several ‘avenues’ of craft displays and demonstrations  – most of this lineup is the Sussex Group of the Bodgers – the home team for the Ball. Thanks everyone for all the hard work you put into making it a fantastic Ball.

Hundreds of craft items on display in the Big Tent over the weekend – the craft competition is tough and there is plenty of prize money on offer.

and there were the races. Here the winning Sussex Team competing in the log to leg race. In the team race 3 members race to make 2 identical chair legs from a single log. Penalty time is added for flaws and deviations from the ‘golden leg’ by the judges. We take things seriously us bodgers!

 

Over the weekend 14 stools were made – designs suitable for use in one of 4 museum houses – by teams and individuals. The stools were judged by Julian Bell (Curator) and Lucy Hockley (Cultural Engagement Manager).

Every year we have a cake to celebrate the bodgers ball – cut after the prizegiving by the winner of the Best in Show award. This year our amazing cake was made by Jen – Julian’s better half – and celebrated the wooden links with the Museum.

Everything – even the good things – must come to an end. And so it was with the Beer and the Ball.

Leaving only the clearing up. Which would be a lot worse if it wasn’t for the Bodgers Zero-Waste policy. If you bring it – you take it away with you. Leaving behind just the grass – except – who left that old kettle and stove on the grass? Guess who?

Amazing how quickly it comes around to time for the Bodgers Ball again. Maybe I will see you at Wimpole this coming weekend?

 

‘Tis the Season

Apologies for my prolonged absence. Far too much doing this year and not enough writing.

And now ’tis the season………. to eat and drink far too much. Best avoided by a spot of Landrover maintenance I feel.

For many years my afternoon naps under a Landrover have been totally undetected.

While Alison was On-Call as a first responder I snuck out to do a quick job. But I think lyimg under a Landrover on Christmas Day might have blown my cover a bit. It was a straight forward job – refit a rebuilt prop-shaft that’s been waiting for months now for me to get around to it  – and strangely therapeutic.

So whatever you have been up to today I hope you manage to enjoy yourselves!

Steve Wright – Woodsman and Countryman Extraordinaire

Steve Wright Cert Arb RFS (1954-2017) 

– Selling his vast range of welly boot racks and other assorted coppice products at the Weald & Downland museum’s Autumn Countryside show in October 2017.

Steve died suddenly just before Christmas. I knew him as a member of the Association of Polelathe Turners & Greenwood Workers and latterly the show and event organiser for the Sussex and Surrey Coppice Group.  Steve worked tirelessly to promote awareness of the countryside, the environment,  woodlands and coppice crafts.

I worked alongside Steve at the Weald & Downland museums Autumn Countryside show in October. Where his specially converted 130inch extra longwheel base landrover, his pride and joy, part vehicle, part forestry workshop and part armoury,  was a integral part of our woodland crafts display.

Steve works to keep up with demand for his products

For some reason I mainly have photos of Steve’s Landrovers and his backside! Those that knew him and those that worked with him at shows, events and in the coutryside will remember that both Landrovers and backsides were an endless source of banter. Steve didn’t suffer fools gladly, but his keen banter was always there as much to encourage us as to deride out shortcomings!  Never short of a suitable adjective,much of it derived from his military days and about as incredibly un-PC as you could imagine.

Steve was most passionate about countryside management, woodland management and crafts. We shared many evening fires debating the complex web of environmental issues, often over a meal including some protein that Steve had procured. Like his other interests: Landrovers, tools, arboriculture, Steve was a master of firearms and a talented deer stalker. Never failing to provide something for the pot, even if he had to stalk a local shop for it 🙂  Like everything else, if you were interested and took it seriously Steve would share his vast knowledge of firearms with you, even if it was only to help maintain our ancient air-rifle.

Most appropriately Steve’s last journey was in a spotless, gleaming silver 127inch Landrover. As he emerged on a cold, wind-swept, dully and rainy January morning we could just hear him saying ‘What are you lot bleeding standing around outside for then? Bugger That! ‘

Inside was standing room only whilst outside the cark park was jam packed with a motley crew of assorted pickups and 4×4’s rarely seen outside the woods. That so many should come out of the woods on a dank January day to remember  Steve says it all really.

I’m Back

Gorse flowering on Lynchmere Common

SO it’s not that easy to get rid of me after all?  Last time I looked it was the depths of Winter and now Spring has been rushing past in it’s usual way with a frantic list of things to do.

Tidying up  after the winter work, plenty of maintenance and then straight into the summer season of events, courses, bracken management and charcoal making to name but a few.

Writing up blog articles never seems to come close to the top. We had the pleasure of a brief visit from Sean Hellman and Lucy this week. Sean’s inspired me to make a start on the mound of pictures and ideas I have to catch upon.

With the sudden improvement in the weather charcoal is in demand again. So I have to stop this post and go deliver a few bags to our local hardware shop – Liphook Hardware.

Back soon!

Season’s Greetings

Frost on the Landrover window this morning.

Season’s Greetings! Last time I looked it was summer. 2016 has certainly been busy with plenty to post about but despite my good intentions it hasn’t happened. Where does the time go? No rest for even the slightly naughty around here?

Silver Birch in Midwinter Sun on Lynchmere Common

With the busy summer season of craft demonstrations, shows and teaching over its back to the woods cutting trees, scrub and clearing up. It’s just as hard to keep up as there are a lot less hours in the day. It’s dark by 4pm in midwinter but the light from the low sun angle is glorious and helps to make up for the frozen fingers and toes a little.

Where ever you are I hope you have a good break (if you get one) and best wishes for the New Year. See you there! Meanwhilst put another log on the fire and enjoy the fruits of all that labour.

Woodsman’s Holiday

I like to think that there is a short gap between the end of the my winter season working in the woods and the start of my summer season of shows, demonstrating and teaching woodland crafts.The cutting and felling of trees does stop at the beginning of March to avoid the onset of the growing and nesting seasons. Though I rarely, if ever, manage to finish all the extracting, clearing, bundling and preparing of the wood before the bookings for my craft products and demonstrations are upon me.

I do sneak a few days off at the start of March to blow away the cobwebs and try to prepare myself for the coming season. So a  few weeks ago at the beginning of March I snuk away for my beachcombing break with wet and windy walks along the Gower cliffs facing South towards Somerset across the Bristol Channel where I grew up.

But thanks to an invitation for a ‘a cuppa’ in the woods with Paul Thornton – and I should have known better – it turned into something of a Woodsman’s holiday.  A Woodsmans holiday is like a Busman’s Holiday but muddier and wetter to make the Woodsman feel at home! Still a change is as good as a rest and I welcomed the opportunity to experience a completely different woodland as well as being able to just do some work without having to worry about it.

Paul and his crew are responsible for the Welsh Wildlife reserves on and around Gower which includes some of the cliffs that I enjoy walking. I rarely venture into deepest Gower’s ancient woodlands and Paul’s crew were working in Gelli-Hir woods part of which is an ancient mixed woodland full of moss and lichen laden gnarly Oak trees.

Unlike our open sandy wooded heaths and woodland pastures in the Western Weald of Sussex and Hampshire the Gower woods are smaller and folded into the deep valleys. The clay soil keeps them wet so a quad bike is a sensible way to extract cut wood without damaging the woodland floor.

Paul is a master of all trades and the wood being piled up will be used to feed the charcoal kiln hidden away behind the quad bike once the weather allows. ‘Gower Charcoal‘ is available all over Gower and is a great local product.

Once I’d dried out and warmed up there was still time left to walk the enchanting Gower coastline looking for treasure. I don’t mean gold – to me treasure is anything that I find along the way including the view.