It’s mid May and the hawthorn is resplendent in full bloom and the hedgerow is ablaze with their beautiful flowers. Right now both the flowers and leaves are edible and the flowers especially are very tasty. In this video Gary talks about hawthorn in general and how to make hawthorn tincture in particular. Watch the […]
Twenty odd years ago I was working as a consultant and spent a lot of time driving to and from various sites, and as I was driving along I would often ponder on different subjects. On one particualr drive I found myself musing on what made a conifer a conifer. What’s the difference between conifers […]
Nicola and I were at our ancient woodland camp a few days ago and decided to film a wander in the woods in April. In the video I talk a little bit about ride management and the importance of the layering system, coppicing, ash dieback and a bunch of edible plants that we found on […]
We’re fast approaching the time of year for tapping birch trees. If you’re not familiar with what’s meant by the phrase ‘tapping a birch’, it simply means putting a hole in a birch tree to collect its sap, a bit like in the photo below where I used an old fashioned brace and bit to […]
We are immensely fortunate to have so many wonderful people give their time to help us out in the woods over the winter. This is when we have the time to do a little woodland management; in previous years we’ve coppiced the hazel, as well as sweet chestnut, and opened out the main rides. This year […]
I’ve written previously about pruning cuts in this post but as we were gathering some hazel today we took the opportunity to make a short video. As responsible bushcrafters it’s imperative that we do everything we can to conserve and preserve the environment that we all enjoy so much. And that includes little things such […]
