June 2014 Happenings

Managed to get in a bit more 'wood time' lately, and here's a quick summary of what's happening as summer kicks in.

Not in my wood but I just love these hungry caterpillars I snapped in my girlfriend's garden.

We have foxgloves now growing where we cleared the laurel 18 months ago.

Baby wood mouse hadn't quite cottoned on to the fact it's probably best to run and hide in the daytime.

Hoisting the first beam for tree-house construction.

Rigging up a second of the extra strong tarps, to work/eat under.

And a few new steps to finish. Will look good when they have grown in.

Green Woodworking

One of the main reasons I bought a wood was to do green woodworking, I love making stuff and doing it in the middle of the wood just using hand tools is fantastic. I am hoping to progress to running courses one day too. Now at last I have had chance to get into it a little more and here's what I have made over the last couple of months.

The shave horse! Very important piece of kit, thanks very much to Harry Rodgers for this video giving the dimensions and advice for making one, mine is made mainly from sweet chestnut.

First stool, chestnut top, laurel legs and hazel for the er..other bits.

Simple chopping/serving boards. I do chainsaw these so not quite so green I am afraid. The walnut oil finish on the darker one is definitely preferable to the varnish.

Probably my 5th or so attempt at a spoon, this time using hazel, I do like this one and used a lot of reference  from other spoon carvers to get the form right.

Canoeing and Wild Camping in Poland

What a trip! 7 days down the River Obra on Poland. Great weather for the most part, very friendly locals and wonderful food and wildlife, here are a few snaps.

Make shift chopping board, going to cook my vegetable and chorizo soup for the 8 hungry campers.

Next night, fresh fish!

A few pics showing just how idyllic this part of the World is.

 And of course the woods, not too dissimilar to the UK, but a little more diverse in both plants and  animals....apart from the human kind, definitely less of those around, between the towns you would rarely see anyone.

Spring in the Woods - 2014

Ok, I know it's a little late for a spring update but I'm playing catch-up and just wanted a record on my blog of some of the things that happened a few months ago.

3 out of the 4 nest boxes were full of blue tit chicks!

Blue bells keep getting better year on year, and you can see me starting green woodworking on my shave horse, more about this in the next crafts post.

Friends came camping and amongst many fun things we had a go at a clay oven, it was a lot of fun but not a huge success on the baking so far, going to embark upon Mk II very soon.

Finally here is a shot of Mum and Dad getting the fire going for me in the pouring rain. I am sat in the dry chopping vedge! About to embark upon a Polish canoe and wild camping trip and this was a trail run for my meal. More about this in the next post.