I met Lin, a stranger, who’d won the gift I’d offered to Thorington Church fund raiser: a night in the cabin. It turned out she was a willow weaver, basket maker, wool twister, a remarkable creative woman. What about willow for your land? she said.
So it was Sam and I motored down to near Woodbridge, to meet Lin’s alotment and see how she grew and harvested her family of willow. We learned some of the names: Britzensis (yellow) / Daphnoides (shady side) / Whissendr / Black Marl (basic) / Dicky Meadows / Dark Dicks / Green Dicks / Packing Twine / Welsh White / Norbury, and their different properties. It was encouraging to see how tall 2 year old willow grew. Sam and I harvested two types. Lin had prepared 4 other types for us.
We would plant on the land (after i’d put weed suppressant down)
Lin planted in groups of 5 x 5 – 25 per meter, a foot apart. So close.
Plant so 4 inches above the ground the rest under. Plant through weed suppressant matting.
Kaliwood 
Will have to show my little brother this, he was (is) a willow weaver.
Don’t they root simply by sticking a whip in the ground? There’s a story of my great grandfather using a willow post for a washing line, which then took root and grew into a very large tree. I remember my grandmother still using the same line for her washing, where you could see the same wire line had been subsumed by the tree’s massive trunk!
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Thank you Holton Pits. Yes, we will stick 1000 into the ground on the land next week. Who is this by the way? Rachel
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