Dear Tree Planting Friends
Not sure about weather, but the stakes are laid out, the tree plants are ready to go, soup is made.
1,000 trees!
I couldn’t do it without you
Sunday 2nd February from10-2
Parking in the wood: ///innovate.repeated.distilled
IP19 8NQ
Spade, gloves, bring.
On a beautiful jack frost morning, strangers and friends rocked up to help plant the a piece of the land. Tree saplings, some grown myself, many donated, some from Suffolk Tree Wardens, were taken down to the hard standing, aided and encouraged by Brian, on Friday. Grown and nurtured for this year, they will at last find their root.
Boy was I glad to see Sam, who arrived early to help set up. On a blackboard I drew the plan. O——h——-O (Oak, 2.5 m, hazel, 2.5 m, Oak/standard/maple/hornbeam/wild cherry) Based around a thousand year old tradition, exemplified in my Oak Nuttery wood: Oak and hazel planted symbiotically together both for utility to encourage growth and provide the most efficient timber.
Reuban was the first to arrived and set to with ‘brushing up’ the first hedge along the west track. (Brushing up checking and replacing any that have not taken, cutting the top of the new hedge shoot so it spurs at its top. I’d done the hornbeam the previous day and found it a satisfying job.) Barbara, a stranger to me, came with her brother in law, a gardener, and they set to the central line. I think they did 2 if not 3 lines. Gemma from Kinda and her family came, her children shepherding the dogs very effectively, so I did not have to keep an eye on the wandering Brow. Aiden who I did not know was such a knowledgeable gardener, worked with Liz and planted all Small Leafed Lime at the end of each row, parallel to the hazel. April, who worked with Leslie, donated a dozen oaks she had grown or gathered herself from near Cheddiston street so we can call this Cheddiston Row. Chris, faithful to the wood and land worked first with Marion, then Jo, linking to their past. From the furthest away came Jamie, who planted loads, and worked with Theo. Yes, for a short while we had all 3 boy dogs, kept well entertained first by Gemma’s family then taken over by Alex who arrived and planted a few trees up.
Soup, chai, cheese and cake in the cabin. We planted 500 trees, 50% of the land. Now to pray for a good wet summer!
Kaliwood 