Big G's Been Out In The Woods AGAIN...

[gordi]

Greetings fellow Roguesters,

It has been a wee while since I revealed much about what I get up to in RL, so I felt that it was about time to show-and-tell you all about my latest shenanigans In The Woods!

My health hasn't been great lately and work is quite slow at this time of year, so I decided to look for something that I could do to help keep me busy, get my fitness up a bit, and maybe even do something worthwhile for the community and/or environment too? So, for the last few weeks, about once or twice a week I have been volunteering with a Social Enterprise Organisation called "Green Aspirations".
We are basically re-commissioning an old Hazel Woodland which had fallen into severe neglect!
(Hazel needs to be properly managed, over a 7-year cycle, to make it productive and worth while.)
The old woods that we're working in had been left untouched for several decades, so the Hazel that it currently homes has become gnarly and overgrown. Our job is to "Coppice" the Hazel wood, to encourage new, young, fresh growth which then produces long thin straight rods (poles) which can be used in crafting, traditional construction, fencing, walking sticks, tool-making etc etc (They even used to make use of it in the local coal mines for shoring up the shafts/tunnels!)

We've been cutting back the mature Hazel Stands, then protecting the stumps with "Stakes & Brash" which is basically pointy/jaggy stuff to keep the Wild Deer off the new growth which will come, then trimming and grading the Hazel rods into piles of similar size/thickness for use or sale later. Any funds raised with the sale of the wood gets ploughed back into community projects/workshops which are mainly aimed at groups of under-privileged kids... getting them out in the fresh air, crafting, tool-making etc.
It's helping me get fit & healthy again, and I feel like I'm doing something "productive" that's also good for the local community, AND environment (using this sustainable source of Hazel reduces the amount of commercial timber, plastics and metals required for building/construction/fencing projects AND creates a varied habitat for wildlife as the Hazel is Coppiced in several stages).



The Evidence! LOL

Any thicker off-cuts of wood are set aside to be used in the production of our own charcoal (which I am REALLY looking forward to!!)
I've met a great bunch of folks on the volunteering and I do feel that it's helping me, both physically & mentally, with my health & fitness.... it's a WIN WIN WIN!!!


G