Kendall Bank Farm: 19-02-2013

Kendall Bank Farm is a smallholding situated in a secluded area of the Nidderdale AONB just outside Kirkby Malzeard .

Our task today was to plant 500 native trees, once again funded by Woodland Trust and Laver River Trust with advice from Marian Wilby.   Unlike last week the sun shone warmly on our backs as 9 NCVs, 3 North Yorkshire Countryside volunteers, and young Tom from the farm, set about adding to the 3000 trees already planted by friends and family of the owner, Mr Fountain.  

Paul was happily employed practising his new found skills of chainsawing, thinning some of the mature trees which were in danger of falling into the river due to the erosion of the river bank.

 A mixture of English Oak, Sessile Oak, Rowan, Holly, Hawthorn, Downy Birch and Silver Birch were planted on the steep bank and amongst the gorse, a rather prickly problem, but we are hardy souls and will not be beaten.  

Alder found a good home in a damp area of the field and a mixture of Wild Cherry, Oak, Holly and Alder and anything else that was left was planted in a patch across the lane.

  

This week’s treats included flasks of tea and coffee supplied by the land owners, delicious biscuits from Ros E’s mum and a special treat of an unexpected convenience – composting loos or Tree Bogs.  

Lunch in the warm sunshine

Spot the cunningly disguised compost loo!

These are cunningly disguised porta-loos without the chemicals, water, smell or paper, just straw, and are provided for the use of campers who hire the field.  The theory is that the waste is converted to biomass which feeds the surrounding trees, so we should expect to see some very healthy specimens in the not too distant future.

Just a short hedge to plant next week!

Anita

Fir Tree Farm, Grewelthorpe: 12-02-13

Tree planting was the task for the day, (and indeed for the next two weeks),  and fortunately the day was dry and wind free with a light dusting of snow though sun was in short supply.  Paul had delivered in advance saplings, post and tree guards to the site, in a stream-side setting below Fir Tree Farm. 

The selection of native trees and equipment were funded through the Woodland Trust and Laver River Trust, together with assistance from the AONB Farm Conservation Advisor, Marian Wilby. 

Rumour had it that we were to plant some 700 trees so it was good to see 15 hardy souls assembled at the farm. Paul plus 11 NCVs were joined by Howard, a tree warden, and three young men from Woodbuds, a small local firm supplying eco friendly earphones. In conjunction with the Woodland Trust their aim is to plant a tree for every 50 of their products sold. This was a chance for them to get some hands on experience and their help was much appreciated.

After a slick demonstration of the correct planting and staking technique from Paul we spread out over the site - only another 699 trees still to go! The ‘Mountain Goat’ team tackled the rough snow-clad slopes whilst the ‘Underwater Diving’ team risked severe trench foot on the valley bottom. 

By lunch time miraculously the site was already a mini forest of green plastic tubes. 

Despite a reduction in our numbers after the flapjack supply ran out, work continued into the afternoon when we finally felt that the site was comprehensively planted and the tidy up could begin.  However Paul had other ideas, having discovered a bare patch on the other side of the stream.  With a last spurt of energy the remaining 6 filled in the gaps and stood back to admire a good day’s work. Hopefully we will get a chance to come back in the future to see how our trees are doing.   Roll on next week!

Julia   

Kell Bank School: 5-02-13

(Editor’s note: In addition to the conservation work carried out this week, on Monday afternoon the NCVs were also invited to attend another training session with the community archaeologist, Kevin Cale.  Six NCVs (and many other members of the public) attended the session. As is always the case with Kev, it was a really interesting and informative afternoon and a good way to follow up his previous training session on historic maps (see blog entry for 11.12.12). This time he was explaining about how both oblique and vertical aerial photographs can be used to spot different archaeological features in the landscape. The last part of the afternoon was spent looking at table size photos of the Ripon area and putting our new found skills into practice. Thanks go to Sally Childes for organising this event.)

Due to snow falling during Monday night only two intrepid NCVs were able to turn out this week. We were returning to Kell Bank school, Healey (near Masham). This was a place where we spent a number of Tuesdays, about four years ago, making an allotment garden for the children.  Although it is not the time of year to see school gardens looking at their best, it was good to see that the allotment area was well maintained and now included a number of nice touches such as various signs on the raised beds, shed doors and compost area.

There were five different tasks to complete today - no mean feat for two NCVs, their minder and a member of the school's PTA. Whilst Tony and Paul set to work installing a water butt and pipe system to feed the school's new bog garden, I began putting wooden edging alongside the pathway in the allotment area. This retaining wall was needed to stop the soil spilling over and making the pathway muddy for the children to walk on. Once Gaynor joined us a little later on she was able to get started pruning a long hedge that was starting to obscure the view from the school's library.

The first two of these jobs went well in the main, although there was a certain amount of a 'make do and mend' approach before they were successfully completed. Apparently the water butt preferred to lean at an angle and needed a lot of persuasion to sit straight. Eventually the deployment of four flagstones, a bag of sand and a few blocks of stone ensured that it did as it was told and would not be a danger to a passing infant. Then they discovered that the holes at the top and bottom of the butt were the wrong size for the pipe fittings. Quick as a flash Tony took out his "handy, multi-functional, everybody should have one" tool to cut them to the correct size. Phew! Thanks to an earlier visit from Graham to drill a hole through the wall the butt could, at last, be joined to the underground pipe laid four years ago!

Water butt installation complete -
and to European safety standards

Meanwhile I erected the wooden retaining wall. This was not easy when I kept running out of the right kinds of wood and nails. Luckily there was a secret store of hidden treasure in one of the sheds - a few bits of wood that could, with a bit of ingenuity, be put to good use. Unfortunately there were no extra nails of the right length. The long ones kept sticking out at the back and had to be bent over to keep them safe and the short ones only just penetrated the wooden boarding and the pegs. I tried rescuing some bent ones only to have them bend on me again, a really annoying event! Once these wayward bits of metal were finally removed, with great difficulty, I gave in and used the shorter nails that we had in abundance. Quite how long the wood will remain in an upright position is anyone's guess. Perhaps it is just as well that there is no photographic record of this structure!

After lunch in the warm boiler room (what luxury when the wind is howling and the snow is swirling) ..........

.........we got on with the other two tasks, laying some flagstones along the edge of the bog garden and removing a large, unidentified bush from a flower bed so that the area could be used as a herb garden. Both of these jobs involved getting our wellies and spades very muddy indeed. 

Please note - the slabs are off-set by design - 

it is not due to poor slab laying skills of the NCVs!

Amazingly, by 1:45pm the tasks were all completed and we were able to start cleaning the mud off ourselves and the tools. Good job really because the snow had started to fall quite thickly by then and we needed to head for home in case the road to Nidderdale became impassable. 

Ros (E)