Twelve volunteers met Paul at the barn on a day of sunshine
and heavy showers. First decision –
should we or should we not don our waterproofs?
Well why not; they’ll keep us clean anyway.
Four of the men stayed to finish filling last week’s
construction with gravel and to put the roof on the earth oven under the
guidance of ever watchful Jan. It is now
ready for next week’s Earth Oven Building event being run by Chris Bax from ‘Taste
the Wild’.
Jan is determined to keep a check on Graham's
workmanship despite the heavy rain showers.
The bread oven team can finally sit back and
enjoy the results of their labour.
And what a superb result it is! Perfect for making giant sized loaves of bread.
The
remainder of us headed off to Fishpond wood armed with saws and loppers to
tackle the rhododendron invasion. Peter Brambleby has recently purchased the
woodland and an interesting account of his plans can be seen at:
A few facts about Rhododendron ponticum:
It is not native to Britain, but was
first introduced in the late 18th Century. It became especially popular on
country estates in Victorian times, providing ornamental value, as well as
cover for game birds.
A suggestion
was made that we should organise at field trip to the Himalayas to see these
invasive species in their natural habitat.
Would Nidderdale AONB fund it? Probably not!
Rhododendron invades areas both
vegetatively and via seed. Established plants spread by lateral horizontal
growth of the branches. A single plant may eventually end up covering many
metres of ground with thickly interlaced, impenetrable branches. Where the
horizontal branches touch the ground, they will root, continually extending the
area of Rhododendron cover.
Yes, this is
what we were faced with! And a right old
tangle it was too! But with a cheery
tune from Paul we soon got stuck in cutting and hacking our way through the
jungle.
Right folks - let's make a start.
Looking better already.
Huge amounts of rhododendron were fashioned into piles, not quite our usual standard of brash pile due to the long and springy nature of the material and the slippery slope we were working on, but we did our best.
The woodland floor is finally uncovered.
Osian and Chris practise their trampolining skills on the brash pile.
An NCV selfie - where is the male contingent?
Angela does a bit of 'end of branch pruning' to tidy up the brash pile.
Rhododendron seeds are tiny and hence
wind dispersed. Each flower head can produce between three and seven
thousand seeds, so that a large bush can produce several million seeds per
year.
Oh, no!
Frequent
breaks for refreshment, including Audrey’s flapjacks (thank you Audrey) kept our spirits up, but by 3pm we’d seen enough
rhododendrons for one week and headed back to the barn.
Anita
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