Longside Farm, Ramsgill: 07-03-2017
Honed and ready for action.
Well at least the tools were, thanks to Jan's efforts yesterday. (Thanks Jan!)
As for the NCVs? Of course, they were honed, too - ready for another chance to lay that very long hedge at Longside Farm. 19 NCVs turned out to collect their chopper of choice from the wide range available and get busy pleaching. Jan masterminded the whole event and managed to pleach some very fine stems. Although the phrase 'Do a Jan' was coined when he cut one (or two?) off at the base whilst demonstrating the technique to his acolytes.
Here's how we got on....
The sky stayed blue and the sun stayed out ALL DAY. Hurray!
And they're off - tubes to remove and
branches to prune back before anything else could be done.
There were bodies all over the place.
Osian risked life and elbow when he over-heated
and had to remove his fleece.
The deceased tubes and brash piles started to accumulate.
Finally, pleaching could begin.
Careful with that saw Ros K. Only 4/5 through please.
Jan kept a beady eye on the NCVs
to ensure they didn't 'Do a Jan'.
At coffee and lunch time everyone jostled for space
on the tarpaulin. In spite of Alistair being allocated at
least an inch square to himself, he was not impressed.
New for 2017 - NCV bookends.
A muddy rear end. Someone's been sitting down on the job.
I'll mention no names. (It was Tom. It was Tom!!)
Ruth - does your head go to the top of that hat?
On the road side of the hedge there was
another gang of NCVs at work.
The prepared stems were eventually laid down....
... and the posts were knocked in by Will 'The Sledge'.
Finally the top rail was firmly attached to give some
extra support and provide a line to prune to.
By close of play we had laid at least another 18m
and prepared a lot more for next time.
Ros E.
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