Volta Farm: 24-01-2023

 

Happy New (Chinese) Year!!

新年（中国）快乐

Today's NCV task was the first in the  Chinese New Year festival period. This year is the year of the rabbit - the fourth of the zodiac animals. According to https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rabbit/ the rabbit 'was proud—arrogant even—of its speed,' so it seemed appropriate to celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year with a demonstration of some equally speedy creatures. These walk on two, rather than four legs, don't have such long ears and are far from arrogant. However - they can plant trees at a rapid rate of knots, which was just the skill required at Volta Farm. If you remember, last week the freezing conditions prevented hedge saplings being planted there, so all that could be done was to insert the canes ready. This week the temperatures were better and, although the ground was still rather hard, planting could go ahead. 

So - hold on to your hats as the NCVs whizz along the canes and get those trees into the ground....

 

Liz addressed the masses from her chariot

to give her instructions for the day.

 

Then it was dig, dig, dig...

...all the way up the first, fence bound hedging area.

 

By coffee time this first section was done.

Note - NO TREE SPIRALS!!

Hurray! This plastic-less approach is much 

more environmentally friendly.

 (Although it does require double fencing!! )

 

Getting in and out of the fenced work area was 

interesting. Ride 'em cowboys!! 

 

Onto the second stretch.

 

 

Graham did his best to keep the

 trees under some kind of control.

 

Friedy preferred to keep them in a bag.

Now - what species is this? 

When someone asked "How can you tell which 

are the quickthorns?" (apparently another name for a hawthorn), 

Tom quickly retorted "The ones without the sloes!!"

Nice one Tom!!

Jan was taking no chances with his 

knee comfort.

Ta da! Second stretch done and it was only 
lunchtime!

Everyone slithered their way through the mud

 back to their bags 

and headed off to planting area 3 for lunch.

Various items were used to keep rears 

off the muddy terrain during breaks.

 

Graham took over the chariot.

These two were sitting on a special septic tank unit.

It was an interesting perch as there was a

 machine underneath that was vibrating - 

as were both NCVs when they eventually stood up!!

 

Andy provided delicious brownies this week.

Thanks Andy!!

Time to get busy again.

 

Turf was removed...

...and canes inserted.

THEN - it was discoved that 

there were remnants

of an old wall below ground level. 

Out came the pickaxe.

And out came the rocks.

This one had Ken's name on it.

 

Then it was eyes down, look in 

and plant those remaining trees.

After a LOT of hard work the job was done. 

1000 trees planted, in three hedges, by 21 people,

in one day. All the rocks and stones

were used to mark a boundary to stop 

anyone strimming the trees by mistake.

 

Finally the muddy spades had to be cleaned off.

Urggh. That water looks disgusting. 

Give them a quick wipe with some grass Sarah.

Then pass them onto Liz for a polish.

Please ensure you wash that before

 you use it to dry your dishes Liz!!

 Days from a bygone age number 8

Now here's a well dressed young lady who is definitely not about to do any tree planting.  Which NCV is it? Take a guess and check next week's blog to see if you were right.