No scything? No sowing?
No plug planting? No balsam pulling?
NO! It's now autumn!!
Yes - it's true. Summer jobs are finished. The autumn jobs have begun and this week they began in Hackfall Woods, when an elite corps of just 4 vols donned their waterproofs to join Liz and new member of AONB staff, Martha, to work on a waterlogged path problem. The rain was heavy and the ground was muddy. It was LUVERLY!!
Parents of children who learned to read in the 1980 and 90s
may recall 'The Village With 3 Corners'..
Well, today we were joined by Billy Blue Hat (BBH),
Roger Red Hat (RRH) and Johnny Yellow Hat (JYH).
Good job they turned up, because there was
a good deal of heavy wood to transport
down to the work site, well below Alum Springs.
Everyone toddled off carrying
various bits of timber and tools.
JYH was a star carrying a particularly
heavy bundle of stakes.
Once at the work site, the job became clear.
A previously dug trench needed lining
to prevent overflow onto the path.
Immediately JYH and RRH started
digging out the channel to board depth.
Liz and BBH started pegging in the boards.
JYH used his saw to get rid of an
intrusive tree root that threatened
to impede water flow.
BBH magically produced an electric
screwdriver from his pocket which
he deployed to secure the boards
(nails being thin on the ground).
By lunchtime this horrible mess ....
...had been transformed into
something more akin to the Suez Canal.
All that remained was for Gladys Grey Hat (GGH)
to unleash the full flow of water that had,
up to that point, been held back by this dam.
To whoops and cheers, GGH inserted
her spade and removed the blockage.
The job was complete.
The workers moved up to Alum Springs for
tool washing and lunch. However,
first they had to divert water, found streaming
over the pathway, back into the water course below.
And in other news this week....
...there were piles of fun (?) to be had on Monday!
It
was no good ignoring them any longer. 23 stacks of (soggy) grass were not going
to shift themselves. Some serious effort was needed to move all the
piles of grass from the recent verge scything at Glasshouses to the Harrogate recycling centre. Transport was arranged and an all points bulletin put out to the NCVs. It was time to get going before the grass piles turned into
compost heaps. Luckily a couple of hardy souls were free and together with Liz and Andy (Liz's husband, aka 'The Mighty Heap Shifter), 11 of the heaps were shifted.Thanks Andy!!!
When Friedy started the sun was peeping out from
the clouds but things changed fairly soon after
and by coffee time the rains were lashing down.
In order to make the most of each of the two trips
to the tip (1.5 hours per trip), Liz did her best
to ensure the grass was rammed in tight.
Not easy when working under an
immovable net covering!!
By close of play her jeans were badly
in need of a bit of a wash!!
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