Glasshouses verge: 24-10-2023

 

 Change of Plan!!

In view of the dreadful forecast of 90% chance of rain all day, Liz decided to cancel this week's task. 

So - "Why has a blog been published?" I hear you asking. Well, although the original task WAS cancelled, Liz did say that folk were free to come and join her in shifting the 11 remaining grass piles on the verge at Glasshouses. And, would you believe it? No fewer than 5 of the team turned out. What troopers!

As it turned out, not a drop of rain fell whilst they worked and the job of transferring the grass to a designated compost area was completed by lunchtime - as you can see.

 

Liz arrived in her new vehicle which is 

just large enough to fit in 2 wheelbarrows.

 

Graham and Andrew pounced on these 

and whizzed off to the far flung heaps. 

"Hang on - aren't we supposed to be shifting grass?"

"Yes - but first let's make a hazel hurdle along the wall

to stop the grass from overflowing onto the path."

Grass shifting commences - method A. 

The pitch fork carry.

Clearly - this method was going to take too long.

Method B was a bit better. 

Not such a strain on the arms.

However, you did need to take care at the

 final, downhill stage.

Mind you don't go over the wall Graham!

Andrew judged the descent to a tee.

 

Neatly done Sir!

However, it was method C - the tarpaulin tow -

 that proved to be the quickest method. 

 

First used a few weeks ago in Dacre Banks 

churchyard, it really moved the game up

 a notch, although it was hard going.

 

At least the return journey was easy!

Luckily - at coffeetime - the workers' energy levels 

were raised very nicely with delicious, homemade, 

apple and cinnamon cake. Thanks Liz - 

and a very happy birthday for Friday!

Gradually, each of the 11 heaps were transferred....

 

...until, finally, the last one was removed. 

Looking at the final compost heap it is hard to

 understand just how much grass has been gathered. 

Will did an excellent job of keeping it trampled down.

Glasshouses verge: 17-10-2023

 

On the verge of .....the verge! 

The NCVs returned to the verge at Glasshouses this week. But not to scythe as they have done of late.  Instead they were tasked with preparing 'the hedge along the edge' for laying. This was a job that they did make some inroads with, a long time ago, when they removed a good deal of the old fencing that was all tangled up in the vegetation. It was certainly time to continue with giving this boundary hedge a lay, as it is far too tall to be as useful as it should be to wildlife. 

The pictures below show progress made.

 

This was the nature of the beast

they were going to have to grapple with.

Lots of prickly hawthorn.

The NCVs were all over it like a rash 

in no time.

 

Hang on Will, what are you decorating 

the trees for? It's not Christmas yet!

Apparently Will was not going Christmas crackers.

He was just identifying which trees 

were going to be left as standards.

 

"Hang on Anita. Why are you digging a hole?"

"Ros E - we are meant to be 

dealing with the hedge!!"

"Just wait and see - all will 

be revealed at coffee time."

 

 

Slowly but surely the crown of each tree 

was raised to expose the

 trunk ready for laying.

On the far side of the hedge,

along the bridleway,

the rakers kept depositing all the brash

that the cutters kept cutting.

 

Some was stashed on the other side 

of the left hand fence but the rest needed

 to be dealt with more creatively.

 

"Let's just knock in some stakes here shall we?

Can you guess what I'm thinking of doing?"

 

 

"Thats right! Create a dead hedge."

"Good thinking!"

 

As the real hedge got thinner 

the dead hedge got fatter.

At coffee time everyone was waiting to 

find out what the hole digging was in aid of. 

There had been hints of a special guest....

At the appointed time a guest of honour arrived. It was retired NCV and flapjack provider, Audrey Summersgill, who had come to plant the tree that the AONB and NCVs had bought for her 90th birthday in August (see the end of the  blog post for 1st August). 

 

In goes the tree. 

Thanks Andrew and Andy. 

 

 Audrey started to fill in the hole.

The NCVs cheered and clapped.

Liz handed around a tray of chocolate cake.

 

Ken played the national anthem on his phone

and there was a special fly past by the Red Arrows. 

Oh sorry - not the Red Arrows. 

A blue microlite.Without any coloured smoke streamers.

 

Just the tree stake to add and the job's done. 

 

Happy 90th Birthday Audrey.

We shall take another picture of you

 standing there in another 90 years. 

 "Right - show's over - back to work!!"

 

By the end of the day 40m 

of hedge had been prepared....

 

...and the dead hedge was

 looking very neat and tidy. 

Tom gave the path a good rake and it was done.

"Hang on - not so fast. We just have

 some seed to sow before we go home."

"That's it Ken - trample it in.

Now you can clock off."

Millenium Green: 10-10-2023

 UNDER, OVER, ROUND ABOUT....

Readers may remember the willow structures down near the River Nidd at Millenium Green, Pateley Bridge.  They were created at different times within the recent past and, as is always the case with living willow structures, are now in need annual maintenance to keep them looking right. So, this week the NCVs were asked to prune and weave the two willow tunnels before they became impossible to deal with.

 So - here they are at work....

 

This was the first one to be done -

 twice the height it should be.

The tall stems above the lower half 

needed bending over and weaving in. 

OR - harvesting to repair the other tunnel.

 

Liz invited us all into the bowels of the 

structure and demonstrated what to do.

"All you need to do is this, and this and this

and Bob's your Uncle." 

 

Hmmm. It wasn't always that simple.

Things did go easily on the low growing stuff... 

 

 

"Could someone just grab hold of the end of this for me?"

 

But the majority was not low growing. 

Anyone who was tall, like Mick, 

was in constant demand.

"I can reach it. I can. I CAN!"

Occasionally plastic tree ties had to be deployed

 to stop the bent over willow stems twanging back 

into position and sending an NCV into orbit.

Newcomer George seemed to enjoy the challenge.

Andy practised his bell ringing.

 

Eventually the inside started 

looking more like a tunnel

and less like a jungle.

 

And as for the outside - 

all it needed was a bit of tweaking...

 

...and there it was. Done!

 

Now - while all this was going on, an elite team of 

tree checkers went to battle with the nettles 

and brambles to see how many of the trees, 

planted as a hedge last year, had survived.

 

Ken's face says it all. 

There were casualties.

 

Lots of casualties!

It is unclear what the main cause was.

Overgrowth by vegetation; 

extremely poor soil quality; delay in getting 

the saplings into the ground during a hot spell? 

Any or all of the above could be reason. 

After coffee this same team were

 given a more uplifting task.

"Just build a willow den out of this tatty 

willow bush will you lads? Ta."

Without further ado, and using some 

willow wands  harvested from the 

tunnel prunings next door, the lads got going.

In what seemed like only the blink of an eye, 

the job was done.Ta Da!!

A den fit for a king (or three.)

 

"Ok. On to the final job of the day. 

The caterpillar tunnel needs attention."

Caterpillar tunnel? What caterpillar tunnel?

Clearly, this structure was less vigorous.

In fact many stems had died. 

Oh dear, oh dear. What a pathetic looking specimen.

"Right - we can do something with this. 

Where are the harvested prunings?"

 

"That's starting to look a bit better."

 

"That'll have do do. We've run out of material.

At least you can make out the

 fact that it is there now."

 

"Just try it out for size Brenda, please."