Arob

I've been teaching myself to pleach this last week, i reckon something like this might be quite satisfying, a very good thing to retire into, perhaps?.

Excellent news. For the knives i've tried allsorts and now tend to use shatterproof bi-metal stanley blades in folding knives. I also find there's a fair bit of variety in the woods, MM106 is good as it's fairly buttery smooth, whereas plums are frequently quite fibrous, only really an issue when cutting the tongues. A while back i started working on building a collection of varieties, we've had nothing but support from the good people at Brogdale, as i'd like to ensure we have a decent genetic resource in this region. In time i'd like to see us able to produce some rootstocks too, but things take time. There's a decent network developing up here, with some great community orchards, one of them is based in the grounds of a primary school i was struck when listening to the (then) Headteacher give a presentation at a Fruit on the Tyne conference, i'd been expecting her to talk about how it fitted into the curriculum, the kids using it for numeracy, science classes etc. Instead, what she said was, the best thing about it was it's affect on the kids mental health; and that's in a fairly affluent, old, leafy village in the Tyne Valley, not a deprived part of town. If you want to keep an eye on us, here's a link to our project's website.

Hi Mark, I'm based in Newcastle and have been involved in community fruit growing for a few years now. How about you?

There's nothing much to grafting it's just a case of lining up the cambium, it's surprising when you find out just how easily you can do it! I think a lot of this stuff is intuitive; you must find that with the renovations as you're having to interpret and read the individual tree? I've led a fruit pruning course for the first time this year and it was interesting to hear the feedback, the group was nervous and shy at first, and thought what i was telling them was irrelevant, but once they got an overview of the physiology they could start to feel and intuit what was going on and could then begin to think how to help the tree(s) begin to develop in a way which would best suit it form and location, and their needs.

What a kind thing to say, i do still look in from time to time, I've learnt loads from lads on here, when it comes to apples that's most notably been through Dr Alec and Gollum. It is an apple'y time of year with pruning to be done and rootstocks arriving - will you be grafting this year?

Nearing home i flipped away from Sara Cox, by luck i happened to catch this on Radio 3, inspired by Robert MacFarlane's The Lost Words. https://www.thelostwords.org/ Heartwood.mp3

Aye, mine's been good, pretty robust and cuts pretty well, nice and quick too. As has previously been said if the grass is wet and long you'd have to go over it high first then drop down, but generally it's fine.

Congratulations Mr B, onto bigger and better things i'm sure.

Sorry, just realised i've given you some terrible advice - not been on here much over the past couple of years and things have changed - obviously the correct place to post your offer of free labour is not in the general thread but here: https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/forum/20-employment/

If you've got the money for it then by all means buy one (doesn't need to be the fanciest but get a proper one; from Honey Bros, Fr Jones, Gustharts, not something from B&Q!).

If you're that keen why wait another second? No need to over-think it, take a punt; you've nothing to lose but time. Yes, maybe some firms won't need what you can offer just now, but some might - why not let them decide? If you're smart you'll work out how to fit in and be useful even without tickets - much of the job is in the tidying up. A decent lad with no tickets is often far more useful than a fool with all the tickets in the world. But remember it's you who needs to fit in, take a decent jacket, boots, gloves, a hi viz vest, and a decent pruning saw if you can (this would do https://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/products/cutting-edge-trojan-curved-pruning-saw/), stay switched on and enjoy yourself.

To get a start, you might do better putting a more prominent post in the general category and, if you can afford to, offer to work a day or two for free, ideally with different companies to gain some varied experience and see who you fit in with. If you can prove your worth you'll get an opportunity and then you're away. As for the other stuff, if you're genuinely interested you'll find just about all the information you'll ever need here; but no-one else will do the learning for you. An old hand on here, responding to a similar question to yours, replied saying something like, "for the first year you should keep your mouth filled with marbles", in other words don't be constantly asking questions; look, listen and learn. Good luck.

Absolutely agree, it makes the law meaningless. No mention in either report about felling licences either...

I stand corrected.

No, it doesn't look like a travellers site, this is the company that own it https://countrywideparkhomes.co.uk/