Big J

I'm on a first thinning job just outside Barnstaple (Devon) at the moment and have a 0.6 hectare block of crappy larch that is being largely clearfelled. About 10% of the trees will be retained, but due to poor form, the decision has been made to clear the remainder. I just don't have enough time to do this alongside the thinning too. I'm harvesting with the Kranman P25B processor, which is doing a great job in the thinnings, but I fear that the larch clearfell trees are a bit bendy. So ideally looking for a pair of cutters to tackle the block. I reckon 7 straight days ought to clear it (14 man days). If you like surfing, there are obviously many opportunities nearby. There is space for a caravan on site and I don't mind how long it takes you to complete the work so long as it's done before the 2nd week of September. Specification is super simple. 3m for everything, with some stacking required, but nothing excessive. A good hourly/day rate will be paid.

The problem is that efficiently operating a stove isn't something that most people can easily pick up by just looking at a pamphlet. You need to be interested in it and want to get it just right. I used to enjoy the art of it, but after 12 years and about 360-400 cubic metres through my own stoves, the novelty has worn off.

That wasn't my intention. What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter how diligent a retailer is (best before and use by dates, for example), a person can still do themselves harm by ignoring the guidance. Given that the average person has a better understanding of food safety than efficient fire usage, I'd say that the Woodsure scheme will have little effect on improving burning practices or reducing emissions. I'm entirely in favour of electric vehicles and reducing domestic firewood usage. I say that as someone with a V10 Touareg and a 20kw stove. I can't wait until my car simply plugs in and I no longer have to feed a stove. However, legislating like this punishes the retailer who is fundamentally selling a sound product. There is no such thing as bad firewood. There is only firewood that is sufficiently dry and firewood that needs more drying time. The education and legislation needs to be targeted at the end user, not the retailer. Ban open fires, ban inefficient stoves, make flue pipe thermometers compulsory or even automatic vents to moderate air flow. Educate the end user and stop punishing the retailers for idiots that don't know how to use a fire or what to burn.

Tom D said to me about 13 odd years ago - "selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful" I'd added to that - "selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the uneducated and ungrateful" To which you can now add "selling firewood is selling the unprofitable to the uneducated and ungrateful through an ill conceived and poorly implemented government cartel" I take my hat off to any of you who have jumped through the hoops to comply. It's patently bollocks and is designed to force out the smaller producers. The responsibility for burning firewood that is dry shouldn't lie with the retailer. The retailer has no control over what the consumer does after it's delivered. It could be a crispy 10% MC after being baked in a kiln when tipped but a customer leaving it out overnight in the rain will result in it exceeding 20%. Supermarkets sell food that is in date and fit for consumption. It's the consumer's responsibility to ensure that they eat it when it is fresh. The Woodsure scheme punishing firewood retailers for customers using wet wood is like fining supermarkets for customers eating out of date food. Education of the consumer is the key, but I think it's a exercise in futility. I had to explain to a lady on the Brits in Sweden page on Facebook (so you'd think they'd be a little more clued up) that no, burning pine isn't going to tar up your chimney. She was quite adamant.

I've planted a fair few Poplar cuttings this year. These are in a park in the town. They've been doing really well, but three of them have suddenly died (not at the same time) when in apparently good health. Growth has been vigorous, they are planted by a stream and completely unstressed. The tree next to this one is a bushy 4ft tall with no I'll health but this one has succumbed. Any help is much appreciated.

It is just painful to watch some people trying to reverse. It's not just the tourists either. The chap that hit me a couple of years ago when I had the 4x4 Sprinter lives in the valley where I met him, and chatting to his landlord we concluded he'd won his licence in a raffle. I just go with the principle that if I'm dotting about in my Berlingo, I'm going to be able to reverse quicker than 99% of the people I meet, so rather than watch them weave around awkwardly, I just pop it into reverse and suck it up. I actually have to laugh sometimes (out loud) out how ridiculously awful journeys can be. Moving the forwarder yesterday, it was only going 4 miles as the crow flies. Shortest route through the lanes is 7 miles. It's about 12 miles via Barnstaple. I went through the lanes and the tractor went through Barnstaple. The tractor actually beat me.

That popped up on my Facebook feed yesterday, but I'll admit that I didn't watch it. 😄 I had a mare of a day around Barnstaple yesterday on the stupid mediaeval farm tracks. A total of about 1/2 mile of uphill single track lane reversing (because it's nearly always faster for me to do it than to determine whether they can or not). I ended up cross cambered in a pull-in at one stage too, drive wheel in the air. Fun times. Added to that was my tractor driver moving the forwarder, who missed the turnaround spot just past my site and somehow shoehorned a 55ft long rig (trailer and tractor) all the way to the top of a very narrow lane. Fortunately the house at the top were really friendly and we got turned in the field. That was an unnecessary 1 1/4 mile walk to find a lost tractor. I am fully aware that I should have realised what life would be like, working in this backwater that the 20th century somehow missed. It doesn't make it any less ridiculous though.

You'll enjoy the transport infrastructure once you're out of the West Country 😝 🤣

14c, strong wind, rain blattering against the living room window. Apparently, the heatwave is supposed to arrive by the 20th of August. It won't be a moment too soon.

Possibly not. Either way, it's grim. I just can't get over how low the base temperature is at the moment. If it's raining, it's 15-16c, if it's sunny it's 20-21c. If it's cloudy, it's 18c. Bring on a little heat. It's interesting to note how the growth of the eucalyptus slows with this shitty weather. I reckon it's reduced the growth rate by 30% or so, based on the one that I measure every couple of days at the bottom of the lane.

Not exactly

I'm just waiting to get the XC70 back from the garage. Having only spent £1170 on it, it needed a few things doing to get it right, so once that's back, I'll advertise the van

I viewed a house at the same time as a German family that bought it there and then. It's nice for us as they'll be in the town too, and their boy is the same age as my older daughter. They cited the heavy handed lockdown as one of the main reasons for leaving Germany. I'm not sure that the anti EU sentiment is as strong as you think. I don't know anyone in Germany who is for leaving. We do possibly inhabit different circles though.

Quite possibly. As unpopular as Sweden is politically, it was remarkable how many Danes and Germans there were there last month

Rather odd given that their infection rates are lower than many of the green countries. Most of the world really doesn't seem to appreciate their approach to tackling covid.

Fair point. The Bank of England is however owned by the Government and works within a framework dictated by the government. I'm not sure that they can be claimed to be fully independent. As someone who's rented for a good while, it is indeed something that's pretty depressing. I'd say that we've probably got a similar amount of cash in the business to if I'd been employed in a reasonably paid job and paid that into a house. We've not been especially successful or unsuccessful with work - it's not been the easiest of times. Either way, the avoidance of a complete crash in 2008 by tanking the interest rates has simply kicked the can down the road. The interest rates leading up to 2008 were exactly the long term (as in 300 year) average and the only way to avoid wide scale defaulting was to take them to unsustainably low levels. No one has any incentive to save as rates offered are now substantially below inflation. So more and more money is spent, contributing to ever escalating inflation. But the base rate cannot be increased without wide scale financial hardship for millions of people. But it also needs to be increased in order to avoid widescale hardship for millions of people. Therein lies the dilemma.

I don't pretend that there aren't problems. But I look at the broader picture and view the benefits alongside the drawbacks and look at their quality of life. On that metric, we fall a long way behind (especially now we've left the EU, if nothing else from the freedom of movement point of view). We aren't going to agree on this Andy. We haven't in the past and nor will we in the future. You are in the fortunate position to be financially insulated from many of the issues that Brexit is going to create, and work abroad. The irony is that working in Norway, you're working in a country that illustrates how bad the UK is at managing it's own affairs. Norway is supremely wealthy and the UK isn't. They both had the exact same resource

I always regarded the EU as a moderating influence on our own bile filled spitemongers. For that matter, has a term ever better encapsulated the very essence of Pritti Patel?. We're now truly seeing the consequences of how our politicians will act when they feel that they aren't accountable to anyone.

The EU didn't start their vaccine rollout as well as they could have, I'll certainly agree, but most of the barriers have been put in place by the UK. Not signing up to the EU vaccine passport being one.

Yeah, I thought you'd like that. It just gets my goat when the government tries to make a big thing about restrictions being driven by the data, when clearly they're not. It's contingent on where they want to go on holiday to and who they want to do trade with.

So the green list has been expanded to include Norway, Austria and Germany, all of which have higher case rates than Sweden, which remains on the amber list. It seems very political. Not relaxing the restrictions on the only country that didn't really do restrictions seems pathetically punitive at this stage. Sweden fulfils all the criteria to be moved onto the green list. Obviously I have a vested interest, but it still smacks of politics, rather than science.