the village idiot

There is a thread on here all about it. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/large-equipment/72283-mobile-retorts.html

That's the charcoal kiln Paul. That photo was from 2012 when I had Puffing Billy at Mrs Idiots parents' farm. The split wood is some hornbeam I had to buy in to get me started before I was up and running at Raydon.

Blame Silky everyone:001_rolleyes:

A few more then I'll leave you in peace:001_smile:

A few more piccies.

At present the owner is asking nothing in return other than, as you say, well managed woods. A well managed wood will be a more valuable asset than an unmanaged one. The owner of Raydon Wood is an exceptional chap who has a history of supporting local employment, especially in the countryside sector. I am extremely fortunate to have made his acquaintance. He understands that in order to do his woods justice I need to invest in kit and further training. Paying him for the wood would limit my capacity to manage his woods properly into the future.

So, to the final instalment of The Idiot Chronicles. How does one earn a living from woodland management? I am finding that the simple answer is, it's not simple! If you are happy to do a desk job with occasional woodland outings you could train and get qualified as a Woodland Agent. If you prefer life at the coal face and have a lot of working capital or are prepared to take on substantial finance payments you can be a forestry contractor. You could also work for a forestry contractor. Another option would be to get qualified and take a job as an estate forester. All of these would be very sensible, tried and tested, financially sustaining paths to follow to earn a crust from managing woodlands. Needless to say I followed none of them. Somehow over the last two and a half years fate has conspired to land me in charge of 200 acres of Suffolk woodland. This area looks set to increase substantially pending discussions with the owner. I have no proper forestry qualifications, no big machinery and no absolute certainty that it can all come together, but at the same time I kind of know it will. I have been extraordinarily lucky to find (after a year or so's searching) a woodland owner who cared about the condition and biodiversity of their woodland, and was willing to give someone a go. I am determined to repay the goodwill shown to me by the estate by bringing their woodlands back into active management and leave them in a healthy state for the next generation of mad woodspeople. So how is income generated? I am self employed and not an employee of the estate. Although a lot of my income is derived from converting and selling the resource generated by the management activities, there are also important jobs within the wood that do not generate much useful wood or timber, such as the ride widening and pond restoration. At present I receive payment for carrying out these jobs. The rest of my income is derived from firewood and charcoal sales plus a few other woody creations such as swedish candles. Firewood is cut over winter, split in the spring and sold to a couple of arbtalkians who deliver it to their customers in winter. There is scope to increase income from firewood sales by starting to do deliveries myself (something I have avoided up to now). It is a more realistic proposition with a partner. The other 'backbone' product is charcoal, made within the fiery belly of Puffing Billy. Charcoal and firewood production sit well together as they can be carried out at the same time, make use of almost the entire tree and provide an income stream over summer and winter. All my charcoal is also currently sold wholesale, some to Mrs Idiot's sister who is the brains behind Barbecube, and the rest to yet another arbtalker. As with the firewood there is scope to increase revenue from the charcoal by exploring direct sales to the retailers. I have tried to remain focused on these two core products during my formative years at Raydon. I am quite easily distracted so wanted to get a good solid base established before venturing into other areas. The options are almost endless in terms of other woody products or services. Mrs Idiots parents own a large farm shop with craft units providing a ready made means of shifting product. My head has been so stuck in the woods that I haven't really explored the options there either. There is no getting away from the fact that earning a living through the production of self felled woodland resource is bloomin' hard work and the financial returns are at best modest. Having said that, the work and your positive impact on the woodland is hugely rewarding. The work environment is second to none. But best of all, you get to wear the much coveted works uniform (see avatar) That's my trump card played. I'm done! All the best TVI PS. More pictures to follow.

Looks like a man thinking "I'm gonna need a bigger box!"

Happy and ever so slightly petrified:001_smile:

Up to this year I have processed it all myself, selling it 'ready to go' to a couple of fellow Arbtalkers. I do the processing whilst the charcoal kiln is puffing away in the background. After this winter I am going to have significantly more raw material than usual so am currently considering my options regarding how to deal with it all.

Good post Skyhuck

Just one of the many reasons why the 25 hectares North of the old railway line at Raydon Wood is so special. In the spring the floor is carpeted with Wood Anemone's. The sight and smell is wonderful. As I said earlier, this portion of Raydon Great Wood escaped the attentions of the warring Amricans and the ill-advised authors. It is a fairly extensive block of hazel and Ash coppice under Oak standards. After hundreds of years coppicing ceased around 70 years ago. The result is an amazing, biodiverse rarity in decline, but also a big untapped resource. Coppicing started in this area this winter. The plan is to cut 1 hectare every year for 25 years and then starting again at the beginning. Having said that, just for this winter I am doing three compartments. They all have ponds in them and I had to clear enough water to make it cost effective to bring a big machine in to do the desilting. Cutting in this area is hugely rewarding as you make such an amazing visual impact on the wood, safe in the knowledge that as long as the deer can be controlled you are doing the resident wildlife a huge favour by letting in all that light, stimulating the new growth. Doing three compartments on one's own would be a herculean ask at the best of times, let alone when there are big ponds to swallow up all my wayward felling. For this reason I enlisted the help of the dashingly handsome Arbtalk regular Logan with his marvelous machines to do one of the coupes for me. The picture doesn't really do justice to the fantastic job that he did earlier this month. And doesn't show the big piles of logs and timber he generated. See if you can spot him lurking in the undergrowth. Below is a picture of yours truly surveying the scene on the last day of operations The coppicing in these areas produces lots of material with many different potential uses. In the next edition of The Idiot Chronicles I'll attempt to give you some idea of the type of material that arises and what I do with it in my attempts to make the woods profitable. All the best, TVI

Hi Keith, yes, its a few hundred yards down that road on the left. All access roads are padlocked and there is very little of the wood that is public access, but if you wanted a pootle around I'd be happy to show you. I need to make sure the deer stalkers aren't in!

Yes, that's what they do unfortunately. Good in some ways I suppose but bad in others. At least you got a nice walk out of it. I'll send you a PM Mark about how I went about approaching woodland/landowners. Most importantly, keep looking. You will find one:thumbup:

Hi Andy, yes the history is really interesting. I often find bits and pieces from wartime in the wood. The really fun part will be when we start to de-silt the ponds. There are getting on for 30 in total, and apparently the Americans were in the habit of chucking all manner of things into them. They have never been dug out before and I've heard reports of items being seen in the silt when the ponds dried out in the summer of 76.

Not as far as I know. I haven't heard any bikes buzzing about. I do get mustangs flying over and some lunatic does acrobatics over the wood in another machine. Farmer_ben is probably your man for motorbike trials, he may know.

Hi John, interesting stuff! Would be very interested to come and have a look if that would be alright? When and why were the concrete tracks taken out? Billy will be back in action in the spring. Do come down and have a play:biggrin:

Surprisingly good reception 100ft down in Suffolk! Sounds like you were a right little rascal Mr. Musk! I currently use Hunters Bridge to extract timber from the neglected coppice in the North, to the hardstanding areas in the South of the Wood. The bridge is starting to look a bit sorry for itself so I may need to stop taking a tractor and loaded trailer over it. Bizzarly the bridge doesn't appear to belong to the woodland owner, despite the fact that he owns all of the wood and there is no public access:confused1: It is probably owned by the council which means the chances of getting expensive remedial work done are slim to non-existant. Time to plot another extraction route!

Oh for the love of Loki !! They're as bad as the deer those trumped up conjurers. You take them down to a stable population (zero in the case of the pointy hat brigade) and more come in to take their place. I have taken action straight away Bren. I was up all night digging 100ft pits all over the wood and covering them with sticks and leaves. Those stupid Wizards, they stroll around like they own the place, guarenteed to fall in:thumbup: All I've got to do is remember where they aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Balls:thumbdown:

As promised, here is some info on the structure of Raydon Great Wood. Below is a Google Maps photograph of the wood. Judging by the tree cover I reckon this must have been taken about 10 years ago. Please ignore the yellow circle. This just indicates where the treasure is buried. I trust you have all done your homework and re-read the post about the woodland history? I not you may find this next section confusing. The darker green areas (Toms Wood, Broadoak Wood and areas in the East and South of the main wood) show where Hammond Innes had the conifers put in, and the keen eyed among you might be able to make out the network of concrete tracks in the Southern section. Under, and to the right of the 'wood' of Raydon Great Wood are the first two sections to have been de-coniferised (about 12 years ago). These are now dense pole stage regen thickets with Birch, Hazel, Ash, Oak and Willow, and are a favourite hiding place for the deer! The rest of the conifers have now also been removed in phases, resulting in several blocks all at different stages of regeneration. There are also large blocks in the South of the wood that were less densely coniferised or had none put in at all, resulting in many acres of 'high forest' and even a stand of impressive Beech trees that must have been planted by someone in the distant past as we are outside of its natural range here. You will notice in the image a green line running from the NW to the SE cutting the main wood in two. This is the old Hadleigh Branch Line which carried passengers and freight up until the 50's or 60's after which it was Beeching-ed. There is a steep cutting, an the two halves of the main wood are linked by a small bridge. What is most exciting for me about this old railway line is that it stopped both the US air force and Hammond Innes from being able to 'develop' the area at the North of the main Wood. The consequence of this is 60 acres of lovely neglected coppice; my favourite part of the wood and a good subject for the next installment of "The Idiot Chronicles" All the best, TVI

What fine neighbours you have Bren! The Khan's from number 22 also came up trumps! "The Ladybird Book of Rape and Pillage" And a subscription to Mongol Monthly. Volume 1 has a 'crochet your own codpiece cover' pullout:thumbup1: Can't wait to get started!

It's a good job you didn't Jon, there wouldn't have been any point

Great Stuff:thumbup: looking forward to it:biggrin:

I feel a bbq coming on:thumbup:

Has anyone told Jon that he lost a hand on the circular saw?