the village idiot

That's great to hear. Thank you!

Thanks Martin. Apologies for the slow pace of updates. My photos are stored in 4 different places and I am too much of a luddite to get them all in the same place. Finding the right ones and then running the devil's gauntlet of getting them up on the screen takes some time, and requires all of my 6 brain cells to fire simultaneously. If the merest suggestion of cheese on toast (or similar delightful distraction) enters the mental matrix it's back to square one.

Thanks Eggs, its worth a shot.

Fantastic! There is a long history of volunteering in Woodlands. I think people just like being in them. The environment plus the physical activity plus the 'being useful' makes people happy.

Thank you Chris, that's very kind.

He's a great chap. I've got a few other toys that he has made up for me. Pictures in due course.

Thanks again for the advice, very much appreciated. The owner is very approachable and I have a good relationship with him so an open and honest discussion on these points should not be a problem. Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks Andy. The trailer is made by TCF engineering. They will make you one to your own spec. My trailer has beefed up axles for a larger payload compared to their standard model and slide in bolsters.

WHEELS. Now I had made a start in the Wood I needed to think getting some appropriate machinery to help with all the jobs. This was a bit of a problem as I was not only short on money but am also terrible at buying the right stuff! I have a long history of purchasing completely inappropriate machinery. The list includes an ancient crop sprayer, part converted into a massively heavy pick up type thing which was no use to man nor beast. An enormous chain swipe which was not only far too big for my tractor, but also too wide to fit over the small bridge, making half of the Woodland unmowable, and most recently a ludicrous sparkly blue Mercedes truck converted into a living van which I haven't slept in once! This living van is actually up for sale if anyone is interested Eggs. I can email a file with tons of photos. It even has a log burner! What I really needed to get me up and running in the Wood was a low impact tractor and trailer. After a bit of searching around I settled on a teeny Alpine tractor and a small timber trailer originally designed for quad bikes. Here it is with a new set of much more appropriate tyres:

Really important points openspaceman. Thank you. What I have in place with the Woodland owner amounts to little more than a gentleman's agreement. This is perhaps something I ought to remedy ASAP. The owner has a reputation locally for being very loyal, but circumstances can certainly change very rapidly. The tax point is also very interesting. I don't know where I stand on this either. I had assumed that the income on any Woodland product I sell is taxed as normal. I shall do some digging. Very useful post!

Great pictures tree-fancier. Perhaps I should have been a bit more specific with my definition of unmanaged. What I mean is un-altered by human activity at any time since the last ice age.

Thank you Marcus. Really glad you are enjoying it. Plenty more to get through as yet!

Oi sandspider! This is officially a non silly thread. ?

Thanks monkeybusiness. The landowner's attitude has been absolutely key to getting to this point. There has been some cost to him over the course of the last few years but it has not been huge, and the work has been increasing the value and utility of his asset into the future. We view it as a mutually beneficial project and the owner is keen to persuade other Woodland owners to consider similar set up's. It is relatively unusual these days for a Woodland to have a permanent Woodsman in situ. It will be interesting to see if this changes at all as Woodland hopefully becomes more valued through new political ideas such as natural capital and ecosystem services. At present it is a tricky scenario to make truly sustainably viable without a large dollop of goodwill from both interested parties.

I take exception to that! I am under strict self imposed orders to not get silly.

That's good to hear, thanks Eggs. My aim is to not bore the folks who know all this stuff already but keep it accessible to those that don't.

It's somewhere in the Wood. Probably best if you search for treasure, the tree jack would just be a very nice bonus.

LET THERE BE LIGHT. My first practical job in the Wood was to thin out the Norway Spruce and Corsican Pine from the central section of area 3 on the map below. This block had been planted up with quite nice Oak with the conifers as a nurse crop. A nurse crop is a largely sacrificial planting put in to help draw the main crop up in its formative years in the hope that is achieves good form. The Conifers were now so large that they were starting to out compete the Oaks so they needed to go. They also needed removing to provide access deeper into the Wood for a tree harvester that was coming in to clearfell one of the two remaining dense blocks of pure conifer. This was a nice 'starter' for me. Conifers are relatively easy to fell, they tend to behave themselves reasonably well, and I didn't have to worry too much about where they came down which was very handy as an embarrassingly high percentage descended 180 degrees off optimum. It was during this job that I performed my first rendition of the 'two saws stuck in one tree trick'. Back cutting a sizeable spruce with a blunt silky does not come highly recommended! My main issue with this first foray into the trees was that I was not accumulating stems of any great value. Most of the arisings ended up as Swedish candles which I managed to sell wholesale. My takings didn't break the bank, but it was an important first lesson in finding a market for what needs to come out, whatever it happens to be. The alternative is cherry picking the trees that will achieve best profits at any given time, and this is not how I wished to proceed. I haven't got many pictures from these first few weeks but managed to find a few. Here is a couple of candles at full blast: A rocket propelled Kelly kettle: And your's truly warming his hands in his armpits, pretending to know what he's talking about to a visit from the Small Woods Association. You can see my friend Jacob standing on one of the felled nurse conifers with the young Oaks to the sides.

We do come across some wartime bits and pieces on occasion but no spectacular finds. You'd be welcome to do some metal detecting if you'd like. You know where we are. If you find my tree jack there'll be a purely platonic big manly cuddle in it for you!

In that case you are even more welcome!

Spot on Beau. I jumped the gun a bit with that series of photo's. That Valtra is being driven by another Arbtalk clansman. All will be revealed. Quite a few Arbtalkers will pop up in this story. This forum has been a pretty big player in my progress at the Wood.

Thanks Will, I'm just really pleased that you are all so interested. Most people with an interest in working with trees go into tree surgery, and for very good reasons, but there are a great many unmanaged Woods out there. It's a fabulous lifestyle choice if people are in a position to give it a go.

Great find Andy. That first picture pretty clearly shows the concrete road network. Thanks for posting.

Odd ones. I've purposely worn odd socks since I was eight years old. No idea why.

I'm a sucker for a good old fashioned derail! Whilst I was off sticking my nose into other people's Woods we suffered a catastrophic pump failure in the ice cream production room. We had to sort it quick smart or we were almost certainly doomed. DOOMED I tell thee. Who should turn up at the door, spanners in hand, but our own eggy rascal! God the pump shipshape in triple quick time and saved the day. Apologies Eggs for the obligatory personal hygiene questions.