An update before the Christmas celebrations, although it is somewhat subdued this year
due to various events ongoing. But beside’s that Loraine and Paul, and of course Jack & Moo, the cats, Wish you ALL a happy Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!
The weather here as usual has been somewhat variable, to say the least, with bouts of rain being rather persistent, although Loraine keeps telling me that it is drier than last year! Does not seem like it though.
We have not ventured out much due to restrictions and mask-wearing so have concentrated on working on our 2.5 acres, which always has chores ready for us to get on with.
To recap, our last post explained that the South wall and gate had been installed and Paul would be moving on to the West wall being the largest of them all, some 70 feet there-abouts. Dodging the wet weather has been interesting and we are only really getting about 1 or 2 days a week on the building works done. Still, steady as she goes……
The west wall is coming on fine and should be finished around about the end of December.
As you can see from the above photograph, the West wall is progressing well and has reached the top end where the new hut will be sited at the North end of the walled garden. The next step will be to dig out the trench for the hut foundations which will be filled with concrete leveled to the correct height all around.
Upon this foundation, two courses of heavy concrete blocks will be laid to take the hut off the ground to keep it nice and dry. One trench has been dug out and leveling pins placed along it, now the other three sides need to be done then the concrete can be poured in to form the foundation for the blocks.
The next step will be to dig out the foundation trenches for the hut. These will be filled with concrete for the hut foundation and then two courses of blocks will be laid on that so the hut will not be sitting on the ground or even near it. That is so damp will not penetrate the hut itself and should remain clean and dry no matter what the weather.
The first of the trenches have been dug out and leveled off ready for the concrete.
From the above photo, you can see the line of trench follows on from the main wall and will be the West side of the hut foundation. The other three sides are still to excavate but it has been miserably wet over the last few weeks and little has been done on this task. Until this is done work will not progress on the foundation as the block base needs to sit on the concrete.
However, the last of the fence dividing the fields have been taken down and stacked ready for use in the construction of the planned hut.
Pretty much all of the reclaimed wood will be re-used for the hut construction so nothing will go to waste.
The above area where the wood is currently stacked will consist of the hut space with the upper area with the few pieces of wood will be the seating area, hopefully with fire-pit and other seating. The North wall will run from the composting area seen in the background to the North end of the hut at the left of the photo. The grassy areas seen here will eventually be bare earth for growing our crops of vegetables including a few hundred sweetcorn plants each year.
Like most of the UK, the weather has been very wet and is hampering much of the work due to the ground becoming very wet and soft with the excess rainfall we are all experiencing. We have on fairly dry days been working on the hawthorn tree at the top of the garden ramp which is heavily overgrown with ivy and is in danger of killing its host. The trunk was so entwined with the ivy it took quite a few hours of work, dodging between rain showers to divest the ivy from the tree.
As it stands, we have cut the ivy roots from the bottom of the tree up to about halfway and we can now get the heavy growth from the upper branches. The hawthorn tree is an important tree in so much as it supports a wide range of wildlife, especially the birds who depend on the berries for winter feed. The loss of hundreds of miles of hawthorn throughout the UK has contributed much to the falling of our bird population, so saving these trees is especially important.
Believe it or not, this is the hawthorn tree we are presently working on.
As you can see from the photo above, the hawthorn tree we are denuding from the ivy has not yet begun yet and we shall post an updated photo showing the progress at a later date. Besides the ivy that has almost totally swamped the tree, it also has a lot of bramble growing amongst the chaos, and this too will have to be taken down.
Once we have cleared the trees from the ivy and brambles a once yearly inspection to keep any further encroachment should be enough to keep everything in check. But first, the main building works need to be addressed.
We have also started the planting of the Hazel trees that will form the hazel hedge running up to the top of the field where the fence once stood. Although the trees are small at present, as they grow they will be formed into a natural fence provided a habitat for wildlife and a barrier to the cornish weather.
The old line of the fence is being planted up with Hazel trees to form a natural fence.
We are hoping to install a large pond to the left of this photo which will attract much more wildlife and once we get the cameras up and running in the future, they will provide a constant source of entertainment for us and our followers. The pond will have to be dug with a small mechanical digger as the amount of spoil will be large. This will be piled up to the left of the pond forming a small rise on which seating and plants will be installed to enjoy the views.
After installing this we may well see an increase in large grass snakes as they are particularly fond of water and as we have quite a few already on the land, we may be able to glimpse them more often.
Hope you enjoyed the update and we shall post again when there is something to post about! Weather permitting!