What an amazing crop willow is. It is so stunning to look at, and then it grows so fast…incredible. A group of us made sure that we cropped suitable material for making baskets with. We also made good headway in cutting back the willow that has been left to grow abundantly but sadly, is not any good for making as it’s too big. Some of us thought about making fencing or hurdles with it but most is going on the bonfire planned for next meet up.
Collecting one year growth from the withy bed that we are helping to maintain, in glorious sunshine. Ok so it wasn’t all fun, as my boots can verify. The only suitable footwear was wellies. It’s not called a marsh for nothing. The rewards though were bountiful. Most of us returned home with a good size *tree* ie loads of Withies in the car. We tried very hard to identify the varieties of Salix or viminalis or osiers that we collected but that is a whole new area of research….
Back to basket making, with all this new material now in storage, the community group are using the willow purchased from Somerset suppliers…..however only four weeks to wait before we can try weaving in glorious technicolour…
the idea of foraging for hedgerow material has been discussed and that is the next part of our adventure…
The other skill we are exploring is a technical one …photographing the work in the incredible environs of Lydd church. The light coming through the huge church windows is an inspiration in itself. I need to say that the willow used in this example has come from my allotment and then the final top layer is alder from our garden. It has such a lovely pink / red colour I can’t wait to try and use it again….this is what happens when you start making things from willow and other materials…it becomes obsessive and makes dog walking an exploration of the hedgerows and woodlands.
The unusually warm February weather has meant going to the beach an essential activity too…..