Monday 24 October 2016

Jobs for Autumn: Charcoal Burning and Planting Spring Bulbs



'The charcoal-burner has tales to tell.
He lives in the Forest,
Alone in the Forest;
He sits in the Forest,
Alone in the Forest.
And the sun comes slanting between the trees,
And rabbits come up, and they give him good-morning,
And rabbits come up and say, "Beautiful morning"...
And the moon swings clear of the tall black trees,
And owls fly over and wish him good-night,
Quietly over to wish him good-night...

And he sits and thinks of the things they know,
He and the Forest, alone together -
The springs that come and the summers that go,
Autumn dew on bracken and heather,
The drip of the Forest beneath the snow...

All the things they have seen,
All the things they have heard:
An April sky swept clean and the song of a bird...

Oh, the charcoal-burner has tales to tell!
And he lives in the Forest and knows us well.

A.A.Milne


These are the signs of autumn on our smallholding; the changing colour of the beautiful, mature oaks around our boundary, the hedges heavy with berries and rose hips, apples in the orchard, the air full of wood smoke from bonfires and log fires. And then there is the list of seasonal jobs that we hope to get ticked off before the weather turns cold and wet and miserable and we don't really want to be working outside.

The first of these autumn jobs is charcoal burning. A traditional charcoal burner lived alone or in a small community of other charcoal burners in the woods, looking after a kiln, day and night. David has built a kiln here, but we only burn a small amount at a time, so we're able to keep an eye on it over a few hours. Our kiln is basically an old oil drum, with a lid and chimneys, that has been placed by our bonfire. To start the process, seasoned hornbeam logs are stacked carefully in the kiln so that there is a hole in the centre.  The hole has been left so that hot coals from the bonfire can be added. Then the logs are lit.



The fire starts to burn, with flames visible out of the top of the kiln and smoke mingling with the misty autumn air. It's important to judge at this point when to put the lid on - too soon and the wood doesn't turn into charcoal properly, too late and the logs turn to ash. The lid is then sealed with ash from the bonfire, so that oxygen doesn't seep into the kiln preventing the logs from being properly 'cooked'.


Hours later, the process is finished. The charcoal is removed and left to cool and then it's stacked by the barbecue, ready for a warm, summer evening in 2017!

Some of the finished charcoal, ready for a barbecue
As the charcoal burning is taking place, I'm planting spring bulbs and other flowers. Because we've planted so many trees and hedges here, we've inadvertently transformed open, sunny spots into areas of woodland garden. The plants I'll be introducing to these areas will be the plants that'll thrive in dappled shade; so, for example, I'll be planting more cyclamen as well as several clumps of lily of the valley that my godmother has kindly given to me from her own garden.

Gone planting...
In some of the remaining open areas I'm going to plant more daffodils. I like daffodils - I can't say that they're a favourite flower of mine, but they are part of the spring landscape and I'd miss them if they weren't there.

Actually, the truth is that I am missing daffodils because I discovered last year that we now have daffodil pests...


Our Suffolk and Cheviot sheep have never touched daffodils in their 14 or so years of being here, but our new Ryelands eat them as they come up, because they're incredibly greedy sheep and will eat anything. I was slow to realise what had happened, but I did twig, sometime towards the middle of last April, that I couldn't see the usual splash of yellow along the edge of the moat. What I did see was two very fat brown sheep. So - because we've recently doubled our number of Ryelands - I'll be re-planting daffodils this autumn to replace the lost flowers and they'll be planted in secure, sheep-proof areas.  And as for the Ryelands...fortunately they quite like stinging nettles, so hopefully, without daffodils to tempt them, they'll concentrate on the weeds instead.









34 comments:

  1. I love the smell of wood smoke. It must be wonderful to make your own charcoal!It's always good to plant bulbs each year, hopefully you can enjoy those daffodils next year! Sarah x

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    1. I love the smell of wood smoke too, especially at this time of year. It's very much part of autumn. The charcoal making is really for fun, although it will be useful for the barbecues!

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  2. I love your weed eaters :)
    I'm looking forward to some woodland planting next year, having now cultivated all the sunny spots. We must compare notes.

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    1. I was delighted to find that the Ryelands eat nettles as the other sheep don't. We have areas where the nettles like to take over, so it will be wonderful if the sheep can control them.

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  3. Dear Wendy your new Ryeland sheep look as if they enjoy their food - they are chunky but cute.
    Love the first atomospheric photo of David making charcoal along with the poem and your interesting description on how it is made.

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    1. I read that charcoal making is one of the oldest activities so it's really enjoyable to do something that people have been doing for centuries.
      I only hope the Ryelands don't escape one day into my garden. I've no doubt they'll eat everything!

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  4. Hi Wendy, probably best to keep the sheep away, as Daffs contain a toxic chemical throughout the plant ('Lycorine - plus a few others). Having said that, not much bothers greedy sheep, but you can't be too careful.

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    1. Thanks for this, Roy. I'd always been concerned that the sheep were in an area of daffodils but of course the other sheep never touched them. The Ryelands had eaten them all before I could cut them down. I'll dig up the bulbs over the winter.
      My sheep also regularly eat laurel, which his supposed to be bad for them. After 14 years, I've given up trying to keep them away from it.

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  5. Now that's something I have never attempted, probably because we don't have barbecues. I do admire that you do it though. I didn't realise that sheep would eat daffodils. I thought they were poisonous, or is that just the bulbs. Naughty sheep. Hope this years lot are more successful - what would Spring be without daffodils.

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    1. I agree about daffodils and spring. It is lovely to see the bright yellow in a still-bare landscape. Unfortunately I had to also move some last year for the building work we had here, so I am down on them now.

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  6. Such an interesting post, hope your daff stealers suffered no ill effects!

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    1. Thanks Pauline. The only impact the daffs had on the sheep was to make them fatter!

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  7. Love the poem and reading about your charcoal making - so interesting :) The Ryeland sheep are just so gorgeous - good luck with the daffodil planting and hope the sheep make inroads into the nettles :) I love cyclamen but sadly never had much luck growing them here but lilies of the valley do thrive (another lovely flower) :)

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    1. That is a shame that cyclamen don't thrive where you are. I have some here, but love to see when it spreads so hopefully I can create that effect. I hope the Lily of the Valley spreads too, although I know it can take over. Thanks Caroline.

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  8. Charcoal burning is a new one to me. Fascinating. Planting bulbs is old hat, however. Although we inherited a perennial garden at our place, aside from a few tulips and one lonely clump of daffodils, we have no flowering bulbs. I planted about 150 yesterday, with another 100 or so to go. Wood smoke in the fall and daffs in the spring--essential.

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    1. Wow, bulb planting is well underway where you are! With so many, your flowers will look stunning in the spring. As well as daffs, I'd love to see more crocuses here as the bees love them and they're a great flower when not much forage is around. But I never have any luck with them. Hardly any come up.

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    2. I'm planting several large clumps of crocuses near the hive for early forage. I'll keep you posted as to whether they come up.

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    3. If you have a secret please let me know! I do get fed up with planting so many with so little success.

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  9. Love the poem! I always associate the smell of woodsmoke with this time of year along with bronzing trees, falling leaves and misty mornings. The sheep are wonderful except for eating the daffs of course:)

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    1. Woodsmoke is the smell of autumn, isn't it? I suppose the next day (or night) of strong winds will transform the landscape by blowing away the leaves. There are certainly plenty still on the trees at the moment.

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  10. Sound so romantic, the smell of wood in the fresh air, along with the colour. Autumn and Spring are my favourite time of year.
    Amanda xx

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    1. I used to love summer but now I'm not so keen on the heat. From April to June is my favourite time of year, but I do think autumn can be so beautiful on a sunny day surrounded by all the natural colours.

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  11. I could breathe in the gentle smell of that smoke-great first image too. Naughty sheep...bulb planting is such back breaking work though.

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    1. The ground is so hard at the moment after the drought that it isn't easy planting spring bulbs. We still haven't had enough rain in this part of the world to soften the earth.

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  12. Hello!:) So very interesting about the charcoal making. I also love this time of year, when wood smoke fills the air, and we do burn a lot on the farm, and soon we will be burning the fallen autumn leaves too. Your new breed of Ryland sheep are sturdy fellows aren't they, their coats look so thick and cuddly. Sorry about your daffs, but glad your sheep are OK after eating them. Our cattle and dogs eat all kinds of things that are supposed to be bad for them but are also doing well. I wish you well, with your bulb planting, it will be a lovely mix when in bloom, and good luck with the daffs.:)

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    1. The Ryelands do have lovely coats and it's surprising that they're not worth anything today. Unlike in the past, there's no use for them. After my sheep are sheared, it's the white fleeces that are the more valuable.
      I can see your cattle and dogs are like my sheep. They don't read the books that tell them what they can and can't eat!

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  13. I did enjoy that poem, very atmospheric, I often wish I lived in the woods. Wonderful seeing the charcoal burning process, I bet it took a while mastering the necessary skills. Fat, brown, daffodil eating sheep! Marvelous stuff, shame about the daffs though. xxx

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    1. I love the idea of living in the woods, too. There would be so much going on that would be fascinating - all that wildlife! But we're lucky we have so many wonderful mature trees around us. Charcoal burning is great fun on a sunny, autumn day - it's a good excuse to be outside.

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  14. Naughty sheep! But they do look sweet. The NT makes charcoal in a local wood here to sell at Mottisfont. Fascinating process.

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    1. That is interesting about the charcoal at Mottisfont. I like looking at replicas of the old woodland kilns; I saw one at a woodfair recently. I'm fascinated by the traditional way of life around this activity.

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  15. A lovely atmospheric first photo to accompany the poem. What an interesting post - and how satisfying to BBQ with your own charcoal. I hadn't realised sheep ate daffodils - I thought they were one flower that was always left alone.

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    1. I do find it strange that the other sheep leave the daffodils alone and the Ryelands don't. Presumably they don't taste very nice (which is why they're generally left alone), but the Ryelands don't mind about that and eat them anyway.

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  16. Loved reading about your charcoal making, really interesting and I love that wood smoke smell at this time of year. With a chill in the air it really smells of the season. Those cheeky sheep eating your daffodils!! Yes I'd certainly miss daffs in the spring such a cheery sight.

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  17. I suddenly realised last year that I couldn't see the usual daffodils and the area looked very bare without them. I had so many that I could pick some to have in the house and there were still plenty to enjoy outside.

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