It’s tree time

Very last minute I know, in fact I may not make the cut by the time I have published, but here it is, my tree update.

There’s nothing like a schedule to make you realise how fast time goes, and believe me it’s going fast, I must be having fun!

The beech has clearly decided it deserves a second chance and I may even reward it’s tenacious behaviour with a trim of the surrounding grass and maybe even a bit of weeding, but for now it must survive on it’s own. I was thinking about cutting out the dead wood above as it no longer serves a purpose and it must be depressing for the poor tree to see it’s former self every day, maybe you will see a trimmed down tree next month.

Alas work calls and I have another post that I want to publish whilst I’m here at the computer, it’s been waiting in drafts for over a week.

Quick question to all you tree following people out there, any idea what kind of tree this is?

We were given it as a gift to celebrate our baby daughters arrival, but nobody seems to know what kind of tree it is?

Now where did that tree go?

A bit of a hurried post I’m afraid, babies and building are top of my list of things to do at the moment, although I did stop to take a few shots and take a closer look at my beech sapling, my ‘tree following’ subject.

Unfortunately it looks like the damage from the deer or possibly hare have taken their toll and it doesn’t appear that much growth is going on above the damage. However on closer inspection the little sapling is trying it’s hardest to cling on and new growth has appeared in an abundance near the base of the trunk. Fingers crossed it will make it through the summer and if it does I’ll reward it with some protection for the hungry gap.

Until next time, hopefully with some better pictures, happy tree following.

Dam busters and builders

One of the first things I did on my return to Poland was take Jackie for a walk and check out the beavers, or should I say the beaver evidence; having never seen one yet.

Beaver Avenue, as I like to think of it, has been cleared by man and chainsaw and little of the autumns industry remains; just lots of flattened stumps.

Further afield, where I first reported on the beaver activity last year, only a few sticks remain to suggest these large rodents had worked so hard last year; Man 2 Beavers 0.

But then today, taking a different approach to the most prolific tree felling area that I have come across yet, I started to see the evidence of a building project. First of all I noticed that one of the irrigation ditches had started to dry up, whilst those around seemed to have a good level of water, so following the ditch  for another five hundred meters I discovered the blockage; a well formed damn and close by, the possible remains of a lodge.

A new dam?

Old lodge?

Clever beavers?

From what I have read most beaver activity goes on in the autumn in preparation for winter; the summer months are spent roving, so I’m wondering is this is a new or old structure? I had never noticed it before even though I have walked this path a few times.

As you can see the water is backing up nicely and if the dam was any higher then the surrounding fields would be water logged; clever beaver engineering or just coincidence that the height is set as it is?

Lets crack on!

In the space of about 12 days we have gone from snow and hard night time frosts to glorious sunshine, in fact the last week has equalled many a summer that you may expect in the UK; 20 + (°C) every day for the last week hitting 24°C on Friday, so warm that the Aleo vera made an out of season appearance last night to sooth my burning back!

And with the good weather comes a new determination to ‘crack on’ and get things done, which is exactly what we have done this last week.

Finished the stable, yes at long last we lime washed the exterior; two years after starting the project that provides us with shelter whilst we work on the house. Of course it doesn’t do it’s job any better now that it’s all painted white, but it’s more ascetically pleasing; it looks prettier 🙂

Finished the soffit, another one of those jobs that seems to have trailed on for quite some time, although as we started the job late last year we were often hampered by the wind, which seemed quite severe 8m up a hand built scaffold. The fine weather has given us the boost and conditions to tick it off our list.

Prepared the top field for planting, with a little (a lot) of help from our friends. Steve was good enough to pop over with his tractor and rotovator and proceeded to devour almost two thousand square meters of ploughed land in preparation for potatoes and various other veg. In addition Kazek went over the remaining seven thousand square meters with his spring tine harrow, so it’s ready to accept our casting of oats later in the month. Almost a hectare of land prepped in the space of twenty four hours; thank you both, especially Steve who worked into the night to get the job done,I can feel a flaszka (bottle of vodka) or two on the way.

Planted onions, garlic and rhubarb; an odd mix perhaps, but it’s what we had and we had some space by the stable to fill. More planting  planned soon. Talking of planting I also managed to rescue about twenty saplings from our bramble clearing expedition last week, which I have given new homes to on the west side of the land, hopefully creating a wind break in the future as they mature; I also slipped in a few willow whips around the barn to see if they take and hopefully support the banking that has started to subside with the recent thaw.

I should also mention that we spent a day in Rzemien at the start of the week and planted up the kitchen garden there with onions, garlic, beetroot, lettuce, radish, carrots, parsley, dill and…….I forget now; it will come back to me when I see it grow 🙂 We also sorted through last years potatoes store and sorted out four sacks for seed, not nearly enough but with these and others from various sources we should be able to put a decent crop down.

Wood delivered for the terrace, if you didn’t know the house will be encircled by a two and a half meter terrace; providing an additional 100m² of outdoor living space. Having the wood delivered, which was ordered last year, is a big step forward on starting this stage of the build. Stripping off any bark and stacking the wood has taken almost a day to complete, but we did it; another tick box ticked:)

Electrical installation started, that is the feed from the Electricity company to our own consumer unit; although a little rusty I think I managed ok with getting the cables in place and connected up with the help of Leszek (Gosias brother) Paperwork signed off, now all we have to do is wait for the meter to be installed and the switch can be flicked; albeit only to supply two sockets and a three phase plug at this point.

And finally, although you can be sure I have missed lots out as I’m trying to think back a whole week, I emptied the composting toilet again this morning after our scheduled visits; that’s seven days usage if you discount the days we spent in Rzemien, excellent performance if you ask me and all that water saved!

Ok, sorry, I said it was the last thing; but I have to mention as I just remembered,  that we cracked open the first humanure pile this week after about 18 months rest and it is now supplying nutrients to some of our recent plantings; I’ll leave you to ask which if you ever visit and you are offered food:)

The Big Thaw

Well that was what I thought last Sunday when all the snow disappeared in Rzemien, just the odd bit hanging about where the wind had gathered the dusty flakes into a drift; that and the slush left at the side of the road by the snow ploughs was the only evidence left of the last three or four weeks of brilliant white.

So with the temperature rising and set to stay around the zero mark I thought I would take a trip out to the house and check on things, just to make sure that the big bad wolf hadn’t blown the house down.

The drive there was perfect, tarmac all the way, but as I got closer I couldn’t help but notice the snow topped hills and sure enough as I ascended to the 400m plateau the snow line became apparent. I’d guess at about 300m the road still had traces of ice and the surrounding fields were only partially green. I started to wonder what it would be like as I got closer.

But rather than trying to explain, I thought I’d take some photos 🙂

disappearing road

Looking back down the hill

at the top

So as the road disappeared I thought it wise to park up at our neighbours farm and walk the rest of the way. Of course this been Poland I was greeted with the offer of a ‘drink’ which I gracefully declined as I had to drive later in the day (explained with the usual two arms outstretched holding the imaginary steering wheel moving from side to side) Still I was invited to take a tour of the out buildings to be shown the generator that they had recently purchased or possibly even constructed, as it resembled an old diesel truck engine mounted on a welded steel frame and some electrical circuitry protected by a series of porcelain fuses. It was even turned over and run for a few minutes just to show me how it worked, which I gave my approval of with the three or four complimentary words that I have in my extensive polish vocabulary, repeated several times in varying order. All very happy with this I was then told about the borehole they had just had dug (we started a trend in the area) and how the old pump they had was not powerful enough to pump the water beyond 30m and they may have to (god forbid) buy a new one; although thinking about the generator, I’d imagine a new pump could be fashioned from an old tractor and a couple of bits of bailing twine! I have to admire the reluctance of people to throw things away here and always coming up with a solution with what is available.

Heading off on foot it soon became apparent that the snow up here was here to stay, the ice had set into the snow and for most of the walk I was on top of it, only occasionally breaking through the crust; very slippery going for me and the dogs. But we soon made it over the hill and the house came into sight, non the worse for the recent cold weather.

Heading down to the barn and stable there was clear evidence of deer and some worryingly large paw prints, but then I remembered that Kazek had been keeping an eye on the place and the prints belonged to him and his mountain dog; phew! Mind you the deer had had a good feed on our young apple apple trees and another mental note was made to make sure I protect the fresh trees we plant this year. Its odd they don’t eat the quince trees, just as well as they make a good fruit for one of the many liqueurs that we made in the autumn. I also noted that the snow and ice had taken its toll on the weaker of the silver birch, bending and even snapping some of them, so natural selection has selected them for felling when the weather warms up. By the way, for all you avid humanure folowers of the composting toilet diary; I took a quick picture of the pile 🙂 The snow on top probably indicates that the anorobic process has stopped for the winter, although with no recent deposits to feed the pile I’m it’s probably to be expected.

Once I’d checked on everything, started a fire, talked to Gosia on Skype, walked the dogs and had some lunch, it started to snow again, so I decided to hedge my bets and head back home; I had a flight to catch on Monday so I didn’t want to get snowed in in Pyrowki 🙂

A funny old day

As you know my days are filled with dog walking, blogging (reading more than writing) and more recently trying to watch the film recommendations of Beetleypete. The list that I was working to expanded today with another list from Curnblog, who’s blog was recommended by Pete, getting more work is not an option: i don’t have the time! I won’t for a minute proclaim to understand what these two film buffs are talking about, their opinions and critique are far beyond my simple thinking; but they do make a very compelling argument and reasoning for why I should want to watch a particular film’; so thank you both, I’ll let you know how I get on.

After my morning walk with the dogs I know that Gosia will be awake from her Dutch slumber and we chat almost every day whilst we drink our respective morning cups of coffee and tea; although it’s quite likely that this is my third cuppa of the day. Skype is a wonderful thing and I just hope that it remains free in the future, I will refrain from being a cynic at this point just in case I upset the karma.

I have mentioned leaf and twig once before as he (I’m guessing) provides me with a daily smile, and today’s post was no exception. A picture of a tree that has at some stage in its life tried to avoid something, you will have to follow the link to know what I mean. On seeing todays post I was compelled to send a quick comment as I had also seen such a tree in the local forest.

Determined to try and find this tree again today, so I could take a picture, I headed out on a two hour walk with the dogs, and could I find it? No, and I felt certain I knew where it was! But as I had the camera with me I thought I would take a few photos, if not for you (the reader) then for Gosia (the reader) who I’m sure will be happy to see the dogs having fun and also to appreciate that it is still cold in Poland; never mind the –7 in Holland 🙂

So homeward bound and after my walk I followed my little routine of feeding the dogs, popping to the local shop for a beer or two, or three (if I haven’t purchased in bulk earlier in the week) and then settling down to an evening in to watch a few films.

But no, as I entered the kitchen I was confronted with an almost panicked mother in-law and as I was only able to understand one word in five I failed to grasp what was going on; had I done something wrong to offend my hostess? After ‘hiding in the kitchen for 10 minutes, taking the time to feed the dogs and then pop to the closest shop; which was closed, I pondered what could possibly be happening. I had worked out that someone was visiting, but had no idea why this had sparked the reaction that it had.

Of course everything has a simple explanation and once the guests had left I was able to work out, through various mimes and gestures with the occasional pidgin Polish word thrown in for good measure , that the local priest had just popped in to bless the house. It was probably just easier to keep me hidden away than to try and get me involved, which I’m grateful for.

Conscious that I was still beerless (I know it’s not a word) I thought I would head out again and further afield to one of the other three shops available to me within half a mile. I’m not sure why my normal shop was closed but its quite possible the priest was running to a schedule and the shop was only a couple down on his list, so I had to think ahead and headed for Zombecks’. This may well be the wrong spelling, or even the wrong name, but that’s how I remember it. I do know that the son of the owner worked in Jersey (Channel Islands) for a while so there was a possibility that someone might speak English, however upon arrival it soon became apparent that the vodka was the native language and a slight recognition from the owner of the shop resulted in several Na zdrowies and shots of vodka, This may well be the reason why I’m posting now and making grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and rapid changes in direction of topic. Maybe not!

Thankfully I enjoyed a feast of sour cabbage soup (I will remember what it’s called tomorrow) followed by goulash with barley, accompanied by pickled gherkins; so my constitution should be good, especially if I only drink one of the beers that I bought.

But now to settle down to ‘Le Reine Margor’ or possibly ‘Gods and Generals’, most likely the second option whilst my vision is struggling with subtitles.

Dobranoc!

Ambitious beavers

I know, it’s another post about the beavers, I’m sorry, but other than telling you about what time I got up, went to bed or carried out the usual bodily functions (although I admit to discussing the latter in the past) very little is happening. The snow seems to keep coming and the temperatures remain low; although Gosia checked in from Holland yesterday to tell me it was –8°c, whilst Poland was experiencing the dizzy heights of -2°c; at least she has her work to keep her warm!

All this free time provides me with the opportunity to explore the area further as I try and add some variation to my treks with my four legged friends and in doing so I keep coming across more evidence of the industrious beavers.

Of course this isn’t the only wildlife on the area and once I leave the beaten track I often come across evidence of deer, foxes; which the dogs love to chase, and on a good day if I’m particularly lucky I will spook a buzzard and watch in awe as it slowly flaps its wings and glides out of range. A very magnificent bird, much bigger than you would expect; I hope to have the happy coincidence of having my camera with me when we meet one day in the future. I should probably add that I also need to have a memory card, a fully charged battery, the correct lens the lens cap removed, the correct setting on the camera and the reaction speed that allows me to get a good shot; not too much to ask:)

It was whilst checking my walks on Google Earth that I noticed a build up of water in one on the drainage ditches that crisscross the flat land outside the village, I walk past the area quite often and had noticed a few felled trees so thought that it was worth a closer look.

I counted over two hundred felled trees, the stumps all neatly gnawed to a point as if by a giant pencil sharpener; although the snow does a good job of hiding this fact. On further inspection it was clear that some of this damage may have occurred in the past and the beavers damn long since dismantled, remembering that the Google photo dates back to 2010 this made sense. But some of the damage was clearly recent so there may be a new project in the making, either that or the beavers have won a logging contract for a local wood yard!

Walking further afield than normal I became even more impressed with the beavers ability to take down trees, rather than the normal ten to fifteen year old birch which seem to be the material of choice for damn building, they had moved onto some seriously large lumber.

Don’t worry that’s the last of the beaver tales for now, I will try and come up with something else to blog about; having just read about the discovery of horse meat in beef burgers sold in Tescos, I feel that an opportunity to malign one of my pet hates, supermarkets, should not be missed; watch this space.

That was the week that was

I have now settled at my winter weight of around 85Kg, helped by generous portions of delicious food and copious amounts of alcohol; well maybe not copious; but more than enough! I no longer need to wear a belt when wearing several pairs of trousers (not all at once) and when I do it looks like the next option is a new belt or a hole punch:)

Mind, it doesn’t surprise me as the only exercise I’ve had lately is walking the dogs down to the forest to keep an eye of the latest beaver activity.  The beavers are having a great battle with the locals, after there first dam was broken up they decided to fell a tree across the track; I have an image of the beaver resistance fighters ready to take the last chunk out of the tree as the vehicle approaches 🙂 This happened about 10 days ago and I’ve followed the progress, as the farmer has moved the tree and cut it into manageable lengths; no doubt to pick up and use as firewood in the future; the beavers had an other idea and dragged the new, handy sized, pieces to use on the rebuilding of the dam; stripping the bark for food in the process.

We dont stop for snow

Someone detroyed our dam

Remains of the tree that was felled across the road

Just a few more

Are these tree getting thicker, or is it just me

Timber!

Damn, someone hid another tree behind this one

Can we fix it? Yes we can.

We can rebuild it!

We did manage a couple of days back at the ranch, checking everything was ok and clearing a patch of land of brambles; warm work even with the temperature close to zero. But yet again as the night time temperature inched towards -8°c it became uncomfortable to stay for two long and we retreated back to heating central.

And if you happen to be wondering how the humanure pile is handling the cold weather; well it seems to be ok, despite not making any deposits for quite a while the pile has reduced in size, with a noticeable indent in the middle, so I’m confidant that the little microbes are still working hard to break down those nasty pathogens; either that or rats have moved in and are eating their way through it!

One of our biggest problems is water whilst we wait for the new borehole pump to be fitted. Our 1000 Litre tanks that capture water from various roofs are either frozen solid or empty to prevent them from freezing solid. We did have a contingency plan of four 25 litre containers, but these soon froze solid, even in the stable, and it amazes me how long it takes for them to thaw out, even when we have the wood burner going. I can now understand how the old ice houses used to work with a big block of ice, it’s a very slow melt.

We do have the old well, but this has all but dried up in the worst drought since records began and we are lucky to get a couple of litres in the bucket as a time, good for a brew, not for a bath!

So back to the cake capital of Poland (Rzemien) more food, more drink, more visiting friends back for the season after working away across Europe; all of us calendar watching for the return to work, some on a tighter schedule than others.

It’s an easy life whilst you have some money saved, but we have started to consider looking for work as the cold prevents us from doing much on the house; it would be a better way to spend our time, rather than watching money trickle away as we laze about. Holland looks good at this time of year, lots of plants need propagating and potting  for the garden centres back in the UK.

But that’s enough talk about having to work for a living, we’ve much more important jobs to do, like baking a beetroot chocolate cake, recipe to follow 🙂

To coppice or not to coppice, that is the question

One of our hopes for the future is to be self-sufficient in wood as a fuel for our heating and some of our cooking, I would say all of our cooking but I don’t think it will be practical or realistic  to cook on the wood burning piec in the height of summer; 35ºC is not uncommon in July, August and September and the extra heat might just push us over the edge!

So back in  the spring of 2011 we purchased our first necessity (toy for me) for our future smallholding, a chainsaw; believe me Gosia is hard to convince when it comes to spending money so I had to have a solid argument ready before the go ahead was granted, but it was an easy sell with the above argument for self sufficiency laid of the table. Oddly enough once the novelty wore off and the initial felling of some of the larger diseased fruit trees was done I went back to using a bow saw, or even a pruning saw to thin out the woodland that we have; the chainsaw only comes out when really necessary.

As an experiment I decided to cut a section of trees down, not the really young trees, but ones I guessed to be five or six years old; about 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) in diameter., to see if they would send out shoots. The majority were silver birch, which I had read would coppice if they were under ten years old or hadn’t started to send out seed; there were also a few willow the odd oak and a few unknowns; and then I forgot all about them. So when I noticed new growth on the tree stumps that remained after I cleared a path for the new electricity cable trench, I was reminded that I must check on the previous years experiment.

 As you will see by the pictures we have had a degree of success with this birch and neighbouring willow; in fact as I inspected the area that I cut it would seem that about 30 % of the birch has coppiced well and sent out multiple shoots all of which are almost 6 feet high (close to 2 meters) All of the willow seems to have done what it is renowned for and exceed the growth of the birch by a foot or more, even the oaks have sent out shoots, although as would be expected the growth is a lot slower at about 2 feet (60cm). A great success?

Fresh growth following the September felling to make way for electricity

Silver birch cut in spring 2010

Birch and willow coppice from last year

New shoots from the September felling

Thinking that this was proof that we could have a sustainable source of wood in the future I thought I better turn to the internet for more advice of coppice management and from what I have read so far it may well be a false economy to coppice as the space requirements for a coppice to perform well may well be better allocated to many individual trees! I will of course continue to read  and may well report back once I’m convinced either way. Any advice happily received 🙂