Fun with willows

We have been clearing a lengthy ride, making it wide enough to plant some additional fruit and useful  trees. Most recently we have been enjoying the fluffy white buds of Salix daphnoides, so much so that we have ordered some additional ornamental willows for future harvesting, including more kinds of willow catkins and curly stems.

An excellent source of willow cuttings is at World of Willow in Dorset - they post by return. While sorting out additional space for planting we have been experimenting with charcoal-making. Magically we have transformed a tin of cuttings into thin charcoal sticks that are ideal for drawing - perfect for artists. These will be boxed up and taken along to the annual Seed Share event organised by Sustainable Crediton.  This will be on Saturday 20th February 2016 at the Old Town Hall in Crediton.

It is such fun to use charcoal for drawing and we will ensure we have some paper and smaller pieces of charcoal for kids to play with as budding artists!