Back to the harvest

At last, some space in the diary to get the blog going again. Last year, 2014, the blog was left behind for a while due to lots of other things, hope to catch up during 2015.

Harvest of witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

The witch hazel shrubs are doing well, both on the edge of woodland and in the understorey where they tend to reach up higher, to over 6 ft. The shrub throws out long twigs with lovely fresh shiny and smooth leaves (Hazel nut leaf is furry). So, each spring the witch hazels get a 'haircut' to take off most of the twiggy sprouts. This young leaf and twig distils to produce a delightful floral water which seems to reduce inflammation in sprains, bites and suchlike. We sell it in small amounts of 50 ml (Herbaid shop). It is more expensive than distilled witch hazel from a chemist, but it is a locally produced in Devon, seasonal, sustainable product which has never been near any pesticides. A bit like artisanal production of fine wines! The provenance of this distilled water is carefully logged and linked to a barcode label. Every batch of witch hazel is recorded by weight with the date and location of harvest, and a sample of the plant and product kept - see the image of the specimen of the most recent harvest.

Other developments

The Sweet Chestnuts (Castanea sativa) are flowering so we must keep an eye on them to see if they produce nuts.

Meanwhile we have noticed that bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) is spreading, and needs to be controlled. Although we have strimmed frequently in grassy rides, the bracken still comes up. Our approach probably needs to be more vigorous and consistent to beat this. And we can use the leaves on the compost heap, to make a mulch for young plants. A good way to knock it back is trampling, so we will soon be asking visitors if they could trample a few square feet of bracken before they leave!

New Year News from Holt Wood

Time is flying again, my efforts to keep up to date are just not good enough so this year I have a resolution to do better! At least we have details of our Holt Wood Programme in 2014 arranged. Our first visit to Holt Wood in 2014 coincided with brilliant blue skies between fierce squalls of wind and rain. The River Torridge nearby was within inches of the top of the bank and, by now, is probably washing over the neighbouring meadow. It has been even higher as we can see by the debris which has collected on the deer fence. There is plenty of standing water around so clearing away blockages in water channels and courses becomes important as not many of the trees (perhaps the exception is Alder) like to stand too long in water. A ditch runs all the way downhill along one border of Holt Wood and this needs regular checking to make sure it is feeding down to a stream and into the river.

Standing water at field level in Holt Wood, 2nd January 2014

Saving water!

Of course we do not want to lose all of the water arriving at Holt Wood and it is wonderful to see our newly dug pond filling up steadily. It has been puddled with clay found on site and, once this has firmed up, it should hold water. It is called 'Anne's last pond' because for years I have been digging small 'ponds' or holes in various places in the Wood to try to work out the best location. We finally realised that the best place is near the shed where we can appreciate the ensuing wildlife, ensure that some water is piped in and out, use as an emergency water source, and readily rake out leaves and blanket weed.

Anne's last pond, 2nd January 2014

What is sprouting

It does not feel like winter has truly arrived here, and many plants are still green if not growing - there are leaf buds already sprouting on the elder (Sambucus nigra) trees. It is interesting to see the seed pods that have formed on the Virginian Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), after flowering these stay on for a full year and then they dehisce or burst open to eject the seeds.

Seed pod of Virginian Witch Hazel at Holt Wood

Herbal Harvest Weekend Course

This course is planned for Saturday 7–Sunday 8 June 2014. Ideal if you want to immerse yourself in a herbal haven in beautiful Devon. You will spend several days learning about growing herbs sustainably, harvesting herbs and preparing herbal products for health and beauty uses. The weekend is based at Holt Wood near Great Torrington in Devon, our project on cultivating and harvesting medicinal trees and shrubs sustainably. Your guide will be Anne Stobart, MNIMH, PhD, an experienced medical herbalist, herbal lecturer, herb grower and researcher.

The cost of this weekend is £120.00. This covers daytime refreshments at Holt Wood, all talks and demonstrations, course materials and handouts. Places are limited and must be booked in advance. For further details, download the course description or email herbaid@herbaid.co.uk.

Recording the wood

How to document a wood? 

We keep records of every visit and note down any work carried out and any significant observations. These written notes are really useful for putting together a biannual newsletter about Holt Wood. This 'wood diary' also provides a great opportunity to compare activity year-on-year. A year ago, on 3rd May 2012, I wrote:

-weeded around the Echinacea plants, put organic slug pellets and plastic guards, much slug damage

-harvested 2 Salix daphnoides and 2 Viburnum opulus

-lots of bluebells, apples flowering

-cleared more blanket weed from small pond

Having last year's notes enables us to compare the effects of the cold spring this year. Now, in early May 2013, we are seeing bluebells just beginning to show, but other growth is still slow.  Although we don't keep timesheets, the 'wood diary' gives us a rough idea of the number of hours of labour needed.

The photo trail

My favourite way of recording things in the wood is a monthly photo trail. I have marked up about 15 locations with bamboo poles and string, so that I can walk round and snap the same set of trees and shrubs from the same locations. At each marker  I try to get an overall portrait for size and appearance, and a close-up of a feature such as a bud, or leaves. This provides a real opportunity to see month-by- month development, and there is often much more to see when you get close up. The bamboo markers remind me to take snaps of the following trees and shrubs:

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium), Virginian Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), Prickly Ash Bark (Zanthoxylum americanum), Common Oak (Quercus robur), Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha), Lime (Tilia x europea), Elder (Sambucus nigra), Yew (Taxus baccata), Purging Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), Cramp bark (Viburnum opulus), Violet Willow (Salix daphnoides), White willow (Salix alba), Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Photo trail and Yew (Taxus baccata) 4th May 2013

Close up of Yew (Taxus baccata) 4th May 2013

Harvest and other records

We keep a set of records which includes an ongoing list of plant material harvested including date, location, species, amount and processing. This information is coded so it can be placed on a label with the plant material and we can track backwards if we want to know where materials came from. And we also log all visitors and volunteers coming to Holt Wood, this is part of our link with the Permaculture Association as a LAND project. Finally, we have records of expenditure which include costs of materials, equipment and repairs, insurance, training and other essentials. We have not tried to keep detailed weather records apart from monitoring a rain water gauge

An ongoing audit

All of the above records (written notes, photos, harvest and other records) provide us with material for an ongoing audit of the project at Holt Wood, which is a kind of evaluation of how things are going. It does take a little time and commitment but the build up of detail is very worthwhile. Above all, having an accurate description of what we do and achieve is essential to be able to compare with our Holt Wood Management Plan which we update from time to time. As we gain experience, some of these findings may be useful to others!

To harvest or not to harvest

Bugle, Ajuga reptans

We have had lots of bluebells, making a sea of blue. Another spectacular plant is Bugle (Ajuga reptans), a member of the mint family (and quite easily confused with Selfheal, Prunella vulgaris, another purplish mint family member). Bugle seems to like a dampish location with some drainage, and grows plentifully  in several large patches on a sloping ride, gradually spreading by runners. It is traditionally reputed as a wound herb, the leaf good to stem bleeding whether made into a decoction or as fresh poultice. John Quincy (1730 edition) in Pharmacopoea Officinalis & Extemporanea mentions Bugle in passing when listing 'agglutinents' like Cranesbill, Hound's Tongue, Plantain, Shepherd's Purse and others. Culpeper recommends making a syrup. But we have not harvested this plant – it is far to attractive to bees and seems to be an important plant flowering for them earlier in the year. 

Pollarded Violet Willow, Salix daphnoides

Stumps after pollarding

On the other hand, we have had to be decisive and begin to harvest some of the faster-growing trees, otherwise they will become impossibly big and crowded. However, we keep having second thoughts about cutting down trees. The original intention was to coppice our willow and others on a cycle of years long enough to allow a good return of tree bark. In the effort to get the whole project established many of these trees have been left undisturbed for as much as six years. By trial and error I have found that Violet Willow can be pollarded at 4 to 5 feet height and will then produce a number of good size branches in subsequent years. So I have started to pollard more White Willow, Violet Willow and Cramp Bark trees to try to better understand this process. There are a number of questions that need answering – should the first 'pollarding' be carried out before a certain age, can pollarding be done when bark is easy to harvest, how is pollarding different to coppicing at the base of the tree, does pollarding height matter etc etc? So I will be trying to figure out some answers by monitoring the progress of these trees over the coming years. The stumps do look rather forlorn and bare right now, but the ground has been opened up to allow other plants to grow, and hopefully the trees will recover to provide an ongoing pollardable source of bark.

Exploring and Harvesting Bark

Holt Wood Working Day on Exploring and Harvesting Bark

Holt Wood is a project where we are finding ways to cultivate and harvest medicinal and other trees and shrubs. The site has been developed with permaculture design principles, and was planted up in 2005 following clearfelling of a sitka spruce plantation. Co-founded by Kay Piercy and Anne Stobart, the project is now increasingly well-established with a range of native and introduced trees and shrubs, some providing herbal medicines for use by Anne, a consultant medical herbalist. We hold regular working wood days, when visitors can join us to see progress and contribute to ongoing management. Our next planned day on Sat 31st March 2012 will focus on bark and medicine. We aim to be harvesting cramp bark, willow bark and witch hazel and completing initial processing for its journey to becoming herbal medicine. There will also be opportunities to photograph bark, draw bark, investigate bark creatures, make things with bark and more. You are welcome to join us – bring sturdy boots and outdoor weather clothes. Email info@holtwoodherbs.org.uk to let us know you are coming and receive directions.

Fruits of the forest

Yummy, raspberries (Rubus idaeus) are growing in the wood. Small but juicy and sweet, a great flavour. We did not plant these - they have just appeared along the edges of several rides. So this was not part of the planned planting of trees and shrubs, but a welcome addition to the fruit harvest at Holt Wood. Raspberries are rich in Vitamin C and contain anthocyanins and other constituents providing anti-oxidant effects.

Raspberry leaf is astringent and a muscle relaxant. It has traditional use in pregnancy during the last 2 months to tone the uterine muscles and assist labour. Dosage would be based on 1 teaspoon of dried herb made into an infusion from one to three times daily. Although reported as safe to use in this way, the research evidence is not extensive. One study showed a shortening of the second stage of labour and fewer forceps deliveries (Simpson, M., Parsons, M., Greenwood, J., and Wade, K. Raspberry leaf in pregnancy: its safety and efficacy in labor. Journal of Midwifery and Womens Health, 2001. vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 51-59). Another use for Raspberry leaf is as a gargle for a sore throat, based on an ounce of dried leaf to a pint of water, made up as an infusion. Ideally the leaves should be picked before fruiting and, if not used straight away, dried thoroughly and stored in a cool, dry place.