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.

Wood bursts into flower

February and March have been a busy time at Holt Wood. Our aim has been to clear away brambles and undergrowth before the end of March, by strimmer and by hand; this seems to suit many of the smaller wild flowers and now we are seeing lots of Dog Violets popping up in the rides. Meanwhile, the new herb beds created last year included a spare one that was rotavated, mulched with grass cuttings and covered with black plastic over the winter. This bed will be home for trying some crops of Agrimony, Marigold, Yarrow and more - seed saved from walks and harvests last year. Working in the medicinal wood at this time of year is a delight as we get to see everything bursting into flower and leaf, fine examples are Goat Willow (Salix caprea) and Oregon Grape Root (Mahonia aquifolium) flowering ahead of everything else.

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.

Joining the Permaculture LAND Network

This month we are so pleased to hear that Holt Wood has been accepted as part of the Permaculture LAND Network of Learning Centres. This is a network of projects which can show volunteers and visitors how permaculture works.

Permaculture is really all about integrated working with the land to provide for a range of needs in ways that are healthy and efficient. When we were planning Holt Wood as a project to develop sustainable production of medicinal and other supplies our sketch plans incorporated permaculture design principles. These included taking into account our purpose, zoning the area for different activities, using resources available well, maximising the woodland edges, conserving nutrients and water, as well as improving the soil and wildlife.

The Permaculture Learning And Network Demonstration (LAND) Project is a four year, England-wide project to create a permaculture learning and demonstration network supported by online services and information. Building on twenty-five years of work by local practitioners, the demonstration projects include permaculture designed home gardens, community gardens, public spaces, allotments, smallholdings and farms. The Project is supported by Big Lottery funds. As well as Holt Wood the other projects in this network are listed at
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/land

We will be running some more Working Days and other events in 2012 to help develop awareness of our particular project, and there will be added emphasis on permaculture design ideas to reflect our membership of the Network. Our picture this month shows a new stone-built dam along a ditch which will help to store water for use in drier times as well as provide an environment conducive to water-loving medicinal herbs.

Witch Hazel Grown in Devon!

Distilled Witch Hazel water is now available from plants grown and harvested in Devon! Here at Holt Wood, in North Devon, we are trying to develop ways of harvesting sustainable supplies of medicinal trees and shrubs. Back in 2005/2006, when the site was first cleared of Sitka Spruce and replanted with a variety of trees, we did not really know how well some things would grow. In planning the site we included mostly native trees plus some introduced trees used widely in herbal medicine. We were fortunate to locate a nursery which could provide a number of young Hamamelis virginiana plants. This is a native of North America, and has smaller flowers than most garden centre Witch Hazel shrubs, but grows a little more vigorously. It is not related to the Hazel tree. Most Distilled Witch Hazel today is produced in huge distilling operations by firms like American Distilling. Our plants had been grown by a UK nursery to provide grafting stock for garden varieties of Witch Hazel. Since planting most of our young trees have grown on into good size bushes to be harvested for leaves and twigs in the making of Distilled Witch Hazel. This year we have been able to harvest sufficient quantities to produce the distilled water. The distilled water is preserved with the addition of 15% alcohol. It has a lovely fresh smell, familiar from childhood, and is great for dabbing on spots, stings and insect bites or as a skin toner.

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.

Harvesting Cramp Bark

First coppiced bark harvest from Cramp Bark (Viburnum opulus)

This small tree, or shrub, has opposite leaves and its growth habit tends to be multi-stemmed, forking towards the end of branches as flowering terminal buds are used up. So the plant has quite a bushy appearance with, after 5 years, many stems. It enjoys a moist woodland location. Sometimes it is called Guelder Rose or Snowball Tree, but these names should only be used for the ornamental variety which has sterile round-shaped heads of flowers. In April I harvested stems of Cramp Bark about 20 cm up from the ground. After removing leaves and soft growth branching off the main stems I could readily pare off the bark in short sections from stems at least pencil size thick. The leaf and soft growth can be composted or make an ideal mulch to suppress weeds.The harvested bark was dried in a single layer on trays in the dark in an airing cupboard for about 4 weeks till crisply dry. It was then passed through several grinder screens in a heavy duty grinder (see pictures). The resulting fine, brown powder will be used in filling capsules or for percolation as a tincture. The plants that have been coppiced will recover and be harvestable again within 3 to 5 years.