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.

A Good Find!

This week I was surprised to find several small stands of Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea) at Holt Wood. I usually head for patches of yellow as they are likely to be  Ragworts - the Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) can spread quickly, and when dried it is toxic to cattle and sheep. This is not such a problem for us but not good for hay in the neighbouring grass meadow so I try to stop the plants reaching seedbearing stage to reduce spread. As I grasped this particular plant to pull it out of the ground I suddenly realised that it just did not have the right leaves for Ragwort which are pinnatifid, or deeply cut in lobes. The leaves of the Goldenrod are entire and untoothed. Goldenrod is the only native to the UK of the Solidago species, although the introduced species of Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and Early Goldenrod (S. gigantea) are listed in Francis Rose, The Wild Flower Key (2006 edition). Perhaps the dryness of the summer has encouraged the Goldenrod this year. The plant (flowers and leaves) is aromatic, stimulant, carminative according to Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal  (1976 edition) but present day use is more likely to be as an astringent and diuretic. There is a detailed US Solidago spp.

Solidago virgaurea 5 September 2013

Goldenrod flowers

article at

http://www.methowvalleyherbs.com/2012/10/goldenrod-torch-of-healing.html

Goldenrod has many potential uses from wound healing to kidney supprt, and makes a tasty tea. When we have expanded our population of Goldenrod then we can harvest to dry and have an ongoing supply.

Exeter Green Fair

What a great day out! Lots of stalls promoting sustainable living and wonderful foods. There were a few rain showers but we were saved by our neat self-erecting (almost) gazebo. Our stand for the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust carried information about Tree Aid, local herbal practitioners offering drop ins, and projects involved in medicinal tree and shrub growing including Holt Wood. Our Plant Identification Quiz  drew quite a few people in to try their luck - several  people correctly identified at least 10 medicinal plants and won a bottle of organic Lavender Essential Oil. Thanks to Helen, Kay and others for all their help - it was great to chat with visitors about sustainable herbal medicine and the Distilled Witch Hazel (first in Devon and available at www.herbaid.org.uk) provoked a lot of interest and discussion about air miles in getting supplies of herbs and cosmetics. Congratulations to raffle winners who won a bottle of Bickleigh-grown wine, a herbal first aid kit and other goodies.

 

Exeter Green Fair, September 2013

Visitors to Holt Wood

Holt Wood view, August 2013

Visitors to Holt Wood

Visitors are benefiting from the picnic tables which were donated last year which provide a good focus for a group.  We welcomed a group of people from Morchard Bishop Garden Club who came to visit in June. Altogether they spent several hours with us which included hearing about the background to the project and then taking a walkabout. The end of the visit was an opportunity for interesting discussion about how to develop markets for UK-grown herbal produce (thanks to Colin for the photo!). Visitors took away a sample of Distilled Witch Hazel. We have more dates planned in 2014 for visitors.

Holt Wood visitors, June 2013

Green Fair in Exeter

Look out for the Green Fair by the Cathedral in Exeter on Saturday 7th September 2013, from 10 am to 4 pm. We will be there on a stall for the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust. This is a new organisation dedicated to education and research to encourage sustainable harvesting and use of medicinal trees and shrubs. There will be information about a range of related projects and a raffle to raise funds with free samples of Herbal Insect Repellent.

Prickly Ash Bark (Zanthoxylum americanum)

Also called the 'toothache tree' as the bark and other parts such as the berries can be chewed (mind the thorns) to provide an analgesic remedy for toothache. The berries turn black as they ripen. We have planted Prickly Ash in one of the wide rides at Holt Wood and it is growing well, a bit like an over-sized gooseberry bush in habit. The whole plant contains coumarins and alkaloids, and the leaves are rich in essential oils (we find it is very aromatic) some of which are antispasmodic. Prickly Ash is known for its stimulating effects on peripheral circulation, sometimes given for leg cramps, but could have other applications.

Prickly Ash berries, August 2013

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!