The boys and i had day trip to our woods today, had a great time, decided we would have a fire today as well.
Youngest getting some fuel wood ready, using the two Oak branches like a brake and the power of a lever to snap the hazel rods down a bit
Eldest bringing in some fuel wood
yep, that should do to begin with
Perfect
we wanted to make some charcoal today, or really i wanted to add another skill to the boys ever growing list of skills, so we took an old sweetie tin with us, of course being Valentines day it had be a Roses tin, youngest bringing over some seasoned hazel to saw up for the tin
Tin full and ready to go
put the lid on and on to the fire with it
while the wood was cooking, we had a bit of a wander round, loads of Bluebells and Primroses coming up, the Wood spurge is already evident as well, back to the fire and the charcoal is cooking well
I wanted to collect some green Ash for a couple of projects, all of the timber we took today came from a small stand of Ash that had been crushed by a fallen sweet chestnut and the bottom of the trunks on all of them were splintered and shattered, so no harm done by us, in fact it's probably helped the Ash as it will regrow from the now coppiced stump.
Youngest doing a bit of forestry, yes the saw is upside down as he could see the Ash was under compression from the top, so he is under cutting it, prior to making the severing cut on top
walking back with some of the haul
meanwhile, eldest has been keeping an eye on the charcoal, upon inspection we could see that no smoke was coming out of the hole in the lid, so we took it off the fire and sealed the hole with some wet earth and let it cool down
time for a bit play - and why not, the boys being, well, the boys
after a rough and tumble, eldest set to splitting down some of the waste Ash, bits that were to knotty to be any use, these went on the fire
while he was doing this, i made a start on a new serving spoon, again from some the green Ash
we then checked the tin, all was cold, so we removed the lid and hey presto - perfect charcoal
We bought some of this home with us, the rest we left up the woods in a sealed container so we have a good source of easy light fuel and should we decide to, we can also use some of it in a water filter.
Boys having a play with some of the charcoal
shortly after this we tidied up the site and headed for home, tired, stinking of wood smoke but happy, all being well we are going back up there on Friday or Saturday for another fun filled day.
Youngest getting some fuel wood ready, using the two Oak branches like a brake and the power of a lever to snap the hazel rods down a bit
Eldest bringing in some fuel wood
yep, that should do to begin with
Perfect
we wanted to make some charcoal today, or really i wanted to add another skill to the boys ever growing list of skills, so we took an old sweetie tin with us, of course being Valentines day it had be a Roses tin, youngest bringing over some seasoned hazel to saw up for the tin
Tin full and ready to go
put the lid on and on to the fire with it
while the wood was cooking, we had a bit of a wander round, loads of Bluebells and Primroses coming up, the Wood spurge is already evident as well, back to the fire and the charcoal is cooking well
I wanted to collect some green Ash for a couple of projects, all of the timber we took today came from a small stand of Ash that had been crushed by a fallen sweet chestnut and the bottom of the trunks on all of them were splintered and shattered, so no harm done by us, in fact it's probably helped the Ash as it will regrow from the now coppiced stump.
Youngest doing a bit of forestry, yes the saw is upside down as he could see the Ash was under compression from the top, so he is under cutting it, prior to making the severing cut on top
walking back with some of the haul
meanwhile, eldest has been keeping an eye on the charcoal, upon inspection we could see that no smoke was coming out of the hole in the lid, so we took it off the fire and sealed the hole with some wet earth and let it cool down
time for a bit play - and why not, the boys being, well, the boys
after a rough and tumble, eldest set to splitting down some of the waste Ash, bits that were to knotty to be any use, these went on the fire
while he was doing this, i made a start on a new serving spoon, again from some the green Ash
we then checked the tin, all was cold, so we removed the lid and hey presto - perfect charcoal
We bought some of this home with us, the rest we left up the woods in a sealed container so we have a good source of easy light fuel and should we decide to, we can also use some of it in a water filter.
Boys having a play with some of the charcoal
shortly after this we tidied up the site and headed for home, tired, stinking of wood smoke but happy, all being well we are going back up there on Friday or Saturday for another fun filled day.
Inspired to get the kids out now today myself,
.
