Who needs trees!

[pieinthesky]

We moved house recently and whilst house hunting both myself and my daughter had 'hammock trees' high on our list of priorities. We wanted 3+ bedrooms and 3+ trees Unfortunately suitable gardens were few and far between and we had to compromise on trees.

What we did get was one of those wooden structures - I call them 'useless sheds' since they are just a shed with all the useful features (walls, roof, door, and window) removed. At first I just considered it potential firewood but this weekend we made it useful:

https://imgur.com/3mmGk4j

I reinforced the main joints with 10mm coach screws and some aluminium angles and it is solid as a rock, I didnt fancy trusting my back to some old nails banged in by who knows who!

The 3x3 tarp just slotted through and offers the bare minimum of protection - we had to drop it later when the wind and rain arrived.

It was great watching 'Sherlock' outside in the rain with a drop of whiskey and the occasional cup of tee being brought out.

I know it is not proper bushcraft but it was a nice evening. I recon it will take 3 hammocks so when it gets warmer I will try and get the wife out too

 

[nigelp]

Brilliant. Every garden needs some where to hang a hammock.

 

[Nice65]

Good for you Mike, and it’s great to see the young lady still enjoying nights out. It was a few years ago now when you brought her to Bardsters field.

 

[Stew]

Good idea. Take the tarp off and stargazing should be good.

 

[pieinthesky]

Good for you Mike, and it’s great to see the young lady still enjoying nights out. It was a few years ago now when you brought her to Bardsters field.

Time flies, I bet that was 4 or more years ago now! She still comes out occasionally on canoe trips and to the North/Lords Wood meets. Too far for you I guess?

 

[pieinthesky]

Good idea. Take the tarp off and stargazing should be good.

Not last night, it was windy, rainy and cold - but next time maybe

 

[Nice65]

Time flies, I bet that was 4 or more years ago now! She still comes out occasionally on canoe trips and to the North/Lords Wood meets. Too far for you I guess?

At least. I’d guess it’s more like 6 years, but if my idea of time flying is anything like yours we’ll never know

I did think about the North Wood recent meet, be good to catch up with you and DD and meet a few other folk, but it’s a fair way from Sussex. We’ve got a converted Ducato though, so with a bit more planning it could be a goer in the future.

 

[Stew]

In contrast, my recent house move does have a big tree (that will get reduced over the next few years as it’s too close to the house) so I decided to get my caving kit out this weekend....

I’ll get the ladder a bit higher when it’s less windy....

 

[pieinthesky]

Me and a mate climbed right to the top of a tree like that, we must have been 13. My mate took a dump at the top, which we thought extremely funny - until we started back down!

Must be a big garden Stew?

 

[Robson Valley]

So long as the branches aren't beating on the house in big winds, I'd try to keep the trees for the habitat diversity that they provide. Here, the issue is the snow load on the conifer branches and those resting on power and telephone wires.
An overnight dump of 24" - 36" snow is more than a small nuisance.

My 3 x 50' spruce are known nesting trees for quite a number of humming birds right now, in fact.
I need pruning to stop the branches beating on those from the other trees. I can wait until the young hummers are fledged.

 

[Stew]

Not that part - the tree is only about odour metres from part of the house, hence why it’ll be disappearing in stages over the next few years.

 

[Robson Valley]

Huh. I've never measured how far the spruce are from the front of my house.
I do know that they are 20 years bigger than when I bought this place! The drip line must be at least 30' in diameter for each tree. They would crunch the house if they went over but we get nothing but N and S wind in the valley and the trees are east of the house.

 

[bruno73]

Excellent idea. That's a good transformation