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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 18 6:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I would put your mystery tree down as rosaceous too Cassandra, but wouldn't like to be certain further than that. The berries certainly look like hawthorn, so you could be right there Jam Lady.

Like both your jumpers, and can't see where you ran out of the light green. Is it the top section of the yoke? It is hard to tell from the photo, but it could be a slightly different shade.

Gregotyn, you have been busy. I haven't been to the woods the last couple of days as I have been doing other things, and have something else to do today as well, but expecting to be working there tomorrow. We have to do another couple of charcoal firings over the next few days, so could be working at it Saturday again.

Jam Lady, that fire looks really worrying. I hope they manage to get it under control soon and that everyone is safe. I am glad to say the only one I had experience of didn't damage any property, but did destroy the jobs of several people as the woods was no longer suitable for tree cutting and milling, so the foresters and millers lost their jobs.

Will be going to sign the paperwork for the grant for the retort kiln today, so all being well, we will be able to order that over the next few days. It will still be about 6 weeks before we have the kiln, towards the end of this years charcoal season, but at least we will have it. We are hoping that it will make life a little easier for us and rather less weather dependent as it is quicker to fill and empty, so we don't need half a day dry to dig out and sieve. [/i]

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 18 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes, top of the yoke at the base of the neck MR - dark green was used and seems to have worked.

Gregotyn that seems to be a failing of Royal Mail. I posted myself a parcel of 'urgently needed stuff to be available on arrival' which went to English Heritage's old address (they forgot to mention they were moving at the time i was moving over there) and instead of following the 'mail forwarding' instruction they sent it back to New Zealand and I had to get a former colleague to re-post it for me as I was in transit. It finally arrived shortly before I moved out of my flat (six month rental) into the house! By that stage, of course, all the contents had been replaced so I had spent a fortune for nothing!

Central Highlands is Bothwell, Gregotyn, but Oatlands is in the middle of the island at any rate.

I owe an apology to the person who said it was hawthorn then JL - I had no idea it came with that sort of leaf shape. Will double check Botanica before I bend the knee in submission though, haha. I can't remember what it looks like in flower, so will have to keep an eye open. How interesting (though not from a dyeing perspective. Sigh. I have remembered that I still have some root crops in the ground, though, so will use the beetroot for red, remembering your advice about temperature MR - a useful tip!

Hope everyone stays safe JL - that looks a very nasty fire!

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 18 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The fire is exacerbated by extreme drought conditions. The man who lead the mushroom walk I joined last year said the mushroom hunting forests are in jeopardy. Daughter and rest of her group in Santa Fe went to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum, said it was wonderful.

And - look who I found in my garden yesterday!



Raced back to the house for a couple of strawberries but it wasn't interested. The eyes look dark enough that I think it is a female.

Off to knitting in a few minutes, having virtuously spent an hour in the garden this morning. Now it can rain!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 18 6:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Is that a tortoise or a terrapin Jam Lady? The shell looks rather bright for the sort of tortoise that are seen as pets in the UK.

Another warm day here yesterday and we had to go to sign the paperwork for the grant for the charcoal kiln. Finally! I started this last September and had to have the full application in by 1st January. Problem was that there were no really comparable alternatives and it took the Rural Payments Agency all this time to accept the fact. The kiln has to be made now, so we will have it towards the end of this charcoal season. Hope it goes on a long time this year as it is inclined to be an April-August season.

Today we have to dig out one kiln and try to at least get the timber together to fill 2 kilns again as we have orders coming in all the time. Think we currently have all the current kiln full on order, so we just have to keep going.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 18 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This is our native box tortoise, so called because there is a hinge about a third of the way back on the lower shell so the animal can pull its head and front legs in, then close up the shell.

Tortoises live on land. Here it is primarily the box tortoise and maybe also the woods tortoise, which I saw in Connecticut but not New Jersey. Terrapins live in water, and here that usually is term used for diamond back terrapin and red-eared slider. Turtles live on land and in water. Locally that included snapping turtle (very prehistoric looking), spotted turtle, painted turtle, and a couple of others.

Another overcast day. Hoping for good weekend weather as there are two events to attend - an old fashioned baseball game at the living history farm on Saturday (won't break my heart if it is rained out) and a poppy day at Wave Hill on Sunday. Not your kind of poppy day - it will be a guided walk through their gardens to see all the different poppies they grow, followed by a traditional poppy seed recipe cooking demonstration and tasting. That, I will go to rain or shine.

But now, out to pull more weeds.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 18 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This charcoal would give me a head ache if that was what I was doing instead of kindling. I am panicking already that I need 5 times the stock I have just to be where I should be now ie. I need 200 in stock now, but the stuff is still selling at this time of the year, so although it is building up it is not fast enough to cope with the demand that I will have in the autumn, when they light the fire for the evening before they switch on the central heating, and for that 2 to 3 weeks it is mayhem, up to 60 per week, then it reverts to 20 a week average till the spring when the heating goes off and another mini rise, and off for 2 months. This year it has been in demand throughout and only slackened this last 3 weeks. Such is life.
Do I take it that the kiln for grant aid is to be built on a permanent site, MR?

The shell is very brightly marked for the tortoise/terrapin to originate in the UK. but I know nothing about them.

I hope they can contain the fires Jam Lady, most frightening of all the natural disasters that can happen I think; you are helpless in fire, without the tools to fight it and often you can't get away fast enough. Worrying-fingers crossed for you all over there, I am praying for rain to keep you all safe. I've had a look through the link-scary to say the least.

I thought the tree is hawthorn just because of the shape of the fruits, but I know very little about trees that are not normally cut for timber and not much more about those that are cut for timber.

I will be away soon to get back to the wood shed and start chopping the wood that I cut to length yesterday, and I hope to chop that and saw some more, by the end of September I hope to have at least 300 nets. My plans for anything else have gone out of the window this year.
I may have to take action and find a wood chopping wife!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We have the same problem with log nets Gregotyn. We are still selling a few as well as the charcoal. I think some people have 'fire pits' and chimeneas outside to keep off the mossies and keep them warm when they sit in the garden; a waste of fuel as far as I am concerned. As son says, we have created a monster with both of them, and we could expand the firewood if we wanted as well. I think we are on the threshold of having to employ someone at least part time to help us as sadly both husband and I feel our age when we work constantly for several weeks without a break. Good luck with your kindling anyway.

Thanks for the info on tortoises, terrapins and turtles Jam Lady. I had no idea you had so many. There are none native to the UK at all, so they are all exotics to us and used to be imported, but I think they have to be British bred now as so many were being brought in to the detriment of the populations where they came from, which I think was the Mediterranean area. There was a vogue for terrapins at one point, and I think a few got released into the wild when they got too big, which didn't do our native pond life much good. I hope you enjoy your poppy day. Currently we have 'the wave' which is part of a huge display they had made for the 2014 WWI commemoration that is being sent to various parts of the country. I really ought to go to see it, but we have no time at the moment I am afraid, and I think it goes soon.

We managed to ring up and split a load of odd log ends that were lurking by the big splitter yesterday. With any luck that will be enough to fill one kiln, and husband and son are hoping to get enough other wood in to fill the other, so with any luck we will be able to fire both tomorrow as well as having the Volunteers with us. It's all go!

Gregotyn the kiln is fully towable but has to be fabricated as it is effectively one tank inside another, mounted horizontally on a trailer and with a lot of other pipe work to bring the gases from the inner to the outer chamber and then to the outside world to be vented off. Hope that makes sense to you.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Interesting about the hinged tortoise Jam Lady, a new one on me! I remember you talking about the poppy farm a year or so ago and if I remember you said there was a multitude of colours, I used to think poppies were only red! I hope the fires are now under control and stopped heading your way.

I wish I lived a bit closer to you 'down south', MR. I would be more than willing to give up my job up here and come down to work in a wood, but guess I have the same problem as you, a little over age for grafting and slogging-not much mind. I enjoy splitting logs when they are straight grained, that is ash or ash! I don't think I could afford a house your way in any event. But I am feeling age now, the 2 boys in the stores spend a lot of their time on telephones and watching cctv camera pictures. My boss is not only able to watch me in work, but he also can watch me from his home, via the internet and a camera placed up stairs trained on my spot. annoyingly he can also talk to me! His argument is that he doesn't want me to be in any trouble health wise and me being alone and unable to call an ambulance. He just wants to see I am not up to their tricks.
I can cut and chop firewood all day at home, and guess I could do logs at my pace-steady, I do a few now for an elderly local lady, she says it makes the coal last longer!
I now have 2 sources of pallets for fire wood, I asked what happened to the pile of pallets outside and the man said if you want ant wood that is there then take it it is for anyone who wants it-bonus.

How useful to have a towable kiln. No carting timber all round the place you just drive to the individual heaps and stack the kiln till full, then either return to where you want to unload and simply fire away, or fire where you finish loading and set it alight-it can't be that simple! I assume you will still be firing the other 2 kilns you have to meet the rising demand? One thing is certain you must a lot of timber at your disposal.

I think I need to leave as a screaming child has entered the library. Our librarians encourage children' as they say it encourages reading, this infant is a brat!

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Fire cannot get to us, Gregotyn. It would have to travel about 2,000 miles, getting across the San Juan Mountains, across the Mississippi River - not going to happen. It will destroy that area of southern Colorado though.

Today I



rescued a box tortoise off the highway. It is important to figure out which way they were headed and take them there. If you get it wrong they will stubbornly turn around and go in the direction they intended to go.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45321
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

well done, i have grabbed a few critters off the tarmac.

not knowing much about tortoises or the landscape but with most things on the move they are looking for dinner or a "special friend" ( or if they have already met a "special friend" a place to nest etc ). that can narrow down where they are going.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Box tortoises are very territorial, dpack.

"Some specimens will wander aimlessly until they die trying to find their original home if they are removed from the exact area they grew up in."

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45321
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

inspecting the ranch , that makes it even trickier to know which way to send it

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 18 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

There was a small ditch on "our" side of the road with water in it. The front of the tortoise's top shell had a slip coating of mud.

Ergo - the tortoise had come out of the woods, into the ditch, back up and onto the shoulder of the highway where I found it. Accordingly I carried it across the road, over the small ditch (no standing water) and into the tallish grass beyond the mowed portion. Flying through the air may have upset it because it (mostly) pulled its head in and stayed there as I watched for a few minutes.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 18 5:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Good thing for both of you that the road was quiet, but you probably saved it from being squashed anyway Jam Lady. Your good deed for the day!

Gregotyn, it isn't a bad thing that your boss can keep an eye on you in some ways. He is right, if he didn't see you around your bit he would be able to either get there as quickly as possible or send someone else to find you in case you had had an accident or something. We always try to have a safety man around just in case. Even if you aren't doing something dangerous it is quite possible to trip or something and need help.

We will probably keep the new kiln in one place in the woods as we don't want it in the part the public can get into, but it also opens the possibility of taking it to other peoples woods and firing it there. We haven't sorted out a good way of making it work for both them and us yet, but the idea is that some of our commercial customers who have woods that need managing get charcoal made of their own wood. Saves our supplies and is a good selling point for them. The main advantage of it for us is that it is easier and faster to load and unload and doesn't need to be left for 36-48 hours before opening; it is ready to unload next day. We will still keep the ring kilns and certainly use them for the sort of wood we put in one yesterday which was lumpy stuff from the butt end of trunks that wasn't really going to split well. I am sure you know the sort.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 18 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Glad the fire is no-where near you Jam Lady. And the tortoise is safe back towards home and safety.

Oh it is a bad thing that the boss watches me, he is at home in bed when he is doing it, and would be unable to help me if their was any problem, though he could call an emergency service, but I wonder if he would know anything about what I needed if an accident were to take place in another part of the building where I distribute the over night deliveries, where he hasn't got cover? He basically uses me to sell cameras to customers with me as the guinea pig, but not asking me first, and getting paid to fit them. I don't benefit-but should if I am the stooge/ demonstrator?

The new burner sounds good, MR. You could save hours of hauling timber, I understand the need to keep the public away and with potential other woodland customers-a serious bonus. You will have to build a winter charcoal store next!

I am off to the local play group premises to assess a site for a theatre "area".

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