Blog

This morning, we laid the tarp out to dry - the dogs enjoyed helping us with this task. We made Elderberry syrup which is good for coughs and colds. Some students sewed through the centre of some Rowan berries to make necklaces for protection. Progress was made with the mud kitchen - we painted a blackboard to hook on, added spinning knobs, and secured hobs to the top. The tadpoles had some cucumber, they are growing well. In the afternoon, we went for a walk to give the dogs

Today at Heartwood it was pouring down with rain. We started making some elderberry syrup by heating it up over the fire, and using a sieve, jug and funnel to pour it into a sterilised jam-jar. Some students dug mud and clay and wheelbarrowed it down to the Yoda Hut area whilst others made a start on the roof posts for the bodger's hut. We picked some ripe tomatoes and cucumbers from Fruit Corner and it was delicious. Afterwards we had some lunch around the fire. We even play

This morning, some students made significant progress on the mud kitchen which involved sawing, drilling, and sanding the pallet wood to prepare it for assembling. Others helped make biochar, by digging crushed charcoal fines and adding them to leaf litter. Work was done in Fruit Corner, more blackberries were picked, and more kindling was split. In the afternoon, most students went for a walk while some of us continued work on the mud kitchen assembly. Then we finished our

Today at Heartwood we started making native chocolate with roasted linden and honey. Two of the students helped Lily make it and it was brilliant. After lunch we went for a walk along the grass with our hi-vis jackets. One of the students spotted a tiny lizard about 12cm. We had a lovely time. Afterwards we had a tea break before we tried the native chocolate and some people thought it was yummy. One student was splitting some wood and another student did some sawing and hamm

Today, one student and Helen tended Fruit Corner. They watered the tomato and the cucumber plants, and dug up some beetroot which was very exciting. They also did some general tidying up in the Poly Tunnel and in the Container, and dug up some of the charcoal to wheelbarrow up to make some new biochar. Lastly, they repotted an Ash Tree sapling to grow tall and strong to replant at a later date. Beth and the other students continued the process of making chocolate out of Linse

Today at Heartwood we started off by bagging up charcoal and feeding the tadpoles with some cucumber we cut up. After that we prepared elder and linden berries to be used for elderflower syrup later. We had a tea break and then split some wood and broke pallets. After lunch we went on a walk in the woods and came back to harvest some tomatoes at Fruit Corner. We tended David's tree and Fruit Corner and continued bagging up charcoal before tidying and washing up. up.

Today at Heartwood, we processed elderberries for a medicinal syrup and linden tree berries to make chocolate at a later date. Beth and Mark carried on working on the mud kitchen whilst other students carried on working on making their chairs. We had a short tea break and sanded down and painted some wooden "hobs" for the mud kitchen. After lunch, we were splitting wood and, foraging blackberries. We kept working on the elderberries by straining them, adding sugar, and simmer

Today at Heartwood we started the day off watering the plants and harvesting some cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans from Fruit Corner. We bagged up some charcoal and then added the labels. After a short tea break, we went for a walk in the woods before getting back in time to have some lunch and celebrating two birthdays. In the afternoon, we carried on bagging up charcoal and deconstructing some pallets. One student worked on splitting some wood and another carried on work

This morning, before it got too hot, we watered the oak and fig trees. It took six watering cans to get enough water for them both. One of our students did some woodworking to finish off another planter, while another worked towards finishing the tortoise house. Both are now complete. Helen and a student axed a load of logs to be left to season in the new coppice area. Large logs were stacked neatly for storage. Beth and a couple of students fed the tadpoles and opened the ap

Today at Heartwood we tended Fruit Corner and harvested some cucumbers, green beans and lettuce. Mark was chainsawing some logs and helping a student to saw some wood for making himself a box for chisels. After that we used the frozen blackberries that we had picked the previous week. We peeled the cooking apples and started cooking them on the fire. After they had become soft in texture, we stirred in the blackberries and added some sugar. We made the base of the pie and put

This morning some of us watered all the plants and seedlings in fruit corner. Everything is growing very well despite the dry weather. The cucumbers are getting very big now. At candy mountain, two floorboards were replaced on the decking as they were getting rotten. Candy Mountain (the compost toilet) also had a good tidy up. We raked the sawdust from yesterday’s log cutting, and this will be used in Candy Mountain. Some others were dismantling a broken chair and the straw i

Today at Heartwood we started off around the fire having a hot drink and went through the jobs for today. We watered Fruit Corner, the basil plants, the lemon tree and David's tree. After that Mark started chainsawing wood to prepare the kiln for charcoal burning. The rest of us fed the tadpoles and helped Mark. Whilst the rest of us worked together labelling the bags of charcoal and stacking them in the shed, someone else was working on building their own chair for the fire.

Today has been a very hot day at Heartwood, so we put the hammocks up and spent lots of time under the shady trees. We started by watering David's tree and fruit corner before it got too hot. After tea break, we had two working parties - one group dug clay from the old pond and wheel-barrowed it down to the Yoda house; this will be used to cover the woven willow as wattle and daub. Meanwhile, the second group were weaving the remaining willow for the main structure of the hut

Today at Heartwood we watered David's tree and then we sanded and oiled a chopping board. We also broke pallets and sawed and split wood for kindling. Meanwhile, other students were cutting and trimming brambles to clear the pathways. After that we made and labelled some more self heal and silver birch hand balm. For today's salad at lunchtime, we harvested some home grown lettuce, mint , fennel and calendula flowers to garnish. After that we had a tea break and sanded the ta

This Wednesday we had a gentle day and yet managed to do an awful lot. The remainder of the charcoal was dug out of the kiln and bagged up. It was a bonanza burn, our largest number of bags from a single burn yet- a massive 174 bags! It's a dirty job but some of the students really enjoy getting messy. The honeysuckle honey we infused a couple of weeks ago and left on a windowsill was ready to be strained and jarred. As was the self heal oil. We have our very own woodland apo

Today at Heartwood as always we started the day with a cup of tea around the fire. Afterwards we fed the tadpoles, watered the tree and graded and packaged the charcoal. We also cut and peeled some wood to make a chair. Another activity included replacing the table top. Afterwards we had some lunch to eat and went for a walk in the meadow and saw a big oak tree. We also saw some horses before we walked back and then sat around the fire with some tea before packing up to go ho

Another hot summer's day and despite the heat we managed to do quite a few different activities whilst staying in the shady trees as much as possible. We did a few group activities which included moving the final two firewood corrals to the cenrtral corral space, raking the main drive of sweet chestnut flowers and wheelbarrowed it to the leaf litter pile to make more biochar in the future, doing some caretaking and general tidying of the woods, as well as going for a slow wal

Today at Heartwood Mark, Samantha and Barley were on holiday and Beth covered him. We also joined by Lily and Spike. It was a hot day so we tried to do some activities to cool down. We started by foraging self heal and silver birch leaves to make some hand balm. We each chose our favourite scent to infuse. We started to make some wooden pendants with larch. We watered the newly planted oak tree. For lunch we made pizzas on the fire. After lunch we went for a short walk in the

Today at Heartwood it was a lovely hot day. We started the day with a team job of emptying the trailer of all the timber Mark had brought. This will be used to replace the planks on the table, floorboards at Candy Mountain and the roof frame for the Bodger's hut. We rescued two rowan saplings and potted them up for Fruit Corner and we will look after them until they are big enough to plant out into the woods again. The redcurrants are ripe and ready to eat, the nasturtium are

A Productive Summer Day at the Heartwood Project It is full summer in the woods, and our latest session was packed with a wonderful variety of practical crafts, foraging, and woodland maintenance. To start the day, two of the team sanded and oiled a new picnic bench to protect it for outdoor use, and the final finishing touches were put on a brand-new tortoise home that is being gifted to a friend. Taking advantage of the season, we successfully foraged for sweet chestnut flo