This week we've been embracing the fruits of autumn. Over the past few weeks, some of us have been cracking the outer shells off the dried acorns from last autumn. Today we have used the inside of the acorns to make ink! We boiled them up over the fire together with lots of rusty nails. The chemistry of combining the rust from the nails and the tannin from the acorns produce a beautiful dark black ink. Next week we will experiment with using the ink. Mark had been foraging over the weekend and found a giant puffball mushroom- the staff were treated to fried puffball as part of their lunch- it was delicious!
The handle of the holly mallet was shaped and then sanded and oiled. It is now finished and the handle is beautifully smooth. It will be taken to the Nurture in Nature project on Thursday; we are certain it will be well used and appreciated. The chopping boards got a final coat of mineral oil and are now finished and looking amazing!
Other woodworking projects started today were a bug hotel and another planter for Fruit Corner. The whole team got stuck in with moving some large logs to the kiln area as well as using the wheelbarrows to move small logs to be stacked and left to season for firewood- even puppy Barley helped - almost.
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