End of October update

This week, Her Outdoors has been adding to the clay oven, which had a door cut into the side of it (at the regulation 63% of interior height measurement) and a new layer of clay, this time mixed with straw. Right now it looks like this:


Slightly OCD readers will be alarmed that the image on the Sand Filter Cam has not changed all week. This has been due to a technical fault genuinely beyond our control and - besides - it rained at the weekend and the mud has been too treacherous to dig out. Happily, it's dry enough to move now. Unhappily, it's going to start raining again in the next couple of hours.

But I've kept myself busy clearing a space for the pond the sand filter will run into, turning some overstood chestnut into firewood for next winter, at the same time (and this really is exciting) creating our first coppiced area of managed woodland. It looks a bit devastated at the moment, but will spring back to life in the appropriately named season.


While felling these largely dead and dying trees, I did spend time thinking about the current UK government's idea about selling off half the nation's forests. I didn't come to any conclusions, but think they should have the decency to call a snap election and give everyone a chance to kick them into touch. Buffoons.