Issue #58 The Misc Adventures Digest

A short update, spades vs chainsaws and workshop news

Hello there - how has your week been? Just a short one from me this week - we have all had covid which is apparently still a thing and as such we are little out of kilter. I’ve had to miss a few days of woodland work. The downside of self-employed life is that illness bites you twice, once in the body and another in the wallet.

It is snowing hard as I write, but try as it might it is not settling and the world remains cold, grey and wet. If it had only been a degree or two colder overnight, we would have woken to wintry scenes and a much needed dose of the magic that comes from seeing the landscape transformed. I feel sorry for the snow; it is trying its best to create something of beauty but falling a little short. I can relate. I am also always just one or two degrees away from making things work, or so it feels sometimes.

It’s not all been doom and gloom however - read on for wholesome updates!

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Tree Planting

Me and Benji joined our friend Clare and several other volunteers, for a cold but wholesome and sunny day of tree planting last Saturday at Over Elf Howe Farm in Kentmere.

I have no doubt planted thousands of trees in my time, and I have also cut perhaps the same amount down, probably more, in the name of woodland and habitat restoration - which creates an interesting dichotomy doesn’t it?

Tree planting is typically perceived as being ‘good’ but tree felling as being ‘bad’. Yet in this complex, heavily modified landscape, both have their place in creating or improving ecosystems in which wild things can thrive. The wrong kinds of trees planted in the wrong places can have a disastrous affect on wildlife - the spade can be a tool of destruction as much as the chainsaw can be a tool for creation when wielded in the right or wrong hands.

Thankfully, these were the right trees being planted in the right place - water loving species alongside a beautiful beck which hopefully will one day be restored to its former riparian splendour, tree lined, mossy and full of life.

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New offerings

We have been quietly adding a few previously unpublished and older archived pieces for our paid subscribers and will continue to add more over the coming months. A few of these were written over the summer (whilst technically on a break from writing) and a couple are pieces that used to live on our old blog but that we thought still interesting and relevant. Latest posts include a story about efforts to escape birthday melancholy on an adventure in the Langdale Pikes and a guide on making traditional wooden drinking cups. We couldn't be more grateful to those that support our work here with paid subscriptions and we hope these little offerings go some way towards saying - thank you!

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Workshop updates!

You may remember (it’s ok if you don’t) that we mentioned one of our plans for this year was to start teaching workshops here in the Lake District. Well, we are excited to say that we now have three workshops planned for the first half of the year and potentially more to come! Full details will be shared soon, but first up will be a foraging and wild medicine walk held in Coniston at the end of April, followed by a guided slow adventure in Eskdale and then a foraging and natural dye making weekend in June in Silverdale. Emma’s also working on a seasonal collaborative workshop with our friend Lorna, which will launch next week. On these cold, grey, winter days its hard to imagine that soon we’ll be foraging with fervour, but those days will come and we can’t wait to spend time with like-minded folks, sharing skills and generally having a nice time in Nature.

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Well, that’s all for this week. We hope wherever you are the snow is settling, metaphorically and literally.

With warmest wishes,

Andrew, Emma and Benji

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