We are also walking round Foxley Wood to see the positive impact our wod fuel sessions have had over the last 2 seasons.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
Timber Festival
Heartwood have attended the Timber festival since it’s inception in 2018. The original charcoal retort was purposed just prior to the first festival so we could demonstrate charcoal making and as part of a feature where several talks were centred around the burner. We have continued to take the retort and will be running both at this year’s event, together with managing the campfire in the story telling area and running a nest box making workshop on each day.
The festival has proven to be an important part of our calendar and provides lots of opportunities for connecting with the public along with networking with other organisations.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Heartwood Hub
The change of name has really began to stick with everyone and the whole place has a different feel about it. We’ve had several members coming along to the “Time out in the Woods” (TOITW) sessions adding new perspectives and skills.
The summer BBQ was well attended (over 30) and the feedback on the activities offered has been very positive and rewarding for the team who made it happen.
This month we have been preparing for the Timber festival as taking the retorts along needs quite a bit of supporting kit – preparing firewood, charcoal wood, nest box kits and pulling together the ever-increasing list of “stuff” we have to take along.
The collapsed round stack has been rebuilt into the best one yet, looking superb at the back of camp and a credit to the members who spent time and care building it. It turns out these stacks are also creating habitat for toads and a rather unwelcome wasp nest.
We recently had a further charcoal retort (Number 3) donated to the group by Darren Abell who now uses a different design of retort. It needs a little work before we can bring it into service, but has proved a challenge that couldn’t be resisted by Terry and Andrew
It has been a busy month all round at the Hub with other tasks including repairs to the muddy track thanks to Helen B for delivering a trailer load of hardcore, the pedestrian route from the car park has been marked out ready to create, a significant amount of charcoal wood has been processed, we took delivery of a magnificent large cable drum that immediately became a gathering point to chat over coffee and the final tidying of the sheds is complete.
Charcoal sales have been going well and thanks to the members who spend time running retorts 1 & 2 we have managed to keep up with demand.
July sees the introduction of the new membership scheme which will ensure people who want to join for activities other than woodfuel sessions will be able to join and share the benefits that the Hub now offers.
David Barker | Heartwood Hub
Membership
Unfortunately the planned introduction of Social membership will be delayed until the 1st August.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
Summer Walk at Foxley
As part of the action plan created from the well-being work Chris Winson did with us, we will be taking a summer walk around Foxley Wood. The walk will take place on Sunday August 6th at 10:00. The walk will start from the car loading area, but depending on numbers we will let everyone attending know where to park.
The idea of the walk is for us all to take a look at the woodland we have worked in for the last few seasons in the summer instead of the usual time we visit. We’ll be able to see several stages of woodland recovery from work done over a number of seasons, hopefully giving us all a sense of ownership and pride in what we do during our sessions. We will be looking at the history of the site, how the woodlands recover and taking a look at the area we will be working next season. Feel free to bring along family members, but do remember some of the walking distances and the conditions under foot.
The event Is on the booking system so please register to ensure we have a view of numbers. If there is anything you would like us to cover on the walk, please include a note when you register.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Charcoal Sales and Burns
This season is proving to be our best season yet for charcoal production and sales. You will all be aware that during woodfuel sessions we separate the branch-wood in the loading area so it can be taken away to the Hub. This last season we took a huge amount thanks to a number of members whole towed the trailer or collected and delivered in their cars/vans. We have slowly processed this wood ready for seasoning and charcoal production. For those of you who haven’t been to the Hub as yet it really is a sight to behold, especially the round-stacks.
This season we have started supplying charcoal to the National Trust at Calke Abbey. They made a conscious decision to move away from gas power for the regular BBQs, choosing locally sourced and produced instead.
As always anyone who would like to learn how to use the burners and help support this important income stream can come along to one of the “Time Out In the Woods” sessions at the Hub. The dates are in the booking system.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Changes to Woodfuel Sessions
Last season we had around 30 people looking to join as members. We had to put them all onto a waiting list as the sessions were pretty much booked up. This coming season we are looking to increase the number of sessions, this time quite significantly.
In order to increase sessions numbers we need to look at how sessions are ran.
We have a finite number of leads who attend the majority of sessions and the preparation work required to ensure trees are marked, extraction routes are created and that we are working within the confines of the felling licence are tasks that fall on the very small operations team.
We will be looking to bring a number of tasks “in-session”. This should reduce the reliance on that small team and at the same time give broader experience to more members. The finer details of how this will work are still being explored, but we will keep everyone informed on the details as they are firmed-up. Do ask if you are interested in the challenges this work presents as we are continually amazed at the skills our members bring to the group.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Book Recommendation
I’m always on the lookout for books with a new angle on wildlife, especially trees. I have just competed “How to Read a Tree” by Tristan Gooley. I can highly recommend this to anyone who wants to understand trees on all sorts of levels. It’s a book that you can read time after time as it’s packed with information and tips you can’t wait to try out in the woods.
From roots to leaves it explains why trees grow as they do and why every tree is individual.
I’m in grave danger of becoming a tree bore every time we go for a walk now!
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
"Swad in the Forest" Event
Heartwood will be represented by a small team at a new event in Swadlincote on the 15th July. “Swad in the Forest” is the latest in a series of themed family days in the town centre.
We have been asked to take along one of our charcoal retorts – not to run, but to explain the process and show how our locally produced charcoal is made.
We will also be making nest boxes/bug boxes and sharing a pitch with Darren of “Abell To”.
This is really a communications exercise to inform the community of our work in local woodlands and to promote what we do as a group.
The event is on the booking system so anyone is welcome to help out.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair