I am ordering in 100 new cedar babies from the county tree program this year and will do  hundred more next years is the plan, and I have swack of native black willow whips to move over and start them going for a pollarding project to increase massively my tree hay..

The rest of the layers will come from local natural sources on Farmer R  hay fields or forest bush edges combined with me starting lots of baby for transplanting out and over for backfilling.

Very excited about this up and coming rural skills working network here in ontario

https://www.ontarioruralskillsnetwork.com/

https://www.ontarioruralskillsnetwork.com/hedgelaying-inthe-ontario-landscape

In 2018-19 the project continues, to explore the uses of hedgerows, hedgelaying and rural skills in scoio-ecological contexts. Jim Jones, Visiting Scientist at the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience and an ecologist, hedgelayer and green woodworker from the UK, is working with the project offering advice and delivering workshops on hedgerows, hedgelaying and other traditional rural skills and acting us a ‘curator’ of this new space.

Ontario Rural Skills Network (ORSN)
The HOL project is building on the hedgelaying demonstrations undertaken in 2016 by developing a series of small craft-scale, traditional woodland management and production activities as revenue streams in terms of both products and training/leisure services. These will include greenwood work/bodging, basket making, scything, coppicing, pollarding, bow making, and artisan charcoal making.

I am very excited to watch this space for coming workshops and also to consider working with them and considering having a workshop on the farm to putting in a new mixed hedge row. It sure would make things happen faster with extra hands..

I am also thinking of getting in touch with them and having a chat about skills I could offer to teach classes.. we will see..

Lee Valley tools has some amazing tools that will be of great help in regards to my hedge row building and pollarding the bill hook

as well as a outstanding new to me cane cutter. for regular cutting and clean up it well worth giving this try, adding in a way to keep on top of the wild fruiting cane and expect it will also work to thin out wild roses as well

This was as far as I had gotten in this post and out came C5 newest post.. about tools, hedging and so on..

Now I have to admit that I did chuckle to read C5’s latest post, because we had not talked about it but once again great minds think alike and at times and we are both planning, working and expanding our hedges this year.. the fact that we also got some of the same older fashion tools should not really surprise me either.

Adding in Green Mountain Research Centers Direct comments to this post

“Hey everyone. I do love when people… think I am an expert in anything. LOL. I’m amazed how many people quote ‘C5″ now days. “Let us use commas and semicolons with reckless abandon”.
I thought I would send a note on your willows. The big thing I didnt take into account is the deer. Fresh buds is what the want more than grass. They stay away from the dogs near the house but the cheaky buggers will come right up during the night.
I have to go back to some of my willow planting and put a temporary fence up any place dear graze to convince them not to top what I planted, until the plants can get over nibbling height. Its just going to be some stakes and recycled twine from hay bales we refuse to throw away…like any good bag lady. It wont stop the deer. Im just convincing the deer to go someplace easier.
I did this before with some volunteer cherry trees by putting a dead hedge around it as a temporary fence. I have to fill it with left over branches each year to make up for it decomposing…but it is working. A couple more years and I can tear the dead hedge down. You really see the difference. On one side, its nibbled down. The other side is taking over. The deer could hop over but its just easier to walk around and nibble elsewhere.”

I will very interested in see how his projects go and I will be sharing mine and I will be doing my best to get that to a training session with the expert that is from over seas and pick is head for ways to make what I have work, I can keep doing the hedges, they are coming but extra eyes and skills bump great.. proper teach for pollarding.. priceless and so needed!”

I will be starting my hedge row rose seeds soon, I want them to act as a very pretty ouchy wall but equally, I want those hips available for harvest :).. soon.. soon another three weeks..