I was pleased and somewhat surprised to have a sunny and mild two days last weekend--normally that sort of weather is reserved for weekdays when I'm at work. The daughter and I spent several hours in the garden, both having fun and getting work done; the son also made a brief appearance too, although on his watch the loppers were broken beyond repair (though they were pretty old).
With the loppers gone, and pretty much all of our spare cash pledged to pay for essentials only (we've saved up to replace our single glazed windows with double glazing and so aren't making any other purchases for the next few months), resolving the coppice firewood pile might be a little tricky. I still have some secateurs and a variety of hand saws--though to be honest I'm a little short on elbow grease.
So instead of cutting up the long lengths of laurel still draped over my patio, I stripped them of their leaves and stacked them up to dry; I collected the leaves because I thought they would make an acceptable straw substitute for the floor of the chicken house; we just so happen to be out of straw. After coming to this conclusion I raked out said coop--not a fun job--and shoved the big pile of leaves in for the chickens to spread around. These leaves are thick and glossy still and should make the next raking out a bit easier (the compacted straw/manure was pretty solid). I'm not done with all the laurel either, so I'll be continuing this experiment while my small flock is still confined (under a poulty housing order by the government, due to the avian influenza outbreak).
Once the laurels are finally all dealt with, I'll move the hawthorn trimmings up to the patio next; these are mostly narrow diameter, to be cut with secateurs--no leaves attached. This will be the end of this winter's coppicing. It hasn't made much of a contribution to our woodpile, I must admit. Still, it's free; the trees are excellent wildlife habitat, good for privacy, and grow like crazy. It's winter, and I might as well do something productive, right?
