A long time since the last post sounded. I’ve been busy putting up a greenhouse in our garden with help from Andy and Louie (thanks both), Lucy want to bring on plants to put in the Forest garden at Panteg and also for our needs at Tycanol.Its a Hercules greenhouse 10ft X 6ft with toughened glass, shelving and staging.Auto vents and louvres should keep it cool once summer comes.

Up in the woodland the last bit of coppicing has been completed by Martin with a promise by me to do a bit more sectioning and stacking. I think it looks great with the stacks of ash and willow and longer sections of ash evident.

Martin has ring barked one tree which will undoubtedly kill it but it will also provide a rich habitat for bird and insect life. Some experts argue that having two or three ring barked trees nearby is even better. A Wiki article on deadwood gives an insight into the uses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coarse_woody_debris

For Dead Heads this cartoon from the States makes the point. ( http://climate-connections.org/2012/07/20/praise-the-dead-the-ecological-value-of-dead-trees/ )

Quite a few visitors to Panteg over the last week. Lucy played in the woods with Oscar and Evie- they loved it. Lit their first fire by the kitchen, played in the stream and had fun

Tony from Ty’r Eithin and Martin mended some fencing in the paddock ready for some of Tony’s cattle to graze. Probably another few days work needed to complete. Its been a long held dream that animals could graze the land and we can’t wait to see the beasts in their new quarters. We will probably have to keep an eye on them as we live so close but its never a hardship to come up to the woods.

Spring finally looks like its coming with day time temperatures rising and even some rain to help things grow. A busy time ahead.