Songs From The Wood

Shandy is in here somewhere!

Well sounds at the very least, although the longer we continue to work in the woods the more rhythmical and musical it seems to become. Our first task each day is to light the bonfire, this starts with the gathering and breaking up of whatever dryish tinder we can find, then when we have a small blaze we can feed, Giles kick starts the chainsaw to begin felling and that is the music that we work to. Once the fire is going well the accents of crackling, spitting and hissing are added as the green wood is fed to the flames. Next to join the chorus is Shandy, head first or worse down the nearest rabbit hole to which she adds her muffled woofing. Birdsong must be added next, in particular the cries of the passing buzzards a high mournful screeching. Lunchtime gives yet more music with the sizzling of the sausages over our campfire, and finally you must add the sounds of us girls chatting as we work and more often than not laughing with the sheer joy of toiling outside in January!

Shandy after a particularly hard mornings excavations.

"Let me bring you songs from the wood to make you feel much better than you could know"

Ian Anderson Jethro Tull

Me and my pal