Chinking-tastic

Krystof returned from Poland with cabin shopping. A beautiful log burning stove, a third of the price of a similar one if bought in England, also a number of large bales of what looked like finely shredded straw or paper packing material. I wondered what the material was protecting, to discover that there was nothing inside the bales - this was the chinking.

Stove with chinking material

I thought that somehow this material would just be stuffed into the gaps and crevices  between the logs. Chinking methods vary a lot.  For example, The Finns use moss, and North Americans use bits of wood held in and smoothed over with a mud and cement mixture. It is also possible in the U.S to buy ready-made plastic chinking that is squeezed into the gaps, a bit like Polyfilla. Polish chinking is made from the fine inner bark of a particular pine tree, and there is only one manufacturer of it in Poland.

Nothing as crude as stuffing handfuls of it into the gaps though. Krystof demonstrated the authentic technique. Take a small handful of material in the right hand, run the long strands  between two fingers to even it out, while in your left hand take a small amount and roll it on your thigh until it coheres into a small ball. Fold over the top part of the material in your right hand, place the ball on top of that, fold over the top part again, and then twist as hard as you can until it resembles a small hammer, or perhaps an onion. Oh, and don't forget to keep your chinking material slightly damp. Easy!  Then, when you have assembled a reasonable amount you push these little 'onions' into the gaps and use a tool to pack them in as tightly as possible, both outside and inside the cabin. We had a go at making some, nowhere as easy as it looks.

I wondered if these onions could be purchased ready- made.  I imagined be-scarfed Polish ladies in the mountains sitting round a stove chatting companionably in the long snowy evenings, their hands flying and  sacks rapidly filling to be sold to log cabin builders.  If so, then I think our Krystof made rather a big mistake in electing to make them himself. It seems a monumental task, Kris and his two helpers are pretty fast but the onions mount up slowly. Five days so far, and the chinking is only a third done. It does look lovely though, like nothing I've seen before. Reminds me of neatly piped cream between two layers of sponge cake.

Everyone is busy chinking

This takes a long time

Bales of chinking material

Little 'onions' packed in firmly

The window wall is chinked - looks great!

Roofing tales

The cabin roof is on. Dark green corrugated 'iron',  it looks good, and will look even better once it starts to weather. A decision on the cabin roof has been a difficult one to make.

Our first idea was to have a 'green'  roof which would eventually seed itself from the surrounding vegetation. Green roofs became popular in 1970's Germany as a way of greening up the urban, rather than the rural environment, which has plenty of stuff growing in it anyway. We thought that a self seeded roof among the Scots Pine would end up being seeded primarily by giant bracken, and we've got plenty of that elsewhere thank you very much.  Also, although a green roof might appear to be pretty basic, they are in fact carefully engineered to be watertight. If anything goes wrong they can be tricky to repair.

The second idea was to have wood shingles or shakes. We priced up a roof of shingles and decided that gold leaf might be cheaper.  Apart from the cost, we thought they might make the cabin -  a solid little structure, full of character - look twee.

Third idea was to attach thin birch poles from the wood, to the roof battens, under which is a breathable waterproof membrane. The birch would most likely look ok. The poles would of course rot down after a few years perhaps forming a green roof of sorts, but would have to be periodically replaced. Not a bad idea, but not sure how and if it would work.

Finally, we remembered our various travels,  and the ubiquity of the humble 'tin' roof, in Australia, Africa, South East Asia , South America, in fact all over the developing and developed world. A tin roof is the material of choice for the many log cabin builders of North America and Canada. Inexpensive and practical, a good looking architectural classic.  A prime consideration was that the cabin is to be a working forestry structure, and not a dwelling. It  is important to end up with something no-nonsense and fit for purpose, that blends in as well as possible with the environment.

Log cabin bulletin

The build goes on apace. The craftsmen have gone off to Southern Poland in the van to visit families and to return with a log burner,  and the mysterious 'chinking' - more on this when they return. The door is on, and adorned with a sturdy Moroccan bolt, hinges, door handle, and hand made nails, all the iron forged by hand in a Marrakech Souk, and much approved of by Kris the master craftsman.

Marrakech Blacksmiths: Note the tiny crucible where they forge their iron 

The wily fallow deer have been successfully evading Stuart and his gun since before Christmas, however he did manage to bag a small one a couple of days ago, much to his satisfaction. We were invited to view the gralloching,  but politely declined.

The bluebells are putting out their shoots all over the place, including in the ruts left by the tractor. Marsh tits and goldcrests are flitting in the Scots Pines, and the woodpecker is busy. Roll on Spring.

Cabin progress after weeks of rain

The felling of 45 (at the final count) large Scots Pine,   and dragging them by tractor to the cabin site, was a lengthy job. The ground was saturated and the tractor chewed up the ride quite a bit, but on the plus side, for the first time Old Copse looked like a proper working wood. We thought that the actual cabin build wouldn't start for a couple of months, but Kris and his team of 3 were raring to go. The rain had stopped, the sun came out, so why not?

Piotr had the job of hand stripping the bark from the logs with a 'spud', while Henry and Krys cut saddle notches at either end of the logs and then used a manual hoist to lift them into place.Tremendously  hard work, and a bit scary to watch. But these chaps are true expert craftsmen from Southern Poland where log structure building is traditional. It is so exciting seeing the cabin take shape - the door and window are both cut out, and only the floor and roof to finish . Not to forget installing the log burner that Kris will bring back from Poland.

The ride was in a right state once the felling and moving vehicles had departed, but we quickly got to work stamping down the edges of the largest ruts,  and patching up the worst trenches so that our little van could get down the Ride without toppling into a hole. (Shall we buy a 4 wheel drive ? - we're trying to resist. ) We remember the mess caused a few years ago when  a previous  vehicle was allowed onto the Ride, trampling and tearing it up, but we encouraged its fast repair by filling in the worst of the holes.  One thing we have learned is that the wood quickly recovers from 'damage', and that  there is no need to be overly precious about it.

Now most of the Ride is dry, and as we walked up it in the sunshine the other day we saw that the brimstone and peacock butterflies were back . Brambles are springing up all over the place, as a result of the clearing we've done - a result that we will need to monitor. I recall seeing in Australia many acres of land smothered in inpenetrable brambles;  do we want that in Old Copse - I don't think so. Though I expect the deer population will help to keep them down.

A cabin in the woods

Last year we obtained 'permitted development' approval to build a small woodland structure that would give us somewhere to shelter in bad weather while carrying out forestry work,  and also provide a social focus and a place to enjoy the wood in considerably more comfort than squatting on a wet log under a flapping tarpaulin.

We considered our options. We heard  stories of small wood owners who had put garden sheds and similar on their woodland,  including a sad story of a chap who arrived one day to find that his shed had been broken into and all the contents removed. This was bad enough, but a few days later he returned to find the shed itself had been dismantled and carried off.

So we decided that we needed something very sturdy and as vandal proof as possible. We looked at the possibility of getting a shipping container into the wood, but apart  from the size and ugliness factor, it would have to be craned to the (sloping) site. Not easy. We then found a firm that provided a flat pack arrangement which their promotional literature showed being  used as an office,  in refugee camps, and at army checkpoints. This had certain  advantages over a shipping container, being easier to move to the site, and smaller. But we decided that neither would do. Both options would need disguising in some way, with, for instance, wood cladding.

A grandson then suggested  that a proper log cabin was the answer. This seemed like a great idea particularly if we could use our own timber. The wood is partially 'PAWS', (Plantation on an Ancient Woodland Site) and so we had plenty of 60 year old Scots Pine that we had to get felled anyway as part of our management plan. But who would build it? We gave it careful thought. There is no tradition of roundwood log cabin building in Britain. Our internet research initially turned up adverts for what were called 'log cabins' but which were in fact factory made chalet type buildings, one step up from a garden shed. North America seemed to be full of people building their own traditional roundwood log cabins. There was also plenty of information from the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe, though not in English.

We also found a few small companies  in Scotland and  on the Welsh borders who offered roundwood log cabins built to Eastern European and  Scandinavian design. But we could find no-one nearer home in Sussex. So we had to do a bit of lateral thinking. We searched for Polish clubs, and without difficulty found  a Polish Social and Cultural Society. We contacted the secretary and she managed to find us a small group of Polish craftsmen from southern Poland who had the skills needed to build us a log cabin in our wood using our timber.

Last week a start was made despite the appalling weather. The forester, David Abbott of Sparrowhatch Forestry in Sussex came in to fell 40 large Scots Pines. and cut them to lengths.  Kris, Mariusz and Piotr followed hot on his heels to handstrip the bark from the logs.  The actual build will start when the weather gets a little better, probably in May.

We'll keep you posted.

Cabin foundations

Bark stripped from the logs

A Busy Woodland Year

January 16th 2014

Today, Sarah and Sue celebrate 1 year's  ownership of an additional  piece of woodland. Known as  Old Copse 2,  it is the 15 acres adjoining, and directly to the north of the 15 acre Old Copse 1, which was purchased in mid 2009.

We spent some of the past year researching, planning, writing a management plan and locating grants for the improvement of this long neglected piece of woodland.  During the coming year we hope that this work will start bearing fruit. For all potential small wood-owners who might read this, below are the main points of what we’ve achieved so far.

1. Produced a 5 year Management Plan
2. Set up a programme of deer management with qualified and experienced stalkers, having drawn up a working agreement approved by the Deer Initiative.
3. Obtained full planning permission for a new entrance and track into Old Copse 2 from the east boundary road.
4. Obtained Permitted Development approval to build a traditional round-wood log cabin, using the timber in the wood.
5. Obtained a useful sum of  Grant aid over the next 5 years.
6. Had discussions with a number of forestry contractors on how best to reduce the Scots Pine plantation. Slow progress but at least we are now very familiar with the pros, cons, and costs.  
7. Attended 2  Bentley Woodfairs  and made  useful  contacts.
8. Joined SWOG (Small Woodland Owner’s Group)
9. Discussion with a wood-skills group leader with a view to running  ‘Forestry School’, and woodcraft  sessions for children and young people. 
10. Met a potential volunteer with expertise in hedge-laying. We’re planning  a mixed hedge along the boundary road at some point in the future to replace the flimsy stock fence.  

Not forgetting the routine work in the wood ( all 30 acres of it ) during the year, including: birch thinning on and off the Ride, willow pollarding, ride-side branch lopping to let more light in, regular bracken-bashing,  getting rid of rhododendron, cord and fire-wood processing, and continuing to look for a market for it, rubbish collection, fence repair,  to name just some essential tasks.

Our professional deer stalkers/foresters  have made a start on reducing the fallow deer numbers, which we hope will eventually result in more successful  regeneration (the supply of wild  venison during the November to March season has been welcome). They have also done some birch felling for us, impressing us greatly with the speed, efficiency and neatness of their work.

This is also a time to remember that the main reason for purchasing a further 15 acres  of woodland is to increase  enjoyment of the wood’s  slowly increasing  diversity,  walking and camping, looking and listening, bonfires and mushrooms, and sharing these pleasures with family and friends, fishermen on the Pond,  and strangers (preferably if  they don't leave litter and/or are not professional mushroom pickers) .  

Post storm news

Recently returned from an Autumn trip to Cyprus staying with friends. Wonderful food, marvellous weather,  26 degrees and not a cloud in a brilliant blue sky. In the Troodos mountains we found Greek Strawberry trees which have a remarkably cold and hard bark (but no strawberries).

Back in England we went to Old Copse to check out any damage following the storm on 28th October. None at all except for a large fallen oak at the south end which is now lying gracefully across the Pond.

On the OC2 ride the stalkers have put up a deer seat which surveys the large scallop in the birch that they created recently, and also the pink deerlick,  now much licked. The nearby rutting stands are showing evidence of use, and we caught sight of a white stag with large antlers.

Still managing to find mushrooms, (but fortunately no Romanians) despite the storm.

Still shifting the firewood pile on the OC1 Ride, and moving it near the gate.  It will so much  easier to process  firewood once Sarah gets her chainsaw qualification....