Willow workshop dates

Spring is finally here. I saw the first swallow on April 15th and heard my first cuckoo yesterday. The 3 colonies have made it through the winter and the rape is now in flower (slowly) it is a very late spring.
The next weaving workshops dates are;-
Monday May 20th
Wednesday May 22 at  http://www.brookfarmstudio.co.uk/ in Bildeston  where we will be making the birdfeeders like the one in the picture.
Wednesday May 29th
Saturday 1st June
Please contact for more information and to book.

Willow weaving workshop.

I have 2 spaces available on the workshop this Saturday 20th April.
Also spaces available on Weds May 29th . Please get in touch if your interested or would like to arrange a workshop on another date, I am making and taking orders for willow edging and willow trellis at the moment .

Willow platters

Tomorrow is Lavenham Farmers Market, I shall have these platters for sale and also the living willow chairs as well as plant supports,cloches,and birdfeeders. I have had Lilly from Germany staying for the last 3 weeks, a contact through Workaway. She was a huge help to me and we got lots of willow sorted, lavender bags made and she even made lovely cushions for the kitchen.
No progress on the gardening front it is still so cold and wet.The birds have started nesting , Chris is regularly filling the bird feeders very little progress on the farming front either surely we must get some warm dry weather soon. The last few workshops have been a success we managed to weave in the summerhouse without whipping each other too much. with the wood burner to keep us warm.

Living willow chairs

We are selling these chairs, They are made with green willow and just need planting 12 inches into the ground and a few more live rods woven into and around them.
I have put the dates together for future willow weaving workshops

Sue Whitton Willow

Saturday March 9^th 2013

Saturday March 16^th 2013

Saturday April 20^th 2013

Saturday April 27^th 2013

Saturday May 18^th 2013

Please contact me  07932 141366 if you have another date in mind, it is possible to run workshops on a week day. 
In the workshops  you will make your own plant support or cloche and learn information about sourcing,growing, and preparing willow for weaving.
The cost is £45 and includes a light lunch and all materials. 

Lavenham Farmers Market

First stall of the year at Lavenham farmers market very cold but no worse than being outside weaving.
I almost sold out and so enjoyable talking to people about willow and gardening. There was also loads of goodies inside to tempt me but contented myself with some daffodils, samosas, a curry for dinner and some baking potatoes all I have left from my crop are about the size of golf balls.
Hope to coppice more willow this week. I have added more workshop dates and will put them on the blog in the week. The ground is finally beginning to dry a bit although the temperatures are still below freezing most days. As my dad said "February is full of promise" I didn't used to believe him but he was right.

Moving the willows

A rare day of no snow or rain so decided to move the willows to Clayhill.

Some are just too big to move but with kens help we dug quite a few and still had the rods which I left on some of the plants to use as cuttings.
The ground at Bungeons is much kinder than Clayhill ,the name says it all!
It felt good to be planting at Clayhill  a step towards the future , we shall mulch them well with the rotted straw in the background to take advantage of all this wet weather and hopefully they should soon establish themselves here.
I still have some spaces available on the willow weaving workshops on March 9th and march 16th Please contact me for more information.

Willow weaving workshops

The dates for the willow workshops are:-
Saturdays 16th Feb, 9th March, 16th march.
Please contact me if you would like to arrange a week day workshop.

We had a rare sunny day at Bungeons and cut right back the wild garden . It is a haven for birds and small creatures but we felt that most of the seeds have been eaten and a bit of control was needed.
it now looks like this :-

Roll on spring ,It is a bit bleak to look at.