Back Across the Pond

The first of April finds me spending my first morning in sunny Athens. I'm serenaded by a chorus of stray cats, one of them trying to find their way into the house. I've actually been overseas for a full week now but am only just today finding time to actually start to recount my trip. I'm not sure that I'll have the time to go into the same detail as I did during my last visit to Greece but I'll see what I can do.

I just arrived in Greece after a one week stay with my friend and mentor Ben Law at Prickly Nut Wood copse in West Sussex England. The days were full and living off the grid makes it pretty tough to stay connected with the internet, not to mention squeezing in time to 'blog'. Now Ben's being off the grid, doesn't mean that we didn't have access to most of the same services we're used to - just that the vast majority of his electricity actually comes from a 12Volt DC system (with the exception of a couple of outlets) and he had a very slow internet connection which essentially provides him with enough bandwidth to frustratingly keep up with his e-mail.

It was wonderful to be back. The place had changed considerably since I'd left with four or so new buildings, lots of new garden infrastructure and a modified charact

er to the woodland. Ben is a coppice worker, which, for those of you who don

't know, means that he annually cuts broadleaf trees during winter which are left to regrow from the stump. This is a traditional forest management system in Britain and much of Europe for that matter but Ben has been one of the most visible advocates for its revival in the wake of industrial life swallowing up these longstanding traditions. Trees managed as coppice can have lifespans that dramaticall

y exceed that of a normal unmanaged tree - easily doubling or tripling their lifespan. Ben's chestnut woodland was actually planted out 160 years ago (in the mean time, they tore out the existing hazel coppice which had been there for who knows how long) and despite 40 years of utter neglect, it comes back with remarkable vigor each time he comes through to recut it.

Most of Ben's woodland is sweet chestnut which is a fantastic wood on many levels. Fast growing, rot resistant, a good fuel, strong and useful for a variety of products. He's definitely fortunate to have such a generally useful resource.

One of the primary purposes of this visit to Europe is to carry out research and documentation of these traditional silvicultural (forestry) practices for a forthcoming book I'm

co-authoring with permaculture designer and ecologist Dave Jacke entitled - Coppice Agroforestry - Perennial Silviculture for the 21st Century. After having apprenticed for Ben for a season in 2003-4, I knew Prickly Nut Wood would be a great place to start.

I arrived in London Heathrow early on Thursday morning, March 24th. To my surprise, it was a beautiful sunny day, even a bit hot at times. Anticipating a spat with proper English spring weather, I'd gone for redundancy in my rain protection, bringing both a raincoat and an umbrella with me. Well, it turns out I needed neither.

Feeling a bit groggy after two consecutive nights of four hours sleep (one due to long work hours and the second due to the time change during my overnight flight) I too

k public transport to the town of Haselmere, the nearest train stop to Lodsworth, where Ben makes his home.

From Haselmere I set off on foot, meandering along the ancient footpaths that line the British countryside, strolling for seven miles and exploring the landscape along the way. It's an incredible way to get to know a place - walking through land both public and private and largely staying off roads. I had brought with me the old Ordnance Survey map that has a super-detailed survey of the entire countryside (my section only covered a small segment of the southeast British landscape).

About three or four hours later I arrived in the village of Lickfold - one of my old stomping grounds and decided to stop at the pub for a pint. Their sign denoting free wi-fi was another motivator as I saw it as an opportunity to check in with friends and family.

The ancient pub hadn't changed much and it was absolutely wonderful to settle in next to the massive Inglenook fireplace and enjoy a pint of English ale. With that done, I made

my way the last 20 or so minutes to Ben's.

I arrived just as a Woodland Management course he was teaching broke for tea around the fire of the outdoor kitchen. I had a chance to meet Kris and Nick, his apprentices for the 2009-2010 season. We caught up - they told me about the extremity of the winter this

past season - nearly of foot of snow which made coppice work much more difficult for them, cold temperatures, etc. It nearly sounded as if our climate patterns had swapped.

Kris and I walked around the woods and he showed me the cant (area of coppice) they had cut this season - it was impressive in scale. More on that later. We returned to find Ben with two of his kids enjoying the trampoline in his yard.

It was really great catching up and reminiscing about our season seven or so years ago. Lots had changed in both our lives but it also felt as if little to no time had passed. After lots of laughter and good food, I retreated the my room for the week in the straw bale e

xtension of Ben's roundwood timber framed home.

So much more to share but that's it for now.