5 am. alarm... up and attem...
I had arranged for a cab service to pick me up at 6.05-they were late, which made me extremely nervous, though Stuart was up and offered to run me down to the station if they didn't show by 6.15... which they did, at abut 6.14.53.
At the train station, my VISA card would not work in the machine. It had worked the previous week!! Since I only have the one card, I started to panic internally... had I somehow messed my card up? I had just used it the day before with no trouble... After several attempts, the guy suggested I try buying my ticket from the conductor on the train...
At this point, I was not getting a good feeling about this day... was it going to be fraught with trouble from beginning to end??
I sure hoped not.
6.36, the train arrived. The conductor had no trouble with my card. A couple minutes and I had my return ticket in hand. Whew.
A note about charge cards here. Many machines here don't allow the cashier to fully swipe the card through, it's like a partial swipe and then it rests in one spot, if you can visualize that. European cards contain a "chip" that gets read, so, American cards seem to work intermittently. The conductor has a hand held machine which allows for the card to be fully swiped through... as do many pubs and restaurants. This type of machine seems to consistently work better than the other.
Anyway. Ticket(s) in hand I settled in for this first leg of my journey. From Henley to Twyford calling at (stopping) Shiplake and Wargrave.
I had my 'security blanket' with me... my handwritten itinerary.... dog-eared as it is getting to be.
At Twyford I make a change to go to Reading... which means, basically I am heading west to catch a train that will take me east/southeast. Many people, and I'd say most people in Twyford are catching trains into London.
While there are a handful of people heading in my direction and waiting with me on platform 3. This is what it looks like on the other side...
The rest of the trip went pretty much without a hitch--no delays, no troubles. I arrived at Penshurst 9.20 and John was waiting there.
John had the truck all packed with the tools we would need and willow rods, so Burt the dog moved over to share his side of the truck with me and I hopped in.
We headed directly to a school in Sevenoaks where John has installed 3 living willow structures over the last few years. a short drive in miles but a bit time consuming making our way through town at that time of day. We arrived about 10am, signed in, got our visitors badges, gathered our tools from the truck, and got to work.
Our first structure was essentially a central domed space (5-6 feet diameter and height) with a 'tunnel' leading in from two sides. It was planted 2 years ago.
The new growth on the willow will grow 'up'. Our first job was to weave in all the new growth horizontally. This needed to be done carefully as putting to much tension on the new branch might break it off the stem altogether, or bending it to acutely might put a kink in it, neither of which is a good thing. There's nothing worse than hearing that 'crack' and knowing you've just made a boo boo. Where are my secateurs (pruning shears)? Gotta prune that branch off!
The weaving in finished, we did minimal pruning to the new growth along the top... and that structure was finished.
The first structure, finished... I asked John to wave at all of you!
a view from one of the entrances...
The next structure was a tunnel maybe 12-15' long and 3-4 ' tall. It was planted last year so it had much less growth to weave in. Hope you can somewhat see the original construction weaving pattern down there at the ground. This structure was located in relatively close proximity to a large tree. So, whether from being partially shaded or competition for water, there had been significant death of perhaps 10-12 of the original willow rods (maybe 1/4?). After doing whatever weaving in and pruning was necessary, we added new pieces of willow into the ground at the base of the dead rods. This is such a blurry picture, I'm not sure if you can see what I'm talking about, or not.
a piece of willow cut to replace the dead rods...
The willow has 2 sets of buds. If you look closely, you'll see larger buds alternating at semi regular intervals along the stem. These are the buds that will turn into the new stems. If you look more closely and really use your imagination, you'll see a lot of little 'dots'. Those dots, will produce a root once the willow is planted in the ground.
So, these 1/2" diameter, 10-12" long pieces of willow, once planted, will grow and replace the dead rods. Next spring, the new shoots will be woven in along the existing dead piece, and form new structure.
Our last structure for the day was a much larger dome. This one was perhaps 8-10' high and diameter. Hope you can see from the pictures... the structure of this was based on two series of arches at right angles to each other.
So the willow rod on one side was joined (by biodegradable string) at the top with the rod planted directly across from it. Many of these connections had come undone, so that there was essentially very little top to the structure.
While I worked on weaving in the new growth around the outside, John worked at bridging the gap with new rods, effectively re-joining one side with the other. These new pieces will die, but the idea is they replace the structure and provide something for the living growth to be wrapped around. This is the completed structure... once again a beautiful dome.
As we were finishing up on this structure, John said, "Susie, I think you've got the hang of this". In a much more British way, of course. Ah. Music to my ears! I definitely felt like had gotten the hang of it more as the day went on. So. Yay!!! I can't wait to do my very own installation somewhere once I get back home.
These structures were all done as a workshop with the kids at the school. So much to learn on so many different counts from math and geometry to natural science.
It was back to the shop to unload the truck, and have a quick cup of tea (it had gotten quite chilly as the sun got lower in the sky) before I once again headed back home to Henley, feeling fully satisfied at having done a good days work and learned something new and fascinating into the bargain!
Maybe some of you reading this in Vermont want to start thinking about a willow structure at your home, or business or a school you are affiliated with? I'll be looking to put all this into practice when I get home in April!! Keep it in mind...
love, susie
Very cool structures!
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