Training opportunities that complement the world of a ranger can lead you down plenty of rabbit holes”
Certainly, that’s been the case for Johnny over the past twelve months that have taken him from Cultybraggan Camp , to Dufftown, onto Leeds, Joppa and Kintail on his pursuit of being a ‘Johnny of all trades’ when it comes to traditional skills.
After four years of scything he knows his snath from sharpening stones, but you can always get better and thus he attended the biannual Scottish Scything festival this year at Cultybraggen. This was a two-day event run by the Scottish Scything Society, with an improver class on the Friday led by experts Andi Rickard and John Grundy giving top tips and then the following day the main event.
The festival is a wonderful mix of passionate people from across the UK passionate about this traditional skill, with chance to get hands on with scythes, connect with others and hear fantastic talks from the likes of Scottia Seeds and Ayshire Nectar network to expand your brain. It was with great delight he watched Water of Leith volunteer, Alan Taylor come third overall in the fastest scythe contest.
Next on Johnny’s tour of traditional skills was up to Dufftown for a two-day course learning how to make an ash gate from green wood worker and fellow ranger Ged of Gedwood.
Ged takes freshly cut, unseasoned timber – the likes of which can end up on our winter open fires – and converts this timber into unique, functional products. To do this he uses traditional methods and tools, harking back to bye gone days before highly mechanised machinery, for truly handcrafted and individual items.
This was a real labour of love that required splitting of wood, drawing off the bark and then locking it all into place to create a beautiful gate, if you like the look of we’ll be holding a silent auction for it at our Xmas Fair on Saturday the 6th of December.
Then finally it was a return to his hometown of Leeds, as just down the road from his parents is Leeds Coppice Cooperative who are committed to restoring and managing neglected and underused woodlands in the Leeds area. Through job creation and promoting the use of locally sourced woodland products within the Leeds area and sharing skills in woodland related activities.
Thus, Johnny got to get hands on for two days in the crafting of laying hedges, which is a traditional management method where stems are partially cut, bent, and woven together to create a living fence. This process, typically done over the winter rejuvenates the hedge by encouraging new growth from the base.
If you pass Balgreen garden, you’ll be able to see the process in action as Johnny spends the next month, as time allows, laying it and providing more light to the wildflower meadow
Closer to home he linked up with Anna Leidmann down at Joppa to learn a new willow basket style, for those counting he can now do three of a tension tray, zarzoo and a small shopping basket. Anna has been weaving since her late twenties and grows a lot of her own willow in Lanarkshire, and is a land partner at Lauriston Farm in Edinburgh where she is establishing new willow patches.
Thus you can guess what his family will be getting for Xmas
