Laying Hedge

Sometimes your 100% doesn’t look like it. It’s frustrating sometimes, but at least this is one of the times I have a good reason for it. I spent the weekend out at the farm laying hedges. In other words, I arrived at class on Monday already physically very tired.

In light of what I wrote recently about a lifespan of about 4000 weeks, it’s very satisfying to be able to do something that can potentially last for hundreds, maybe even a thousand, years. Though that is not the main reason for doing it.

As the fences around the farm get too old and need replacing, we want to use this very old practice of hedgelaying to replace them (where possible). Modern wood post and barbed wire fences last anywhere from 10 to 15 years depending on where it is and how well cared for. We’re finding that there is maintenance every year (broken wire, rotten posts, replacing staples, downed trees, etc.). The calves are still able to go through between the wires and if the bulls really wanted to they probably could push through it anyway (we lease the land to others for grazing). Laid hedge is the only type of “fence” I’ve ever heard of that can be all of “horse high, bull strong, and pig tight”, and it can live for an extra 100 years for every different type of tree in the hedge. Re-laying the hedge is expected to be around every 15 to 50 years depending on the types of trees it’s made up of. So, you do part of the hedgerow each year, gradually making your way around to the oldest parts that need re-laying. The oldest known living hedge, of this type, in the U.K., is over 900 years old.

Those who know me know about my concerns for the environment, and a laid hedgerow does a lot more than just looking like a row of trees, sometimes trimmed into a shape. They help stabilize the soil, they help retain water in the soil, they provide shade, they grow food and medicine (hedgerow jam is a thing). There has even been research about how hedgerows save farmers money on pesticides. They are a habitat for all kinds of insect eaters, pollinators, small birds, and animals. They can also help mitigate flooding. They create microclimates. They can be an aid in farm security, Hawthorn (a common hedgerow tree/shrub) being mother nature’s original “barbed wire” among other things.

It occurs to me that hedgerows are like Kung Fu. People think of a hedgerow as just being a row of trees, possibly a privacy screen, but they don’t usually know about all the other work that it may be doing. Kung Fu is like that too. Most people I talk to think Kung Fu is ONLY a martial art, but there is much more to it.

Numbers

Pushups/equivalent: 2347

Sit-ups/equivalent: 1711

Sword Form: 268

Da Mu Hsing: 288

RAoK: 85

Sparring: 145

Kilometers: 1187

Memorize Mastery: This is feeling like something I’m better able to make time for in the winter months rather than the growing season and fall. Maybe I should just go with that and make it an area of concentration at that time?

Nurture Relationships: Trees, bees, and dogs feel like about the only ones I’ve been working on nurturing lately.

Blogging: 28

Declutter my life: Haven’t gone through as many boxes as I had hoped to by now but progress does continue.

Great Coat Project: Not restarted yet.