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BLOG: Llangenny Land CiC

Written by Llais y Goedwig on . Posted in Blog.

Kate Dufton Llangenny Land CiC

Imagining the past to remember the future? 

Llangenny Land is a new Community Interest Company (CIC) set up in 2023 to enable the community purchase of a woodland area along the riverbank in Llangenny in the Vale of Grwyney.  The purchase was funded via community contribution and now by a share issue with each shareholder resident in the community having equal voting rights. We are lucky in the hospitality and generosity, time and foresight of those in the pub and village who enabled all this to happen.

The land purchased begins just by the bridge in the centre of Llangenny village and is a much-loved stretch of nearly six acres comprising woodland; a remnant of parkland from the old Pendarren Estate; a small, sloping meadow; and a SSSI riverbank with public footpath running along the Grwyne Fawr and into the hills.  The woodland comprises large oak trees, ash (with die back), hazel, holly and a number of conifers including some old Scots pines and we need a full tree survey.  The initial care of the wood has focussed on the invasive laurel with grant support for training and equipment purchase for those with a head for heights who worked on a steep bank with ropes and ladders and incredible persistence.  I look forward to the flourishing of wildflowers I am sure I remember from 20 years ago. 

It wasn’t a mistake in the heading to imagine the past to remember the future.  We are currently working on a management plan and having a bit of a neuroscience interest I found myself thinking about the idea that we use the same parts of the brain to bring together memories or to make our new ideas for the future and that our memories could help imagine a more detailed idea of future possibilities.  

So maybe a bit like squirrels burying their nuts for the future in our next newsletter we will be in inviting memories to inform the development of the management plan.  We hope to gather memories of flowers and ferns and trees, birds, moths and butterflies, otters and foxes, fish and more – both recent and long-ago memories.  We would like to identify some local favourite flora and fauna and understand what they may need to thrive.  We also hope for memories of fun and perhaps of crafts that took place in the woodland. Some need not be specific to this land and personal stories will be very welcome. We hope to have some community talks and tales around a campfire or while working in the woodland as would have happened with our ancestors.   

One possibility is to name parts of the land for easy reference – for example, the waterfall area, the old oak field, the orchard meadow.  We might find Welsh names or names which come from our memories.  Similarly, our survey of the trees and features would be enhanced by any memories.  All this information will help create our baseline plan, that will grow and adapt just as the land and trees have done in the past. 

There was a conversation arising from Guy Shrubsole’s book The Lost Rainforests of Britain. Could this wood be a rainforest fragment? On the Lost Rainforests map the woodland is just outside the Oceanic Climate zone that delineates rainforest, but in the future we could hold sessions exploring if there are Rainforest indicators in the woodland like mosses, liverworts, lichens.

We are also exploring the possibilities to connect with owners of nearby woodland who share a similar vision so that the community as a whole share in managing and maintaining this much loved area of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. As the footpath runs along the river a little further along there is the scout’s field.  Could we work together sharing energy and equipment?  Llangenny Land CIC is set up so that it is possible other pieces of land could be purchased if funds could be found.  Similarly, might we find ourselves connecting to other projects and ways of caring for the land.  The community energy project is at the stage of feasibility study and there is intention for the project to support biodiversity.  One of us might be doing a forest bathing course which is another way to connect with the trees and each other.

On a practical level we would like a secure storage unit equipment for the group, as we have chain saws and tools via grant funding, but having somewhere to make a cuppa and provide a compost loo is also on our list.  The sketch plans are for this to be partly camouflaged and in keeping, simple and secure. This will most likely need grant funding but will be a key support for our community engagement. 

(image Llangenny 1884. ref peoplescollection.wales)

BLOG: Tree planting with communities in Wrecsam.

Written by Llais y Goedwig on . Posted in Blog.

Hywel Dodd north Wales development officer

Tree planting at Lincoln Close, Wrecsam.

On 15th March I attended a tree planting event organised by Wrexham CBC Open Spaces and Horticultural Officer, Jacinta Challinor and attended by around 60 employees of Lloyds Bank from Chester Business Park.

The planting site is open greenspace near Borras Park Community Primary School and was planted last winter with trees donated by the national scheme “My Tree Our Forest”.  Unfortunately, due to combination of factors a high percentage of these trees failed so the aim of this event was to replace the trees (beat up) and to ensure a higher success rate through summer watering & aftercare.

Lloyds Bank had approached an organisation called Employee Volunteering CIC: https://www.employeevolunteering.co.uk/about-us/ who had facilitated the experience with the help of WCBC.

The volunteers were really enthusiastic and were committed to the planting tasks (and the opportunity to be away from their screens no doubt!)  Over the course of the day we planted around 1000 whips with plenty of team work on show.

Wrecsam County Borough Council have committed to increase tree cover in the County Borough and have developed a  ‘Woodland Pledge’ to demonstrate their commitment to this end. For more information and to take part in a series of woodland activities in the summer please get in touch.

BLOG: Adventures in Charcoal: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Written by Llais y Goedwig on . Posted in Blog.

Steve Chamberlain southeast development officer

Late January I organised a training day focusing on charcoal production. The volunteers at Blaen Bran community woodland had been sorting out their yard and as a result had much waste wood.  I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to trial my new retort kiln prototype (ivor) that I have been tweaking since Lockdown #1 and then later in the year we will use the ring kiln with the volunteers and compare the advantages and disadvantages of kiln type in the production of charcoal. 

 Subzero temperatures were not anticipated but the sun was shining and the woodland had a wonderful winter atmosphere. It would seem the perfect time for charcoal production, however, that was not the case. Winter is the time of gathering materials for charcoal production and the summer months for creating it but we thought we would try anyway. We fired up the kiln and discussed all things charcoal whilst soaking up the heat being expelled from the kiln, potatoes hissing in their tins on the coals, what could go wrong?

It took 90 minutes to get the inner chamber up to 100 degrees. 300 degrees is the target –  as it is the point where the wood in the inner chamber releases gas that goes into the fire box and the wood starts ‘cooking’ itself. Four hours had now passed and still no gasification. We had only reached 230 degrees in the inner chamber despite piling in extra waste wood into the firebox. As nothing was progressing and the weather was desperately trying to snow we agreed we close the kiln down, by  and hope for the best.

This process could be viewed as a failure but as this was a test run and confirmed two important factors a failure it was not, so if knowledge was gained it should be deemed at least a partial success.

The first of the two learning factors was the quality of the wood being charred. This was cut and seasoned firewood which had been sat out in the elements for some ten years and had become light in weight, thinking this would have very little moisture if any, it may hold less wood gases also.

The second learning factor is the time of year or more accurately the temperature . The kiln is not insulated and could not get to the required temperature in sub zero conditions. We had considered this as a potential issue at the beginning of our trial but can confirm this now.

 Despite the lack of product at the close of play a good day was had by all, we all learned something new and we are looking forward to our next session in more clement weather. Charcoal and more importantly biochar is a great way for groups to learn important woodland heritage skills and generate an income from waste materials as well as trapping carbon and halting further climate change. Many groups already produce these products with traditional ring kilns but retort kilns are much more efficient and environmentally friendly so if you are interested in making the switch Llais y Goedwig would be glad to assist.

Have a look at the helpful glossary and links if you want to understand more about this process.

Glossary

Retort Kiln – Wood is placed in a large steel cylinder (or “retort”). This has a tightly closed door, and some means to let tar and gases escape. The cylinder is heated from the outside. No air enters the barrel. When the wood in the cylinder has been heated to the right temperature, a chemical reaction (called carbonization) begins that gives off heat and by-products. Little additional outside heat is necessary.

Ring Kiln –  A ring kiln is a metal drum with chimneys and a lid that acts as an oven in just the same way as the soil once did.

Gasification – Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil-based carbonaceous materials at high temperatures (>700°C).

Charcoal –  is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide.

Biochar –  is more porous and has a larger surface area than charcoal — a few ounces of biochar can have an internal surface the size of a football! This porosity and surface area helps biochar improve soil structure and house beneficial microbes, resulting in healthy soil.



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