Next Project: 500 Trees in Wales
Back at the start of December we planted our first ~100 trees and it was amazing to finally be done with all the red tape, paperwork, and emails. We finally got our hands dirty. We learned a lot, and now we are getting ready to plant another 500 trees near Llandrindod Wells in Wales. The farm is called Pantpurlais and it is absolutely beautiful.
Working with the Forestry Commission, the Woodland Trust, and with funding from Ecologi, we aim to plant lots of different types of endangered and popular trees. Specifically, in two days we’re getting the following trees delivered:
Alder x 25
Sessile Oak x 75
Crab Apple x 25
Downy Birch x 25
Field Maple x 25
Silver Birch x 125
Wild Cherry x 25
Scots Pine x 50
For a long time Pantpurlais has mainly been home to grazing sheep. The plan is over the next coming years, to turn the pasture land into a bio diverse woodland, with meadows, a wet woodland, and areas focused on helping pollinators like bees and butterflies.
The plan is to plant a lot more than 500 trees, but some of those plans have had to be shifted until next planting season. We’ll be taking down some invasive trees, using the timber to create a wet woodland, creating a natural grassy meadow (which can potentially store even more CO2 than a woodland!) and all sorts of other exciting things. Much of that will need to wait, due to the frustrating way the woodland grants and permissions work in the UK, but 500 now is a lovely start!
Currently a field used for light grazing sheep, but the owner would prefer to live in a diverse ecosystem full of trees, meadows, and orchards, and we’re happy to oblige!
In other news, the owner of the farm also plans to make a soft fruit orchard to provide enough apple and pears for cider and perry, which in our books is an excellent use of trees. Literally turning carbon dioxide into booze!
Our search for the right bit of land continues. We’ve got one investor considering loaning us £125,000, and emptying my savings will get us another £90,000. The latest plot of land we’re looking into is in south Wales again, and is a beautiful ~200 acres of agricultural land that used to be woodland. Restoring it to its former beauty would be an honor and privilege. Lot 2 here alone could take 100,000 trees, we just need to find the remaining £160,000.
Donations are chipping away at the difference, and you lot have already helped us get £15,000 cash in the bank, but we’ll need to diversify our funding sources to hit this target. If anyone feels like helping us out with a personal loan, business loan, or a business donation where you can essentially “sponsor an acre”, please get in touch. If you’re a company looking to buy some Woodland Carbon Code offset credits, definitely get in touch.
COVID-19 has limited the size of our planting event in Wales, and might mean similar things for our other planting events, but sign up to hear about new events, as we’re not giving up yet. There’s another 3-8,000 trees to plant this winter at some point! 🥳🌳