Twittering In The Hedgerow

Two technologies at opposite ends of the archaeological spectrum define our lives here on our hill. Yesterday I began to lay a hedge. Slow work.

First cut your chestnut poles and cart. Then put them through the peeler. Then split them into four on a cleaving break. Sharpen. Tie into bundles and cart to hedge. Cut hazel withies – six to ten feet long, slender. Bundle and cart to hedge. Trim outer edges of hedge with billhook and handsaw. Stack brash. Then you can start to lay the hedge. My guess is a 25 yard stretch of hedge – what we’re doing – takes a total of 50 hours. Two hours of manpower per yard. Nice hedge though, and the birds will love it, plus in time I can rip out the wire stock fence.

I also opened a Twitter account, finally giving way to the need to broadcast and receive in ever decreasing bits of irrelevance in the interests of earning a living. Time – one hour (I am very slow with computers). I now have seven followers – my daughter, my wife, my good friend Brendan, and four weird outfits to do with saving the planet. Brendan has over 3,000. But he hasn’t got a laid hedge.