Brilliant, it’s such a beautiful place to live! We actually got our willow from the road (which had an old willow works) where we lived previously in Lincolnshire. There are various places, I would advise looking to see if there are any other weavers near where you are moving too who may give you some, or maybe a larger venue like Denmark Farm based in Lampeter that take volunteers which can help with coppicing. West wales willows also sells willow cuttings. At the moment most of my willow comes from the edges and hedges so if you’re just using it like me to practice you could start foraging there as well?
@@agreatalternative Ha!, We are going to be in Lampeter! So that's great to know. Thank you. I will be planting for fuel and structural work mainly. My idea is to grow low pollards so they don't require bending down to harvest. Yes, foraging is a great idea too. Thanks again.
@@mfr58 Ah amazing!! Our land is nearby although we currently aren't living there. I think pollarding is a great idea as it saves your back so much (I think that was a mistake I made with this set of planting that I wouldn't do again) Good luck with the move and all the growing! If you are interested checkout Lampeter young rangers/ connecting with nature CIC on facebook, Peggy Beer from there runs (at the moment) weekly willow workshops for £2!! It's in Llandovery (about 30min from Lampeter) but well worth it and if you go there you'll see me there too!
Awesome video! I cant wait to see how the willow does! I think its a fantastic idea to dry some of the land out and I didn't know they were thirsty either! Im learning a lot from you!
great introduction to willow. I love how you show the process of planning your willow plant and being openly honest about being a novice. I'm hoping to start growing willow very soon so your information about how willow can help over wet areas was really helpful.
I’m really glad I can help, thank you so much for your comment! It’s still surprising me that people actually find these videos helpful because most the willow/ weaving related videos I’m making at the moment are just ‘let’s see if I can do a thing’, but then I love watching others videos where you can see the process and mistakes along the way!! Good luck with your willow growing, are you planning to grow it just to dry up and area or for other reasons?
@@agreatalternative Thanks so much for well wishes. Also, I don't intend to grow willow just to dry up and area, I plan to use it for fencing too. I know I need different varieties for both intended uses. I love your videos as there's so much joy in your delivery. Makes such a change to some. All the very best with your ventures.
@@sky-frequency What varieties are best for different situations is still something that I’m learning myself, so it’d be interesting to know which ones you go for! Overall I’ve found willow to just be brilliant for so many uses, even if you are using one found in the wild, so I’m sure whichever you choose will work out well! Thank you so much again for your comment, I’m glad my passion is coming across, I always worry that it will seem like an act 😂
we live in a swamp in anola manitoba canada . we have a lot of swamp willow. grew up with them as a pain . now we will be starting 6.5 miles of living fence. i will now work with willow for the rest of my life.
Thank you for creating your channel and video. I am dreaming of growing a willow farm ... in Manitoba, Canada. I will be watching your process to begin my education. :)
Wow such a beautiful place! What will you use the willow for? If your answer is for weaving and if you can’t grow right away (like us at the moment, our ‘willow farm’ has been forced to take a backseat), then you could attempt to weave/ use wild willow around you. The wild land around us is full of inspirational fibres and sculptural forms!! Thank you for your extremely kind words and for joint me on this journey!
Super helpful, thank you. Planting willow this spring. I'm in Canada. Wanting it for windbreaks and basket weaving. Was hoping to save your video, but I don't see that option, which is odd.
Hi Andrea, really glad it was helpful and good luck with the planting!! Where abouts in Canada are you planting? Just asking as Alicia was born in Vancouver! Very strange why a save button isn’t appearing 🤔 I just checked on the video and it appeared for me…..maybe something to do with the app on your device?
@@luciennebeau1117 Sadly no. We’ve been going through a government application to be able to live on the land. It’s so far been nearly two years of Alicia fighting with various nameless people from councils who have control over this and we are no further along. Sadly I think we may have to give this land up and set our dream a little smaller 😕 Therefore we haven’t been back in months as we were forced to move further away. But it does mean I’ve focused more on natural crafts from forged stuff, so every cloud and all that 😁
I'm moving to a small holding in Wales soon. Could you share where you sourced your willow? Thanks.
Brilliant, it’s such a beautiful place to live!
We actually got our willow from the road (which had an old willow works) where we lived previously in Lincolnshire.
There are various places, I would advise looking to see if there are any other weavers near where you are moving too who may give you some, or maybe a larger venue like Denmark Farm based in Lampeter that take volunteers which can help with coppicing.
West wales willows also sells willow cuttings.
At the moment most of my willow comes from the edges and hedges so if you’re just using it like me to practice you could start foraging there as well?
@@agreatalternative Ha!, We are going to be in Lampeter! So that's great to know. Thank you. I will be planting for fuel and structural work mainly. My idea is to grow low pollards so they don't require bending down to harvest. Yes, foraging is a great idea too. Thanks again.
@@mfr58 Ah amazing!! Our land is nearby although we currently aren't living there.
I think pollarding is a great idea as it saves your back so much (I think that was a mistake I made with this set of planting that I wouldn't do again)
Good luck with the move and all the growing!
If you are interested checkout Lampeter young rangers/ connecting with nature CIC on facebook, Peggy Beer from there runs (at the moment) weekly willow workshops for £2!!
It's in Llandovery (about 30min from Lampeter) but well worth it and if you go there you'll see me there too!
@@agreatalternative Great. Well, hopefully our property purchase will complete by this spring, so I may get to say hello in person. Cheers.
@@mfr58 No worries 👍
Awesome video! I cant wait to see how the willow does! I think its a fantastic idea to dry some of the land out and I didn't know they were thirsty either! Im learning a lot from you!
great introduction to willow. I love how you show the process of planning your willow plant and being openly honest about being a novice. I'm hoping to start growing willow very soon so your information about how willow can help over wet areas was really helpful.
I’m really glad I can help, thank you so much for your comment!
It’s still surprising me that people actually find these videos helpful because most the willow/ weaving related videos I’m making at the moment are just ‘let’s see if I can do a thing’, but then I love watching others videos where you can see the process and mistakes along the way!!
Good luck with your willow growing, are you planning to grow it just to dry up and area or for other reasons?
@@agreatalternative Thanks so much for well wishes. Also, I don't intend to grow willow just to dry up and area, I plan to use it for fencing too. I know I need different varieties for both intended uses. I love your videos as there's so much joy in your delivery. Makes such a change to some. All the very best with your ventures.
@@sky-frequency What varieties are best for different situations is still something that I’m learning myself, so it’d be interesting to know which ones you go for!
Overall I’ve found willow to just be brilliant for so many uses, even if you are using one found in the wild, so I’m sure whichever you choose will work out well!
Thank you so much again for your comment, I’m glad my passion is coming across, I always worry that it will seem like an act 😂
we live in a swamp in anola manitoba canada . we have a lot of swamp willow. grew up with them as a pain . now we will be starting 6.5 miles of living fence. i will now work with willow for the rest of my life.
That sounds like a fantastic project, I'd love to see how that evolves over time!
Good luck with it!
Thank you for creating your channel and video. I am dreaming of growing a willow farm ... in Manitoba, Canada. I will be watching your process to begin my education. :)
Wow such a beautiful place!
What will you use the willow for?
If your answer is for weaving and if you can’t grow right away (like us at the moment, our ‘willow farm’ has been forced to take a backseat), then you could attempt to weave/ use wild willow around you.
The wild land around us is full of inspirational fibres and sculptural forms!!
Thank you for your extremely kind words and for joint me on this journey!
Super helpful, thank you. Planting willow this spring. I'm in Canada. Wanting it for windbreaks and basket weaving. Was hoping to save your video, but I don't see that option, which is odd.
Hi Andrea, really glad it was helpful and good luck with the planting!!
Where abouts in Canada are you planting? Just asking as Alicia was born in Vancouver!
Very strange why a save button isn’t appearing 🤔
I just checked on the video and it appeared for me…..maybe something to do with the app on your device?
Wow!!!
Oooh, any updates on your willow plants and farm? 🌱
@@luciennebeau1117 Sadly no.
We’ve been going through a government application to be able to live on the land.
It’s so far been nearly two years of Alicia fighting with various nameless people from councils who have control over this and we are no further along.
Sadly I think we may have to give this land up and set our dream a little smaller 😕
Therefore we haven’t been back in months as we were forced to move further away.
But it does mean I’ve focused more on natural crafts from forged stuff, so every cloud and all that 😁
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that!
Wishing you all the best with finding another piece of land in the future! 🤞🏻🌱🍀
@ Thank you 🙏