Planting a Future Forest

Growing up I always loved nature and wild life because it always seemed to bring such refreshing change to my town-life upbringing. It was never exclusive and seemed always to be somehow an all-embracing escape into something good. I would sit and watch wildlife, pursue birdlife for hours on end through a pair of binoculars and though I was raised in town, I always felt quite at home in mixed woodlands whether alone or with my family.

Of course I have learned that we all need trees but, though surprising, not all woodworkers link their work to the actual growing tree. More often they may never have had an opportunity to link directly to the trees their work relies on in that they buy boards from the suppliers and never see trees through any direct relationship.

The thing is, most trees take a very long time to grow so it takes a special kind of care to reach forward into the future to take our precious time to plant trees. As a woodworker I have had both the benefit and joy in the harvest from trees that began to grow so very long ago. I know that many of you feel the same so I include you when I say "we" want to be involved in planting trees for the future.

Recently I spent some time talking to my friend Gabriel Hemery of the Sylva Foundation about their progress reaching out for a Future Forest. Phil recorded it and here is the video:

https://youtu.be/lOY-gwtriy0

As I mention In the video, we want to contribute to this and have our own Woodworking Masterclasses portion of the Future Forest here in Long Wittenham. We are inviting those who support our work to contribute too and we will match those contributions from the profits of a calendar we have just released. So, you can contribute in any of the following ways:

• Contribute to the Woodworking Masterclasses Forest by giving through this form
• Buy a calendar and a portion of the profits will be contributed by us
• Go directly to the Sylva website and sponsor your own plot

This is indeed an important work and we will be updating you as we see progress in this project.

The calendar is really great by the way. The photography, design and printing came out really nice and I think you will enjoy it!