The Merlin: A British Carving Axe with Talons
Some tools are helpful. Others are transformative. The Merlin carving axe by Thorn Wood Forge belongs emphatically to the latter, the sort of tool that makes you stand a little straighter and marvel at what your hands are doing. I’ve had the chance to test the Merlin properly: first alone in my workshop, and then in a teaching setting with students from St Cuthbert’s Society, Durham University, introducing them to carving axes and the making of spoon blanks. That combination,
The Gardener's Journal - February
February is a month that seems determined to misunderstand the assignment. The rest of the year has a rhythm; spring is hopeful, summer is exuberant, autumn gets all dramatic and moody, whilst winter is calm and slightly morose. Then comes February.
5 Heritage Crafts Every Gardener Should Try
There's something deeply satisfying about being a little old-fashioned. I don't mean wearing a tweed jacket in July or insisting everything was better in 'the good old days' (though let's face it, it just was), I mean the simple, timeless joy of making useful things with your own hands, straight from your garden.
Time for gardens to call a truce in their pyjamas!
As another year draws to a chilly close, it's safe to say the garden isn't top of anyone's to-do list. December is about friends, family, and food, not flowers and fertiliser.
The Gardener's Journal - January
Well, it's that time of year yet again where we scratch our heads at where the last year has gone and ponder all our life choices.
The Art of the Autumn Tidy, and Winter Prep
This is the season when the garden undergoes its annual costume change, The last dahlias can't hold their heads up, the perennials collapse into graceful heaps, and the borders have taken their last bow after the final curtain call. Before the frost sets in, it's time to restore a little order...but not too much.
Keeping things ticking over in the garden
September and October in the garden are a bit...in-between. The frantic energy of spring and high summer is long gone, but autumn hasn't quite taken charge yet. It's like the garden's got one sock on and isn't sure what it came into the room for.
