I’m glad to report this time I had no allergic reaction to the willow.  I wonder if the allergic reaction last time was actually caused by the willow at all.  You have to soak willow for at least five days before trying to weave with it.  I toyed with the idea of securing bundles in the canal, but was a little wary of losing them so I stuffed bundles into the water butts instead. 

The project I set myself was to make a serviceable cloche over which I could drape horticultural fleece for growing lettuces as early as possible next year.  We’re still a long way off getting a greenhouse, so lots of improvising is going to be called for.  My efforts were pretty wonky and still big on the rustic charm!  But at least now I’ve got round the allergy thing I can practice and only get better at it.

At the moment my raddichio and pak-choi are growing in this bed.  The pak-choi is great in clear broth type soups with chinese spices and noodles.  The raddichio should be ready soon and just right for my home grown birthday salad in December. 

I also planted out all my Autumn garlic this weekend, which was fortuitous as there seemed to be quite a few vampires around!

I love willow trees.  I love pussy willow buds in spring, I like watching bees buzzing among the catkins, I love their timeless presence in our lives here.  Willow is a fantastic, sustainable resource.  It grows in our wet climate effortlessly and barely needs encouragement.  It is the ultimate ‘cut and come again’ crop.    The slender, flexible stems can be used to create both beautiful and useful structures.  And when they’ve passed usefulness they can be harmlessly composted. 

Last week I finally plucked up the courage to attend a willow weaving workshop.  It was a really good day out.  Janet the course instructor kept us fuelled up with all manner of home produced and home baked goodies and patiently shared her craft with us.  We all had a good laugh mocking our pitifully wonky creations.

We made bean and flower wigwam supports to start with.  I was quite pleased with mine, I thought it looked as good as anything you could buy in a garden centre and there were no cheating pins or tacks used.  Then we moved on to circular structures.  When I got mine home The Man from Salford laughed mercilessly at my efforts.

 ’It’s rustic charm,’ I told him.  ’If this house acquires any more rustic charm it will fall apart,’ he replied with an unbecoming grin.   However, I remained unpeturbed and was determined to continue with my new found craft.  All the way home I greedily eyed up the hedgerow for suitable materials, carefully noting any willows that appeared to have good serviceable stems.

What a great day I’d had.  Then the itching started, followed by an angry rash of weals all over my arms, legs and torso.  These appeared in new crops for five days, until I finally visited the health clinic to beg for anti-histamines.  I’ve never been allergic to anything in my life.  It is true that willow has a high salicylate content, but I’ve never had an allergic reaction to aspirin before.  I am slightly gutted to say the least! 

I will have another go at the willow, maybe wearing gloves as an extra precaution, but if it happens again I will have to turn my attentions to the weaving properties of hazel and dogwood.  Plenty of that out in the hedgerow, so all is not lost yet!