The way through the woods …

… is the title of one of my favourite Inspector Morse novels by Colin Dexter. The plot involves the disappearance of a young Swedish girl in the Oxford surrounds. Morse believes the clue to the mystery is to be found in Wytham Woods just north-west of Oxford and sure enough a body is found there as soon as he is put in charge of the case. Having spent many a pleasant hour wandering in Wytham Woods and many more pleasant hours at The White Hart in Wytham village, perhaps my fondness for the story is more about my recollection of endless summer days as a student rather than the excellence of the plot. 

One incident I remember quite vividly was picking wild blackberries with Cath on the outskirts of Wytham Woods sometime in early September and being admonished by local who let us know in no uncertain terms that blackberries should only be picked after “Second Michaelmas”.  I had absolutely no idea what this meant of course, only that Michaelmas had something to do with September. I later discovered that Michaelmas is a religious feast that celebrates three Archangels, namely Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Raphael. Apparently, prior to unification sometime in the 20th century,  there were originally three feasts: 18 March for St Gabriel, 29 September for St Michael and 24 October for St Raphael. My presumption is that the local was pretty well versed in the history of religious feasts and that “Second Michaelmas” meant 29 September. 

 

So, what has all this to do with Cracroft Farm you ask. I guess it was the blackberries that made the connection. Just below the newly planted domestic orchard is a beautiful slope with a north easterly aspect which has been completely neglected for many years and was completely overgrown with blackberries. Given that Cath is in Queensland and slashing is essentially a solitary sort of job, I decided to attack the slope with my Stihl 260 slasher armed with a shredder knife specially designed for blackberries.

Before

The work was pretty tough and after a day of hard slashing my trusty slasher wore out its protective cup and had to be taken to the Stihl shop for repairs. At least this time I walked into the shop with my head held high and my clothes covered in dirt. Unlike the previous occasion (see “A very expensive mistake …”) when I had to slink in and own up to messing up the oil to fuel ratio! I got even more kudos when the repair man remarked that I needed a new shredder blade, my current one being worn out.

 

With the 260 hors de combat, I had to borrow Cath’s 130 with the “weed-wacka” attachment. Of course, I received the customary threats and admonitions about keeping the machine clean and not allowing it to become as dirty as mine (although I myself prefer the description “well used”). After another 2 days of hard slashing, I am delighted to report that the slope has been completely freed from bondage. We now have a beautiful paddock which I hope will one day become an olive grove. There is still a long way to go to get to that point. but for the moment it is enough just to enjoy the view over a clean paddock. One thing is absolutely certain,  no one is going to be picking and eating these blackberries at Second Michaelmas!

After

 

I am now contemplating slashing a path along the bottom of the new paddock that heads into a dark space completely overgrown with wattles. My objective is to see whether or not a fence can be constructed along this line, a development that would afford some much-needed protection to the garden from the native wildlife. If this slashing expedition is successful it will surely provide a great way through the woods, although hopefully minus the dead bodies …

The way through the wood