October Volunteer Day
What a wonderful day! A massive thank you to everyone that volunteered today and brought so much energy and enthusiasm.
Our main task was to plant a selection of trees – the latest additions to the collection being a Japanese Blue Oak, Scarlet Oak and rare magnolia (Magnolia x wieseneri ). This followed on from our tree planting and Autumn Open Day yesterday, when we also planted a Ginkgo biloba, Wild Service Tree and Japanese Magnolia. It was great to get these new trees planted out into their new positions and add some new species to the arboretum.
Elsewhere in the woodland another group of volunteers, armed with saws and axes, set to work dismantling a large fallen beech tree. This had been lost to high winds a few years ago and can now be processed into firewood. As usual there was also plenty of scything to be done, cutting back bramble from an area we hope to plant in next year.
We stopped work with the beautiful glow of autumn sunshine, a lovely end to a busy and productive day.
This weekend we also launched our Crowdfunder campaign, and we need your help! We are aiming to raise £4,000 towards the ongoing costs of restoring and managing the arboretum.
We have lots of lovely rewards available from T-shirts and hoodies to tree labels, wild camping and memorial benches. Please pledge if you can, and share this far and wide so that we can get to the biggest possible number of supporters. Help us to buy more trees, label the existing ones, care for the goats and maintain the arboretum.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/tortworth-trees
See you in the woods again soon,
The Tortworth Team
