Combined weaving and weeding day
Bronwyn Lowe • October 29, 2022
The October willow weaving and weeding days were combined into one full Saturday. In the morning people started on their frame baskets. The rods bent onto the formas back in August were used to make the frame hoops. A variety of materials including harakeke strips and soaked cane were used to bind the hoops and weave the Gods Eyes.
One of the advantages of frame baskets is that the infill weaving of the body of the basket doesn’t have to be completed in one go. Weavers can soak up small batches of willow or use alternative materials to keep working on completing the baskets over time.
After lunch we headed up to the willow beds for a few hours. Great to see the willow growing so strongly already! However the weeds are also growing apace, and it’s a critical time of year to keep the weeds from smothering the young willow growth, particularly the smaller varieties like Salix purpurea ‘Nana’. In another couple of months the willow will have grown taller and better able to battle the weeds by shading them out.
We focused on weeding out and mulching the smaller varieties of willow, laying sacks between the rows then covering the sacks with cut grass and weeds to weigh the sacks down. We didn’t want a repeat of what happened last year when the sacks were lifted and blown about by that nasty nor-wester!
We also started on lifting the weedmat section that had become overgrown with grass, a difficult and horrible job! This section was set aside for future plantings when we first established the beds in September 2021. We’re planning to use this space to plant new varieties, or increase the number of stools of varieties that we already have and particularly like for weaving.