Dark in the afternoons

I don't like these winter evenings. I don't even think it is really winter yet. I am never sure the exact months that make up the seasons. Are the solstices and equinoxes in the mid part of the season? That doesn't seem correct to me......

....is summer May-June-July or is it as I always believed June-July-August?  And the Christmas carol 'In the deep mid winter', are they implying the mid winter is around Christmas or the winter solstice? I always assumed winter was December-January-February.

Have the seasons slipped? Is it to do with the earths orbit or global warming? Is too much forest area being cut down to make way for dairy farming? The tress are the lungs of the planet and soak up carbon dioxide. Cut too many down and the planet can't breath.

And now in this country we might loose 90% of our ash trees.  Damn!  I like English ash. It is a great wood. I have made lots of pieces from it.

I just finished a big hall mirror where the frame is from ash. It is to go with the olive ash and ash sideboard I will be taking to the Handmade in Britain show this week in Chelsea Old Town Hall.

I also made a small jewellery chest of drawers. Something that sits on top of a dressing table. It is from olive ash and walnut. Here are some pictures of it.

Olive ash and walnut jewellery cabinet

Drawers have divider compartments

The jewellery gives the piece a sense of scale

Four of the drawers have dividers in them, the size of the divider compartment getting large in each drawer down, while the fifth drawer is just empty for large objects.

It will look good at the show sitting on the sideboard.

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It reminds me.

The other day I was machining up some ash, and some of it had a grain pattern that looks a bit like olive wood. That is the reason some ash is called olive ash.

Now olive tree live a long time. They grow slow. They produce olives.  A couple of months ago I was on holiday in the northern part of Mallorca, and they have loads of olive trees there (as well as loads of orange trees).

The trees there looked very old. Big gnarly trunks. Thick branches.  Ancient trees. But also there were loads of trees that have had major tree surgery performed, just like in the UK when pollarding and coppicing managed the woodlands.

Have a look at this picture of one of the olive trees that has been pruned.

That is some serious cutting.  Now olive trees grow slowly, and those trees don't have many branches left. How long will it take before the tree will produce fruit again?  I dunno, but it could be years.  So if you grew olives for a living, it could be possible that a tree like this wouldn't produce olives in your lifetime. But don't quote me on this.  I am no expert.

I assume that all the tress go through pruning cycles. I guess it helps keep the tree living and producing strong new wood.  I guess that is why the olive tress look gnarly.

This begs a question. Do olive trees live this long because man has learnt how to increase their lifespan and usefulness through pruning?  Dunno.

I have not used any olive wood when making furniture, but I have used olive ash.  Here is a sideboard that is made from olive ash.

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