Harvesting willow for basket making. One year coppicing. Harvesting by hand.

[@nikolaristic9509]

Just stumble upon this video. Very intesting product I hope more small farmers will get interested in growing it!

[@karenkilba2907]

I just love ❤️ your videos, I am learning so much and can’t wait to start my first basket.

[@HannaVanAelst]

I'm so glad! Thank you!

[@3GNOME]

I love willow.

[@evelynrope7032]

love your endless supplies of willows. Beautiful.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Thank you so much!

[@altlife2908]

Thank you for all your positive helpful feedback in helping me learn this magick art... blessings to you

[@HannaVanAelst]

You are so welcome!

[@Jack42Frost]

Hi Hanna. Keep your cutters sharp and think about possible future problems with your cutting hand and wrist, maybe electric cutters are not for you, but the thicker whips are tough and those cutters are small!

[@HannaVanAelst]

Thanks Jack, we will look at electric cutters in the future, for now we have plenty of willing help!

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

I use a cycle with a serrated blade. Works like a darn.

[@wintermetalhd]

Thank you for sharing. Lost art here. Video is direct and full of good information. Thank you.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Glad it was helpful and you enjoyed it thanks!

[@jimrussell8064]

Dear Hannah. Thank you for sharing. I am enjoying your videos. Your knowledge, skill, and passion come through in every segment. Best wishes.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Hi Jim, delighted to hear you are enjoying the video's!

[@ЕленаКоробка-т9ж]

Красота неописуемая. Хочу себе такие Ивы.!!!

[@jovylearnsmore4066]

I'm going to use un commercialized willow I mean the twigs of our willow tree..I hope it will look like ur basket!!!theyre more tiny though.. have a good day

[@HannaVanAelst]

Any willow works as long as the rods are flexible enough. To judge flexibility you can wrap the fresh rod around your finger or wrist. They should not break or crack. Happy weaving!

[@Jan-feelgood-forest-bathing]

thank you Hannah, what a lovely video. what a nightmare that infestation! Your cutting weekend looked a lot of fun - I hope you managed it again this year with the Covid restrictions. I love the music by the way - it sent me into another world while I was watching. I'm amazed how high your stumps are - much easier for cutting I think. And I'm surprised the donkeys don't chew the stumps! Hannah, I am back the next day - I am bewitched by the music - the guitar and humming - I went to sleep and woke with it in my head - please can you tell me what it is.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Hey thanks! So lovely to hear you are enjoying the video's. The music is called Lullaby by Benjamin Thomson.

[@Jan-feelgood-forest-bathing]

@@HannaVanAelst Thank you Hanna, (I have now found the music - I love it). I am loving your videos - in awe of your scale. I have a tiny patch of willows a few yards square, and that seems like a big deal to me! I looked at your work on your website too - lovely. Thanks for sharing all this with us - I believe basket making is so important and we have to keep it alive until humanity realises we need it again, once the plastic has gone!

[@HannaVanAelst]

I started small and things have kinda gotten out of hand over time! But I started with only 30 cuttings. I agree that basket making is a very important skill to keep alive. As are many other crafts. I love teaching others about it and showing that really it's not that hard...

[@claykelsey7871]

Another excellent video, thank you.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Thanks Clay!

[@wawufe]

Thank you dear ❤️🌹😊

[@HannaVanAelst]

You're welcome 😊

[@danielbrockett1469]

Thank you so much for sharing, great video!

[@HannaVanAelst]

Thanks Daniel!

[@ingerhaugland6763]

That looks amazing. I just found your channel and I am enjoying it som much. I've been wanting to try basketmaking for years. My boyfriend and I are striving for a simpler, more self sufficient life as well. A question: how big a bed do you recommend I plant to get started with basketmaking, with baskets just for household use and a few gifts here and there for a start? Thanks so very much for all the knowledge you share! Cheers a bunch from Norway.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Hi Inger, delighted to hear you are enjoying the channel and want to start weaving. As for how much willow you need, I always say plant as much as you can! Because it takes a few years for the plants to give a full crop, and once you start weaving you get addicted. There is never enough willow!

[@ingerhaugland6763]

@@HannaVanAelst haha! I see, I see :)

[@What..a..shambles]

👍🏻 Hello, Is growing willow and basket making profitable? Or a labour of love? and how many years does it take to get knowledgable and proficient enough in basket making in your opinion?

[@HannaVanAelst]

It is both, only some of us take the plunge and make it full time but it is hard work and only rewarding if you enjoy the craft!

[@thomaskelly6495]

Hi, Hannah. Wonderful educational video. I live in Carlow. I want to grow willow to make arbours for growing roses and sweet pea so i would need tall stems. What cultivar do you recommend? Go raibh maith agat agus Dia Dhuit. Tom.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Hi Tom, I think Viminalis would do great for that. Also Brown Maul or Harrison

[@thomaskelly6495]

@@HannaVanAelst Thank you, Hanna. Happy new year.

[@loadapish]

3 to 5 months to dry out? Oh man i thought it would be just a few weeks. I originally collected willow for my house rabbit. I wanted to make some kind of little den for it. I had no idea about when to harvest or anything. I stripped the leaves off them and dried them out and stored them for the rabbit. Anyway.. basket making was an afterthought so i dont have much weavers. I will have to go bk and try to get weaving stucks coz i want to try making a basket. So i will do that and dry them for months but the thick branches i have here... they seem bendy enough to make somethin for the rabbit. Maybe a wee dome shaped den. Could i do that without drying it? What is the point of drying it all then re soaking it? And after soaking it do i weave it while its still wet or damp?

[@ياألًلًه-م6ك]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGi6m6porLp-Y7M ، kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHu8gp2jbbKtl9k .. ..

[@altlife2908]

Again, i love your video's///always so educational... My question is... once harvested... do you 'have to' let them dry for 3months? Or.. can you crack on and start weaving away once harvested... Love

[@HannaVanAelst]

Yes I would always advise to leave your willow to dry out fully before weaving as willow has a very high water content and will shrink significantly when drying, leaving your basket loose and wobbly as a result.

[@craftylilhandses]

Hi Hanna! Can't wait to see this year's harvest of yours!! I am very excited to see you doing a pollarded bed - I'm currently toying with the idea of doing my own here in Scotland, partially because of the chance to not ruin my back each harvest bending so far down to coppice level. Can you please help me decide by answering a few questions? Have you noticed any difference in productivity between the ground(ish) level coppice and the pollards? I hear pollarding was an attempt at keeping the deer and/or sheep off the young shoots at the top (while presumably keeping the side shoots along the stem trimmed off so all regrowing energy went into the crown) as well as giving he willow an edge over weeds in terms of accessing the light. If you could do the pollarded meadow again, would you still plant at the same height? Higher maybe? I'm thinking of using 1.50m rods so they come out at about 1.20m planted and topped, which seems a comfortable harvesting height and allows for some growth. Any other tips and things to watch out for you can give me regarding the pollarding? I'd be so grateful!

[@HannaVanAelst]

There is a video coming on pollards vs coppicing. Hopefully soon!

[@carlymacinnis5964]

Great video as usual. I am curious about which song is playing during the video. I quite like it

[@HannaVanAelst]

The music is my daughter Mara on the harp.

[@carlymacinnis5964]

@@HannaVanAelst really? Sounds like guitar and someone's lovely humming to me. Very soothing regardless.

[@ColumbcilleDougherty]

What kind of willow is that purple willow? It's beautiful!

[@HannaVanAelst]

Daphnoides

[@garytango]

👍

[@debrariley2057]

I love your videos, I do have a question.... on some willow sculptures for example some of the twisted willows, the leaves only appear at the top of the willow, is thus how it should be or do they take the leaves off the stems to keep them bare.

[@HannaVanAelst]

Sometimes in a living willow sculpture the willow will make all or most leaves at the top, as this is where most sunshine will land on it. That is natural and perfectly ok. I would never take leaves off when growing.

[@inform8940]

Hi, why do you leave several cm above the ground? What are advantages of doing so? thank you

[@HannaVanAelst]

Mainly because it easier to harvest by hand. The only reason to cut willow back to ground level is so it can be cut by machine.

[@michelleferguson5580]

Hanna, Thanks for video. Question: I live in northern Ontario. I planted bare root basket willow saplings, while dormant, last November. Snow started in December, 3 feet deep on ground until late April. Early September now, the saplings have grown well over summer with lots of new growth at top, 4 feet from ground level. When should I cut back? How close to ground?

[@HannaVanAelst]

Hi Michelle, Willow is harvested only when dormant, so when the leaves have dropped in winter. You can cut back at whatever height you want, depending on where they are growing, how you want to harvest in future etc...

[@michelleferguson5580]

@@HannaVanAelst Thank you very much for your prompt and helpful reply. M.

[@karinrau2307]

Can willow dry if is in a near freezing garage? I don't have a heated workspace, but the garage attached to the house retains a little more heat that our detached shed. It does stay below 0 degrees F for several months where I live. The garage is around 40 degrees F. Just wondering how temperature affects the drying process?

[@HannaVanAelst]

Freezing or close to freezing temperatures will prolong the drying process, not necessary stop it though. I also don't think it is bad for them, just means you will have to wait longer for them to dry out.

[@nealdalton4696]

You didn't meantion how to know when it is time to harvest. Do you have a video on that?

[@HannaVanAelst]

Yes good point, You harvest in winter, when the sap is down. You will know when that is when the willow has lost it's leaves. It is important to finish harvesting before spring, when sap rises again. Obviously this time frame will be different depending on the climate you live in but for Ireland it seems to be from December until late January these last few years. It used to be November until March.

[@amelielebeau4605]

@@HannaVanAelst Thank you for the great videos; I was wondering what happens if you do harvest the willow at this time of year, when the sap is up?

[@HannaVanAelst]

@@amelielebeau4605 You might damage the health of the tree, even kill it. Taking out a few branches during the growing season is ok though, but I would not cut all the branches off when it is growing.

[@altlife2908]

Also.. which is the best willow for basket making

[@HannaVanAelst]

I have another video on willow varieties, my favourite ones...

[@wonderwend1]

*Waves hello from near Bansha *

[@HannaVanAelst]

hello!!

[@kahlospirit24]

I'm wonderibg there any huge disadvantage to not being able to harvest the willow for a year?

[@HannaVanAelst]

there is if you want to make baskets from the willow. Two year old willow is useless for baskets. It can however be used for planting material, living willow structures and other larger projects. It also won't damage the plant at all to have a longer harvesting cycle.

[@kahlospirit24]

@@HannaVanAelst fabulous thank you.

[@netdingle]

Hi Hanna, do you sell your willow, I need some for an art project.

[@HannaVanAelst]

I only have a limited amount I sell, but you can also contact Barry Noyce for willow. His details are on the IBA website irishbasketmakers.com/makers

[@cathyhelminiak4876]

Can I buy Willow branches from you please. Thanks

[@ЕленаКоробка-т9ж]

Как прочитать о сортах Ваших ив? Я не могу говорить . Только переводчик.How to read about the varieties of your willows? I can not talk . Translator only.

[@louisemissouri4410]

How long can you store willow before you have to use it?

[@HannaVanAelst]

for many years as long as it is kept dry.

[@louisemissouri4410]

@@HannaVanAelst thank you!

[@stevena3333]

I sped it up to 1.5x and it sounds like regular speed lol. You’re going to live for 150 years 😂

[@HannaVanAelst]

LOL!

[@stevena3333]

@@HannaVanAelst and I hope you do! ❤️