Dragon Bonsai Beat the ‘Credit Crunch'
Text and pictures by Gerwyn Reynolds
It's the 26 th January 2009 and I don't know about you but this Winter has felt colder and longer than I can remember for quite some time. I will not enter into the ‘Global Warming' debate though. What I mean is it's been so cold here that the ground has remained permanently frozen and WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GO OUT COLLECTING !!!!!!!!!! Until today that is.
Traditionally Dragon Bonsai mount numerous amounts of organised collecting expeditions throughout the Autumn and Winter, but this year all we have been able to do until now is at each of our Sunday workshops pencil in some days for the forthcoming week to go out collecting only to then have to cancel due to the frozen ground conditions. Martin as a general rule tends to be ‘Chief ‘ Organiser and Expedition Leader. ( Martin is the one on top of the outcrop with the Goatee beard, appropriate eh !!!!! ) Martin has over the years taken on a sort of unofficial role within the Society of Foster Parent or Guardian of the New Members when it comes to collecting. In fact it was Martin who took me out on my first collecting trip and helped me dig my first piece of Yamadori. He quite often spends many a day just strolling and searching the hills for great collecting sites ( all within our collecting licence area I hasten to add ) ready to motivate the new members into action.
So Martin more than most has felt the frustration of not being able to get everybody out.
BUT NOT TODAY.
Martin, Chris and myself are able to go collecting at short notice, grabbing a welcome break in the weather, so we have agreed to meet up and head into the hills and valleys of our homeland in West Wales . The day looks like it is going to be a great one. A little chilly but dry and bright. But we know these places, so we go armed with all the warm weather gear you can imagine. We just know it will still be very cold and windy up there.
So its early morning and we stop off in a well known watering hole for a discussion on the plan of attack, pouring over our local map and mugs of strong hot coffee. Coffee finished, plan agreed, tools checked, collecting licence in hand and we are off.
At this point it is probably best to tell you that I will not be revealing where we go collecting, and I took great pains to ensure the photos bear no telltale signs of our locations. Not because it's illegal as we do have an authorised licence to collect in these areas, but because if I did reveal our locations the Society Members would probably string me up, being so protective of these areas and the environment. ( all you collectors know what I mean don't you )
Its mid morning and we have arrived at the first of two locations we will be collecting from today. The first we have to park up a long way from where we are going to collect, so we kit up and tool up and set off up what is no more than a track. It's not long though before you have lost the sound of the roads and residential areas we have been driving through into what feels like a completely different world. To begin with we are fairly low in the valley and we make our way along the track winding our way ever upwards into woodland at first. It's begun already to feel tranquil and peaceful. The silence is only punctuated by the sounds of the resident wildlife. The wind is no more than a breeze here so you hear the rustle of it through the trees and then one of us will spot something that is worth investigation which stirs even more wildlife into a frenzy of more noise. It's a false alarm so to speak so on we go. There are always many false alarms on these trips as our ethos is not to collect something for the sake of it. So onwards and upwards we climb the track and we begin to notice the changes around us. The woodland is thinning and we are beginning to see a panoramic view of the valley across from us. It is absolutely breathtaking. The birdsong has changed and the rustle of the wind is accompanied by the fall of water cascading down the numerous little waterfalls around us so we spend a few minutes just gazing at the splendour of it all. The tree species are changing to, from predominantly deciduous to pine etc. There are other changes to, but not to the habitat but to ME. My legs are beginning to burn with the effort and here is me thinking I'm quite fit having visited the gym twice a week for the last I don't know how long. The strange thing is Chris doesn't seem to be affected, he's off up the track like a Fell Runner and Martin is going like a Mountain Goat ( no offence meant, just some banter ) I secretly think it's hurting them too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We eventually reach a height as high up the mountain that we wanted to explore and spend quite some time scouring around and generally discussing what we see and what we have found before we head off back down the mountain.
We have picked up one or two pieces though that are going to be really interesting in the passage of time and the stroll back down is no less spectacular than before just a lot easier on the legs.
Once back at the van we pack the trees and kit up and head off to location two about thirty minutes away. Martin has done his research well as usual and just at the point where we want to turn off the main road there is a lay by with guess what parked up ? Yes the proverbial ‘ Greasy Burger Van ‘. ( no offence intended to the owner ) Brilliant, we sort ourselves out with a few mugs of strong tea and Martin and I go for the energy sapping, full monty type of burgers ( we will only put back on the calories we have just lost anyway ) while Chris goes for the healthier option, Cheese sandwiches and we pass a few minutes chatting to our hostess and the other customers putting the world to rights. That done and with bids of farewell we head off.
This time I sense the journey will be a little less arduous. Martin has a particular area in mind that we can drive virtually right onto site. It's just as well because it takes us at least twenty minutes of non stop driving to get to the area. Granted we were not speeding, you couldn't anyway, the track was muddy, winding and we did have to stop or slow down every now and again to take in the scenery. It was awesome.
The area we stop at is really very high up the mountain and is dominated by Larch of every age, size and shape.
At this location this is what we have come to collect so we split up and start to wander around the area just searching for that larch with something different or special. It's very tempting here to just dig up an ‘ any old type ‘ of Larch as they are so plentiful, but that would be a big mistake.
