In the film Out of Africa Meryl Streep may have had a coffee farm 'at the foot of the Ngong Hills’ but at Genus HQ we are very proud of our ‘hazel nuttery around the back of the garden shed’. Planted last year we’re looking forward to our first decent harvest of hazelnuts though admittedly that may still be a few years away.
This week we started making a bit more space for them by removing some old elder stumps. With a bit of persistent digging they eventually came out of the ground, although one which was still showing signs of life acted as though it had been concreted in and showed absolutely no indication that it wanted to leave home - it’s had a reprieve!
The nuttery is located on the edge of one of our small copses and is home to owls, jays, the odd hare and squirrels. It has a degree of shelter from the wind which can be strong after it’s travelled over several of the open fields that surround us.
Although Meryl may have had slightly larger predators to worry about, our main concern is the resident squirrels. We just hope that in years to come there will be bountiful harvests for all of us to share.