On October 23rd we had the pleasure of taking a small group of intrepid volunteer seed collectors out to Hembury woods for a bit of wild networking. Guided by the very knowledgeable and lovely Holly from Moor Trees, we picked 650g (approx 1,450 holly berries, there will be 4/5 seeds from each berry, so that’s around 5,000 potential Holly trees). We took around 1/3 or the berries from each bush so that we didn’t limit the trees potential to grow from seed in it’s current habitat.
Last year Moor Trees processed over 650,000 seeds that will eventually germinate and be grown into native tree species that will be planted in places like Wistman’s Wood and the Bowden Pillar’s temperate rainforest project near Totnes.
After our delightful walk in the woods at Hembury we headed to the Moor Trees nursery in Dartington for a quick tour with Dave the nursery manager, before settling down to process about 850 Hawthorn berries. We sat side by side grinding the berries between two stones to remove the flesh and then gathering the seeds in pots of water. The whole process was very slow, calm and mindful and it created a fantastic atmosphere to chat and build connections between people as well as with nature. Massive thanks to Dave and Holly at Moor Trees for making us incredibly welcome and being so informative.