from the Tree Nursery guest blogger….

At the Little Assynt Tree Nursery there is a magical world.  Tiny trees are having their roots trained and any visitor may find themselves enveloped in mist – indoors.  There are devices of complexity which raise, lower, open and close.  Baby aspens spring from their own wood – no seeds required.

If you are lucky enough to be a volunteer at Little Assynt all these mysteries are made clear.  You have, under your care, thousands of green lives, every one raised from native stock that has survived in the hills and glens around for millenia.

Survive, that is, against all the odds – all the smelting, burning, felling, drainage and destruction that has reduced our Highland lands to a bare shadow of what they should be.  The Little Assynt trees are the first fruits of CALL’s vision to join the fight for a future when Highland woods and forests begin to claim back what has been so tragically lost.

You can be at the heart of this.  There is much to do at Little Assynt and, for the big plans to come about, we need more ‘hands’, especially at this time of year.  The company is hugely friendly, the work is varied and truly rewarding and tea, coffee and biscuits are now famous.  Enthusiasm is a basic requirement, instruction and encouragement come with the job but above all you will be welcomed.  Nick and the trees need you.

Bill and Val Badger

planting the shelterbelt at the nursery