In late summer I managed to capture some scenes of the willow beds. There is not that much to do in summer. The willow is growing. But I like to walk through the beds all year and keep an eye on possible pests and diseases in case I do need to step in. And I like to...
How to start growing willow for basket making. A question I get asked a lot is how do I get started growing willow? How much area do I need to plant? What varieties would you recommend? Let’s dive into all of that here. But firstly I want to say I do not have...
Come along as I walk through my willow beds and point out some issues with pests and diseases now visible, my thoughts on how to manage willow and willow...
The one question I get asked the most is on how to prepare willow. Does it need to be dry before weaving, how to make it flexible again, how to soak, and what about steaming? In this video I go deep into all of those questions. Time stamps are provided in the video...
Once willow is cut and brought home the work is not finished. As each stool produces willow of different lengths and thickness I will go through each bundle to grade them by size. This means I put a bundle in a barrel, with a measuring stick beside it. First I take...
Our harvest season was different this year as due to restrictions we could not allow people to travel to help out. But we still got some lovely neighbors and friends helping out, making the entire experience a lot more enjoyable. Have a look at what treasure we...
I often get asked about what the best willow varieties are. I really can never give a straight answer to that. Willow will grow different in every location, depending on climate, weather conditions and soil composition. My advice is to start growing a wide range of...
It all started about 5 years ago when we brought willow home from a friend with strange looking black nodules on it. I had never seen it before and did not make much of it. It looked quite harmless, a little like a gall. That next year I noticed some on our own willow...
Would you like to have a look at how we grow our willow? This video shows you our different willow beds. We have some on terraces, planted through a membrane. Some in deeper beds with no weed suppressor, and more in the vegetable garden....
soaking willow in soaking tank for basket making I often get asked: ‘how do you soak your willow Hanna?’ ‘How long do you leave it to soak?’ Or ‘Why do you soak your willow?’ I have made a video about all of that, you can watch it...
We have for a long time been talking about making a steamer. The problem was how do we make one? I know a few people who use a wallpaper stripper. We however live off grid so do not have the luxury of plugging one in. At the start of this year Jef came up with a...
Willow is such a versatile tree. There are thousands of willow varieties. Within them are basket making varieties specifically grown for the qualities we need such as pliability, size, colour and ease to grow and harvest. We are very lucky that these varieties have...
Hanna Van Aelst is an artist and basket maker, creating functional and non- functional organic pieces from willow grown on her land. She teaches both in person and online and she mainly wants to share the magic world of willow with the world.
