THE RED ASH PROJECT

The Ash coppice was planted to mark the millenium and to grow materials for making furniture, yurts, and other bits and pieces. Following the arrival of Ash dieback disease several years ago, we thinned out the infected trees and instead of burning them as firewood decided to peel the bark and paint them red.

The Red Ash Circle is a work in progress as we  aim to paint 100 poles and place them back in the coppice where they once grew. There are about 60 poles so far standing in the Circle, all of them red except for four coloured poles to mark the four cardinal directions.

Years ago when I was still learning about yurts I visited Kyrgyzstan where the tradition was to paint their yurt frames red, using earth pigment mixed with ox blood and water. The paint prevented termite attack but it was also a colour that in tribal culture symbolized ‘Life’. The Kyrgyz nomads combined the sacred with the purely practical in ways that we have in many ways forgotten. Colours mean different things for each of us but I hope that the colour along with the shapes and arrangement of the trees remind us of something more than just their usefulness as a tool handle, or a log for the fire.