Mount bonanza!

[bil]

They have a custom round here. The wild olive (azebuche) grows all over, and if uncared for ends up looking like a large, twisted unkempt bush.

So, every 5 years the landowner gives the right to someone to clean all the trees, cut off all the lower branches, leave the tree looking neat, and clear away and burn all the branches and undergrowth.

Well, about a mile up the road, this week someone has been clearing such an area, so I plucked up courage and asked if I could take any useful bits for mounting orchids.

It was a long old search, because most forks are planar, and you really want branches with a fork that has a couple of bits giving just enough space to plant an orchid, but I ended up with nearly 40 mounts hanging in the workshop.

The nice thing is that wild olive is a very hard wood, and hopefully they will last a good long time.
Now at least when I go to mount the next orchids I will be spoilt for choice.