Patrick Hunt

Have you ever stopped to look at a forest and wondered how it began?

Every tree starts as a tiny seed and over time it can grow tall and strong, becoming part of the world around us.

Different kinds of trees grow together in forests.

And each one has a role to play.

And in Ireland, one of the trees you will often see is the six spruce tree.

It grows quickly and gives us timber that can be used to build homes, make furniture and create many everyday things.

When trees are grown and cared for properly, new ones are planted to take their place, helping forests to keep growing into the future.

Along the way, they provide habitats for wildlife.

It goes on and on in any way like this.

So, you know, there's a few more lines to it.

While he was minister, yeah.

He was minister at the time it would have been written, so yeah.

They do, they do, because they eat the seeds from the cones.

And if you're in a forest, the citrus plantation, it benefits some species, like you will get crossbills.

and a few other species that benefit from the cones, like, say, the goldcrest, Ireland's smallest bird, and that type of thing.

But if you were to compare the number of species between that and a broadleaf forest, it would be far fewer, you know, far fewer birds, far fewer mammals.

It's much more diverse in a mixed species forest.

So really, I suppose what would be nice is if this book was talking about how the future of Schitt's Capoose could be more incorporative of other species like Scots pine, birch, maybe oak, because we did grow these more long-term species in the past.

The reason why it's grown is because of the 35-40 year turnaround.

It's very quick to grow and harvest and replant.