Skandi Rogers

It was a smaller version of this

https://thisnzlife.co.nz/make-hay-the-old-fashioned-way-with-this-homemade-hay-baler-built-for-under-150/

Like table top sized!

Lots of people round me burn Straw for warmth, I'm sure they would also burn hay but it's 10x the price. It is horrifically smokey, a furnace that burns wood with 0 visible smoke will produce a plume of black gunk when starting up with a straw burn. They burn it by the bale, older furnaces use the 10kg small bales but all new ones use 300 or 500kg bales one bale will burn for 2-7 days depending on heat requirements. The burn rate is controlled by the airflow.

To burn it loose you're going to be refilling every 10-15 seconds,

I've seen pictures on here of someone who made a tiny baler that made decorative straw bales for Halloween, it only used some bits of wood and string. Baled into tiny little bales it might burn for a few minutes before you needed to put another in, (and the bales would be really cute!)

You're not going to get official money for gorilla gardening as it is illegal. But you quite possibly can get it to sow flowers etc on unused pieces of publicly owned land. I doubt you will manage to get money to do it in a way that won't give the best results, We can already get subsidies from the EU to sow flower seeds (if you are registered for agricultural subsidies) so you will need to show why your method is better.

Some areas do NOT want the soil improving, wildflower meadows, chalk downland, heathland, sand dunes. these are all very specific habitats with unique plants and animals and they all have as a basis very poor soil. If one improves that soil then you ruin the habitat and kill the plants and animals that depend on it.

On your own property a simple hole in the ground a dedicated shovel and a dedicated bucket work absolutely fine.  But when out walking it is harder, I would think any compostable "plastic" bag would work. I don't use them because we rarely take the dogs out anywhere where we would need bags and compostable bags go off over time.

We had pancakes, Because I am English, Danes don't do anything at all today it's not one of their holidays.
Pancakes with sugar and lemon juice. pancakes with either fish or chicken in white sauce, rolled up and baked in the oven. To me English pancakes are much the same as the french crepe's, I rarely bother making them I normally do drop scones, much faster and less faff but for pancake day it has to be pancakes.

Luke Mitchell wrote:

Very interesting to learn of your stepfather's work and your experience there. I've not had the opportunity to talk to many people who have worked as coppicers - it is mostly old acquaintances of people or others newly picking it up.

If you contact the local council they may have a volanteer program, (both Durham and Hampshire do that I know of, I imagine most do since it saves them money) Coppicing was one of the tasks they used volunteers for, and of course there was at least one person there with experience to guild everyone else. In Hampshire they were working on woods that have been coppiced for over 1000 years, and the "new" coppicing was quite successful in increasing the numbers of certain animals like the hazel doormouse. We even ended up with one in the house for R n' R (yes we had a license to handle them) Doormouse counting was a favourite late winter activity when I was a child.

The times I have seen people twisting were with half sticks as well which probably makes it easier.  My stepfather used to manage many hectares of hazel coppice for the council so while I haven't done much of it myself I've had the pleasure of watching others, making hurdles, thatchers and charcoal makers were all using various bits of the hazel.
I did make a little fence much longer but nowhere near as high as yours. I used elder uprights which was a mistake.. they all rooted even those i put in upside down!

There's a bit of technique to getting the hazel to turn round at the end but it really helps the strength of the entire fence if you can master it. I have some over coppiced hazel here, i.e someone has cut them down repeatedly probably trying to kill them so I have a very very congested stool. Not sure the best way to come back from that. Do remember that all the cuts on a stool should slope (as much as possible) outwards so less water runs into the center.

Do you have any children around who would catch those pests and give them to the chickens, in exchange for sweets or small change?

I don't find anything grows well under trees, things will grow around trees but not under them. Spring ephemerals are an exception and some things can survive but you don't get any yield from them. Forests here don't have an understory as such, only where paths have been cut or trees have fallen do you find any of the berry bushes or other interesting things.

BUT you are not as far South as I am North so your sun is probably stronger and it should be possible to grow things in deeper shade than I can.