Newsletter – Issue 14

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the 14th Leach Press and Oakist Press newsletter, 31st August 2026.

The aim is simple – once a week, I'll send a short update covering new books, new videos, events, projects and life at Oakwood.

Thank you for subscribing and supporting independent publishing.

The newsletter archive is now live on the website. Each issue also includes a photo appendix from around Oakwood.

New Oakist Press books

Four new books have recently been released through Oakist Press.

If you've bought and enjoyed any of these books, a review on Amazon, Goodreads or social media really helps independent authors reach new readers.

New Leach Press book

One new book has recently been released through The Leach Press.

New videos this week

Oakwood Rewilding Project

Work continues at Oakwood in Llanbrynmair.

The cricket-bat willow scheme now looks unlikely to go anywhere, so our attention has shifted to other planting plans. There has been much better progress with the Woodland Trust scheme: we have made it through Phase 1 and expect to hear the final outcome by the end of this week.

We have also identified a local supplier offering free trees, although we are still waiting to make contact. Looking ahead to winter, I have sourced acers from Welshpool for a small maple copse of around thirty trees.

The cider orchard plans have moved forward too. I have now found a source of the tart apple trees I was looking for, including trees on M25 rootstock. Meanwhile, planting has already begun around Pond-da-Rosa, with several willows now in the ground around the pond.

There has not been a great deal of change in the polytunnel this week, mainly because Erika has been busy elsewhere and has not had much time to work her usual magic in there. Even so, everything is ticking along nicely, with courgettes, carrots, marrows, beans, salad leaves and assorted greens continuing to produce.

The stars at the moment are definitely the tomatoes. We have several different varieties ripening now and they have been absolutely delicious, with plenty being eaten almost as quickly as they can be picked. The broccoli is still looking good, while the aubergines and asparagus remain under Erika's watchful eye.

The wild seed mix has now been scattered around Pond-da-Rosa, concentrating on the bare and disturbed ground around the pond. With the recent rain and more wet weather on the way, the timing seemed about right to give the seeds a chance to settle into the soil and begin the next stage of naturalising the pond margins.

The Oakwood chicken project is also taking shape. The house is now in position and the framework for the run has been assembled beside the woodland. We will be taking Elsi to choose some birds soon.

Erika and Elsi are planning to keep bees for honey. Erika is now sourcing the necessary kit.

Looks like we will not get the campsite up and running until next year – it's too late now, although potential campers still appear in the pub, often walkers of the Gwydir Way. I have public liability insurance in place and Justyn is going to act as the general manager.

The Art-a-van has been totally stripped and cleaned, on the outside at least. No physical progress on the stand-alone solar system yet, except planning and sourcing cheap panels.

We continue to maintain the paths round the site.

Following the water: a woodland corridor forming by itself

One of the most interesting things about rewilding Oakwood is discovering what happens in the places where we have done almost nothing at all. This week we surveyed the south-eastern part of the property, where water drains from the field, runs down the bank and eventually passes beneath the path near Dread Palace.

Unlike some other parts of Oakwood, nothing in this area has been deliberately planted. Every species recorded here has arrived by itself.

The drainage appears to be shaping the vegetation. Wild angelica, compact rush, meadowsweet, marsh thistle and purple moor-grass are among the plants taking advantage of the damper conditions, while common bent, greater bird's-foot-trefoil, buttercup and meadow thistle add a grassland and flowering component.

It is not simply becoming wet grassland, however. Bramble and bracken are well established, while grey willow, oak, hazel and downy birch have all appeared naturally. Together they give us a glimpse of the next stage of succession. Open vegetation is gradually acquiring scrub and young trees, potentially creating a natural wooded corridor following the drainage line.

Grey willow and downy birch are particularly well suited to playing the role of pioneer trees here. They can establish quickly and begin creating shade, leaf litter and woody structure. Hazel and oak suggest that, given enough time, a more varied woodland community could follow.

Late August is also beginning to change the appearance of the area. Many of the plants that dominated earlier in the summer are now flowering less, setting seed or starting to die back. We intend to leave most of this vegetation where it falls. Dead stems and leaves provide habitat, return organic material to the soil and gradually build the conditions for whatever comes next.

The main intervention will simply be to make sure vegetation does not obstruct the actual drainage route beneath the path. Bramble and bracken will also be watched in case either becomes sufficiently dominant to suppress the more diverse wet grassland vegetation, but there is no reason to remove them simply because they are there.

Perhaps the most encouraging discovery is the young trees. Elsewhere at Oakwood we have spent considerable time planting, protecting and mulching trees. Here, oak, hazel, willow and birch have simply turned up.

This little corner is, therefore, becoming a useful experiment in almost completely passive rewilding. Water is determining the conditions, plants are finding those conditions for themselves, and woodland succession has already begun without us planting a single tree.

For now, our main job is to watch where it goes.

Around Oakwood this week

Another fairly quiet week at Oakwood, although this time it was my back rather than my foot that decided to put the brakes on things. I managed to do it while reorganising the storage, proving once again that even tidying up can apparently be classed as a dangerous activity. Consequently, progress has been a little slower than planned.

A few things have still moved forward. Justyn has shifted his caravan closer to the woodland and chicken coop, and I have started laying the new carpet in the horsebox.

We also completed that most essential of rural expeditions: a proper tip run. A satisfying quantity of accumulated old tat has finally disappeared, although the trip wasn't entirely one-way traffic as I came home with an exercise bike from the tip shop and, as always, met my lovely mate Gibby with his Mohican standing proud.

The rain has provided a decent test for Dread Palace and, happily, everything is holding up well. That is particularly reassuring after interfacing the shepherd's hut this year and cutting two new windows into the horsebox. So far, the various additions and alterations appear to be keeping the Welsh weather firmly on the outside.

Away from Oakwood, Erika and I have booked flights to Spain for October. Part of the trip will be a rather unusual investigation into the mysterious death of her uncle there in the 1980s, a story I will return to in future newsletters as we find out more. It will also give us a long-earned break and, just as importantly, some proper time together.

Photographs from Issue 14

More photographs from Oakwood and the week's events.

DJ news

There was another regular Dicky Dread outing on Friday, with a set on the decks and the usual wandering through whatever seemed appropriate at the time.

RIP Keith Bailey

Sadly, the other DJ news this week is much more personal. My mate and neighbour Keith Bailey has died. Better known to many as Keith the Bass, he was a cornerstone of the UK free-festival and psychedelic scene, playing with Here & Now, Planet Gong, Gong Maison and Gong, as well as writing and singing on some of their music.

I knew Keith personally as we were neighbours in Kingston for a bit, which makes this one rather closer to home. Our friendship wasn't always entirely conventional: at one point I was banned from his gaff for being too pissed. But that's another story.

I have put together a tribute mix featuring tracks that Keith played on, wrote or sang, alongside music and musicians that influenced him or inhabited the same musical world. I would have included more Here & Now, but Mixcloud only allows three tracks from the same band. The set finishes with Keith's favourite Hendrix track.

A photograph of Keith and me is included in this issue's photographs.

RIP Keith Bailey. Safe travels, mate. And smile when you remember those wonderful weather forecasts. Keith is part of the weather now.

The December ska and punk all-dayer in Newtown – celebrating my 60th, along with Erika's, Justyn's and Gibby from the tip's birthdays – is now well into the planning stage. All welcome.

Modelling

Nothing new this week.

Coming soon

Work continues on a number of current and future projects, including:

• Further video episodes of Physics, Consciousness & Reality
• Further video episodes of Living on the Road, Waterways or Off-grid in the UK
• Further video episodes of Crime, Punishment & Justice (although not until one of the above is complete)
• Further videos on off-grid living, continuing on the theme of solar (full solar design example next, hence slight delay)
• New Oakist Press releases:
  • Monique & the Thingies (Tom Rantula – in final stages of production): follows Monique and Malachi, two rebellious spider monkeys who leave Monkey Island after giants destroy their forest. Seeking the “perfect thingi”, a better way of organising society, they travel through strange animal communities governed by surveillance, religion, authoritarianism, hierarchy, tradition and claims of superiority. Their adventures are comic, dangerous and increasingly political, exposing how power can corrupt even apparently orderly societies. Gradually, they discover that freedom cannot safely be entrusted to rulers or supposedly higher authorities. Their journey ultimately points towards cooperation, mutual aid, collective decision-making and individual responsibility as foundations for a freer society.
  • Resources and the Future: An Anarchist Perspective (Dicky Dread – being proofread by Jude Daniels): asks what happens when societies built around endless economic growth encounter the physical limits of a finite planet. It argues that money and markets can obscure the realities that actually sustain civilisation: energy, materials, ecosystems, land, water and biodiversity. Drawing on physics, ecology, history and numerous case studies, the book examines energy, food, technology, wildlife, scarcity and social organisation. Rather than proposing a rigid utopia, it explores a resource-based future founded on sufficiency, ecological stewardship, decentralisation, cooperation and mutual aid, suggesting that gradual experimentation could move society towards systems better aligned with planetary limits.
  • Books from Marge Hunter, Saz Denny and Stu Schotnes
  • Education: An Anarchist Perspective (Dicky Dread)

Author's note

Another fairly quiet week at Oakwood, although this time it was my back rather than my foot that decided to put the brakes on things. Even so, Oakwood carries on changing whether we are actively working on it or simply watching. The self-seeded woodland corridor along the drainage line is a particularly good reminder that sometimes the most interesting results come from doing very little.