Tuesday 19th December 2017
My Own Solstice Tree
So today I embarked on my own tree, for solstice of course, not Christmas. I don't do Christmas.
First step was to harvest the willow and sort it. I needed about 30 rods for the verticals and some thinner but long ones for the weaving.
I then tried to figure out how to actually make the thing. I cut a silver birch branch, choosing one that was straight and nicely white and pushed it in the ground. I then used a brooder ring to mark the circle and set about poking the willow rods into the ground all around it. There was a fair bit of trial and error to get all the rods to the same length and the ground got muddy as I worked round the tree but I ended up with this (the tree, not the dog):
I was very pleased with my afternoon's work.
Wednesday 20th December 2017
Natural decorations
I do the construction, Sue does the decoration. And a fine job she did of it too. By noon on Wednesday our solstice tree was adorned with ivy, rosemary and conifer sprigs. Colour came with a splash of hawthorn berries and a dash of class was added with artichoke and teasel heads. The whole was topped off with a star of allium seedheads.
Happy Solstice!
So this is it. The shortest day reached. The sun rose at... well, it was misty most of the day! I was busy in the kitchen all day since I'd invited the Grow Your Own group over for a special solstice celebration meal and I was really pushing the boat out, as you can see from the menu.
From now on the days get longer.
Hopefully the chickens will realise and start laying again very soon.
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