I am very aware......

that I need to get out into nature and do a bit of a forage, not just for what I will find, but the space to think and potter quietly in this oh so busy world of ours.  I love being home, but being cooped up when the weather has been so foul especially for long periods of time has never been my forte.  I used to hate it as a child.  I do not do confinement well at all. Too much of the wild and the free spirit in me. Coupled with this awful windy and wet weather we have been experiencing for the last few days makes me long for the sunshine again.  It would seem that eventually I have my wish as today (Tuesday) the Sun has poked its head out from the clouds.

This year I have not been foraging per se, but I need to go to forage items that can be primarily be used in Christmas decorations however some are also required for autumn decorations as well.  If I can find some wildings to use somewhere along the line such as Rosehips, Sloes, Rowan Berries or Crab Apples then that will be a bonus.  

I am after twigs, Larch cones, fir cones, grasses, seed heads and leaves etc. that can be used for decorating the house both for Autumn decorating and Christmas decorating.  It is one of the things that I really enjoy doing.  You can always spray twigs and cones with gold or silver paint, use the small cones to decorate presents, and gift tags as well as napkin rings and also place markers for the Christmas table.  If the cones are still on their branches they can also be used in table decorations.  There is a lot you can do.  Even dried leaves can be used with a bit of paint to create wrapping paper by pressing them or painting them into coloured paint (seasonal or colour(s) of choice and then pressing the leaf or leaves onto brown paper.  Tied with ribbon and some Larch cones and a little gift tax recyclable packaging materials that really only cost you for the brown paper and the paint and a little time.  Alternatively you can use a roll of lining paper (white) to create your own paper as well.

I am in the process of preparing Lemon, Orange, Clementine and Apple slices for Christmas decorating as well.  They can also be attached to artificial garlands and wreaths, and give the house a lovely scent.  If you sprinkle Cinnamon on the apple slices and then dry you will then get the lovely aroma of Cinnamon as well.

I am also after some small branches that have fallen naturally with a view to cutting them into slices and making Christmas decorations from there or indeed some small logs as I have some ideas for those as well.

Every year if there are any nuts leftover from Christmas (I always have a big bowl of nuts in their shells and a pair of Nutcrackers in a big bowl for snacking on.  Any that are leftover I keep them in a tub and use them to decorate items with the aid of a glue gun the following year.  I think that there is something very special about creating your own decorations to celebrate the autumn and Christmas seasons and also gathering fresh greenery to decorate the house with.  My Nan always used fir branches and holly.

I am hoping for some liberation soon.  If the weather is good this Friday I will see if I can escape then.  Will take a basket with me and a couple of carrier bags with some Marigold gloves and also some poly bags, and some scissors.

Time seems to be passing too quickly the older I get and is it really 66 years ago that I came into this world?  There is a 50th School Reunion Anniversary this weekend which unfortunately I cannot get to sadly.  I did manage to go to the 25th!  We were a right mixed bag of kids and quite a few of us indirectly keep in touch via Facebook.

There are a plethora of memories I have over the years of this time of year and the gathering of useful items to do things with.  I think I am just from one of those families who always have to do things with their hands. There are for me many special times and a plethora of memories of those no longer walking physically alongside us, but who I feel are never that far away.  It is just that you cannot see or touch them or give them a hug.  Christmas always has been a time for the living particularly the youngsters, although the adults in our family have always let the inner child out to play; a time of fun and freedom. My family have always remembered those who have passed over with a toast at Christmas dinner to remember that they were with us a gentle nod to say that they are still remembered. They were so full of love, caring and sharing.  

A time of crisp Winter walks, lots of laughter and hard work in the run up to Christmas. Gathering items to bring home to decorate the house with and the warmth of the coal sometimes log fire in the front room.  The only form of central heating in our home. 

Then the excitement of decorating the tree, and the magic as the main lights were put out and the switching on of the Christmas tree lights for the first time and the oohs and the ahs; and the customs followed through from one generation to the other.  The tree holding homemade decorations, from materials gathered when foraging.  Everything connected, everything linking and seamless. Very different Christmas's to those of today and I think much more honest.

The gathering of the wild bits is as much as part of our family's customs still being followed many years later, but it connects us all.  Like the Apple picking that I carried out for over 40 years at my grandparents' home, a mark of the seasons and a place tag of events and things that happened and memories made.  The wheel goes around, albeit faster for me these days than I really want it to but still memories are being made.  Time waits for no man, even though Time is man made.

I will therefore endeavour to get out and do a little bit of foraging if I can. My soul needs it - just a few minutes out to give myself healing. A time to gather and be in my own space without interruption.  Where I go foraging is for the best part quiet.  Maybe I will bring some leaves home and wax them like I did last year and gather anything else I think will come in useful for decorating and preserving. Making use of that which is around us. There is beauty in such past-times and it lets the creative part of you free reign and permission to come out to play and create.

Now back to reality and away from my memories and musings.  I have some washing to get out and dried.

Do you go out gathering too.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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