The Beauty of Winter )O(

Merry meet all,

Nature is beautiful in the winter, in fact even more so. Maybe I’m biased because I live in an area where I am surrounded by nature but that is what today’s post is about; the beauty of winter.

I made the whipped herbal butter! I love how it turned out. I used fresh sage and thyme leaves from my Mom’s garden. I also have been out foraging on the nature trail. I was inspired by a blog post I found on the web. Here is the link: https://dandelionherb.com/2021/12/17/yule-bundle-a-winter-solstice-ritual/?fbclid=IwAR2IFnttsUSQEO3XhnXjHk6SE4CqOSpZ2q5NXGTTMq0dlnFO8w4ZeLFtLTo

I decided I would try that craft. I was nearly frozen by the time I arrived home but it was worth it. And my coffee maker was on when I returned.

I gathered branches from several trees and stored them in a cheap cloth grocery bag. I gathered birch, silver birch, witch hazel, maple, oak, eastern hemlock, eastern white pine and elderberry. I also gathered a lot of burning brush. Once home, I washed and dried the leaves and bark. I was totally awed by how beautiful everything was: the trees with their gorgeous colours of bark, the varying shades, leaves. Some of the bark was white, silvery white, brown, red, grey. It was all so gorgeous! I even scored a beautiful piece of birch bark. I let everything dry and then stacked the bundle of bark pieces together. I bound it all with a strip of the lovely brown muslin I dyed with acorns and secured it all with white string. I think it all looks so beautiful. I don’t want to burn it. The temperature now is too cold for too many outdoor activities, as reluctant as I am to admit it. I glued the birch bark to the bundle using a hot glue gun. The bark bundle is so lovely. I sprinkled rosemary essential oil to the bundle. Now the bundle smells divine!

The rosemary essential oil is making my kitchen smell amazing! I am cool with that. Rosemary is the herb of remembrance. Winter Solstice is a good time to remember what we can be thankful for and the abundance in our lives. We can also remember our loved ones, those who are with us now and those of who have passed. The dark half of the year is for the spirits and witches, to honour the spirits of those who have gone before us.

I foraged a LOT of fiery red burning brush leaves. Once the leaves are dry, I plan to press them into the poetry book that I bound recently. They will look beautiful in the book. I removed the herbs and flowers I pressed from my large red Jane Austen book and now store them in wax paper in a large labeled envelope. I don’t read the Jane Austen stories (though it probably be good if I did), but I do use the thick book- I swear, the spine is at least 4- 5 inches in thickness, for pressing leaves and herbs. They were all so beautiful that I want to share them here with you!

Enjoy! Blessings, Spiderwitch