By A J Selby
‘To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.’

Aristotle
As the old year comes to a close, it’s a time for reflection, a time for looking back and forward, and a time to enjoy the festive season. Christmas decorations are still popular but despite being available in the shops, what can be better than foraging the great outdoors for holly, ivy and a yule log.
As a lad I recall collecting beech and hazel sticks and taking them home for my mother to spray silver and gold, which she then decorated with small baubles and displayed in a vase. We also made a holly wreath, and had a ‘log’ which was the bark of an old birch cut in half, sprayed with fake snow and decorated with small deer, snowmen and robins.

The yule log dates back to antiquity and is common across northern Europe in various guises. One tradition is that in houses with huge fireplaces, a tree trunk would be set in the hearth and the woodchips and ash from the previous year used to light it. Once lit it would burn night and day for the 12 days of Christmas, diminishing in size with the passing of every hour, keeping the family and their visitors warm during the darkest season. It was sometimes anointed with wine, salt or herbs which gave off varying aromas. Different types of trees were used, according to custom, in different countries – oak in England, cherry in Germany, birch in Scandinavia.
Holly was used in pre-Christian times to ward off evil spirits and now represents the crown of thorns from the crucifixion.
Mistletoe also pre-dates Christ and the tradition of kissing is English – the original custom being that before each kiss a berry was removed from the sprig, and once all the berries had gone the kissing stopped! I will have to look out for a branch with lots of berries on!

With plenty of food in most houses at this time of year, long country walks are de rigueur to burn off the calories that can accrue from minced pies, fruit cake and chocolate! The smells of mulled wine, hot apple juice with cinnamon and warm ginger cake can only belong to December. They never seem to carry over beyond the first week of January.
This can be a dead month outdoors, with very little for the countryman to enjoy other than the stillness and sometimes exhilarating cold of a winter walk. You may hear a robin render his ditty in much weaker tones than he will in spring, and the missel thrush, or throstle, can be seen and heard on the highest branch. For the most part, all nature is resting before awakening again in the early spring.
For me it’s also a time to tidy up the garden, and visualise the cropping plans for the coming year. A dry spell for a week or so in December allows for some spreading of manure and compost on the vegetable beds, clearing away old plants, washing down the greenhouse glass and burning or composting waste. I love a garden bonfire – it’s probably the primeval urge for a winter blaze that gives both heat and light, something our ancestors valued in the long and cold northern winter.
And once the muscles have been stretched with the shovel and wheelbarrow, what better way to end the afternoon than a sit down in the chair with a hot drink, a slice of warm Dorset apple cake and the new season seed catalogues. Is there anything more enticing to the keen gardener in mid-winter than the seed merchants’ offerings in their glossy pages? The pictures and descriptions hint of summer, whether it be a new stringless runner bean, clusters of sweet-tasting cherry tomatoes, tall and robust African marigolds with fluffy heads in orange and yellow, or a blend of the most delicately fragrant sweet peas.

Pencil and paper in hand, the favoured varieties are listed and the plots sketched out. A row of peas by the path I think, and a new variety of beetroot to try. Oh, and maybe a small area for cut flowers to bring into the house next summer. The planning is endless but I know the list needs paring down lest I buy enough to share with the entire village! There are so many varieties to try, new types to grow and old favourites to fit in. Whatever I decide to buy, just plotting for the summer garden gives fresh hope for the coming New Year. The anticipation of the soon-to-arrive spring as the daylight increases, albeit imperceptibly after Christmas, can only gladden the heart.

It leaves me to wish you all the compliments of the season and to encourage you to get out and about and enjoy our gorgeous countryside during the festive break.