I seem to have been moving slowly this month, dragging my feet towards the shortest days. Not long to go now to the winter solstice and I have become like my garden, hunkered down, just waiting out the dark days while the human world is frantically busy with its heavy sell marketing and last minute panic buy shopping.
There is so much I feel I really should be doing in the pressured days before Christmas, but the dark heavy clouds and cold blustery winds make everything feel more of an effort than it should be.
The birds zipping to and from the seed feeder and squabbling over their position on it show that the need to feed up and keep warm is urgent, each day’s activities compressed into a few short hours before the light is lost again. So short that I find another day has passed and the hedge trimmings I had planned to chop up for compost remain a heap of branches. They sit in front of the bee hive, in nobody’s way but mine and I have no intention of disturbing the bees so there is no rush.
But there are seasonal things to do which won’t wait, like the Christmas tree, a festive wreath for the front door and bunches of holly and ivy to hang inside, both of those foraged from my wild garden. Traditional acts that our ancestors engaged in for generations, that we still follow and which link us to our history and the natural world.
We still bring nature into our homes with evergreen foliage to mark the darkest days and welcome the return of the life giving sun, each species with its own symbolism to past cultures and each still a reminder to us that life outside continues despite the short dark days. The welcome reassurance that new growth will return with the strengthening sun and all will be well.
Our gardens connect us to the natural world like nowhere else, they give us roots strong enough to hold us firm, while like the trees in them, we bend and adapt to the winds of change, wherever they come from.
Our gardens are not spaces for us to exert control, they are places for us to find our inner nature even in the darkest of days.
