Wreath making: Willow from the wigloo

Christmas is coming and the wigloo's getting hairy…..

So it was off to join the Friends of Cotteridge Park on one of their weekly Sunday morning maintenance missions to tame the sproutings.  With loppers and secateurs in hand, Judith, of Pollen Floral Joy, and I squelched over the boggy grass to do some serious snippage in the late autumn sunshine.  Yes we are kind ladies, but not entirely altruistic ones.  We wanted willow, and we wanted lots….  Why?  To twist into wreath bases just in time for Christmas…. 

I've just signed up for another Christmas market, so its time to get twisty with those supple willow wands, and make circlets of the lovely green, flexible stems.  Some will have dried ingredients added, some might get mossed, and some might just get sprayed and glittered - a range of fates await them…

Working with willow is quite addictive as it is so versatile.  Bending and twisting the wands back into tidier tunnel and igloo shapes was incredibly satisfying.  After an hour of chopping and twisting, the wigloo looked a little tamer but it has filled my head with ideas of woven shelters for my own garden.  Maybe I'll stab a few willow whips into the ground and see if they take root of their own accord...

Heaven knows we came back with plenty of them!  Plenty to go round for my wreath workshops. I've already turned some into bases of various sizes ranging from the tiniest dolls house front door wreaths (napkin rings??) to monsters of about 80cm in diameter.

Apples? Make mincemeat of 'em.

It's been another good year for apples.  I still have Bramleys clinging onto the tree in the garden, which served as an all-you-can-eat buffet for the 7 magpies pecking away at them yesterday.  Crunchy russets are waiting to be transferred from the porch to the fruit bowl, and the early eaters from the allotment are, quite frankly, now fit only for the compost bin.

The very large unidentified apples from the allotment are great for cooking and store reasonably well, but I can only deal with a stockpile for so long… Therefore, to chip away at the apple mountain, one or two got turned into mincemeat today, to be offered up, encased in pastry, at my wreath making workshops in December (and guess what, you can even decorate wreaths with dried apple slices, just like the one on the website page….!).

To make mincemeat - mix the following:

•  250g of dried fruit (prunes, currants, sultanas, raisins, mixed peel or whatever  you fancy in the mix)
• 125g veggie suet
• 125g whole almonds, chopped
• 1 very large apple, peeled and grated.
• 60g dark brown sugar
• juice and rind of 2 lemons
• juice and rind of an orange
• 2 teaspoons of mixed spices (I used lots of cinnamon and ginger, with a bit of nutmeg)
• 60ml brandy 

I put it all into jars which I'd sterilised with boiling water.  They are now safely stored in a cool dark place and will be ready for eating in a couple of weeks.  Easy peasy - and one less apple in the store….