Create with Nature 7th December

In the bleak midwinter? Maybe it's not so bleak.

Hello, I’m Rachel. I write about nature and creativity to encourage connection and wellbeing. In these regular Create with Nature posts, I write about what I’ve noticed, created, and what I’m reading (and watching), all in tune with nature’s seasons.

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Hello, thank you for being here! The wheel has turned, we are into the darkest month and I’m typing this wearing two jumpers and hugging a hot water bottle. Jack Frost heralded December in with his delicate patterns, but the rain and stormy seas are never far away.

But this is still one of my favourite times of the year. Yes, it’s hectic, yes as a chronic illness fighter I get huge FOMO (fear of missing out) as I can’t join in all the festivities, but I think there is still so much joy that can be found. And most of it has absolutely nothing to do with consumerism or Christianity.

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Noticings

The snowy outings of my childhood (yes, even in North London) and even the snow days of my early teaching career, now, thanks to climate change, seem to be long gone. So the three snowflakes I saw fall on opening my curtains on the 1st December elicited a happy dance. And while it didn’t settle, we have already had more frosts this winter than the whole of the last.

The crunch underfoot, crystals turning grass into icicles and painting delicate patterns on leaves. Any remaining flowers, and even some late blackberries are given a soft layer of lace frosting.

Winter is a quiet time, even more so when there is a white blanket over everything. As I stood in the clearing, taking a mindful moment, only a few birds called - the ever-present Robin, and a couple of blackbirds. Then a small charm of Goldfinches took off from their overnight roost, their characteristic calls and bouncing flight. My eye was caught by a fluttering in the hawthorn and a fluffed-up sparrow stared out at me.

Winter light is so clear and pure almost? It’s so different from summer’s heavy glow. That morning there was a soft ethereal glow from the clearing mist. And there is science behind it. We know winter brings shorter days and longer nights, but the difference in the quality of light is due to the sun’s rays coming at a lower angle. Lower humidity and colder temperatures add to this effect. An article in October’s The Simple Things magazine by Lindsey Harrad (livemoreplantfully on Instagram) goes into more eloquent detail about the colour and light of Autumn and winter. I much prefer to be out taking photos on a clear winter’s day than in the height of summer - but then I can’t handle summer heat either!

So, while the frosts only lasted a few days, and the days have now mostly been wet, I am making the most of any breaks in the cloud to wrap up and get outside. It’s the best way I know how to blow away the blues and any seasonal stresses. The to do list will still be, but it just might give you a bit more strength and a clear head to tackle it.

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Creating

I’ve always loved festive decorations, I love the twinkly lights brightening up the evenings, and an eclectic mix of baubles hanging on the tree. I moved into my house a month before Christmas and had little money left for buying decoartions so I made them myself. I still have the paper garlands and stars. Each year since, I’ve added to them, especially since my area started doing an advent window trail. My theme always seems to be based on paper snowflakes as making them is a good way to while away the evenings.

My window from 2020, the teddy bear is because we were also doing a Bear Hunt trail during lockdown.

This year’s one is being prepared, you’ll just have to wait until it’s up on the 11th!

Since becoming an artist, I now also make decorations to sell. It started with pompom wreaths and now I make baubles. So the last couple of weeks I’ve been a busy bee painting ceramic baubles and gluing bits of paper on wooden slices. I came up with this idea as my desk is still littered with the bits of Gelli printed tissue from the landscape abstracts I was working on. Here’s a selection!

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And now they are finished and waiting for trees to hang on, I listened my own advice, took advantage of a sunny day and packed myself off to the beach with my sketchbook. Clear, wintery skies, lots of salty ions and only the shells in front of me to concentrate on.

This is exactly why I trained to be a #Greensketching ambassador, so that others can create with nature and find a bit of wellbeing in the outdoors. Now that I seem to be a bit more of a stable place, chronic health wise, I’m intending on getting up and running with both in person and online nature and creativity offerings in the New Year. That will also include additional content for paid substack subscribers.

I’ll be working on this, writing a post to explain it all and creating a website in the next couple of week, but in the mean time if you are interested you can look at Ali Foxon’s website. She came up with the concept (and who I did my training with) which is at the heart of what I’m going to be doing.

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Reading

At this time of year, I return to two books. First is Wintering by Katherine May. This memoir is so much more than just Katherine’s story. It is a guide through dark times, both in terms of the sun’s light and our own lives. She writes about how, in reality, we all go through periods of wintering - where we need to hunker down, hibernate, and let ourselves rest and heal. That winter isn’t just a time to suffer and get through, but a time to find what works best for us and how to build our lives around that rather than push through. She wrote the book about her own period of Wintering and it was published during a period where most of the human race was Wintering - during 2020. She now has a podcast and substack -

Katherine May

, continuing to build on these themes. I am a huge fan girl and have recommended her to many of my friends. In our fast paced, sometimes scary, often confusing world, voices like this are ever more important to help people realise there are alternatives.

And on this theme, my second seasonal read is Merry Midwinter by Gillian Monks . This book shows us that midwinter festivities and celebrations have been a part of cultures and religions throughout the centuries. December 25th was a special date long before it was assigned to Jesus’ birth. Gillian takes us on a journey through her own traditions and those around the world. She starts with a reminder that the commercialisation and consumerism that many associate with this time is a relative recent imposition on what is and should be a way of getting through the darkest days. As a teacher I always used the run up to Christmas to show my class how others celebrate, using my own experience of Christmas in France and the children who had non Christian/English heritage. From learning about these we realise that the main elements; the lights, the decorations, the sharing of special meals are common throughout all festivities. While I can’t remember all the presents I received as a child, I can remember the beautifully decorated tree, going to see the lights in Central London and my family gathering round a table full of food. Writing this as sunset has fallen, I have just turned on my own twinkly fairy lights.

So my gift to you, however you spend this month (and as always I’m aware my southern hemisphere readers have a very different December experience) is to find some calm, joy and love without spending a penny.

*just a note - the links lead to my UKbookshop associate website, where, if you purchase the book, I earn a small commision at no extra charge to yourself. Independent booksellers also benefit, rather than certain large online companies I won’t name.

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So, thank you for reading, especially having made it all the way to the end. I’m still trying to get back into a routine of doing these regularly so it means a lot that people are reading, commenting, and liking what I’m doing. See you next time.