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Showing posts with the label wassail

One Wassail Picture

We had another wassail at Pensford Field where the camera battery ran out (Twice!) so I only got one picture. I was going to go back to get some pics for you of the notment in snow but Then my own battery ran out and I got a horrible flu. If the snow holds I will report on the state of the plants in this delicious snowy blanket, which I learn might be helping to suppress virulences of various kinds, in the earth if not in my own weary body. Pensford Field are asking for votes in a Bovril competition so they can win a grant - they would be very happy if you would click to vote .

Fruitful Trees

Last Friday I went to a Kew Wassail in aid of making the apricot tree fruitful for the year. It was very exciting because I also met a woman with a sheep, and another woman who has a spinning wheel - and knows how to use it - so I think it was a very fruitful occasion already. AND I met a woman who keeps bees there (its called Pensford Fields and its a hidden gem of a kind of naturalness, behind some houses in Kew) and she wants help looking after the bees, so one day I might know enough to have my own honey. If there are any bees left , that is. Anyway the Wassail is meant to be around Twelfth night, when we know we are safely through the dark Solstice, and its time to get things going again so we have food for next winter. So we all pile down to the orchard and sing a song to the tree to ask it to be fruitful - and make it a toast - and make a lot of loud noise to chase away evil spirits ("and pollution" - maybe a reference to the pending expansion of Heathrow nearby), and ...