frozen Brussels sprouts
There’s not much happening here this Imbolic as I am intentionally taking on less this Winter. As mentioned previously, I need Winter to be a time of rest and renewal, a time to come into myself to find peace.
There still has been no rain here - the grass is dead, the earth is dry, the wind is strong, the morning frost is heavy. We rarely have kangaroos around, but recently a large male (buck) kangaroo has been hanging around near the house, eating the only green grass around - at the edges of the garden beds.
Our hungry friend
He’s not the only one hanging around….there is an over-friendly, over-active, juvenille magpie living here. Charlie, as the kids call her, seems to have little fear of humans or dogs - she lets me feed her ham and cheese even while my dog is next to me. Charlie also has a (bad) habit of tearing up my garden beds when searching for worms. As soon as I tidy-up the mulch, uncover the brassicas, she is back into it!
“Charlie”
There are some craft projects happening though. I thought I would tryt o make cheese baskets/forms out of New Zealand Flax leaves. Currently, I am making and drying twine/cordage to use as the main material for the cheese baskets. I don’t have a clear idea of how to create these, just something rough.
I recently discovered you can make cordage from stinging nettle! You remove the leaves (keep them to eat for dinner or to use as a natural dye) and stinging hairs, pinch the stem to flatten it, snap it in half and peel off the outer skin disposing of the inner pith (in your compost, of course). The skins are dried for only a few hours before twisting them into twine. I plan on making my way to a few spots I know of where nettle grows wild to see if I can find enough of it to work with. If I do, I will document the process for you.
Not sure what I would make with the nettle cordage, it seems rather fine….maybe some kind of scultural basket like these. There is a beautiful documentary about the textile artist, Allan Brown, creating a dress made entirely of nettle - he foraged the materials locally and crafted the dress by hand. You can learn more about The Nettle Dress, Woven from Tragedy, Magic and Love here.
Much Love - N x
twine/cordage made from NZ flax leaves
PS I am working on Reverence vs The Machine, Part 3; hoping to post it next week