It was mighty cold in the early morning coppicing willow and the withies had ice on them. I put my willow wreaths as a status update on facebook and now I am chasing advanced orders - serves me right. I do have some sympathy with my customers though because it is almost impossible to get willow wreaths to decorate in the UK, unless you live in Somerset. You can get vine bases shipped in from China but that is hardly the same. This is what prompted us to grow willow in the first place and we already feel this has been a good move. I also use willow in my floristry business and my wedding wreaths are a bit of a trademark. Speaking of weddings I wish I could announce the name of that bit of the business but sadly I can't. Thank you so much for all the suggestions but nothing has grabbed me yet and I feel a compromise coming on. I have a growing pile of willow and hazel wreaths next to me but, if I am honest, I have no idea how many I will sell this year. It is quite an addictive thing weaving with willow and in the evening I work with the smaller withies to make little decorations. The plan is to finish making the willow bases this week before decorating some next week in time for Santa Sparkle. I have also promised some to our local shop so I could just do with my very own team of little elves in smart green suits working while I sleep.
Of course, I am driving myself bonkers with all the development ideas I am having on the willow front and need to try and take this one step at a time. I can only develop this business as fast as the willow grows. You just know I will be talking to it once spring returns. I love how some of you guys have already found the new Pinterest Board on willow that have started! If any of you fancy a go at willow growing I would advise growing the more unusual colours especially the golds and the reds because they are stunning. A good romp around your local area will present you with willow growing in the hedgerows and you will be doing it a favour if you coppice it. Willow likes to be cut once a year as soon as the leaves have fallen. In January and February you can plant your cuttings. Willow is easily choked so the best thing to do is to lay garden fabric down to supress the weeds before making a hole to plant your cutting in.
Making a willow wreath is not the easiest thing in the world and does take quite a bit of practice. You need to accept that no two will look the same. We are not creating a container ship of vines wreaths from China, we are creating an individual willow wreath from wood grown in the UK. Coppicing of willow goes back hundreds of year and I love the sense of tradition that comes with this work. That said, I can't help thinking of contemporary twists...
The island saw snow last night on the mountains and at lower level in the south. The hard frost settled as dawn broke with pockets remaining all day. This is our first real sense of winter and the smallholding looks frozen in time. If we are to extend our willow collection we have some major clearing to be done so the winter die back is most welcome. Tomorrow I must concentrate on posting my Christmas collection on the With Love from Arran facebook page as I promised off islanders the chance to buy if they so wish. I am thinking that I am running about two days behind schedule. It is often the case at this time of the year. Now you can see why it is our busiest time. Enough chat, back to work for this, clearly, very wicked woman.
Until tomorrow. xx
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