I love Mondays and the fresh starts that they bring each week.   This morning, while I organize my notes and pictures from a weekend visit to the New York Gift Fair (in preparation for sharing later today) I hope you enjoy Studio’g's newest contributor’s first post.  Jen Sundeen is one my dearest friends and partners in crime.  We are going to spend this year exploring all manner of earth based celebrations, recreating them where we can, attending them, documenting them and bringing you along for the fun.  The hope is that trough this exploration we will, ourselves, have more than a few great stories and adventures to share, and that we will inspire you to also use ancient and cultural rituals and seasonal celebrations to enrich your own lives and help you to have a greater connection to the natural world around you.  This isn’t a religious experiment, and while there are lots of beliefs tied into this, our goal is to learn about history and many cultures, to highlight land based ceremonies and wisdom and generally keep the focus on those things whose origins are based in agriculture and seasonality.  If we missed something that you think we should share, let us know in an email (we are always up for discovering something new!).  We are calling it Kiss the Earth and the first post is about Wassailing.

It was a cold moonless January night, the snow barely blanketing the frozen earth.  We solemnly stole our way out to the ancient apple tree, standing alone amidst a circle of candles.  The dried gourd from last year’s harvest held hot mulled cider, its steamy breath warming the air.  The bread was dipped in the cider and gently hung on the branches.   And then, without warning, a great howl filled the air.  The wild ruckus had begun…

OK, in truth, it was a new apple tree, two years young, and in truth, the ruckus was just a few of us moms and kids, laughing and dancing, but it was Wassail after all, and anything goes on this fabulous mid-Winter’s eve.

A ritual that began a long time ago in the days of old Great Britain, Wassail is a fertility festival that is meant to awaken the trees from their slumber and ensure a fruitful year ahead.  Blending it’s pagan roots with later Christian celebrations, it is part of the Yule festival and celebrated on Twelfth Night, January 5th, or in some places as late as January 17.  It is a time of revelry, of merry-making, marking the true end of the holiday season.

The word ‘wassail’ is a toast meaning ‘a drink to your health’ or ‘in good health,’ the Saxon equivalent of ‘cheers’ or ‘salut.’  It later came to be known as the warm spiced drink such as mulled cider or spiced wine used to toast the health of apple trees for the upcoming year.  Both traditionally – and even today – in villages across the globe, Wassail enthusiasts gather around an old apple tree in January.  A wassail bowl is filled with warm cider or wine.  Evil spirits are warded off with shouts and howls, gunshots or the banging on kettles.  The spirits of robins and other small birds are fed by dipping bread into the warm cider and placing them in the crooks of branches.   Cider is poured onto the roots of the apple tree in honor of the upcoming year’s harvest.  Mummers’ plays, a crowned king and queen, singing, music, dancing, costumes, and great bonfires are all part of the revelry.

While our first attempt at the Wassail celebration was rather…interpretive, to say the least, it sure was fun to empty the gourds and mull the cider and dance around the tree and howl in the wind.  No doubt the thousands of apple trees in our village awoke that night, and we’re pretty sure the bountiful harvest that’s undoubtedly coming will be on account of our debauchery.  We’ll be sure to report back at harvest-time this September. – Jen

Jen is preparing an ‘In the garden With….’ post so that you can all get to know her a little bit better, but until then, make sure to visit the writers page as I have just updated it to include her bio! -Rochelle

images by Rochelle Greayer, and from real cider and ceremonial magic.

I am off this weekend to the New York Gift show.  It is my first time attending, so I hope to find some exciting treasures to share with you.  If you are interested to follow along, Susan Cohan (my Leaf Magazine Co-Editor) will be sharing her finds all day on Saturday and I will be sharing mine all day on Sunday.  It will (hopefully) be a rapid-fire design inspiration event that will go down on the Leaflets tumblr blog and Leaf’s facebook page (take your pick for where you want to keep up with us)

Until then,  here are some other weekend things to ponder:

• I just discovered that someone I respect tremendously has written the book that I have long wished existed….not sure how I missed it, but here it is now.
• Is all this warm winter weather tricking you into thinking that summer is soon?  It is for me, and I am daydreaming about sleeping porches.
• Need Valentine Inspiration?  check out my column this week on Apartment Therapy.
• I have always been fascinated with these….can they really carry water?
• I LOVE the style of the these plant profiles for ‘Weeds’….er I mean ‘Spontaeous Urban Plants’….or as my mom would say – ‘Volunteers’.
• Who lives way up north? These are fantastic, but I want more!! Please Share!

image from pinterest

Moonrise Kingdom’s trailer is such a ridiculous visual feast of a style that I simply adore.  And so much of it makes me long for summer garden days. I am watching it over and over because it sparks ideas literally every single second. I wish I had a full set of stills to study.

Oh and that music — sounds so much like the Chicha music that I fell in love with when we made the first Leaf Magazine video. Do you remember it?

This installation in Jaujac, France by french Artist gaëlle villedary, not only feeds my incessant yearning for French travel, but it also so beautifully illustrates the power of lines on the landscape.   A long grassy path leads visitors through the village to the heart of this beautiful place.   It weaves  through trees, and all manner of interesting places, and you can see by the pictures how natural it is for people to follow it.

I am struck by how powerful a line can be, how it leads us, draws us, and guides us.  And I am reminded to remember this in design work.

To see more of this landscape art, visit Tapis Rouge Gaelle Villedary

(images from Tapis Rouge Gaelle Villedary)

Oh Friends — this is going to be one of those heavy posting days…..where I have plans to share a thing or two with you and then something just comes and smacks me in the face…..and it must be shared immediately.  Like DanMala the flower mandalas that Kathy Klein creates.

Kathy creates the danmalas (defined in sanskrit as dān: the giver, mālā: garland of flowers, hence, the giving of flower circles) by first centering herself in a meditative devotional space.  She gathers flowers and natural objects while her mind is kept in mantra and her creations are reflections of the nature and the beauty  that she found in her surroundings.

To me they are like the wonderful feminine form of the Andy Goldsworthy style of art created by manipulated and gathered nature.

She also had a great poem on her site that I just love (and had to share) -

My mom carries an orb of light with her
wherever she goes.
She shows it to people sometimes,
and they laugh.
Sometimes it’s around her face
and her eyes glow like emeralds.
And when she is ready,
she sets it on the ground,
and flowers hover around it in perfect symmetry.

By Seffa Klein

Make sure to check out Kathy’s website where you can see a huge array of her amazing creations.

images from Trendtablet.

I am so torn, I thought this feature should be every week, then every other week, then now, I am back to thinking every week….Because I seriously just can’t wait to share with you the plan and the 3-D renderings for this super cool Garden Story project.

Katrina’s at Earth Design’s Solution:

“The garden combines functionality and contemporary elegance to create an unusual and usable space.  It is divided into three areas, each with a distinct purpose and ambiance.

The first section, adjoining the house, is dedicated to relaxation and entertainment. Directly outside the patio doors will be an area of oak decking, chosen to echoing the floor of the kitchen. This deck will be large enough to accommodate a weatherproof rattan sofa. Along the right side of this section will be an outdoor dining area.  Surfaced with Mint Fossil sandstone, this area will benefit from a substantial dining table and benches constructed from railway sleepers.”

“The second, central area of the garden is planted with low maintenance architectural plants.  Four screens of various dimensions emerge from the planting and help to obscure the rear of the space from view.  Each screen features a different material: wooden panelling, textured stone tiles, stainless steel mesh and orange Perspex.  A stainless steel water blade installed on one of the screens will give the space a contemporary feel that emulates the interior of the house.”

“To the rear of the garden the final section is home to the children’s climbing frame and a storage unit for bicycles. This section is hidden from view by a timber screen. An artificial lawn provides an extremely low maintenance and safe surface beneath the climbing frame. A low, timber framed tunnel with coloured Perspex lenses in the roof provides additional opportunity for play. Both boundaries will be softened and masked by climbing plants.  The existing row of conifers at the back of the garden are to be retained to provide a backdrop to the garden and privacy from the road beyond.”

To see previous installments of this Garden Story click here and here….in order.   Next week — We will see the construction get underway!