From little acorns grow mighty oaks... and dragons
Let’s be honest, this winter has felt quite harsh and has been tough going. Much of this has been about the wet and prolonged very cold weather which has prevented us from working outside as much as we managed last year. However, a great deal has been about the essential but oh so difficult restrictions brought about by the pandemic and so much uncertainty about the future.
I have noticed the increase in stress and anxiety in my clients as they work through the difficulties they were already facing, now magnified in the challenges and uncertainty of this situation. I and the dogs have missed the outdoor school groups, which, while they take a good deal of physical stamina, make the therapeutic work so dynamic and release energy. The other side of this is that I have seen so many more young people in my counselling room coping with acute anxiety and all the resulting anguish of that. I have noted the exhaustion and ‘trooping on’ spirit in my supervisees as they hold this greater client burden which echos their own pandemic stresses. I have found myself continually highlighting their self care and speaking of being unable to change the situation so the importance of upping their self care to keep the balance.
I myself have never been more aware of looking after my own mental health and levels of tiredness on top of the extra vigilance of keeping myself safe from the virus as I continue to work face to face with my clients. Having said that, I consider myself extremely blessed to be able to continue a good deal of my work here at The Orchard when most therapists are all day on the phone or video calls. Nonetheless, I took seriously my own call to my supervisees to ‘up’ their self care. How I usually do this is to take extra time outside, sometimes just sitting and watching, but often weeding, digging, humping firewood around and it never fails to lift me and take me out of my worries into being present in that moment and tuned into the wonder of nature. I did enjoy the beauty of The Orchard in the snow, but the continuous minus temperatures made it impossible to work as the ground was like iron and my fingers couldn’t work in the freezing temperatures.
As ever, the universe opened up a way, a new interest that has totally absorbed me and leaves me in a soothed and quiet state which has sustained me throughout these last weeks since December. It all began with Wood End jam as I wanted to make gift packs for loved ones for Christmas. I happily sourced gift boxes and selected spicy Christmas jams and chutneys, but still wanted to make them extra special. I had the idea of felting little acorns to tie with ribbon onto the gift boxes. After all I had hundreds of sweet little acorn caps from harvesting acorn nuts for flour which I hadn’t been able to just throw away, who could? So I got me a felting needle and some felting wool in shades of autumn and had a lovely time making adorable felted acorns which everyone loved and appreciated as they adorned their jam packs. I had some lovely feedback from people who had valued that every part of the gift had been grown or hand made with love and care here at Wood End.
Of course, that creativity left me with itchy fingers and a rising excitement as our Wood End acorns had inspired this creativity. I began to think about our myriad of mushrooms and toadstools and before I knew it I had produced three pieces of felted mushrooms all mounted onto fallen wood from around the site. Then came the hare and the owl that I had watched hunting over the meadow for several days at the start of February. I was totally smitten as I sat pricking the beautiful raw wools, so very soothing and at the same time excitingly creative.
While pricking away I listened to audio books which told me of plants and trees and fungi and how they communicate and sustain life on this planet. I listened to stories which took me around the world and to times past and of people and their lives which inspired me. It was oh so soothing and peaceful. The two things together captured my imagination and held me peacefully still. And from this and out of the wool came an oak tree itself, with the specific way those branches form and how its leaves sit in clouds of greens or fiery oranges.
As I began to share pictures with friends and colleagues, so I was surprised and delighted when asked to sell a piece or two. I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to do with all the pieces I was producing 🙄 after all there are only so many places one has to put a needle felted sculpture, especially as they were becoming quite substantial in size.
It seems fitting and right that these should eventually be added to a Wood End online shop. I’m now pondering whether I need another Insta page, named ‘Wool and Wood’ dedicated to needle felting or whether to incorporate this new emergence into The Orchard’s page. Would welcome your thoughts on this.
Anyway, The needle felting of the oak trees was a game changer as I learned that I was sculpting, needle prick by needle prick and that I could produce detailed dints and contours. All the while my imagination ran on, and each piece getting ever bigger and braver, until finally I created my dragon. Resplendent in greens and purples and taking 42 hours in the making. He too feels Wood End inspired as he represents where my thoughts can run and the pictures in my head. He, I hope, speaks of the magical and mysterious and the ‘anything is possible’ vibe that exists here on this little plot of land of ours.
