Natural Decorations

Wild food forager Paul Tappenden shows us what’s growing wild and decorative in our area. 

When I was a kid we were very poor (living in post war London), so we had to create many of life’s necessities ourselves. When it came to toys and decorations, most of these were handmade. That was part of the fun of a holiday, sitting down together and making garlands and other decorative flourishes with colored paper and found objects.

I continued these habits into adulthood, and handmade objects d’art festooned our house during the holidays. I particularly got a kick out of going out into the fields and verges and gathering natural objects to use in decorations. They would be used in place of bows on our Christmas gifts and to decorate the tree.

There are lot of interesting things to collect at this time of year, like conifer branches and cones, bittersweet vine with its red berries, phragmites fronds and numerous other berries, grasses, seed pods and dried flowers. With the addition of a bit of ribbon, some lace, and a glue gun (or wire), these can be turned into colorful, seasonal flourishes to add the finishing touch to a gift, a dinner table or a whole room.

Similar things can be done with food, particularly baked goods. I once made a spinach tart, with an acorn crust, and decorated the top with an ornate design. Trouble was, I couldn’t bring myself to cut it, so I took it to a potluck dinner and let someone else do the honors.