Cold days for eating

Author Flick Ferdinando

03/02/2026

The wet colder days of winter bring time to reflect. They hold a quiet, a stillness in the landscape. Hibernations are in full wrap and we hope for warmth and more light in the near distance. Working in this, at times, wild weather can offer vigour and resilience. It is a time to find ways in which to harvest and bring new vigour to trees with careful pruning. As the climate changes so too do the plants and trees in order to adapt. Creating spaces for wildlife is necessary and also allowing their own agency, to work out how to navigate this new bringing of the changing landscapes.

On this day in late January in a small village called Sassetot-le-Malgardé in Normandy, the Chinese apple tree, Malus Prunifolia, is having a prune. It is still holding its apples. They are a stunning hue of reds. The small, almost cherry size apples cling in large clusters to the drooping limbs of the tree. It is a time that the blue tit and black bird appreciate the tasty treat of the fruit. It is our joy and privilege to see them nip from fruit to fruit bringing great pleasure for their bellies and our eyes.

The pruning brings an inevitable loss of apples to the ground. Not all the apples but none the less this has no good feeling about it and while the tree will in itself have a good crop from the pruning next year, all must still be done to give continued life to the creatures that benefit from it now on these cold days. In response to this, making a basket to hold these missed oppotunities is the best that can be done and so with the willow and hazel that has been reduced a little, a quickly put togeter basket is made to hold these precious jewels.

I call these pieces my Quick Ups! They start with a forked branch and good long stems and twigs. The hazel is particularly good for this. The fork then becomes a holding place for the ends of the other stems. A circular piece is made that sits in the middle as a guide and then, well anything goes! The idea is to make enough of a capture to hold the fruit, allowing the stems to move where they would like to go with a little bit of encouragement. Listening to the wood and having a conversation is essential. A sense of the movemennt between each other. A calm breathe. Gradually a shape is formed. I notice that there is a moment where fumbling and uncertaintly creeps in. This is the stop moment, the moment to feel the space around and slowly begin again. It is like a gentle right of passage with mind, body and twig!

To see the piece held on the branch in all its imperfection has a beauty. As the tree itself has wonky lines and jaunty angles so too do we all in life. Here is a Perfect Imperfection.