Brambly Hedge:Nature Notes for Winter

Nature Notes for Winter
The days grow colder and the last few leaves are blown from the trees. In every cottage, a fire burns brightly in the grate. The store Stump shelves are full. There are nuts, pickles, preserves, jam and flour, dried mushrooms, apples, honey and herbs. No matter how long or how hard the winter, the mice will mot go hungry.
Mr Apple sits at his desk in the Store Stump and makes a list of all the jobs he must do before spring: "Sharpen knives, " he writes. "Sort out string. Mend the cart. Make candles, glue, ink and coffee." An icy wind begins to blow. It's time for Mr Apple to go home to Crabapple Cottage. As he reaches his front door, the first flakes of snow begins to fall.
The Midwinter Log
Mr Apple keeps a calendar for Brambly Hedge by observing the passage of the moon and the position of the sun and the stars. As the year progresses, he is able to calculate the timing for the annual festivals, including the exact day when the middle of winter will fall. The mice celebrate midwinter by burning a large log in the hearth of the Great Hall in Old Oak Palace. During the day, a party of mice go off to the Chestnut Woods to choose the log and they drag it back to the Palace, arriving as the light fades. The oldest member of the community has the task of lighting the fire. For the last few years it has been Mrs Eyebright's responsibility and she sets it alight with a taper of wood taken from last year's midwinter Log. As the flames take hold, the mice lift up their glasses and make a toast to summer. Then it is time for supper and an evening of entertainments.