Things to see and enjoy and the beginning of the Winter Season

Welcome November (Almanac 2024)

Sue Cartwright • 31 October 2024

Inspiration for things to enjoy in Nature at the start of the Winter Season

Welcome November (Almanac 2024) by Sue Cartwright, Spiral Leaf

The first of November in Pagan times was celebrated by the Samhain festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of Winter or the darker side of the year. This was the time to put out the home fires and light one giant bonfire in the village with much dancing, singing and acting out stories of death, regeneration and survival.

The fifth of November is known as Guy Fawkes Day which is also celebrated with bonfires with the addition of fireworks and the carrying of 'guys' through the streets. This goes back to 1605 when 36 barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden behind a pile of firewood in a storeroom beneath the Palace of Westminster.

Mother Nature continues to slow down this month, Dying down in a beautiful array of colour and texure with a flurry of activity as wild creatures prepare for the colder months ahead. It's a lovely time of year with the cooling fresh air, stunning morning mists and grasses laiden with dew not yet cold enough to turn to frost.

Later in the month as the temperature drops, the landscape is transformed into a black and white monochrome sillouette of leafless trees and stark branches. Frost spreads across the land revealing another level of beauty as icicles glisten and drip, grass crunches with frozen dew and the breath billows in misty clouds around you.

As the ground cools and freezes, Mother Nature cleans and purifies the ground, the soil and the air so breathe deeply and feel the same essence of healing flow through you. Our bodies love a challenge and the cooler weather piques our senses and gets our body pumping and moving.

You can find gardening tips. vegetables, herbs, fruits and nuts in season, and things to forage, in my Almanac for November (2023).

Have a great time making the most of this most beautiful time of year.

Poem for the month

Read or listen to my first poem - Welcome November - a celebration of Nature's 'dying down' at the end of the Autumn season in a final burst of colour, beauty and purposeful activity.

Recipe for the month

I made the most delicious recipe and had to share it with you!. It's a deliciously tasty and superbly healthy Red Potato, Leek and Onion Pie with a creamy Oak Milk Sauce and crispy Cheese and Smoken Paprika topping. Make sure your vegetables are well cooked, top up with additional Oak Milk during baking to keep your pie nice and moist and increase the heat for the last quarter of an hour to crisp up the topping.

This super-simple recipe made with organic vegetables can be served as a dish on it's own, as a side dish or frozen to bake later on. I hope you enjoy.

Dates for Moon phases

Beaver New Moon - Friday 1 November

Beaver Moon - Friday 15 November

Times for Sunrise & Sunset (Devon)

First Dawn - 7.07 am

First Sunset - 4.49 pm

Last Dawn - 7.54 am

Last Sunset - 4.13 pm

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Visual odyssey across continents

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Things to watch out for and do in Nature in November.

1) Listen to the Spiders at dawn

This might seem like an unusual thing to do but there is nothing quite like the sounds you can hear in the silence of an early morning in Nature. As the warm air of the rising Sun hits cold air rising from the ground, low-lying clouds of mist form and the white light of the Sun makes the dew glisten and the cobwebs sparkle.

Go early to 'hear' the Spiders making their nests at dawn. Watch out for large black glossy beetles scurring across the path as they hurry to find their breakfast. You can watch the cobsebs being made from branch to branch, from tree to tree, and I swear you can hear them if you stop still enough to listen.

The beautiful sight of a field, hedgrow or woodland copse lit up with dew, Spiders' webs and the early morning Sun is quite breathtaking and a wonderful way to start the day.

2) Collect Nature's treasures for Winter Craft Projects

There are lots of things to look for and discover on a Nature walk at this time of year. Mother Nature is discarding all kinds of leaves, nuts, seed cases, fir cones, twigs, sticks, feathers, old berries and other things you can find on the woodland floor or edges of fields, lanes and pathways.

I like to keep a basket or clear glass collection jar during the Winter months where I place anything I find of a walk that catches my eye. It makes for a pretty collage and when dried thoroughly, your best finds can be used to make cards, pictures, Herboriums (post coming soon) and other gifts to give away during the Winter season.

3) Enjoy a festive outdoor Autumn/Winter picnics

This is eactly the same as a picnic enjoyed during the Summer months with a twist. Being wrapped up well with a nice warm water-proof blanket or picnic chairs to sit on, are about all you need to enjoy an outdoor picnic at this time of year with it being so mild.

Use your imagination and creativity to come up with some seasonal food ideas such as a Winter Hotpot with Crusty Bread followed by Pumpkin Pie and Custard or Bonfire Toffee - you get the picture. YMake sure to decorate your picnic area with Pumpkin Candles and other low-lights around the bonfire. Make it yours to celebrate the great outdoors on any warm evening leading up to Christmas. Enjoy!

Above all, wrap up warmly, prepare well and go outside to enjoy Nature's blessings, it will be worth every moment.

I hope you find many ways to enjoy being outside in Nature through November, and look forward to seeing you here for my next Almanac on 1 December 2024.

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf