Winter Nature Table

Nature tables are the perfect place to store and display all those nature finds that we “just had to bring home.” Honestly I am almost as bad as the kids about this… Ours is on our porch so that things can be easily added and subtracted at will and we change it out for each season. (And it substantially reduces the stray sticks in the house..) In winter, we add obvious things like holly and evergreens, but also sticks covered in lichen, crystal-y rocks, found bits of nuts, pinecones and a prized deer antler. Log slices and old shelves and add some height and you can use vases to hold the greens.

The kids are always tinkering with the arrangement and moving things around which is great. This is actually my first “rule” of nature tables, they are made by kids, for kids, not elaborate flat lays for instagram. These aren’t fancy no touch decorations, they are places for kids to learn and experiment. Sometimes that means weird arrangements of half picked apart pinecones, and you are going to end up with so. many. pinecones, but you can always use them for a project later! My second “rule” is that a nature table should be mostly nature. You don’t have to make all kinds of dolls and crafts for your nature table. We usually have a candle or two, but really all you need is nature. That said, sometimes I like to find interesting ways to display treasures so they aren’t just sitting around collecting dust and winter is the craftiest season, so if you want to add crafts go for it! Just don’t feel like you have to.

Our nature table is a fairly large table, but you can use whatever you have/ have room for. Because ours is a dining table, it does double duty and we frequently sit around it to read books and drink tea, or to have outdoor meals.

Pomander Candles

We always have a candle or two on our nature table, here is an easy one that you can make with discarded clementine rinds that are in season this time of year. You can use proper candlemaking wicks, but I find them to be fiddly for such a short candle, so I more often use birthday candles. You can clip them to size with scissors s and get two or three tiny wicks from each candle. They are sturdier and easier to work with too. To clean of a bit of wick from a piece you cut, just cut part way through (not through the wick at the center) and chip off the excess wax.

Materials:

• clementine rinds carefully peeled off in halves
• wicks or birthday candles
• beeswax pellets
• cloves
• mason jar and non food wax melting pot

Method:

Carefully cut around the outside of the clementine, trying to cut through just the rind not the fruit. Then wedge your finger between the fruit and the rind and wiggle it around until the rind is free and in two halves.

If desired, poke whole dried cloves around the cut side of the oranges (which will be the top of the candle.)

Melt some beeswax in a mason jar set into simmering water.

Place a wick or clipped birthday candle into the orange half by dipping it into a bit of the wax and sticking it down.

Pour the melted wax in and allow to harden. Trim your wick as needed and light!