More about Mistletoe...

Blog Migration

Update 7th November 2011:  The Mistletoe Diary is now at http://mistletoematters.wordpress.com/ - and has been for over 12 months now.  So if you're looking for up-to-date mistletoe news you're in the wrong place - click here to go the current blog.

 

Original text from August 2010:
A new consolidated mistletoe blog, with all the versions going back to 2004 (there was some in 2003 too, but that's in the wrong format) are being combined for 2010 onwards at;

http://mistletoematters.wordpress.com/

All updates for 2010/11 winter season will be there...

The Mistletoe Myth of Lindow Man

Druidic links to mistletoe (see recent posts) are often, these days, considered established as fact, despite very little evidence.  The Druids left no written records - and the only accounts we have are written by Romans (Pliny and Caesar) who may not have had direct knowledge, and who may also have had an interest in sensationalist propaganda about the natives of their conquered territories.  Or maybe they wrote with absolute accuracy.  We just don't know.

So we don't really know that the Druids of northern Europe (France and Britain) worshipped mistletoe. And if they did we don't really know why, or what form that worship took.

But it's a good story, and it makes an interesting tradition for Druidry.    

So that's all right then.  But should the druid 'myth' trip over into science?  If you've ever read accounts of Lindow Man, a 2000 year-old preserved bog body found in a Cheshire peat bog in 1984 you may recall that these state that he had mistletoe in his gut, and that this may indicate a ritual sacrifice by druids.  

The newspapers loved this story - and it's even mentioned on his interpretation panel at the British Museum.  This states that there is evidence for a ritual death (which there is) and that "it may be no coincidence that shortly before his death he had a drink including mistletoe" and "Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids, and it is recorded that Druids carried out human sacrifices".  Some reports (not at the BM),even suggest the mistletoe was the poison that killed him.  The story tends to resurface every time Lindow Man goes 'on tour' in regional museums too.

Now, I've always regarded all this as absolute nonsense.  There is nothing to say this man was a druid, or even associated with druids.  The presence of mistletoe means absolutely nothing.  Yes, he may well have ingested some mistletoe - but it is not a poison, and was and still is, widely used in herbal medicine.  So it's as likely, if not more likely, that any deliberate taking of mistletoe was to help cure something, not to kill.  This conclusion is clearly more feasible than the usual one.  I despair of the scientific community sometimes.   Especially Archaeologists, who marry loose conjecture to their findings all too readily.  (and yes I am an Archaeologist of sorts by training, but my primary training is in botanical science)

AND (this is the best bit, which you'll only find if you read it up in detail) guess how much mistletoe was found?  4 pollen grains.  FOUR POLLEN GRAINS!  And the BM turn that into a 'drink including mistletoe'.  All it really indicates is that he died in February/March when mistletoe is flowering, and that he was relatively near to some mistletoe when he ate his last meal.  There's no evidence there for deliberate ingestion at all.  It's all spin, and not very good spin either.  

So, I was most relieved to find, earlier this year that in the British Museum's new (2009) book on Lindow Man (written by Jody Joy - details below) they now admit that whilst 'much has been made' of the misletoe in his gut it is 'possible...that... it could have been ingested inadvertently'.  More probable than possible I'd say.  When I'm next at the BM I'll go and see whether they've changed the interpretation panel.

 

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Lindow Man book:

Here's that recent book on Lindow Man - a short booklet really, very readable, and available from Amazon at just £5.00 incl UK delivery.

Mistletoe Day (Dec 5th) at Tenbury Wells: Mistletoe Queen

A brief photo report on the celebrations at Tenbury.  A couple of pics of the Mistletoe Queen etc:

Here's the Mistletoe Queen, Holly King et all with Trevor Harrison (Eddie Grundy).

Confused?  Well, the Mistletoe Queen is anew  tradition set up by the Tenbury Mistletoe  Festival a few years ago.  The role is taken on, each year, by the Head Girl of Tenbury High School, with the Deputy Head Girl acting as her Attendant.  In recent years the Head and Deputy Head Boy have also become involved, as the Holly King and his companion.

Why Eddie Grundy?  Well (I think I already covered this in a previous post) Eddie Grundy, a character in the long-running BBC Radio series The Archers, often sells Ambridge mistletoe in the run-up to Christmas, and even thwarted David Archer's plans to take mistletoe to the Tenbury Auctions once, so he seems particularly appropriate.  And of course it's not really Eddie, it's Trevor Harrison MBE who plays Eddie.  Trevor is a Worcestershire lad - brough up in Stourbridge and now living in south Worcestershire, so he seems even more appropriate.  

This year’s Mistletoe Queen is Sophie Merrick, with her attendant Abi Smith.  The 2009 Holly King is Luke Deakin with Graham Thomas as his companion.

Here they all are eating pork rolls in a bus shelter. 

Mistletoe Day (Dec 5th) at Tenbury Wells: Druid Ceremony

A few pictures from today's Druid Ceremony.  I have loads of these - just a few tasters below.  

Starting with a gathering at the Rose and Crown at Burford (the Shropshire side of the river) where Suzanne Thomas set out the programme for the ceremony - with differing active and speaking roles for several people.  

Volunteers were found for most of these - though I didn't volunteer, as I'm not a druid, and wouldn't know what to say...

A quick marshalling in the car park, with the new Mistletoe Foundation banner, and 2 community policemen to help us over the road.     

   

 

 

Then off over the Teme Bridge, into town, singing, in theory (but where I was at the back, we couldn't hear when to join in, and we got a bit out of synch, so gave up) , a little mistletoe ditty:

 

 

All Hail the Mistletoe

On the sacred trees doth grow

Our blessing we bestow

All upon the Mistletoe!

 

 

 

Down Teme Street and off into the Burgage, a small park area close to the town centre.  Here's Suzanne leading the procession. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's one of the Elaines (we had two) carrying the banner...

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we reached the Burgage the druid procession had been joined by a small crowd of onlookers, which was encouraging (the druid group didn't attend events in town last year, 2008, because of the feeling that some townsfolk weren't keen - so we were anxious to heal any rifts this year).

 

 

 

 

 

The ceremony itself, honouring the mistletoe in a way that reflects ancient beliefs, was fairly complex relative to previous versions - but most of our onlookers stayed the course. 

 

  

 

 

 

Spirits of time and place, ancestors of land and traditions were asked for blessings.  Peace was called in the Quarters (E. S, W and North), and fire and water were used to consecrate the circle.

  

 

  

 

 

 

Local traditions of Caradoc and Arthur were described and then Teme valley local produce was given special mention - the local hop-growing represented by beer, the local apple growing represented by apple juice, all shared around the circle and over the central mistletoe. 

  

  

 

 

 

The central mistletoe was then divided up amongst druids and onlookers alike before the remainder was ceremonially flung into the River Teme.  

 

 

 

 

Where it sank very convincingly and instantly.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

After the druid vow and awens the circle was uncast and the ceremony closed...

Price and condition 2009

A quick round up for those journalists who keep emailing and asking me:

1. Is it a bumper year, or is there a shortage of mistletoe.

And 

2. Are prices high or low.

Answers:  

1. This is a 'glut year - loads of decent mistletoe.  To clarify - this doesn't mean there's more mistletoe than usual - it just means that the plants have large numbers of berries, and so are more saleable.   There is no shortage - sorry to disappoint those journalists who always (why?) seem to want to report a shortage.

2. Because of the answer to 1, wholesale prices are relatively low.  To clarify - this dosen't mean that prices in the shops will be low - only wholesale prices for raw freshly harvested are low.  The profit margin on mistletoe is so low after transport and trimming and re-transport, that retail prices will probably be the same as usual.   

And if you want to ask about swine flu - I'll do a round-up of mistletoe angles on that soon...

Hope that helps!

For a recent newspaper article on the subject try yesterday's Telegraph

Tuesday 1st December - the official Mistletoe Day

Happy National Mistletoe Day!  Today, 1st December, is the date we set for Mistletoe Day when it was established by the Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Festival back in 2003 (or was it 2004?).  Not that you'd know - as most of the folk who do celebrate it do so on the first Saturday in December - which will be the 5th this year.   For mistletoe events on the 5th click here.

But back to today - we have two msitletoe activities lined up in Tenbury - and yes I was up at the crack of dawn, again, to witness them.  First up a small druid gathering (that's a gathering of a few druids, not a gathering of very little druids).  This takes place at today's second mistletoe event - one of the Tenbury mistletoe auctions, though the druids are there well before the auctions begin, to help the auctions and mistletoe along witha druid blessing.

 This Mistletoe Foundation event is attended by a handful of local druids, led by Suzanne Thomas (who is also organising some of Saturday's events, including the evening do).  A brief ceremony and then a scattering of wine onto the mistletoe, row by row.  This is our first frosty morning of this winter - and the mistletoe is glistening with ice, and looking very 'Christmassy'.  'Christmas', is in this context, a newcomer of course - celebrating mistletoe in midwinter goes back well before Christianity - but saying that frosted mistletoe is looking 'winter solsticey' doesn't have quite the same ring to it. 

Didn't stay for the auctions proper - too much to do elsewhere but I hear that mistletoe prices were relatively low again - as expected because of the abundance of high quality (well-berried) mistletoe this year.

Mail-order mistletoe

So much for blogging daily - this year's mistletoe supply business is keeping me even busier than usual, so am finding it difficult to blog - and to keep up with emails.  There's a big backlog again -  so apols, as usual for this time of year, if you've been writing to me and haven't yet had a reply. 

Today's been a hectic day of harvesting and packing for mail-order mistletoe buyers.  This online buying is getting very popular - with both domestic and commercial purchasers.  Today's retail customers include two weddings (mistletoe is, arguably, the ultimate romantic plant for your winter wedding bouquet and wedding favours) and the commercial customers include a garden centre in Dublin.  Lots of mistletoe to harvest, transport, process into presentable form and then package up.  And that packaging up takes ages...  

Was working with Reg Farmer today - and we keep meeting people who saw us both on TV (BBC Countryfile - see it on iPlayer) yesterday...  This recognition, though welcome at first, can become a little tiresome after a while!

Tenbury Mistletoe Auction #1

A dark, wet, and windy morning in a field near Tenbury Wells.  Surrounded by piles of cut mistletoe, trussed up in round bundles. 

Yes, it's the first of this year's mistletoe auctions - and yes, the scene is much the same as previous years.  So much so that I've not even bothered to get the camera out of the car - the pic I've put here is from last year.

The familiarity is actually very reassuring - as we need this auction to continue unaltered for so many reasons - local traditions, local economy, putting Tenbury Wells on the map, helping manage the mistletoe infestations in old apple trees and, not least, bringing pleasure to so many people.  That pleasure isn't just a few kisses at the end of the retail trail - it starts here, today, where media interest is high and newspapers and TV rush to get pictures of mistletoe to show that Christmas is coming, and that we Brits are still eccentric enough to continue with this ancient seasonal trade.

The amount of stock today is relatively low - but that's normal for the first sale of the season.  Buyers are here from all over - Suffolk in the east to Ireland in the west.  Everyone wants their genuine English Mistletoe from Tenbury.  Condition is good - loads of berries - though colour is still a little opaque in some bunches - should be more translucent/pearlescent in a week or so.   Prices fairly good - about £18 per lot.  That may sound cheap compared to retail mistletoe - but there's a lot of wastage in those bundles, and their shelf-life may be short (some may have been harvested a week or so ago) so there needs to be quite a mark-up to make a profit after transport and processing.  The wholesale price also barely makes a profit for the seller - who has to harvest, bundle it up and bring it here form across the Herefordshire & Worcestershire areas - there are long-term issues here for the sustainability of the trade - but more about that another time. 

News photographers from several papers and agencies - so should get some coverage in the next few days.  The dominant media presence today is BBC TV Countryfile who are filming the auctions and later on, some harvesting.  A long day for them - starting at 0730 at the auctions and not leaving the orchard location until after 1600.  Their presenter today is James Wong, best-known for his recent Grow Your Own Drugs series.  (I'll post some info on his GYO Drugs Christmas special, which features mistletoe, soon).  Today's filming is for this Sunday's programme - 1900 on BBC 1 I think.

Swine flu came up in conversation a lot today!  Will say more on that soon...

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Festival

Website at Tenbury Events.  Background info at www.tenbury-mistletoe-festival.co.uk

For an update, and overview, click here for a pdf news release.

Still busy...

Hope to post some proper mistletoe news this week - have been a little pre-occupied with practical matters in last few days - harvesting mistletoe in the rain (soft ground is really annoying when you're standing on a ladder), packaging up odd mistletoe orders (which colour ribbon goes with which order?) and generally answering (or ignoring, sorry, have been busy) the phone and emails.

More interesting information due soon...

Getting busy...

Mistletoe silly season really has begun now.  Spent today fielding many mistletoe enquiries - mostly media-related.  Early start (1.5 hour drive) at Tenbury High School for 0845 to talk mistletoe at the Lower School assembly (back tomorrow for the Upper School, which will include this year's Mistletoe Queen etc).  Followed by pow-wow on Mistletoe Festival related matters at the school. 

And then into Tenbury town to talk TEME mistletoe business - ranging from where the stock is coming from, to where we're sourcing the mailing boxes this season, and should we change the sizes? 

All alongside hurried email discussions about mistletoe promotions next week (more on those another time). 

Plus going out and checking venues for some BBC filming of mistletoe harvesting. 

Phone messages - at home and on mobile - from newspapers and agencies looking for info on sales this year, and can they have pictures from last year.  Emails re the same thing.  Dispatching mail-order mistletoe too - and finding we need to order more parcel tape.  And an early (season) radio interview for BBC Radio Cumbria.  So, not back home again until late afternoon, where (some of) TEME's mailing boxes for this season have arrived - so that's one less worry.

Busy, and interesting, day so shouldn't grumble.  But it was a beautiful sunny day, with those lovely long autumn shadows, and the orchard we surveyed for the BBC venue was crying out for several hours of (relatively relaxing) mistletoe photography. 

Will have more time tomorrow, but the forecast is rain...

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day.... French Mistletoe Seller Pic #1

'Marchandes de Gui', aka Mistletoe Sellers, were once a common New Year phenomenon in France.  And there are several famous portraits of them - including efforts by Picasso and Kirchner.  Plus a lot of sepia postcard photos of the real thing. 

I'll post examples of several in the run-up to Christmas, starting with this 1907 portrait by Adrien Barrere - available in poster format at AllPosters.

The Rare Insects of Mistletoe

Attended a Gloucestershire Biodiversity Action Plan Partnership workshop today, at the Gloucester Rugby ground in Kingsholm.  One of the workshop sessions involved an exercise looking at restoring habitat continuity - using old orchards, and the biodiversity value of old orchards, as an example.  David Bullock, Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust , had set us a light-hearted exercise centred on 'Ambridge' (home of the Archers) where orchard habitats had become fragmented in the modern agricultural landscape. 

Each orchard area supported a different assemblage of orchard-dependent species, including (naturally) mistletoe, and two of the rare insects associated with mistletoe - the Mistletoe Weevil (Ixapion variegatum) and the Mistletoe Marble Moth (Celypha woodiana). 

I'll say no more on the BAP exercise itself - but will expand a bit on a couple of points.  Firstly the concept of rare insects on mistletoe - insects often specialise on one particular plant species, and mistletoes, worldwide, are well-known for their various insect-associations.  In Britain, on European Mistletoe, we have (as far as we know) 6 of these specialists - the Mistletoe Weevil, Mistletoe Moth and some bugs (more on those another time).  The 'as far as we know' comment relates to the fact that several of these have been discovered as new species (in Britain) in just the last few years - so there may be more...

This little band of insects means that mistletoe gives extra value, in biodiversity terms, wherever it occurs, providing habitat for species not found anywhere else.  All are considered rare and, in recognition of this, the Mistletoe Marble Moth has recently (2008) been given Priority Status in the UK BAP.

This, in turn, means that efforts are now being made to document its occurrence and work out conservation needs, and this has been led, over the last year or so, by the charity Butterfly Conservation.

This picture (click to enlarge) was taken at one of their 'how-to-spot-the-mistletoe-moth' training days earlier this year.  Note the use of binoculars (all looking in different directions!) - this is the only way to spot the larval leaf-mines in mistletoe high up in a tree.  For more about the Mistletoe Moth Action Plan click here.

That other point I wanted to cover?  Well, that was more of an Archers link.  Eddie Grundy, a character in the everyday-story-of-farming-folk that is the BBC's longest running soap, used to take mistletoe (not always his own...!) to the Tenbury Mistletoe Sales back in the 1980s (when I used to follow the Archers).  So David Bullock's use of the 'Ambridge' location was apt.  Especially so since Trevor Harrison, who plays Eddie Grundy, is due to come to the Tenbury Mistletoe Festival events this year to crown the Mistletoe Queen (you read it here first...)

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - cards featuring the Tenbury Mistletoe Sales...

Talking of the Tenbury events, here's a pic showing the rather odd scene just before the auctions begin - would-be buyers, having chosen their favoured lots, knee-deep in mistletoe next to them waiting for bidding to start.

Available in greeting card form at Cafepress (shipped from the US) or from Mistletoe Design (shipped from UK, in a slightly different format).

Is this the most over-priced mistletoe on the web?

Have just been reviewing online mistletoe sellers - to see what's on offer this season.

Usual suspects - TEME in Tenbury (the original online mistletoe sellers, in whom I have to declare an interest), InterRose in Suffolk (who buy from the Tenbury Auctions) plus some Ebay sellers.  So far, so very similar to previous years.

But one of the Ebay sellers caught my attention more than the others - initially because they are using two of my photos, nicked (without acknowledgement) from the TEME website.  And then, on closer inspection, it was the price that drew me in.  One of their lots is a Buy-it-Now at £119.0, plus 10.99 shipping, just for a natural bough of mistletoe.  That's amazing.  Who (if anyone) would buy online at that price?  And if they do, will they send me my cut, as it'll be my picture wot sold it?

Mistletoe Longevity

Off to see my mother today – as it’s her 80th birthday.  So, Happy Birthday Mum!

What has this got to do with mistletoe?  Well, up until a couple of years ago there was a very old apple tree in her garden, festooned with large mistletoe growths.  It was magnificent – a source of wonder to friends and neighbours, a local landmark (clocked, independently of me, by botanical surveyors in the 1990s national mistletoe survey), a regular supplier of seasonal gifts and, for me, a constant living laboratory where I could see and photograph mistletoe’s life-cycle.

This pic is just a part of it (obviously).

And then it died.  Well, the apple tree died, swiftly followed by the mistletoe.  And the reason it died?  There was too much mistletoe.  I had got too carried away with its longevity (I had known the tree all my 40-something years) and assumed, despite really knowing better, that this mistletoe-laden tree would go on and on.

But too much mistletoe, on a small garden apple tree (pic shows a different example), will become a problem.  Not just a problem – it will become life-threatening for the tree – which will become water-stressed in summer, and top-heavy in winter storms. 

The key to mistletoe longevity, just as in human longevity, is active intervention.  Replacement hips, asthma inhalers etc help with the older human generation (80 is ‘young’ these days) – and the mistletoe equivalent?  Just pruning – but regular, and considered, pruning.

Easy!  And yet so difficult.  The old apple orchards of Britain’s mistletoe country are struggling – and many of the oldest ones are overgrown with mistletoe.  Reasons are varied – but include simple, but often benign, neglect.  People don’t seem to understand that they need to manage the mistletoe to sustain both tree and mistletoe.  I’ve discussed this in this blog before – and rather than repeat it all I’ll just add a link to a summary paper I compiled for apple day celebrations back in October.  You can download the pdf here. 

That’s all for now – but feedback/questions on mistletoe management are always welcome – [email protected]

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day – French Mistletoe Management/Harvesting Cards

In Britain mistletoe management in apple orchards has always been an informal thing – you either do it or you don’t.  But over in France there is a long tradition of legally-enforced mistletoe management – and orchard owners were once obliged to cut the mistletoe out each year.  The legal framework for this still exists, and, under legislation passed in 2000, the local prefecture can still issue local mistletoe management orders where deemed necessary.

This picture (click to enlarge) shows mistletoe management activity in Normandy in the 1930s (they boxed it up to sell to us Brits at Christmas) – and is available in greeting card format from the Mistletoe Design Store here, or, if you’re in the US, from Mistletoe Design at CafePress here.

Mistletoe Festival News

Have been in Tenbury Wells, Britain's “Mistletoe Capital” today to attend meetings about this year's Mistletoe Festival and about this year's harvesting.

A quick reprise for those who've not heard of all this: Tenbury Wells, a market town in north-west Worcestershire, has held wholesale mistletoe auctions, harvested across Worcestershire and Herefordshire, for over 100 years. These are the only specialist auctions for mistletoe in the UK – and the only commercial sales where you can be sure of genuine English mistletoe.

 

The Mistletoe Festival began about 5 or 6 years ago, when continuity of the auctions was in doubt. The idea was, and is, to broaden the mistletoe events in the town, to ensure its mistletoe season (late November through to mid December) continues. The mistletoe auctions have survived, albeit now at a rural location, and the Festival has a life of its own – with various mistletoe-related events.

 

The Festival events include crowning a mistletoe queen, hosting a charity mistletoe auction, visits by druids from the Mistletoe Foundation etc. This year's events are almost, but not quite finalised – which is why we were meeting today.

 

As usual, quite a lot of final details to be ironed out – but the main mistletoe-themed events (there are other events too) are:

• 24^th November     Commercial Mistletoe Auction I
• 28^th November      Mistletoe Management Workshop
• 1^st December         Commercial Mistletoe Auction II (including Druid Blessing)
• 5^th December        Mistletoe Day Events in town – including Druid Procession, Mistletoe Queen Crowning, Charity Mistletoe Auction, Santa Parade, Mistletoe Eisteddfodd
• 8^th December         Commercial Mistletoe Auction III
• 19^th December       Mistletoe Event at The Floor, St Michaels

More details at these websites – www.tenburyevents.com, www.mistletoe.org.uk/home/mtoefun4.htm and www.tenbury-mistletoe-festival.co.uk.  You may find they each tell a slightly different story at the moment – things should all be tightened up very soon.

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Mistletoe Eisteddfod 5th December

Well, with today being all about Mistletoe Events, today's promo is simply advertising the Mistletoe Eisteddfodd being run in Tenbury on the evening of 5th December. 

Titled simply 'A Different Twig', the event is being run by Cranesfield Bardic Arts.

All (including performers) are welcome.  Entry by donation.  Venue the Royal Oak, at 8.00pm.  More details here or on 01584 891130.

Mistletoe and Swine Flu

Here's an interesting one. Will people avoid kissing under the mistletoe this season because of the Swine Flu scare? Will any official health and safety advice be issued on this? Will anyone take any notice?

Too early to call so far – but the signs are there already; there's an AP story (one version here) already circulating about 'managing risk' of swine flu spread by not using mistletoe at your parties this season. Here's a quote from it:

"Party. Party cautiously," advises Dr. Stephen Morse, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. That means keep things clean, be careful with finger food, forget the punch bowl and maybe even reconsider the mistletoe.

You might think this mistletoe/flu story won't catch on (geddit?) - but it probably will. Rumour is that a popular UK daily is picking it up soon.

Oh well, Just another one to add to the usual kill-joy mistletoe advice offered by officialdom each year. Most years it's safety people worrying (unnecessarily) about mistletoe toxicity or legal advisors warning of sexual harassment claims if you dare to hang mistletoe at the office party. This year it looks like the excuse will be Swine Flu.

Remember, you read it here first!

 

Now, if you do kiss under the mistletoe, you might want to consider today's Mistletoe Promotion of the Day:

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Because you never know what that kiss might lead to...

This is probably self-explanatory.

Available at £2.09 via Amazon... 

 

 

Blogging 'til Christmas, and beyond...

Over a month since last entry – largely because very busy with mistletoe matters – reviewing the 'crop' in orchards, sorting out details of events and updating websites etc. But now back on track, I hope, with regular updates on mistletoe news and trivia in the run-up to Christmas.

Am aiming for daily blogging for this season – the mistletoe blog used to be a regular thing (see old threads for 2004 and 2005/6) but entries have become a bit irregular in the last couple of years.  Can I re-discover that relative spontaneity again this season? We shall see...

Oh, and 'cos I have to be a weeny bit more commercial these days (self-employed etc) I'm going to add a Mistletoe Promotion of the Day each time (well. that's the plan). Today's offering, a predictable one, is below:

 

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day – Fresh English Mistletoe for Christmas

Buy genuine, freshly-picked English mistletoe for Christmas from Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise (TEME).

TEME, based in the heart of English Mistletoe country, pick your mistletoe to order to ensure freshness, and long-life - lots of packages available - have a look and take your pick.  Orders can be placed anytime between now and Christmas (delivery date can be specified on checkout) - and the sooner the better really, so that TEME can programme their harvesting schedules...

Chocolate-flavoured kisses

(click to enlarge any pics)

Well, here's the news on the Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses for 2009. They are still available as bars - which were described here, and compared to Hotel Chocolat's upmarket but vaguely similar product, last year.

But this season they've gone for a fancier version too. A bit OTT on the packaging perhaps, but nicely done (resting on my unripe mistletoe in this picture) - and as before actively promoting that kissing tradition. Except, of course, that they don't provide any mistletoe, just a representation on the packet.

You might think I'd be disappointed by the picture on the packet, as it's not very accurate - and yes I am. It's the usual sloppy Christmassy artistic impression, placing berries between the leaves when they should be set in the stem axil below the leaves. A detail? Yes. But it's the botanical equivalent, to mistletoe fans, of writing Xmas instead of Christmas.

BUT, on opening the individually-wrapped sweeties all is forgiven! For there, embossed on each, is a miniature, but botanically accurate, portrayal of mistletoe.

I took this pic to prove it, just before we ate them all.

AutumnWatch - wot, no mistletoe?

Just been watching the first of this year's AutumnWatch on BBC2, in which, amongst other stuff, they visited the Weston's Cider apple orchards in Herefordshire. Their researchers had approached me, a few weeks ago, to get info on what they could say and do with mistletoe in this feature, as there is a lot of mistletoe there. But no word since, so I wasn't sure what they might cover.

A promising start - lots of talk about the richness of wildlife in orchards, from the birdies through to the insects, and a promise of a mini-wildlife census. And, yes, a close-up of an apple tree complete with very obvious mistletoe.

But no, no mention of mistletoe at all - not even the new trendy Mistletoe Marble Moth campaign, which neatly demonstrates how species rely on each other (in this case a rare moth that lives on mistletoe, which itself lives precariously on apple trees, which are, in the orchard context, threatened).

I shouldn't grumble - they had a lot to squeeze into an hour, much more than just orchards. If you missed it and want to view it again the iplayer link is here (will only be available for a week or so, depending on the repeat day).

I was distracted, meanwhile, by Chris Packham (c 48) talking about learning about Longworth mammal traps with his biology teacher at school - which I (also c 48) did too. We clearly went to different schools - 'cos the name he gave for his biology teacher was not Terry Easter (who was mine), but maybe they had the same type of interesting maverick staff who strayed from the curriculum to do some real teaching? And then he mentioned his Physics teacher - first as Mr Greenaway and then as Greenway. Mine was a Mr Greenway too. Were they the same? Initials DAG? Also known as Aquadag (for obscure graphite colloid reasons). Whatever happened to David 'Aquadag' Greenway and Nuffield A level physics?  And how big is his bald patch now??

Back to mistletoe tomorrow - consumer (er, me) research now available on Galaxy Mistletoe Chocolate...

Mistletoe Crop 2009

Have been out and about inspecting the mistletoe crop for 2009/10. 

Looking mainly in apple orchards, as usual.  In the north Worcestershire orchards I am, inevitably, distracted by the prolific crop on the damson trees in the adjoining hedgerows.  Damsons are very characteristic of this area, and it's a good year for them - lots of them and very sweet.  A very under-rated fruit.  Every garden should have a damson tree.

I spend a long time sampling damsons and forgetting mistletoe.  But today I am unprepared for damsons - and only have 2 small containers with me.  If can resist eating the contents of these whilst driving home down the M5 we might even get some damson jam this year.

Today was really about assessing a few orchards for later this season, and collecting some fresh mistletoe to send to various clients, advertisers and photographers who are preparing Christmas publicity.  These include TV programmes and interior design magazines as well as straightforward mistletoe retailers*. 

Loads of berries again this year, but they're still not quite ripe.  So instead of getting those pearlescent white berries so characteristic of Christmas, all these early publicity shots have to make do with pale green berries.

*(By the way, the mistletoe retailers I work with, TEME Mistletoe, are due to go live online for the new season this week - so the season really has begun now...).

Mistletoe Events for Nov/Dec 2009

Events listings for 2009 are now on the Mistletoe Pages website. 

Principal public events are, as usual, the Mistletoe Auctions at Tenbury Wells (Tuesdays 24th November. 1st December and 8th December) and the wider Tenbury Mistletoe Festival - whose main activities take place on Saturday 5th December - aka National Mistletoe Day.

Plus the Druids' Mistletoe Foundation events and a few activities that I'm organising.  I won't list all the details here - go to the Mistletoe Pages Events list for more info. 

And also check out the Auctions website, the Mistletoe Foundation website and the Festival website.  Note that the 2009 Mistletoe Festival is being organised by the Tenbury Events Committee and so final details may not be available on the old Festival website.

Do Mistletoe Kisses come in bags?

There's a rumour about that Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses (as featured previously and made by gnomes) are available in bags as well as bars this season.  

I shall investigate...

New mistletoe season begins... keep feeding the meter

Most people's Mistletoe Season lasts just a week or two at Christmas - though this extends to a couple of months for anyone involved in mistletoe harvest and trade. For me it is, sort of, continuous throughout the year - it just gets busier in winter.

This summer has seen a continual trickle of mistletoe enquiries - mostly from landowners about how to manage it and from photographers shooting Christmas promos for retailers.  The latter can be very frustrating - as what they want is mature, white-berried mistletoe in er, July.  And that's not just difficult, it's impossible.  But a lot go ahead with immature sprigs anyway - I suspect that Adobe Photoshop helps...

And, in the last few weeks I've been working on mistletoe website updates - you can see initial results at the usual places - www.teme-mistletoe.co.uk and its allied sites, plus of course my own, never-quite-finished site at www.mistletoe.org.uk.  The entry page for that is due to be entirely rebuilt soon, and all the missing bits in the Mistletoe Pages section - and all by the end of September (in theory!).  Plus a new Mistletoe Design website - with cards, posters etc.  And more on management advice etc.  I suspect these may drift into October... 

Plus there are are the media enquiries - I already have a backlog of queries from journalists working on monthly magazine articles (may already be too late for some of the December issues now) and from broadcast media planning mistletoe features for programmes later in the autumn or at Christmas. More on those another time...  

But that's all background noise really.  The main season only really begins with mistletoe events - and I did my first one of the season last night - with Holford Gardeners Group in Somerset.  

A good friendly event - only slightly marred by the computer projector dying halfway through.  This worried me, a lot, as that beast was not cheap to buy.  

So I was relieved to discover, after normal service had been restored, that it was simply the lecky running out - it just needed another coin in the village hall meter.  

Demonstrating in London on the G20 demo day...

...but not really at the demos.  My demonstration was 'how to plant mistletoe seeds' at the Natural History Museum Garden.

For me this was part of the Mistletoe part of the London Biodiversity Action Plan (which I'm reviewing and revising at present).  For the NHM it was part of their wildlife garden scheme (which re-opened to the public for the 2009 season today) - which aims to create a little bit of British countryside, complete with native flora and fauna, alongside the Cromwell Road in South Kensington.     

Some pictures (as usual, click to enlarge) of the mistletoe demo:

First pic shows some context. For those unfamiliar with the NHM (there might be a few, though it is a famous London landmark) - it's the big Victorian job over my right shoulder.

Not your usual Victorian Gothic - this is a much more interesting Romanesque design by Alfred Waterhouse - we naturalist types like to wander around it, inside and out, marvelling at the flora and fauna depicted in the stonework, terracotta, faiance etc.  My old tutor, the late Michael Stratton would say, at this point, "what a lotta terracotta".  But that's a subject for another blog...

Second pic is a close-up of how to do it.  This is a Sorbus (rowan) (I think, this morning seems a long time ago already and I think there was a Crataegus too) and we also tried planting on Salix (willow) and Malus (apple)).

Third pic is the immediate end-result - a line of sticky seeds on a branch, labelled in case we forget where they are.  And that's it for 12 months or so...

There was no hint of the G20 demos here in South Kensington, though I did get treated as a very suspicious character by the security staff at Natural England's London HQ in Victoria Street (much closer to Whitehall) later in the afternoon - despite the fact I was there for a scheduled meeting.  Maybe I should have worn a tie and had a haircut...

Updates, emails, websites...

Have been v busy with other matters recently - so very behind with mistletoe correspondence and mistletoe website improvements. 

So, if you've sent me an email in the last few weeks and haven't yet had a response, sorry!  Please be patient - I'll get around to it soon...

Er, that's it for now

Blooming mistletoe...

It seems ages since the last mistletoe blog - but it's only two months...

Mistletoe activities have been ongoing throughout - but as most has been general backgroundy sort of stuff, it wasn't worth blogging about.

But since it is now flowering time I thought I should upload a few words and pics:

Britain's mistletoe flowers are not exactly stunning - 'small' and 'green' are the first adjectives that spring to mind.  But hey, they're one of the first signs of spring, if you bother to look. 

And they are actually insect pollinated - which is no mean feat for small green flowers in February.  The insects concerned are, perhaps not surprisingly, small black flies.  [I'll be saying more on other mistletoe insects later in the spring... (they are all small, but they're not all black)].

Anyway, here are some pics - the first is the female plant, with (very) small female flowers, the second is a male plant with the rather larger male flowers:

 

Blackcaps and mistletoe - newish to Britain and new in our garden

A tale of birds, sticky berries and a new experience in our garden...

Background:

Mistle Thrushes, named after their fondness for mistletoe berries, are the main 'vector' of mistletoe in the UK.  They are one of the few birds that recognise the white berries as edible, and put up with their stickiness.  But they are inefficient, gorging on the berries, swallowing them whole and excreting the undigested seeds, still in a sticky slime, at random.  If the thrush turd [did you know the latin name for a thrush is turdus?] lands on a tree branch any seeds lucky enough to stick may germinate - but most hang below in a slimy string and are doomed to failure.

Blackcaps, another mistletoe specialist, are more efficient, as they wipe each seed direct from their beak - but they only overwinter in quantity in continental Europe - where, unsurprisingly, they are considered the main mistletoe vector. 

New stuff:

Now in recent years we've had a growing overwintering population of blackcaps in the UK, especially around here, in the Severn Vale, where mistletoe is happily plentiful.  So there are some interesting possibilities here - of more efficient mistletoe seed distribution/planting.  No-one can say what this might mean for the amount and distribution of mistletoe.

But exactly how efficient are they?  Well, we've just found out, by piling up cut mistletoe on our garden picnic table (where else?) to see if we can tempt our lone local overwintering blackcap to partake.  He's played hard to get until the last few days, preferring the apples on the bird table, and shooing all the other birds away (impressive considering his small size) but yesterday he started on the mistletoe...  and is doing so well I'm beginning to worry for all our trees and shrubs, as he's wiping those seeds off everywhere.

And how efficient is he?  Well, have a look at the pics below - all are absolutely genuine blackcap mistletoe seed plantings, and I'm stunned at how good he is.  No shrub is immune - the close-ups are on false acacia (a good host) and the wider shot showing 4 seeds (2 in focus on the near branch and 2 just out of focus behind) are on buddleia (not a good host). 

If he carries on like this we may have to ration the supplies - the picnic table is covered in mistletoe at present, so there's a lot more to plant yet!  But perhaps it's better to have a blackcap feeding on mistletoe there than the alternative - a few weeks back a sparrowhawk used the same table to sit on whilst calmly dismembering a goldfinch (well it is designed for picnics...)

 

 

 

Mistletoe Kisses - links to lessons

The Galaxy 'Mistletoe Kisses' chocolate bar (see blog for Oct 10th) is proving very popular this season - I seem to find it in every shop I visit, though maybe that's just me. 

They've been very clever with some media stories about people's experiences of mistletoe kisses, with similar wording but regionally varying stats being quoted in local papers across the country.  I'll try and get access to the data if I can.

And there are some mistletoe kissing trivia at their website too - worth a look there if you're keen to learn how to kiss and kissing etiquette.  Or you can just watch this video - is that really Boris and David on the bikes at the end?  Boris' hair looks just slightly wrong, but the David C chap looks reasonably convincing, though I assume the graininess at the end is deliberate and intended to help the deception.

For a mistletoe-kissing video with slightly less success for the mistletoe-bearing main character try this version from the streets of Ipswich.

Odd mistletoe story of the month...

I've been getting a few queries recently about mistletoe on oak - and where to obtain it in Britain - and this ad, from last Saturday's Times, may be the reason. I'll say more about it below.  But first some background on mistletoe on oak...

The short answer to these queries about where to get oak mistletoe in Britain is that 'you don't'.  Mistletoe is incredibly rare on oak here, and doesn't grow well when it does occur. 

This simple state of affairs is complicated/confused by several factors, mostly relating to either its rarity, or confusion over its frequency...

In rarity terms mistletoe on oak evokes the druidic traditions of the sacred mistletoe on the sacred tree - referred to by Pliny in his writings about the British Druids.  This leads neatly on to beliefs - ancient and modern - in the 'special powers' of mistletoe on oak.  I won't go into those now.

In simple botanical terms the mistletoe on oak is the same as the mistletoe on any other host in Britain - and not really 'special' at all, just a curiosity.  The few documented mistletoe oaks in Britain today have very small mistletoe growths, showing that this is, in effect, a really poor host for the plant.  Indeed many of the 'British' mistletoe oaks are actually non-native oaks, more susceptible to mistletoe growths than the native varieties (more on that below).  Botanists (and others) guard the secrets of mistletoe oaks, and do not publicise their locations (though most are easy to find if you know how...).

The whole situation is confused by a naive belief by many that they have mistletoe on oaks in their local area - almost always based on incorrect tree identification (most turn out to be limes, horse chestnuts etc).  This view isn't helped by the regularity (abroad) of other mistletoe species on oaks in other countries.  So mistletoe on oak is fairly common in the USA but that's a different mistletoe and different oaks.  And there's a Central European mistletoe that likes oaks too - but it's not evergreen like our northern European mistletoe so it doesn't 'seem' right, and isn't the true mistletoe of legend.

And then there's the medicinal angle - where the German/Swiss institutes that make anthroposophic mistletoe medicines (for complementary cancer therapy) use our mistletoe species from a specific range of hosts, as they consider each host to impart a different biochemical contribution.  They actively encourage mistletoe on oaks to ensure they have an oak mistletoe element in their medicines.  They do this by finding susceptible oak varieties - ie varities more likely to grow mistletoe than others, and then actively cultivating it.  (i.e they grow 'ordinary' mistletoe on 'special' oaks, not the other way around).

So what is this ad about?  Short answer is I really don't know, though I think I know who the 'private gentleman' is.  It's not clear whether he wants material for propagation or simply to make into some medicinal brew etc.  But the price seems ridiculously high, and I can't see how he can be sure he won't be neatly ripped off with 'ordinary' mistletoe from a more common host.

If he really really wants oak mistletoe that badly he should be looking to the continent, where there is an organised cropping system, and/or if he really really wants to grow it, he should be thinking susceptible oak tree/grafts of susceptible oak tree limbs and simply using 'ordinary' mistletoe berries - as that's the way to do it.  There's plenty of advice on that sort of thing available if you have a legit cause and ask the right questions of the right people, here and abroad.  But that information would only be given out for good reason, not just for money.

It's an odd story, and seems to be a hammer to crack a nut. 

It may seem a little funny too - but it isn't harmless - I am really worried about possible theft and vandalism from our few mistletoe oaks that could result from this.  It doesn't seem a very responsible way to go about sourcing this material. 

Mistletoe glut now, but maybe a future shortage

Two apparently conflicting stories about mistletoe in the media in the last few days - one about a glut of mistletoe, and one about a shortage.  Confused?  Well much of the media is, but actually there's no conflict at all.

The 'glut' as reported in recent blogging and in several recent papers (the Observer and the Daily Telegraph 2 weeks ago and the Mail on Sunday today), is all to do with the abundance of berries this season - making all the female mistletoe that's cropped very attractive and marketable.  After all, the sprigs need berries to allow kissing:  A berry should be removed, according to old traditions, for each kiss, so lots of berries = lots of kisses.  A glut is good, and we have a glut.  Definitely.

(Of course the male plants don't have berries - a point which should be obvious, but one which I have to point out worryingly often!)

The 'shortage', as reported in, amongst others, yesterday's Telegraph, relates to a developing crisis in mistletoe management - where the old apple trees that support most of the cropped mistletoe are either being lost as they grow old and die and aren't replaced, or are becoming overgrown by unmanaged male mistletoe and dying before their time.  Which equates to a shortage in, say 20 year's time.

Now maybe I'm a bit biased here, as I helped promote both these stories, but, er, why is this causing confusion? 

There's a glut now and a probable longterm future shortage.  Easy isn't it?  Maybe not - have a look at this distorted version of the story in Blatherskite, a news blog that claims to tell the 'inside story'.  [Note to Blatherskite team: Could try harder on this one guys.]

 

Tenbury Mistletoe Festival Report 2008

A good mistletoe day in Tenbury Wells today - Mistletoe Queen crowning etc etc, Mistletoe Tea being drunk in the streets, Charity Mistletoe Auction, Oklahoma Mistletoe linkages, loads of media interest, all topped off (for a few) by a Druid mistletoe ceremony...

A bit busy/too knackered to say much on this just now -some pics (mainly of the Queen crowning etc ceremony, and the Charity mistletoe Auction) below - click to enlarge.  Will add some explan text later...