It is hard to believe that the year is just a hair’s breath away from the end.
December was all about the wreaths. The month started off harvesting mountains of greens for our Christmas Wreath workshops. I have to admit that this is one of my favorite projects, especially when it is not raining! We are lucky as we have access to some private woods that used to be a Christmas Tree Farm. It is over 100 acres, and it is so peaceful and the air so clear and fresh. After the constant hustle of the year I feel that going to this farm clears my head and helps me reset and gives me the energy to finish off the year.
I also create 100% sustainable wreaths for custom orders and my CSA subscribers. These are created using both local evergreens and dried flowers from my field. I love having the artistic freedom to create something a little bit different from your average wreath.
The first two weekends in December are always taken up by our wreath workshops. Kelly from Ciderpress Lane Lane and I started these wreath workshops in 2016 in a cold, damp barn. That year we sold about 30 tickets in total. After that bone chilling weekend my husband offered up his workshop for us to use. This event has now become an annual holiday tradition for so many people in the area, it now feels like we are welcoming back old friends into our space. This year we sold 250 tickets, and it make us so happy that we have created a wonderful space that our community continues to return to each year.
Closing out the year creating table arrangements, again I use the everlasting flowers that I have dried from the summer. We live in a part of the world where we don’t have any flowers at this time of year so rather that using imported flowers I like to use the flowers that are from my field but have been carefully dried. I feel that they are equally as beautiful now in their dried form as they are fresh in the field, you just have to open your mind to the difference.
Every year I say to the ladies that work with me, “I am not going to be putting my cold hardy annuals into the ground in December”. What do I do each year - put those annuals into the ground in less than pleasant weather conditions. These annuals can survive the cold weather and thus they have a jump start on the spring planted annual flowers. We managed to get all of these little fellas into the ground along with all the ranunculus that had been pre sprouted in my greenhouse. I have to say I was so glad to reach the finish line of this season. I am really hoping with the changes that I have in mind for next season that it won’t be such a marathon for me. I know that I will always be busy but I am hoping not the kind that feels like it is getting slightly out of control.
To add a little interest to our lives we took care of my son’s 6 month old English Lab called Jurgen for the past 6 weeks. He is from the same breeder as our Ruby Crumble. A very sweet pup but oh my goodness into everything. I think he has loved his 6 weeks here becoming a farm dog and it will be a shock to his little system going back to LA and our house is going to seem oddly quiet without him.
By the time you read this I will be in Copenhagen to celebrate the New Year with my sister and her family followed by a short visit with the rest of my family in England.
Thank you so much for all of your support this year and I am so amazed by the positive feedback from my little monthly musings, I promise to keep them up for 2024.
Stay safe & surround yourself with people you love.