Christmas Bird

The last post explained our new display for wreaths and swags. While Denise and I were painting, Jim was inspired to make arms for the St. Nicks so they could hold the wreaths. My idea was simply to impale the Jolly Old Souls with nails for hanging the wreaths. I'm glad that Jim stopped that cruelty and got busy making arms for the Jolly Old Souls.

The wreaths and swags look wonderful on their new display. It's always great to see an idea become a reality.


And then, there's this guy :)

 

 

Jim found an abandoned bird's nest and placed it on one of the Santa's arms. Naturally he found a bird in my craft supplies to take residence in the nest. When I investigated, I discovered that our feathered friend was sitting on a golf ball. Is Jim hoping for a hybrid 'birdie'? A golf ball with feathers that assures a birdie for every hole? Or one that is good for badminton as well as golf?

 

One can only wonder....Jim's brain works in mysterious ways. And that's all I am going to say about that!

 

Marcheta *bye, bye Birdie!

'Tis the Season!

I love our seasonal lifestyle because it keeps life interesting and lively.

We enjoyed an extra-long autumn, setting up at farmers markets right up until the last week in October. We picked around 300 bushels of apples and had around 500 gallons of cider made.  *whew*...it was such work that the end of the season was bitter-sweet. I was glad to let go of the heavy work, but really missed seeing and visiting with market customers. And I especially miss our fellow vendors.

Now that we are recovered from apples, it is time to make Christmas greens. Our big, commercial orders are taken care of, and that's a good feeling for sure.
 
Here at the farm, we are in retail hours for Christmas trees and greens. All of our wreaths, swags, and grave blankets are made to order with our own, home-grown greens. I like to have a variety of greens in our wreaths...Blue Spruce for its strength...really the 'bones' of any structure. White pine adds soft, long-needle movement, Fraser Fir for fragrance, juniper for lovely texture and fragrance, and last, but not least, arborvitae for it's lovely, lacy texture. Making Christmas greens is a wonderful job, indeed, and I feel very fortunate to help people with their festivities.

This year, Jim brought home a picket fence that a landscape customer wanted removed. Jim pitched it on the burn pile. Lucky for me, I found it before a match was lit. I had big ideas for the fence.

Friend Denise came on board with my idea, and one sunny afternoon in late November, she came out to paint Santas on some of the pickets, while I worked on painting trees on other pickets.

Now our old, worn out looking barn is all "spruced" up, with evergreens and a new display created out of imagination and discarded items.

Stay tuned to this blog to see a fun development on our Santa Fence!

 

Marcheta *fa-la-la-la-la!