Wreath Making at Old Deerfield - December 4, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

My helper friend’s birch bark stars he taught himself to make with wife’s help

Wednesday evening I spent making wreaths with my helper friend and his wife for the doors of Old Deerfield village. They have been doing it for many years, but I just started 2 years ago.

Teasel collected in the Berkshires

They collect lots of materials all year, and my first year, I collected stuff too. But this year, I just never got to it.

Old Deerfield provides many kinds of greens: balsam, spruce, pine, hemlock, etc. Other people bring materials from their yards and gardens too. And some of the special decorations are saved from the wreaths from year to year.

Hemlock with tiny pine cones

Old Deerfield also provides the forms and tools and wire. You can bring your own if you prefer them.

And there’s a wonderful snack and drinks table. I look forward to the spiced tea especially!

So having fortified myself with the tea and some snacks, I got to work. I opted for balsam this year.

My helper friend had already finished the base of one of his by the time I was half done with mine. He used hemlock with pine cones, balsam, and white pine.

His wife got there a good bit later, coming from work. She’d brought ornamental grasses, echinacea seed heads and leaves, and a couple other things. She was making one large wreath.

By then, my helper friend nearly had his 2nd wreath base done.

I had my wreath nearly done and decided to try to use some of the scraps of birch bark leftover from star making.

By the time I got my birch decorations made, he’d finished his first wreath. He used teasel, floribunda rosehips, and his stars.

I’d made 3 sided bows from the birch bark and my wreath was finished. I’d made doubled rings of cranberries, ornamental grass, floribunda rosehips, holly, and cinnamon sticks on mine. The bottom is a pomegranate pod. Mine will go wherever they need it.

He finished his 2nd wreath much like the first. If you want to, you can request the house your wreaths go on. His had double doors, so that’s why he made 2.

While we drank spiced tea or coffee and ate snacks, his wife worked diligently on her wreath. She used balsam for the base, lots of sage branches, floribunda rosehips, ornamental grasses, echinacea seed heads and leaves, a birch bark ornament from a previous year, and 2 lotus pods. Hers will go on a main house.

It’s a lot of fun! They take pictures of every wreath every year. It’s set up in a slide show that you can watch. They also have tips for making the wreaths and things to know, like how to fill your tag out.

Many people have been coming for a long time and know each other. It’s fun to talk with them. We all help with clean-up at the end.

When the wreath season is done, they have another workshop to take the wreaths apart. They save the forms and the special decorations that have survived. I hope the stars manage to survive to be used another year.

For more info about OldDeerfield.