We have been growing Christmas Trees at our Family Farm for over 25 years. We actually started out with a small patch at our home farm on Hurds Road. Susan has always loved the Spirit of Christmas and bringing Joy to local families with her evergreen creations. See how we make wreaths by hand from fresh cut evergreens.
There are many types of wreath types to choose from. 1st determine the size of the wreath you would like to create. At Hurds we make wreaths that are 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 30 inches wide. Those are ring sizes, but once the greens get put on they will be wider than the metal ring. There are lots of different types of greens to choose from some from evergreen trees (balsam fir, norway spruce, concolor fir, blue spruce, canaan fir, douglas fir) and other from shrubs like boxwood and holly. A mixture of these types of greens can be real pretty too.
When trimming branches from the trees look for ones that end in trios or points of 3. These will make the wreath look more fluffy and less spiky. Any branches can be used as fuller.
Each clamp in the wreath ring will need a bunch or bouquet of greens which we call a hand. When you a bunching them try to make them symmetrical which is an application of Common Core Math Geometry.
When clamping your bunch in you want to make sure it is tangent to the circle. Another holiday math application in wreath Geometry. We are using a wreath making machine made into one of our apple bins. Make sure after you clamp that the greens are nice and secure.
TEAM effort is the most fun when making wreaths at the farm. Kevin is teaching Sarah and Aunt Carol how to make their very 1st Christmas Wreath! Depending on the quality of the greens to choose from and the size of the wreath one person can clamp greens on a small wreath in about a half an hour.
The wreath we are making is 14 inches which means there are 14 clamps and 14 bunches of greens around it. We also make mailbox and fireplace decor, advent wreaths and lots of other holiday evergreen creations.
Kevin uses bypass hand pruners to trim the greens before attaching them to the wreath ring. These are the same pruners we use on our apple trees and in the pumpkin patch.
Come to the farm to choose and cut your own Christmas tree and bring home one of Susan's wreaths or evergreen creations. Check out our other blogs on decorating and creating a bow for your wreaths and holiday gifts.
