A friend signed me up for a wreath making workshop held at Faella Farm in Peace Dale, RI yesterday. I woke up early and drove over in the sunny cold, listening to Christmas music and trying to get into the spirit. When I arrived, the other participants were already cutting their greens and chatting affably. The workshop was held inside the warm greenhouse, where workstations were prepped for each participant and delicious treats and warm coffee and tea were laid out. If I had any hesitation about being excited for Christmas, it disintegrated as soon as I walked through that greenhouse door.

Martha and Chris Faella, who own and manage the farm, had spent the previous evening cutting lots of different types of greens for us to use in our wreathes. I was expecting to just have one type of evergreen branch to use, but the Faella’s had procured at least 8 different species including non-evergreens such as boxwood and rhododendron. The results of mixing these different plants were wreaths that looked so beautifully textured and wild.  Though they didn’t really need it, I did embellish my wreaths with a few items bought at a craft store. I felt a little guilty because most of them were plastic and made in China, but I plan to use them again next year – and I just can’t resist a little glitter.

[my glitter wreath, made with a fancy aunt in mind]

[some of the greens we could choose from]

[holly]

To make the wreaths, we set our wire wreath frame down on the bucket and tied one end of the floral wire to the frame. Then, we made little bundles of greens in our hand, placed them on the frame and wrapped the wire around the base of the bundle a few times. Repeat until you’ve covered the whole frame. The end can be a little tricky, as you need to tuck the last bundle under the first one, but all in all, I think it’s pretty hard to make a bad wreath, especially when you’ve got so many beautiful, natural ingredients.

And of course I had to go say hi to the chickens and the pigs before I left.

Faella Farm has a self service Farm Stand that is open daily in the Summer, Spring, and Fall. For more details on what they grow go here.