Adding magic to the festive season
With the holiday season now here and Christmas just around the corner, decor like beautiful wreaths, lights, and garland adorned on homes are also back.
These traditional decorations, whether bought, passed down, or handmade, are treasured and used to liven up any house every year. Luckily, there are a few local businesses in Leelanau that give people the chance to learn how to make and customize their own prized holiday decorations.
Sarah Hallstedt of Hallstedt Homestead Cherries is one of those local businesses offering fresh wreaths for sale as well as workshops on how to make them. The wreath-making workshops held at the Hallstedt Homestead farm provide people with all the materials necessary to create one: A 22-inch wreath which can be lined with five different kinds of greens harvested fresh from the farm, as well as about 15 selections of ribbon to choose from. There are also pine cones and red berries that can be added to each creation for an added pop of color to top it all off. Hallstedt said on her wreaths, she likes to keep it traditional by including buffalo plaid ribbon for the bows, red berries, and pine cones.
The fresh wreaths, when hung outside, will last well into February, Hallstedt said, so people can even switch out any Christmas decorations for Valentine’s Day, too.
In about an hour and a half, people come out of the workshops with their very own handmade wreath.
“We offer two kinds of junipers, which have a lovely smell, it’s absolutely amazing. And we have Scots Pine, hemlock and white pine,” Hallstedt said. “People love that it’s basic and simple. And during the workshop, I have a vanilla candle burning and I play Charlie Brown Christmas music … I provide a light snack as well, so there’s cheese, crackers and fresh fruit, and we also let them sample and drink our dry cherry wine that we make. It’s fabulous.”
While this is the first year Hallstedt is offering wreath workshops, she said she learned how to make them herself about five years ago. She was finally able to organize the sessions early enough this season, along with her popular sourdough workshops that many have taken over the last year.
Most people are making a wreath for themselves. However, the creations make great gifts for family and friends that last for several months. It’s one thing to purchase a wreath, but Hallstedt said she loves seeing the joy that making one yourself brings to each participant.
“They’re so excited at the end of the workshop to hold it up and have those pictures taken because they made it themselves… but just the joy and the excitement that they made something themselves with their own hands from nature,” she said. “A mom and daughter (in a recent workshop) had planned on making one wreath, and I gave the daughter a little one and said ‘how about you make this one, too, for yourself,’ and she was just so excited. She was seven-years-old. So by the end of it, she had the hang of it and was doing great, and her mom got to make hers on her own.”
The next wreath workshops with Hallstedt are set for this Sunday, Dec. 8, with one session from 1 to 3 p.m., and the next from 4 to 6 p.m. To register for upcoming wreath or sourdough workshops, go to www.hhcherries. net/shop/. People can call or text Sarah at 317-440-9273 to schedule for a specific time if needed.
