Quite often when I travel into the piney woods there is
always a new discovery. I like to walk through
deer paths with winter rubble and many times I am stopped by a wall of vines.
These trails might appear as an annoyance for some, but I see
possibilities beneath the trees. There are
endless textures, shades of brown and they blend together with a sense of calm.
Nature sort of pulls at my creativity during these walks and most recently these wreaths became part of a possibility after a little clearing took place.
The wall of vines was entangled with massive vines that have these awful thorns. So, I plunged through the weeds to find the good. When I rescued them, I took some clippings for propagation and the rest I used to make these wreaths.
I was reminded that too often we forget there is goodness all around us. Sometimes we must be the good in these dark instances and remove the rubble. We do this with love, we do this because it was already done for us.
As I walk along these paths my thoughts do tend to wander. But mostly I get inspired and wish I had all the energy in the world to accomplish everything that comes to mind.
These wreaths are one of those ideas. A time when I was thinking about what I will do after I finished writing my new book, Garden Up Green.
My husband was a great listener and eventually it was clear that I missed working with flowers. More importantly I have been fascinated with gathering what is right here and it is always fun to see what I come up with like this pinecone wreath.
I have been exploring more often with Kramer finding some fascinating materials in the mix of weeds. I would recommend gathering in the late fall and winter when scouting for vines because they are less difficult to use.
For these vines, I gathered after it rained so they were easy to shape. It was like a circular weave and in some I attached a bit of wire to keep them from unraveling. For the most part they have all held their shape beautifully and I can hardly wait to make more.
Be the good
Carole West