Winters can be long in northern BC. As such, I find myself looking for ways to find joy during the cold and dark months and I’ve been going out for lots of hikes through the snow with the dog. Even at this time of year, I am looking for foraging opportunities everywhere I go; I’m also always looking for little ways to decorate for Christmas, and the winter season in general, with little bits of nature. The opportunities are endless!
I do love a good Christmas swag or wreath, but it is an arguably messy endeavour to undertake – I had my family over a couple weeks to make them, and I’m still finding the odd spruce needle kicking around on the floor. Making a wreath featuring mainly pinecones is much tidier than one of evergreen boughs, and I was able to make one (excluding the drying time of some extra pinecones in the oven) in under 30 minutes, making it the perfect activity to do in the evening after dinner.
All you need is a wire wreath form (the larger the form, the more cones you will need), various evergreen cones, a hot glue gun and whatever other ribbon and decorations you may wish to add. I do like to add a little bit of greenery, but I just gather a couple short pieces (six inches or less) to tuck onto the wreath, rather than larger boughs.
Some of the various cones I have collected over the years were already well dried, but I needed some more to add. There was some wind fall branches on the ground around our property, so I collected some cones from that branch. To dry them and ensure they open up, I placed them on a baking sheet in an oven set at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple hours – just be sure to watch them closely, as some may dry quicker than others and need to be removed earlier.
Once you are armed with your dried cones, you can get to work assembling the wreath. This is where you can get as creative as you like, making a beautiful piece of rustic décor!
Hint: If you have a wide variety of evergreen species around you, collect the cones from different species and hone up on your identification skills with a good ID book.
