EnTWINEd

Home-grown hazelnuts and strawflowers adorn a twine-braid wreath made from bailing twine removed from bales of hay used to feed the Local Farm cows...

... at Motherhouse's annual Columbus Day FREE wreath-making workshop!

Wreath-Visiting Bailing Twine Wreaths

 Making wreaths out of reused bailing twine is both challenging and rewarding.

Although I don't have written directions... here are some hints:

*cut twine at the knots as you feed out hay - this makes it easy to pull individual pieces from a bundle and creates a nice starting place for the braid

*count out three equal bundles of twine and wrap one piece of the bundled twine around the bunch just below the knots

*put all three together and similarly, wrap them tightly together with one piece, & tie so the end dangles inside the bundle.

*bend a wire coat hanger in a circle with pliers and the hook down to make a ring for hanging up the finished wreath

*lay the bundled knots on the wire coat hanger circle, directly across from the hanging ring.

*braid around the circle, incorporating the hanging ring when you come to it.

*when you get all the way around, wrap one of the end pieces of twine around the bunch of knots and the other end pieces so they hang together.

*I like to trim the hanging end pieces so they are the same length.

*check the photos in these blog posts for more ideas: 

* you just have to fiddle with it until it looks right to you.

WREA THinking, en-TWINED

All winter long, Local Farm cows eat dried grass hay that is stored in bundles or bales tied with twine. As she feeds out the hay to her cows, Farmer Debra cuts the twine at the knot and hangs each strand over a peg until she has enough to bundle like those hanging from the tree by Joyce.

On Columbus Day, Motherhouse offers a free workshop on wreath-making with leftover twine and wire coat hangers.

We bundle the strands of twine with the knots in a clump and braid them around the bent hanger frame...

...and decorate them with dried flowers and ribbons.

This year, we had a bumper crop of straw flowers!

Finished wreaths can be purchased for $15-$25 at the Motherhouse table at the West Cornwall Farmer's Market or directly from Debra@Motherouse.us (860-672-0229).

Wreath Making Workshop

knotty! knotty!
all tied up
a balient effort
knot at all abrading
tangled up
ensnarled
interwoven
entwined
all together
blessed be the tie that binds - Debra