How we make Christmas wreaths at the farm

In late November, when the winds are howling, some of the greenhouses on our farm are still humming with activity that keeps us busy. We're tending to the many plants in our holiday greenhouse, such as poinsettias, and harvesting various salad greens from our hydroponic system.

Much of the activity, however, takes place in the two greenhouses where we make and decorate hundreds of Christmas wreaths in different shapes and sizes.

Our field crew gathering some of the greens we use for making Christmas wreaths.

In the greenhouse dedicated to making the wreaths, you first notice the aroma of fresh evergreens coming from the thousands of pounds of balsam and other greens the farm team clips for the wreaths. It certainly puts most of us in the holiday spirit as soon as we step inside!

The first step is hand clipping the fresh New Hampshire greens for our Christmas wreaths into six to ten inch lengths. Usually, it takes two or three people clipping to keep up with the person putting the wreaths together.

Fresh greens are attached to wire frames using a machine that's sort of like a sewing machine.

Once the greens are clipped, another person uses a machine that's sort of like a sewing machine with wire to fasten many bunches of greens into layers to create a full and lush green wreath.

It takes a lot of work and practice to make each wreath, especially for the more complex wreaths that use multiple types of greens or those shaped like stars, hearts, or other shapes besides the traditional round wreaths.

Why do we do all of this work? We decided several years ago that the higher quality wreaths we could make and the opportunity to offer custom wreaths for our customers was worth the extra time and labor it takes.

Some of the wreaths we make are sold undecorated, so you can personalize them at home, but many wreaths are moved to another greenhouse to be decorated. We add ribbons, cones, additional greens, and ornaments. Sometimes, people ask us to include favorite ornaments or other items for custom wreaths.

Some people might think we had Santa's elves in that greenhouse, but instead, it's some of our talented farm team! (Learn from our talented team at our holiday workshops!)

Wreath making is ongoing at the farm until mid-December, but stop in early as these holiday works of art tend to sell quickly!