Christmas Wreath

This Christmas, I used a lot of natural materials in my Christmas decorations.  We had a six foot Frasier Fir, a 20 foot garland, two wreaths, and five poinsetta plants.  This morning, I woke up and planned the natural material for next year's holidays.  Here a bunch of links if you want dream a little yourself.

Wahmhoff Farms Nursery in Michigan  They have beautiful trees and the price is not too bad.  They also drill a hole up the middle of your trunk so you can use a special easy-to-use Christmas tree stand.  Generally all your have to do is line up the hole in the trunk with the nail in the middle of the stand- and viola!  Christmas tree is up.  They don't have delivery information.

Christmas Farms in Michigan.  They also drill the tree up the middle to use with the new stand.  They are the highest price of these links, but they deliver free and have a real variety of fresh greens.  It would not be too difficult to spend $500 here- but it would be a one of a kind Christmas.

Christmas Tree Farm in Minnesota.  They have a variety of trees and wreaths and have a delivery fee calculator.  They also have north woodsy stuff like birch decorations, maple syrup, and wild rice.

Then I decided to see what was available down south.  Found Green Valley Christmas Trees- the Frasier Firs here are grown in North Carolina.

Then found out that you can get herbal wreaths at Williams Sonoma.  Then watched the video about Creekside Farms and all I saw was FUN RETIREMENT!  Can you imagine the joy of growing pretty fragrant things and then bunching them all up into a wreath that would last forever!

Next followed lots of links on how to make herb wreaths, the realization that I had tons of old grapevine wreaths for all occasions and herbs that needed to be cut and voila- Mary Rose's Garden Angel Wreath!  Hope that this ages gracefully!  More to come...

Peanut butter vegetable soup

One of my new favorite web sites is Thy Hand Hath Provided.  I love web sites about things that people are trying- especially people that are committed to living off the bounty of the earth in their back yards!  On their menu plan for today they had a recipe for peanut butter vegetable soup.  It matched a lot of the things that I had in the refrigerator that needed to be used up before my next trip to Cheyenne's tomorrow.  I added a lot more to this recipe and also used fresh herbs from my garden.  This is a great thing to do with all your extra bounty from the earth.

This is my adapted version:

6 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. butter
4 cups beef broth
2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
1 large egg plant
ground white  pepper
1 large canned  diced tomatoes

1 bag baby spinach

Handful of fresh basil

Handful of fresh parsley

Handful of fresh thyme
3/4 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, cook carrots, onions, egg plant and garlic in melted butter until onions are tender. Stir in broth, sweet potatoes, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until sweet potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, spinach, herbs and peanut butter. Stir gently until peanut butter has completely dissolved, spinach is wilted and tomatoes are heated through. Makes about 8 servings.

Carrots, egg plant and onions were diced into 1/2 inch cubes.

Sorry I can't supply pictures, lost my camera power adapter again!   I'm eating it right now and it has a wonderful creamy, rich flavor.  I'm thoroughly enjoying it!