Deck The Home With Holiday Decor LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff LEBANON (Lebanon Co.) No need to spend a fortune for holi day decorations. Fields, woods, and yards contain everything you need far some of the most impress ive arrangements that floral desig ners create. Here are some of the materials to gather: pinecones of all sizes and shapes, chestnut burrs, horse chest nuts, osage oranges, rosemary, rosehips, eucalyptus, bittersweet, cattails, jumper with the berries, bay leaves, milkweed pods, moun tain laurel, mosses, canella berries, teasels, winterberry, wheat, barley, grasses, thistles, baybeny, and nuts. Using these natural materials, Lebanon County master gardeners recently demonstrated how to transform your home into simple but stunning beauty. Even if you didn't attend the Lebanon County Extension Holi day Program, you can duplicate many of these ideas or use your own creativity by incorporating some of these ideas. Combine many different types of evergreens in swags, wreaths, and arrangements. Some wonder ful items to include with traditional greens are juniper with the purple berries, cedar, arborvitae, ground pine, rhododendron, boxwood, ivy, magnolia, broom, and holly. However, spruce varieties such as blue, white, or Norway are not recommended for indoor decora tion because of poor needle retention. Create Swag • Cut three pieces of greens, each one measuring four-inches shorter then the next (21 inches, 17 inches, and 13 inches). • Clean off the top three inches of stem. • Place each piece on top of the other and place a rubber band around the tips to hold together. • Place bow around ends using leftover wire to make a loop for hanging. Stunning displays can be arranged with a mixture of fresh and dried materials found in fields, woods, and even yards. Osage oranges, sometimes called hedgerow apples, are found in many natural arrangements. You can also dry the osage oranges whole or slice % -inch thick and dry in dehydrator or in 200-degree oven for about eight hours or until dry. Vc> f - ten 1?‘ % Create Fresh Roping • Cut greens approximately six inches long. • Connect thin-gaugc bolt wire to end of rope or twine cut to the length desired. • Lay three six-inch pieces of greens at the end of rope and wrap wire around to hold in place. • Continue to lay greens, work ing down the rope and wrapping until the end. Secure wire and clip off. Mason Jar Uses Endless ideas for mason jars: fill with cranberries, nuts, and dried fruit slices. Fill a vase with fresh cranberries and water and plop some fresh flowers into the container. How To Dry Materials Dry slices of oranges, grapefruit, apples, and osage oranges in a dehydrator or in an oven set under 200 degrees for sev eral boms. Prop the oven door open slightly by insetting handle of wooden spoon. Fruit can be dried whole or sliced, but it lakes many hours to dry whole fruit. Slice designs into oranges and lemons before drying. Many farms have an abundance of osage oranges, sometimes referred to as hedgerow apples. Osage oranges are popular when used fresh or dried in arrange ments. They can be strung to wreaths or swags by making a hole with an ice pick and pushing a fish ing line through. Osage oranges can also be dried in a dehydrator or in a low temperature oven. The osage oranges will lose their green color when dried and turn to a toasty brown. Either fresh or dried, they make lovely additions to holiday greenery. Some items such as cranberries will air-dry naturally when left at room temperature. String cranber ries on thin wire or with fishing line. Berries strung on wire can be shaped when placed in an arrange ment unlike those strung with Ash ing line or thread. Nospeci ig skills are needed to create many of the natural arrangements that are popular this year. When fruit is dry, toss with cin namon sticks, pine cones, nuts, applesauce cinnamon cutouts, and fresh or dried cranberries. Many dried items can be reused several years if stored in dry area but left uncovered. Items that are dried should never be placed in air tight containers because they will often mold. Recycle Materials If a silk or dried arrangement from other years is outdated, give it a new look by spraying lightly with gold paint for the gilted look. If you no longer want the wreath, remove the materials but save the metal ring for the base to make your new wreath. Tin Cans Some of the ideas included mak ing luminaries from old tin cans and paint cans. Fill tin with water and freeze. Hammer design with a nail while ice is hardened, pour out water. Insert candle. The candle light will flicker through the out line made with the nail. Sugared Fruit Admire those sugared fruits popular in Victorian decor? They’re easy to duplicate by using fresh apples, grapes, plums, (Turn to Page B 14) Weary Of Christmas’ Commercialization? LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff LEBANON (Lebanon Co.) Weary of the commercialization that accompanies the holiday? Here are some ideas presented at the Lebanon County Extension Holiday Program that focuses on the true meaning of Christmas giving to others and encouraging family togetherness. Rita Moore said that she plans a baby shower for Jesus: In addition to the date, time, and place, she attaches the following note with the invitation. A Baby Is Born Christmas is the celebration of a birth, a baby’s birth. That baby appeared to be poor, even home less. That baby was Jesus, who grew to be Christ, the savior of the world. “This year, we’re inviting you to Sugared fruit is easily duplicated. Although this looks good enough to eat, the fruit is for decoration only. celebrate Christmas by bringing a gift for a baby. The baby may be illegitimate, poor, or even home less. It will be a baby bom to some one who is being ministered to by the local pregnancy center. Bring the gift to our party unwrapped so everyone can see it Spend as much or as little as you like. Gifts may be new or as good as new.” Holiday Scrapbook Keep a holiday scrapbook. Add photos each year and note how the holiday was celebrated, family members and guests present, food served, favorite gifts given and received, and important events in each person’s life. Holiday Photos Mount photos of past holiday celebrations onto small cards and place them around dining room table during the holiday dinner. Holiday Tablecloth Purchase a light-colored table cloth that can be written on with fabric markets. Purchase markers that will not bleed onto cloth when washed. Use the cloth to cover the table at holiday gatherings. Ask each guest to write a short greeting, or drawing, and date on the cloth. Use a variety of colors. Use the tablecloth in years to come whenever you gather for holiday meals. As time goes on, the tablecloth will bring back memo ries of many happy days spent together. Mason Jars In a quart jar, pour in about 2-in chcs of artificial snow. Place a small snowman or bear and artifi cial trees inside. Top with a glass candleholder insert (made for jars and available at craft supply stores) and add a votive candle.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers