Posted on 12/23/2023 7:38:05 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
You had me at, ‘pomegranate garnish.’ Oh, and, ‘Rum.’ :)
The Story Behind Your Christmas Wreath
This time of year, Christmas wreaths are hung in every place imaginable—from doors and fences to lampposts and windows—even the front grille of the car! How did a round bit of greenery come to symbolize the holidays?
Wreaths are part of many ancient traditions dating back to the earliest civilizations. The circle is a symbol of immortality; throughout history, wreaths have been associated with life, rejuvenation, and renewal. Originally, wreaths were worn around the head, neck, or waist.
The Greeks awarded laurel wreaths to their triumphant athletes; in the Persian Empire they were worn on the head as a symbol of importance; and ancient Romans wore them like crowns. In Sweden, candles were incorporated in the wreaths to celebrate the return of light after the winter solstice. Nowadays we use them in a window or on a door as a sign of welcome during the holidays.
They can be used flat on a table for decoration or as an advent wreath, which also contains candles, one for each Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Yule Love This Wreath
Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my local library has a wreath-making workshop. The library supplies the greens and wire and you bring your own wreath form, gloves, clippers, and enthusiasm. All the wreaths that are made that day are beautiful and all are different. Luckily, there are no hard and fast rules for wreath-making. Whatever pleases you is a success!
Every wreath starts with a base of some sort; it can be wire, straw, vine, or wood. Stalks of woody herbs like rosemary, lemon verbena, artemisia, or summer savory can be wrapped into a circle to make a fragrant base. Gather small bunches of evergreens together and wire them to the base. Overlap the bunches to hide the stems. Tuck small bunches of herbs and other interesting greens into the base using more wire to hold them, if necessary. Using greens of different colors and textures will give your wreath its richness. Add cones, dried flowers, berries, and fruit for accents. Don’t forget the bow!
https://www.almanac.com/story-behind-your-christmas-wreath
That looks pretty darn good. We rarely drink anymore, except wine with dinner a couple times a month. I wonder if a bartender could whip one up, though — of those ingredients typically would be on hand.
I like rum drinks, and vodka. Definitely not gin or tequila.
A question for green thumb people.
Our new neighbors are moving in ski boat thingies, trailers, and other misc. items to store on the other side of our split rail fence.
(Our realtor told us it is TVA land. We trusted, but did not verify. Some is TVA, but the neighbors own a strip next to our fence,e just learned.)
We want to plant something on our side dense enough to hide the view year-round. Trees or bushes with minimal maintenance required. (We’re old.) Maybe 5’-6’ tall.
Any ideas? We’re in Eastern TN, just west of Knoxville.
You are in Zone 7b, so you have a wide range of choices!
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/shrubs/best-plants-for-hedges/
Of these choices, the most economical and easiest to plant with little maintenance would be:
Arborvitae
Lilac
Hydrangea - Tall ones like ‘Limelight’ are useful and beautiful
Viburnum - I have Highbush Cranberry Viburnum and they make a nice hedge and Cedar Waxwings and Cardinals love them. That variety might be a little tall for your needs, but there are shorter cultivars.
Spirea - known as ‘Bridal Veil’ (Spirea Vanhouttei) also make a great hedge. We have a long hedge of them in the front and when they are in bloom, they are spectacular - but they would also block your unwanted view sufficiently.
Thanks so much! I had considered hydrangea, too. We had some at our last house and they were beautiful. I think the lay of the land by our fence might be ideal for the moisture issue.
And they are stunning in bloom!
Glazed Orange Cake
We all have these mundane ing on hand but it took a master like French chef Pepin to turn them into haute patisserie. Pepin found a frozen pound cake, oranges and leftover mascarpone in the fridge (crème fraîche or sour cream would do). Jacques says impromptu dishes work out best.
Ingredients: 3 seedless oranges 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese 1 tablespoon sugar 1 pound cake (12 ounces), brown edges trimmed off all around, cut lengthwise into 3/4-inch slices 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier 1/2 cup orange marmalade A few fresh mint sprigs, for decoration
Instructions: peel the oranges, remove pith so the flesh is exposed then supreme them and reserve segments. Then squeeze the membranes to extract the juice (about 1/3 cup) and reserve. Mix the mascarpone cheese with the sugar.
Arrange pound cake slices side by side in bottom of glass platter nice enough to go to the dining room. Mix half the reserved orange juice with the Grand Marnier and sprinkle it on the cake slices. Spread the mascarpone on top and arrange the orange segments on top of the mascarpone.
GLAZE mix rest juice w/ orange marmalade; coat oranges.
Decorate w/ mint. W/ large spoon lift out cake to serve.
A skilled bartender could whip that up in a jif.....and would probably have the ing on hand
The 'Limelight' are a favorite. They're big, but airy. The blooms are HUGE and go from cream to lime green to pale pink. They dry beautifully, too.
Those are stunning. We’re going to read up on them and the bridal veil. The size on both of them is perfect! Thanks again.
It was another warm-ish week here in Central Missouri. I took advantage of a few gaps in the rain to work on the grandkids' swing frame. It's fully assembled now, just needs a few fasteners added to the gussetting to help hold it together while they're using it. The ground is too muddy now to carry it across the yard to the spot Mrs. Augie wants it to live, but I can set it down in the grass next to the driveway so they can play on it when they're here this coming weekend.
The long holiday weekend was nice and peaceful here. Was just the wife, daughter, Pops, and myself. Mrs. Augie made a nice pot of chicken noodle soup and I did a big batch of De-lux Chex Mix in the smoker. Christmas Eve we snacked, visited, had some cocktails, and opened a few gifts. Then we got up Christmas morning and did it all again.
The real mayhem begins on Friday when kids and grandkids start rolling in. The Florida bunch won't be able to make it due to work commitments, but 11 out of 15 ain't bad. I'm thawing a boneless beef rib roast, and Mrs. Augie has asked for a spiral-sliced ham for our family meal on the 30th. I don't expect anyone will be going home hungry from that deal.
Back in my college days (early 1980s) my buddies and I would set up a hunting camp on my grandparents property over winter break. Gramma had a large cast-iron cauldron that had been used to render lard when my grandparents hosted the annual neighborhood hog killings. She would loan us the kettle to use for cooking our camp stew.
We would start out with a large sack each of potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, a couple heads of cabbage, and whatever other veggies we could get our hands on. Then we'd brown up a few pounds of ground beef, a chicken or three, a couple different kinds of sausage and toss that all in. Season the mixture copiously and that was the start of our feasting for the next couple weeks.
As the pot would start to get low we would add veggies, liquid, and the carcasses of the poor little woodland creatures that got blasted during our hunting forays during the day. Anything we could forage that we knew wasn't going to make us sick went into the cauldron. Leftovers from breakfast - eggs/bacon/sausage/ham/biscuits/etc. - into the pot they went.
The operation was about as sanitary as the southeast asian street food vendor videos you've probably seen bouncing around youtube or facebook, but we didn't care. We were all ten foot tall and bulletproof back then.
Temps over 140 for hours, if not days, will kill a lot. A good long simmer or boil will do even better.
I cooked a pot roast a few nights ago in the instant pot, forgot about it and went to bed. It wasn’t even on the keep warm setting but was still pretty warm in the morning, plus sealed. I put it on keep warm all day and we had it that night.
During holidays, cook outs etc, people munch on food that’s been sitting out all day with no issue.
Lehman’s still carries campfire kettles up to 18.5 gallons(all made in china of course)-https://www.lehmans.com/product/cast-iron-campfire-kettles/
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Mom & I were just looking at the two hydrangeas I transplanted early last year & trying to decide if we would take them with us when we move. The answer is ‘no’ for 2 reasons:
#1 - This is the ‘biggy’ ... we are not taking anything the deer like to eat. Our hydrangeas were in a poor location & did not do well so the deer left them alone; however, there is a herd (literally, spotted 6-10 along the neighbor’s fence line) at the new place & we’re just not spending time fighting the deer. The ‘limelights’ are gorgeous & I would like to have them, but since the yard is a blank canvas & we have a choice of what to plant, no deer food!
https://savvygardening.com/are-hydrangeas-deer-resistant/
#2 - Even if the deer didn’t eat them, the 2 hydrangeas I transplanted have had to be ‘babied’. I had to cut a lot of roots to move them - they made it because the location really suited them & they grew several feet & bloomed, but needed a lot of water, almost every day during the worst of the summer heat. I don’t think they could take a 2nd transplanting so soon.
I believe I spotted a butterfly bush next to the patio .... deer rarely eat them .... yay!
That’s good to know re the deer, because we have a ton. Our first morning in this house 12 wandered by in the adjacent lot. Our fence separates that lot from ours, but deer still can come up our driveway. And they also can reach across a split rail fence and chomp away.
Too bad, we were drooling over our beautiful future hydrangea patch!
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