By Maureen Blaney Flietner

Perhaps it’s just in our nature. Those who appreciate the country, being surrounded by the beautiful bounty of the outdoors, want to capture some of it and bring it inside. And why not? It’s difficult to find anything artificial that can compete with the delicate colors, intricate textures, and alluring shapes and scents of nature.

Many of us, as hobby farmers, have also grown accustomed to being thrifty. Using what’s available in our surroundings for alternative uses--such as natural décor--plays right into the practical economics we live by.

Scouting the Land
Surprisingly, the materials that can make up some wonderful natural décor are often “free” items available from unusual sources. Weeds we want to eradicate--such as wild grapevines, bittersweet or teasel--become the stuff of swags and centerpieces. Cones at the base of pine or spruce trees are destined to be the stars of ornaments or  wreaths. Milkweed, that life-giving plant for Monarch butterflies, offers pods excellent for arrangements. Redosier dogwood, rampant through lowlands, makes a striking accent in holiday arrangements with evergreen branches.

It doesn’t end there. A handful of dried wheat. A cache of colorful fall leaves. Piles of acorns or hickory nuts. Twigs. Bouquets of dried flowers. Cornhusks. This is the stuff that natural décor is made of.

If you happen to live on an old farmstead, every year the earth seems to yield a new “crop” from the past. Bits of pottery, parts of old machinery, old square nails and other remnants of earlier lives appear on the ground and can become part of décor unique to your farm. The curlicues of an old piece of metal. A section of an old cedar fence post. A bit of barbed wire. They all have a chance to be a part of a new life on the farm. 

Free Your Imagination
Hobby-farm country décor requires free rein of the imagination. Get in the proper frame of mind. Put an imaginary sign above your work space. On it, picture these words to guide you: “Everything I need is here, waiting to be discovered and appreciated.”

Between what’s growing and what’s “found,” there’s abundance. Each area of the country, each farmstead, offers something special. Wear some gloves, get some clippers and a box, and start gathering.

Here are some simple projects to give your creativity a jumpstart. Then start looking at what local bounty you can transform into something special.

Project: Cone wreath
With their varied textures and earthy colors, cones have long been a popular and free material for decorations. Gather them when they’re available and store them for later use. Air dry the cones or put them on a cookie sheet in a 200-degree F oven for about an hour.

For a cone wreath, you’ll need:
* a metal wreath form
* flexible craft wire. Brown or green works fine. For a different effect, try a gold or copper color.
* needlenose pliers, to occasionally help pull wire through the wreath form
* curved-nose wire clippers, to clip some cones
* different cone sizes and types

Until you get familiar with how much craft wire you will use to secure your cones, start with about a foot of wire. Make sure you will have a few inches of wire left at either end and then encircle the bottom layer of scales. Tuck the wire toward the base of the scales. If the cone is a smaller one, you can twist one of the wire ends tightly around the other end wire. Then anchor the cone to the metal wreath form with the now combined, single wire. For larger cones, take each end of wire and separately secure it to the metal wreath form for extra stability.

Position cones on their sides, angled, base in or base out. Make sure each wire is wrapped around a cone and then wound securely around part of the wreath form. Continue this process as you fill the form.

As the wreath shapes up, add extra touches. Take a pine cone and, with the curved wire cutters, snip off the scales until you reveal the “flower” inside. Wire the base of the clipped cone and keep the “flower” looking outward. For another look, wire the top end of a cone and put the base end out. Small, thin cones can be wired to back into any “holes” in the form. For an extra finish, hot glue some dried flowers to the wreath. Clean gently with canned compressed air.

Project: Grapevine wreath or swag
If you ignore the fact that they’re considered nuisance weeds, wild grapevines are interesting plants that are wildlife-friendly. As you gather these vines, take a moment to appreciate how tendrils allow these plants to aggressively move into the territory of other plants.

Wild grapevines basically “crawl” right over plants with a grip on bark and branches that is surprisingly strong and tight. It’s that flexibility and those tendrils that work well when you turn them into something beautiful like swags and wreaths.

Gather wild grapevines when they are young and easy to shape. You may have to unwrap the grip of some roots to keep the curly tendril look. Snip the leaves to save yourself from having to clean up dried leaves as they disintegrate. You can gather the brown, woodier plants but they will not be as easy to shape. Try to cut vines at the base; you will want each vine to be 4 to 10 feet long. 

Either work with the vines right away or store them for a short time in water, formed in the circular or swag shape you want them to have. For a wreath, start with one vine and create a circle just a bit smaller than the size you want. Wind the vine around about three times and overlap the end. Use a matching or accent craft wire to hold it together.

With the next vine and each subsequent vine, start at a different place around the wreath. Weave each new vine in and out around the main wreath, being careful to allow the curly tendrils to show.

When you have built your wreath to the thickness you want and have securely anchored all of the vine ends, it’s ready for finishing touches. Among the choices could be to hot glue or wire some dried nuts or flowers, colorful leaves or eggshells.

Project: Centerpieces/displays
When it comes to table centerpieces, those who live in the country have endless choices! No matter what the season, just look around and see what you can come up with.
 
Here are some possibilities:

* Snip off evergreen branches, cut several deep red stems of redosier dogwood, and add a bow and battery-operated tiny lights for a holiday swag. Or dig an old tray out of the cupboard, add the branches and stems, a candle, and you’ve got a holiday centerpiece.
 
* Carve out a pumpkin, put a small candle in a glass holder inside, center the pumpkin on a large plate and surround it with colorful fall leaves and a few cones.

* Arrange a selection of colorful dried gourds, grown on your farm, and surround it with colorful fall leaves.
* Place a bunch of tulips or a spray of lilacs in a hand-me-down vase.

* Use summer’s endless parade of flowers to keep bouquets of fresh blooms on country tables.
* Float blossoms in a pretty bowl or other container filled of water.

* Arrange selections of dried plants, herbs or flowers such as canary grass, statice, teasels, bittersweet or wheat in pretty baskets or vases.

Here’s one simple centerpiece that can work for a variety of occasions; be careful with the candle. In our farmhouse, for example, candles are for short-term use only. Pets and the frequent movement of family and friends indoors and out increase the chance of a fire with a candle left unattended.

Project: Candle centerpiece

Materials:
* Dried flowers or leaves
* A candle
* A tray or plate
* Cones, evergreen branches, nuts, colorful stones or shells
* A hot glue gun

For this arrangement, I used a large, white candle that was on hand. (Those skilled in candlemaking are ahead of the game.) Colorful fall leaves collected last year and preserved with clear lacquer were selected. I picked through my dried statice, grown in a variety of colors, and found white flowers for this special-occasion centerpiece. The cone collection was raided and a few nuts were spray painted gold for a formal accent.

Hold up the leaves and statice against the candle to determine best placement. After deciding how the arrangement will look, ready the hot glue gun and go to work. 

Place the leaves first since they will be nearly impossible to rearrange without tearing. The statice goes next. Because this dried flower is a bit sturdier than a leaf, it can be rearranged when the glue is cool if you decide to change the design.

The candle is centered on an old tray sprayed gold. Cones have been placed around the candle. Your area may have other suitable materials--nuts, leaves, shells, dried herbs, colorful stones--in abundance to use. Light the candle and enjoy!

Project: Decorative frame
While there seems to be no end to the variety of frames and matting available in stores AND catalogs, there’s one way to individualize the frame of an artwork or photo print that you’ll find no where else. Decorate the frame with found items. Even if you follow this basic example, your frame will be different because you will choose the materials and decide where to place them.

Seashells, stones, woven sisal baling twine, tiny cones, bark and twigs are all potential materials. Study your print to see what complements your artwork. To make this example, twigs were used to echo the trees shown in the print. Gather several “interesting” branches from bushes or small trees. Small branches from an old honeysuckle bush were used here. First, place them on the frame to determine the look you want. Clip branches that are too long or heading in the wrong direction. Wash and air dry the selected branches.

The first two branches were attached with hot glue and the look was reviewed. A few more branches were added and, for variety, three gold-sprayed nuts were attached as accents. It’s an easy project, but one that adds interest to a simple framed print.

Project: Indoor rustic birdhouse
While our fine-feathered friends are just outside, you can keep a nice indoor reminder of them. This simple birdhouse uses several items found around the hobby farm. Here’s how this example was assembled.

One of the old cedar fence posts that had seen better days and was pulled up for replacement and a section was sawed off. A black electric fence wire holder was left attached. The post section was placed securely in a vice and an appropriate hole was drilled with an electric screwdriver equipped with a spade bit (don’t forget the safety glasses). A hand auger can be used, as well. An old oil can with character but no use was cleaned and pressed into service as the roof.

Tuck some dried sphagnum moss or--perhaps even more available around the farm--a bit of clean, chopped straw into the birdhouse entrance. It helps to use a bit of hot glue to hold the nest material in place. The rustic indoor birdhouse is ready.

Unusual, one-of-a-kind and attractive country décor is at your doorstep. And, best of all, it’s nearly free.

This article first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore or tack and feed store or buy one online.