Every year, I (Christina) hand-tie a couple hundred double-sided Christmas wreaths. I cut all of the balsam fir brush by hand from trees along the woods roads and pastures on our farm. I snip the brush into smaller pieces, assemble them in little bundles and use spools of green wire to wrap them around a metal ring.
If you
leave it assembled as-is, it has to be put in the garbage because of the metal
inside of the compostable balsam fir. Please note, there are other types of
wreaths that are made in different ways so their disassembly might be different.
When you’re done with a wreath that I’ve made, here’s how to take it apart.
I attach
any bows and cones with wire after the wreaths are complete. So, working in
reverse order of how they’re made, the bows and cones should be removed first.
Lay the wreath bow-side-down and find the wires that have been twisted to
secure the bow and cones. Un-twist the wires and remove the decorations. Then,
pry back the brush and find the green wire and metal ring. Snip the green wire (with
old scissors or wire snips) and start unwinding. I find it easiest to keep
unwinding and crunch the wire up into a ball as I go instead of snipping the
wire into a bunch of small pieces. If you wanted to wind the wire up carefully,
it could be reused for another purpose. As you unwind the wire, you’ll see all
of the induvial bundles of balsam fir. All of the balsam fir can then be
composted. I throw the wire in the garbage. The wire ring can be reused or
recycled with scrap metal.
Every year,
after Christmas, I get a couple dozen wreaths returned, and I take them apart
myself and reuse the rings. I offer this “service” to anyone who buys a wreath
from me. They can be dropped off at the farm anytime, no questions asked, and
I’ll know what to do with them.
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