Fall and Flowers
Playing with Pumpkins.
We love fall and we love dahlias, so when we saw a few social media posts making pumpkin bouquets, we just had to try it. A quick skim of Pinterest combined with our own twist and we were set to begin the project. Time will tell how long they last.
We began out in the garden with a few vases of hot water. Blooms were dead headed and prime blooms were selected and cut, immediately immersed in the hot water, which we have found in deed extends the bloom’s life, but can’t explain the science behind it……yet. Once we had a healthy selection on fall tones, we headed in side to work on the pumpkins as the stems set.
Once inside, a knife was used to cut the top of the pumpkin off. We did this at an angle as if carving a pumpkin that you desired the top to sit back in place. Then using our hands, we scrapped seeds into a bowl for later and used a spoon to scrape the rest out of the center.
Then we used our hottest tap water to rinse the inside of the pumpkin, hoping to shock any bacteria or fungus, followed by a straight bleach rinse. The pumpkins were set to dry as we collected mason jars that would fit (we used pints) and filled them with cool water.
The mason jars slipped into the opening of the pumpkin and then the bouquets were built. In follow up, the chickens got the left over pumpkin parts which is a healthy treat for the hens and the pumpkin seeds were washed and roasted which is a healthy treat for the family.
It was a relatively quick craft and super cute. We will see how long the pumpkins survive before turning, but we have hopes to get a week to 10 days out of them.
