Certainly you’ve noticed it’s time to start planning for the holidays. You don’t need to get far from the garden, however, to get decorations for your home and gifts for your family and friends.
Certainly you’ve noticed it’s time to start planning for the holidays. You don’t need to get far from the garden, however, to get decorations for your home and gifts for your family and friends.
Presumably, you planted veggies and herbs for your holiday meals months ago. Perhaps you are even planning to use some of your garden produce to create gifts. Citrus marmalades, hot pepper jellies or fruit and veggie chutneys make excellent gifts. Lacking your own produce to fill your holiday needs, be sure to check out farmers markets and craft fairs to find locally grown or made items. Buying your gifts from local farmers or artisans is second only in righteousness to creating them yourself.
Generally a few preholiday classes or workshops will appear to offer help with do-it-yourself decorations and gifts. If you don’t find what you want at a local market or fair, try a class.
Several organizations have “holiday crafting” workshops scheduled using local plant material. Waimea Outdoor Circle is holding a wreath making class and Tropical Edibles Nursery in Captain Cook will offer crafting options using local materials at their facility. Both events are Saturday. Later in the month, Scott Seymour will guide wreath makers to create decorative items at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa.
At the Waimea Nature Park, participants will choose from a variety of branches, leaves and fruit that has been collected from the park and nearby sites to create holiday decorations. All the supplies needed to make a wreath will be provided from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost of the workshop depends on the size of wreath you create. Large wreaths are $40 and a small one is $30. Reserve a space at the event by calling 936-1468 or sending an email to clangton@hawaii.rr.com. More information can be found at waimeaoutdoorcircle.org.
The Donkey Mill workshop, Old Island English Holiday Wreaths, is planned from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 12 and 19. Seymour will demonstrate the style and materials used by early English settlers to Hawaii and guide participants in creating wreaths from that period. The fee for the class is $65 and registration is required. Call 322-3362 or visit donkeymillartcenter.org/RegistrationForm.pdf.
Several workstations will be set up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Tropical Edibles, allowing participants to create different items from a variety of supplies. Each station will be staffed and equipped for creating unique decorations and gifts. A $5 donation for materials is requested for each creation and folks are encouraged to bring a potluck item for lunch.
Momi Subiono is planning a holiday candle-making station using beeswax, wicking string and decorative additions to create candles for gifts. Another table will feature samples of angels and snowmen crafted from autograph tree seed pods and coconut fiber.
Raven Bolas will host a table offering dried herbs and supplies to make tea samplers. Many of the herbs at the workstation were collected from the nursery’s organic herb garden and dried in its facility. Crafters will also be guided in creating small kitchen wreaths incorporating herbs and plants from the nursery into beautiful and useful gifts.
Maggie McDermott will host a table of pots and decorating supplies to help turn an edible plant into a gift. Artist Shez Arvedon’s assemblages and Gerald Lucena’s paintings and prints will be on display in the nursery’s gift shop.
However you choose to prepare for and celebrate the holidays, consider incorporating local products into your gifts and decorations. Allow time to relax a bit and enjoy the creative process.
Tropical
gardening helpline
Wilma asks: I have a large fig tree that produces lots of greenish figs. I’m not sure what kind it is or when the fruit is ripe. The birds seem to know when the figs are ripe, and they get most of them. Helpful information is needed so I can taste my figs.
Answer: Your tree is likely a white kadota fig. These trees are popular in Kona and produce lots of greenish fruit. There are several ways to determine ripeness in figs. If you want to beat the birds to your fruit, you’ll want to pick it in the morning a day or two before it reaches full ripeness. Certainly if the birds are eating your fruit, it is ripe. They have a keen eye for fruit at its flavor peak.
White kadota figs undergo subtle color changes as they ripen. When they begin to turn slightly yellow and become shiny, they are ready to be picked. The hole at the bottom of the fruit will also begin to open a bit as a secondary indicator of ripeness. Ripe fruit will sometimes emit a drop or two of liquid “honey” from the piko. The “feel test” also offers ripeness clues. Gently squeeze the fruit to determine firmness. As fruit ripens it begins to soften. Figs that are nearly ripe and just a little soft to the touch are ready. Ripe fruit is very soft. The figs will soften and ripen off the tree if picked a few days prior to becoming fully ripe.
If you find it difficult to beat the sharp-eyed birds to your figs, either pick them prematurely or cover your tree with netting, to discourage the birds from feasting on your crop.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant with an organic farm in Captain Cook.