Pip Berries

 This blog entry was going to be titled "I am Tired of Trees" (more about that in a minute).  I found something more fun to talk about.

Pip berries are a staple in Primitive or Country decorating.  Really they are just artificial rose hips.  I have occasionally purchased floral sprays of pip berries, but nowadays, I prefer to get them at home in season.  That means clipping them off of the dreaded multiflora rose bushes.  I have eradicated most of the multiflora up near the house so I am having to go a little further to get them.  The other day I picked a few at the back of the property but I did not have a pruner with me.  Today a good opportunity presented itself and I harvested some more.

Saturday night and all day yesterday we had high winds.  Last evening the neighbor called and let us know that two border trees behind his barn had come down. Because we have a hunter going in there almost every day, and because we retrieve deer with the tractor, we needed to deal with these.  They were blocking the trail.  While my husband chain sawed enough to move these out of the way, I was clipping rose hips.

While I got a handful the other day, today I got a big bouquet of nice plump berries.  You want to let these dry hanging upside down so the stems stiffen before the seed heads weigh them down and make them droop.

I have already started to tuck some of the first ones into my decor.

Once you get them in the house and laid out, the thorns are super easy to just pop off and you can trim the stems to length,

I plan to make some candle rings with my bountiful harvest.  All that is needed is some paddle wire and some craft rings and I have both of those.  Below is the look I am going for.  When mine dry enough I will show you how they turn out.  Mine will be fluffier and more realistic because.... they're real.

These are the fake ones