{"id":37065,"date":"2023-09-07T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/07\/these-rustic-handmade-wreaths-bring-the-beauty-of-monterey-to-your-home\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T12:30:00","slug":"these-rustic-handmade-wreaths-bring-the-beauty-of-monterey-to-your-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/07\/these-rustic-handmade-wreaths-bring-the-beauty-of-monterey-to-your-home\/","title":{"rendered":"These Rustic, Handmade Wreaths Bring the Beauty of Monterey to Your Home"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Monterey County, California is known for its picturesque rugged coastlines, but if you travel inland from Big Sur, over the mountains and into the valley, you might come across a farm sporting acres upon acres of fresh herbs, flowers, regional greenery, and other beautiful plants. (Its wonderful scents might even lead you to it!) Through the year, these plants are grown, harvested, and dried, all leading up to when they\u2019re transformed into unique wreaths<\/a> that are shipped around the country to adorn the homes<\/a> of thousands of customers.<\/p>\n

This is Creekside Farms<\/a>. The family-owned business was started in 1988 by two parents, and today, more than 30 years later, the company is going strong with 30 employees, 20 acres of farmland, and dozens of designs for every season.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Creekside Farms<\/span>
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It All Started With Pepperberries<\/h3>\n

While wreaths are now their bread and butter, Creekside Farms actually started out as a flower company. Carol and Larry Umbarger were looking for a way to make a bit of extra income when their kids went off to college, so they started selling flowers. However, the market was competitive, and Carol knew they needed to find a niche if they were going to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarol was in Santa Barbara one time and noticed there were pepperberries hanging in an antique shop that were $15 for a little bunch,\u201d explains Teri Umbarger, Carol\u2019s daughter-in-law and the current designer and marketing and sales director for Creekside Farms. \u201cShe thought, \u2018There are pepperberries all over our valley\u2014This is what I\u2019m going to do!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The family started collecting and selling dried pepperberries, which eventually helped them connect with the upscale garden lifestyle brand, Smith and Hawken. In a stroke of fate, the company asked if Carol would assist one of its vendors in making wreaths, as they were struggling to keep up with demand. With no wreath-making experience to speak of, the family accepted the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey learned how to make a wreath<\/a> on a pool table,\u201d says Umbarger. \u201cThey put plywood over it, and made 3,000 wreaths in three weeks.\u201d The rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Creekside Farms<\/span>
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Inside the World of Farm-to-Door Wreaths<\/h3>\n

In a world where nearly everything we buy is manufactured in unmarked factories far, far away, it\u2019s always refreshing to find a product that\u2019s entirely made by hand from start to finish. At Creekside Farms, every step of wreath creation takes place on their farm in Greenfield, California, from planting and growing the ingredients to packing and shipping out the finished product.<\/p>\n

Locally Grown Ingredients<\/h3>\n

If you browse the Creekside Farms website, you\u2019ll see they offer an array of wreaths using all types of materials, colors, and patterns. That makes it hard to believe the family actually grows most of their supplies on their two farms\u2014their newer 15-acre main facility, and the original five-acre family ranch.<\/p>\n

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\n Creekside Farms’ Fall Dill Wreath<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by Ty Mecham<\/a><\/span>
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\u201cWe grow the majority of our wreath supplies,\u201d says Umbarger. \u201cWe grow lots of herbs\u2014culinary herbs and others that dry well and hold their color. We also have eucalyptus trees, olive trees, and pepperberry trees.\u201d They use the smaller of the two farms to grow the sweetest-smelling lavender, as well.<\/p>\n

For ingredients that aren\u2019t conducive to California weather, they purchase from other farms. \u201cDuring the fall and holiday season, we bring in greenery like cedar and fir, which doesn\u2019t grow here, but still try to incorporate something to make the wreaths unique to us\u2014usually a California green.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natural Designs and Natural Ingredients<\/h3>\n

In addition to serving as the company\u2019s marketing and sales director, Teri Umbarger is also the creative force behind the company\u2019s beautiful designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI design all our wreaths,\u201d she says. \u201cI look at what\u2019s out on the internet, in magazines, in catalogs, and something will catch my eye. I\u2019ll use that as inspiration and tweak it to match our look, which is pretty distinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans of the brand could probably pick Creekside Farms wreaths out of a lineup in, like, five seconds, but what exactly is it that makes the wreaths unique? Umbarger says it\u2019s because they pride themselves on valuing imperfection. \u201cWe use elements that are natural, and we like our wreaths to be natural-looking,\u201d says Umbarger. \u201cI like them to be a little more wild and realistic\u2014not like a doughnut in a perfect circle!\u201d She also explains that they keep things as natural throughout the manufacturing process, avoiding the use of pesticides and other harmful treatments as much as possible.<\/p>\n

The end result? Stunning wreaths that are eye-catching, fragrant, and absolutely adored by customers.<\/p>\n

This article was updated in September 2023 with Creekside Farms\u2019 newest handmade wreaths.<\/em><\/p>\n

More from Food52<\/h4>\n
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\nHow do you like to style your wreaths? Tell us in the comments below!<\/em>
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Monterey County, California is known for its picturesque rugged coastlines, but if you travel inland from Big Sur, over the mountains and into the valley, you might come across a farm sporting acres upon acres of fresh herbs, flowers, regional greenery, and other beautiful plants. (Its wonderful scents might even lead you to it!) Through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-food"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}