Holiday gift giving doesn’t have to be complicated or overly expensive. When considering presents for friends, teachers, neighbors or co-workers; I always strive to give heartfelt gifts. Consider S’more fun. This year we put together DIY S’mores Kits for people that we are thankful for. Our hope is that these simple holiday treats provide an opportunity for some stress-free family time. In the past, we have created several DIY gifts, movie night bowls, made ceramic trees to remind us of the simple things in life, or shared a homemade bottle of limoncello. Adding a pretty bow, a keepsake ornament, a customized tag, and a personalized note make the gift more special. We have made this super easy for you. We have everything you need to beautifully package your DIY gifts in our wrapping section. We regard community gifts as a small token of our appreciation. It’s a thoughtful and beautiful way to say, “Thank you! Thank you for being a part of our story. Thank you for all that you do.” This small gesture is meant to recognize the kind deeds, shared talent, or support people bestow on us throughout the year. Our best tip is to always prepare more gifts than you need and keep a few extra on hand for someone you may have overlooked. This tends to occur more frequently as we get older and busier! This year, after all of the packages were assembled, we had a fair amount of extra ingredients remaining, so we made a gift for our own guests. With the leftover ingredients, we packaged up individual servings. These extras will make s’more fun a little easier for us to serve fun treats on our back porch throughout the season.
Projects
Happy Bees…
We have several honey bee hives in our yard and I am thrilled to say, they are happy bees. Over the past several weeks, we have opened the hives up, inspected them and made sure the colonies were healthy. We do this in the early morning when it is relatively cool here in North Carolina. This is a good time to work with bees because the hives are less active. We are respectful of the bees hard work and careful not to stress the hive. We are gentle and calm around our bees and they respond in kind. Honey bees are so important to humans as they help pollinate our gardens, orchards, and our food crops. We are dependent on the survival of all pollinators for the food we need to survive. Bees are responsible for pollinating approximately one-third of the food we consume in this country. We recognize that not everyone is able to raise bees, however, helping the bee population and other pollinators to thrive, is not difficult. One way to support bees (and other pollinators) is to plant a variety of flowers in your yard that aid pollinators and help with honey production. Bees are looking for two types of plants; flowers that provide nectar and ones that provide pollen. Nectar provides carbohydrates and is an energy boost for bees. Pollen is their primary source of protein. Perennial flowers are a great option to assist honey bees. Perennials only need to be planted once and will grow back year after year. These plants are a great option to attract honey bees because after the initial planting and investment; these plants are typically easy to grow, and require very little attention to flourish. Here is a bee friendly list of beautiful perennial plants. Next time you are looking for flowers to plant, you may consider adding some of these to your yard: Cosmos Black-Eyed Susans Coneflowers Bee balm Mint Joe-Pye weed Liatris Milkweed Sunflower Zinnia Peony Phlox Salvia Sedum Coriander
