The New York Times posted a great recipe for a B Deck The Halls With Bounty From The Dollar Store!
One of my favorite venues for obtaining terrific herbs = edible flowers is the independent nursery FLOWERCRAFT (415-824-1900) located in San Francisco on Bayshore Boulevard right across the street from Lowes… a david + goliath story here. Hazel, the manager, is an astute buyer of plants + I was in need of edibles for our medicinal botanical garden @ U.C.S.F. violas, frais du bois, white no less!!! + variegated yellow nasturtiums were on my list for a late winter planting. Here in San Francisco, it is so chilly you have to put on a light jacket to brave the cold. As I pulled up to the nursery, I realized that Hazel had transformed Flowercraft into a Christmas tree lot!!!! There rows + rows of cut Noble firs and living Norman firs (latin name = Abies nordmanniana). Guess which one I purchased? Norman, of course!
Here @ GF Grocery I thought we should certainly have a living Christmas tree… so with the help of folks sturdier than I, we lugged and tugged a Norman Pine to 600 Illinois St. Now what to decorate Norman the tree with????? Being a gluten free grocery store… we decided that the tree's decorations should reflect our mission… RIPE is our motto!!! Recyclable + Inventive + Practical + Edible. These photographs document results of our inventive efforts + cost-effective efforts.
We strung Gluten Free marshmallow alternating with red peppers emphasizing the red + white theme of the Christmas holidays round + round this pretty tree…
We hung tangerines + pomegranates from the branches the pomegranates are so heavy we used produce bags to suspend the weights...
Aimee strung measuring tapes across the tree… a reference to measuring up..
We bought many many many colorful scrub brushes from the local dollar store + suspended them from the tree. I have to admit I thought they were Christmas ornaments when I purchased them to the puzzlement of the cashier. Was I from Mars??? Where had I been... I am just a washcloth girl that is all I can say… who knew scrubs could look like ornaments.
We also hung Mexican scrub brushes from the tree which were transformed into angels by inserting star studded barrettes as wings!!!
We hung socks from the base of the tree for a good footing
We hung kitchen mittens from the dollar store referencing the fact that many of our products will require cooking + a kitchen mitten
Our star is a plastic plate of the DC Comic Friends coming to save the world… and not soon enough!!!
Finally we hung a metal cup in the center of the tree signifying our economy... The cup we all race for… + all our clients ask the same question is the cup half empty or half full… YOU BE THE JUDGE!!!
So this is truely one of the most practical + fun trees I have ever decorated!!!
Come join us On January 7th to deconstruct the tree + plant it in our neighborhood park!!!!
What exactly does deconstruct mean?????? Glad that you asked!!!!!! Friends + family will gather on January 7th here @ the GF grocery to disassemble the ornaments of celebration + in the spirit of washing away the old year + sprucing up for the new year with a good clean scrub. Each person is invited to take away an ornament which is either fruit / scrub brush / or warm socks… Now we are recycling for the future
Our tree is named the GIVING TREE in honor of Shel Silverstein who published in 1964 a book by that same name... The Giving Tree
