 Hi this is Nicole from the Emmy Farm. I was one of the lucky online participants to learn how to make a festive centerpiece courtesy of produce made simple. Now it's your turn to learn from Betty from Stems and Forks. Stay tuned until the end for a materials list so you can try this at home too. So welcome everyone to the produce made simple holiday centerpiece workshop. This workshop was hosted by our friends at produce made simple. This is the the centerpiece we're going to aspire to make. So we are going to start with this branch. Any type of branch works. You just want to find a hole that can kind of grip the branch so it doesn't move too much. And then the next thing you want to do and this is for any sort of floral centerpiece is you want to fill it in with greenery. This goes to the other side of the branch. So as you can see it's asymmetrical but it's always balanced. So asymmetrical meaning that whatever you do on one side you will do on the other but they will not necessarily be equal. So we're going to take that cedar and first start with the little branches and slide them in the chicken wire. And the reason why I'm using chicken wire is because it's recyclable. I mean you just need to give it a quick rinse under hot water and you can reuse it again. I'm removing the bottom leaves of the branch. The reason for that is when you put it in your vase or your box here and fill it up with water it avoids that rotting smell that you get after a few days with flowers. We are going all the way around outside and a little bit in the middle because I don't want like a big shrub on top. I just want a nice base to cover up the chicken wire. Ontario mushrooms are grown all year round which makes it fabulous because I'm obsessed with mushrooms. I mean I love photographing them. I love cooking with them. I love arranging with them. Oh I forgot sorry the branch this log lay that across. This one doesn't have to be secure just because it's quite heavy. The next thing we're going to add is our star ingredient the mushrooms. So I'm going to start with the shiitake mushrooms take one of the wires so I'm just inserting the wire into the stem and then I'm doing one of these little use and what I'm going to do is I'm going to tie it around the branch. By doing this you're just adding a little bit more interest making the arrangement more unique because we put some mushrooms on this side we're going to have to put some on this side as well so I'm going to attach a mushroom on this branch here. The reason why I'm using the shiitake is because the stems are very fibrous so we can handle the wire so I'm going to put one up here and now what we're going to do is take some of the smaller oysters take your skewer insert one end into it so you've now created a stem for your mushroom so if you have a large one I mean it's this is very beautiful but honestly this is this the textures on the underbelly is just stunning so I would actually take the skewer and stab the top part of it and have the ruffles show. There's no exact formula for this it's just pretty much making sure that the balance is right also you don't want it you know one corner to overpower the entire arrangement. So cremini mushrooms I just discovered this today I didn't know this at cremini mushrooms are baby portobello mushrooms did you guys know that I had no idea so if you guys don't have the creminis just use the shiitake sen and in this case I'm I want to show the caps I want it to look like a bit like a flower like a daisy and I want to do different levels I want some low some high now what we'll do is we've got four mushrooms there we're going to swivel this around and do the balance part here so again take your skewers so you could see I've got some that are a little taller some that are shorter sorry oh you can just do this so if this is the shiitake so you just have a cap right yes just do that actually that's cute too that's really cute it's like a button now you should have a box with some oak moss some Ontario oak moss this is where I kind of just fill in a few gaps and now some mahogany pots I should and I like it when one is a little taller than the other I believe you got some grape berries as well these guys these berries are more for filler it's just to add in between the mushrooms to break it up now not everyone received the same kind of nuts and pine cones but there should be an assortment that looks similar to this so let's put four of these little nuts and three acorns on the other corner again you do not want to see the wire so really insert that guy in the banana leaf I mean it's not necessary to put this in but I just like it for a little bit more height and drama uh pompous grass so we're gonna insert that hmm you know I think I might insert it where the branch is actually the ilux berries so these little red berries these are what's going to give it its festive touch they do not need to be touching water they last very well even when dry and this one I will actually poke it up because I just want to add a splash of something festive and christmasy if you received one of these actually you could just insert the whole thick branch in and then you receive some rose hips these could go anywhere you like wherever it needs a little splash of color you could just insert these and I think we're done I think that's it guys here we are it should last a good week you'll notice that the mushrooms will start drying but they're they look fantastic dried as well amazing all right well thank you so much everyone for joining us and a massive thank you to windmill farms for all your generous mushrooms and produce made simple for hosting this workshop and don't forget to visit produce made simple so thanks again thanks guys thank you happy holidays take care bye bye at the end of the workshop I love to see the creativity from our group with Betty's direction we all made something we were proud of check out these amazing designs if you want to try something similar at home here are some materials you should have to hand you can forage for many of these but others are easier to buy from a florist or craft shop good luck and have fun from the team at produce made simple