 Hi, I'm Betty from Stemson Forks. I'm a produce-made simple ambassador and our goal is to encourage everyone to eat more produce. Today I'll be making a beautiful arrangement featuring local Ontario asparagus. Local asparagus is in season in spring which makes it a perfect addition for any decorative piece such as a Mother's Day arrangement, a shower arrangement, or any special occasion. To create a unique arrangement with produce start with beautiful fresh ingredients. Before you start think of a few colors you want to use. You'll see that I've decided to use browns, oranges, and different tones of green. In the spring Ontario asparagus is a great feature ingredients because of the texture. The tips are pretty and the different tones of green signify new growth. Be creative. Use what's in season and looks delicious at your local store. Create your base by holding everything in place. Bundle some chicken wire to create nooks and crannies. This will support the stems. You could find chicken wire at most hardware stores or garden stores or you can use rocks if you can't find any chicken wire. I'd suggest that you start with a few larger pieces first and then build around them using the smaller ingredients to fill in the gaps. Like this red swiss char. I use the underside featuring the stem because it creates a nice backdrop for the asparagus and the red vining is just beautiful. A few extra tips when assembling your arrangement. I like to use toothpicks and skewers. These provide good stability and anchorage and also it adds height to whatever vegetable you want to elevate. So for these asparagus I use skewers just to make it taller than what they really are. Another little trick I like to do is folding out the petals of the brussel sprouts. This almost makes them look like a blooming rose which is kind of fun and softens up the arrangement. You can also snap the asparagus and use the stumps that you would normally discard just to create some interest and some creative effects. By chunking the asparagus you get also different levels and it just creates a very nice flow. In florals we always work with odd numbers so try to work in groupings of threes with clusters. The star of the arrangement is the asparagus so you'll see how I positioned it on each end and a little bit in the center. When using mushrooms I like to show the bottom of the cap so it's facing upwards. This makes for an interesting effect and personally I love the feathering of the gills. Keep going until all your gaps are filled in. To expand the lifespan of the arrangement simply refrigerate daily overnight and mist with some water to keep the leaves and tips fresh. Alternatively take it apart and make your favorite stir-fry and enjoy. 20 minutes and you have a unique edible gift idea that's a great alternative to flowers. If we've inspired you share it social and tag us so we could see your beautiful creations. Please like comment and subscribe for more produce made simple. Thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.