Welcome to Winter and the Holidays!

Here at the Good Earth, we’re celebrating both arrivals…

First up – Meteorological winter started on Dec. 1 – and here comes the snow AND the cold!  True winter waits until we cross the solstice on 12/21, but we’ll be well in to it by that time. We’re ready with tons of New England premium wood pellets for heating along with shovels, sand and salts to manage whatever falls from the sky. We have several kinds of salts including the pet safe ones for paws and hooves…I have to tell you though that here at the farm, my sister and I use tube sand.  It provides excellent traction and doesn’t hurt any paws or hooves that come in contact with it. Tube sand also makes for a really nice ride home when there’s one in the back of the car – heavy!!!

And the cold that’s coming after this first snow fall? … the GREAT news here is that the snow IS coming in first!  This means that there will be an insulating layer of snow covering all of that hard work you’ve put in to your trees and gardens.  That will delay the freezing of the lower sections of the ground and the microbes and roots will continue their work deeper in to the winter!  We just finished the work on the farm over the Thanksgiving weekend (actually – my sister did most of the work!) and I just tucked up the garlic, HK bed and wintering plants here at the store.  I even got some “snow seeding” done just before the snow began – fooled the local birds (I hope!). The side yard nursery is closed for the year!!  But – don’t worry!  We’re already dreaming of next year.

The Country Roads Holiday Tour is wrapping up on December 7^th – and it’s been quite the wild ride!  So MANY new people have taken the time to cruise the whole circuit.  THANK YOU!!!  Every time someone new comes in, the local economy expands – an incredible gift to the region…

If you haven’t had a chance to check the tour out – you still have time!  Stop in to the store and pick up a passport, get 4 or more stamps (you’ll already have one from us!) – and get 21 chances to win one of the second-tier prizes – or make a real push and get 21 stamps!!  Can still be done!! And then you’ll be in the much smaller pool for the Grand Prize Drawing – a value of $1050!  Here are some links if you want to check it out virtually before driving the circuit - https://www.facebook.com/p/Country-Roads-Tour-100057212269767/ and https://www.montachusett.tv/event/17th-annual-country-roads-holiday-tour/2025-11-25/ 

Now let’s get on to THE HOLIDAYS!!!  The darkest days of the year are ahead as the sun moves to its furthest point from the north pole (or more specifically – our part of the earth moves away from the sun – but it’s so much easier to think about it the other way ‘round!)  These darkest days DEMAND color and light to fight back against the dark.  We totally agree!!!

Look at what you’ll find here at the store…

You’ll find…

Wreaths and swags – custom decorated wreaths can make a real statement!

Kissing balls - the classic hanging decoration

Greens hanging baskets to hang where you hung that highly visible hanging basket during the growing season -like outside the kitchen window (these baskets look good until the middle of February and can be nicely ramped up with a little extra decorating!)

Live Trees of all kinds!! – live Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Rosemary and Lavender trees, Money trees and Ficus microcarpa bonsai (an EASY bonsai!) – truly, a tree for every taste!!!

Hand-made bows – with all kinds of ribbons to choose from – plaids are hot this year!

Color pots - all unique – no cooky cutter arrangements here! Different sizes for different needs.  Place where you can see it through the winter and enjoy the pop of color in a white and grey world!

Centerpieces – with and without candles filled with greens and silk colors – replace with fresh as we get closer to the holidays.

Locally sourced greens – hand harvested by one of our local landscapers – includes white pine, Mt laurel, juniper of several kinds, seed pods, gold thread cypress and red twigs (from hydrangeas!!).  We did also bring in some western greens -incense cedar and boxwood…all are sold by the pound.

We had our first wreath decorating workshop last weekend and it was a blast!  There’s still lots of craft classes for wreaths, garland making, centerpieces and more…call the store – 978-632-0991 to reserve your space and check the website for dates, times and prices - https://www.thegoodearthfgc.com/events-1.

There are also decorated wreaths available for you to pick from.  You can even put in a custom wreath request, and we’ll do our best to make it happen – within the parameters of the decorations and ribbons on hand!

Here’s the next reason for stopping in to the store:

Now that all of your greens decorating needs are covered, it’s time to check out the local products just waiting to fill in those gaps on your presents list – products like honey, candles (several vendors), goat milk soap, bath and beauty products, maple syrup and sugar, embroidered towels, holiday cards, and two new food vendors - Hoppy Pop (the most addictive popped corn you’ll ever eat!), Blue Darner granola and so much more.

More gifts await – look at this list!

o   Really great Felco pruners for all sizes of hand and grip – I’ve used Felco’s for at least 35 years and still have my first pair – and they still work just fine (with a new blade). There’s a new size perfect for smaller grips

o   Excellent gloves and other leather products

o   Wild bird feeds, seeds, feeders and treats of all kinds – way tooooo many to list!

• Must mention the meal worms though for the bluebirds – even in the winter time!  There are even suets with the meal worms and all KINDS of birds like that suet!

o   Colorful houseplants, amaryllis (including the giant double stem bulbs) and paperwhites – and some not so common plants for those who love the “different” in the plant world …We can even customize a mixed dish garden if that’s what would work best (we did a mix of peperomias the other day – superb!!)

o   Treats for EVERY kind of animal you might have – and I do mean EVERY kind!! 

o   TOYS – all kinds of toys!  for dogs, cats, rabbits, Guinea pigs and ferrets

o   The Botanical Interest seed rack has been completely updated and refreshed -excellent for stocking stuffers

o   And the ever-popular GIFT CERTIFICATE – for those spring purchases that can’t be made now J 

A quick thought about the Amaryllis plants mentioned above…

Amaryllis are one of my favorite holiday plants.  For years, I had a client/friend who got a new Amaryllis bulb every year – she loved them too! We kept the bulbs going for years -and I still have a few of them even now.  We would bloom the bulk of them for the first of May and stage a magnificent display on her back stone porch – it was a great way to anticipate the fantastic color just about to erupt in her main gardens.  Here at the store, we have the standard boxed gift sets, but we also have some of the giant bulbs- the ones with two or more flower stems.  Those are worth the time and money to grow on in to the future – although the smaller ones will get there with time and good care!  We have the directions at the store and are more than happy to go over details with you. 

And a further thought about birds and feeding stations…

As mentioned briefly above, we’ve increased our suet lines to include several that have meal worms integrated into them.  These bring in even more different kinds of birds and – in particular -really help the bluebirds that are still in the area.  More on birding in the January newsletter but thought it worth mentioning the suet -super high energy for all kinds of birds as the temps really drop off this December (look at the long range and you’ll see what I’m talking about!). The good thing is that this descent in to real cold should send the bears to sleep… should is such an interesting word -isn’t it!?!?!?

I thought I would end with this quote – since we just had our first 8” snowfall here at the farm…we were out at 5:30am snowblowing, so we could get the chores done and still get to work – LLLOOONNNGGG day!!!!

SNOW DAY   \snow-day\

Noun

1.      A day when no farms are closed and farmers and ranchers work through the cold winds and heavy snow to tend to their livestock and land 

Kristen Cook

See you at the store!