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The Blueberry Farm Wreath Company Story Czaika’s Blueberry Farm, located in Tawas City, Michigan, has always been a family business – started by my parents, Joe and Donna Czaika in the early 1950s. While my brother, sisters and I were growing up we would plant, weed, pick, clean, and package the berries for sale in local stores and to neighbors. As each of us went off to school and our own lives, the farm became a U-pick business. Throughout the years, opening day of berry season has become a working family reunion with everyone from children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and respective spouses on hand to help. My parents have both passed . . . and my brother and his wife now run the farm. Opening day at Czaika’s Blueberry Farm is a Tawas City community event – ask anyone in town where it is located! T he Blueberry Farm Wreath Company was started when a family friend was at the farm picking the first season after Dad died. While reminiscing, he mentioned that my father had let him take all the prunings he wanted to make twig wreaths; and if someone in the family wanted to learn how to make the wreaths, he would be glad to show them. I took him up on his offer and spent several Fall weekends with him in his shop learning the process of recycling blueberry bush prunings into beautiful twig wreaths. Now, my husband and I spend time helping to prune each year and then haul the prunings to our home in Traverse City to make wreaths. To me, it is a wonderful connection to my father’s work and love of the earth. My husband, Jarvis, gave me a corner of his workshop. He built me
a work table and shelves and we spend many winter evenings together on
our respective
projects. He has built all my display trellises and has learned how to
carve wooden flowers from the stems of prunings. I use these flowers
to decorate the smaller wreaths—they have become a favorite of
mine. Most of my decorating material comes from the ditches and fields
of the farm, but we also take many canoe trips, boat rides and walks
to gather other materials. I use only natural materials in the wreaths – my
signature wreath is made with birch bark and rose hips. Janet
(Czaika) Post |