There’s nothing better than the smell of a freshly made wreath. Well, actually there is, but that smell is up there in terms of wonderful Winter smells. But, have you ever wondered how in the world all of these wreaths are made? This past fall I had the pleasure of touring Winter Woods in Glidden Wisconsin. 
The 500 person community cranks out about 100,000 wreaths, swags and centerpieces in a 6 WEEK PERIOD. It takes about 90 employees to create these beauties that are then loaded up on UPS trailers, sometimes filling two or three per day, and shipped off to various places around the United States. As for supplies, the 200 tons of boughs needed to produce the products all come from the Wisconsin northwoods.
“All of the boughs we buy are local,” Ed Schmocker, the local manager said. “They tend to come from private or national forest land. Luckily we have about one million acres of that nearby.” He will spend about $120,000 buying boughs from approximately 50 different folks in the region who either cut for fun on the weekends or as their full-time job.
Perhaps this is normal. But I found this tidbit fascinating. As someone who spends a lot of time in the woods, I often come across folks parked on the side of the road with their truck beds filled with boughs. I always sort of wondered why you’d do this. Now I get it. If you want to learn more about the company, my full article is viewable here.