Fall Centerpiece

From the beginning of November until close to Thanksgiving, it is nice to have a long-lasting, low maintenance centerpiece to adorn your table.  For that, I turn to produce, succulents, and some dried lotus pods and I swap items in and out as the days pass, making it look a little different each day as Fall settles in.

The base here is a massive copper-coated pan.  There is a bit of bubble wrap inside the pan, helping produce a taller floor for what got heaped inside.  A Saturday visit to Farmer’s Market just before closing allowed me to pick up every kind of squash imaginable — acorn, spaghetti, butternut, pattypan, carnival, plus mini pumpkins.  This was the first iteration, with dried lotus pods (I use them over and over again), some greenery (courtesy of hearty succulents) and a few autumn berries.  Somehow, it makes perfect sense that a fall centerpiece, leading up to Thanksgiving, should be like an offering of fall produce.

In this version, I added fresh artichokes and pomegranates.  I’ll take the artichokes off before it’s too late to cook them, and I’ll make sure the pomegranate also gets used for the seeds after it’s done a couple of days in its acting debut as still life.