A Tenterfield author will bring her connection to nature, foraging and flower decorating to Nundle for the launch of her book, A Tree in the House, on Tuesday.
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Annabelle Hickson will pop into Odgers and McClelland Exchange Stores to talk about her book, described as "part guide for the aspiring home florist, and part celebration of rural life in sync with nature".
The book was the culmination of four years living on a pecan farm at Bonshaw, and Hickson said she was delighted by the response to other launches across NSW, ACT and Queensland.
Greatly stressed after an over-budget renovation, the Hicksons sold the source of their distress and pared back their life to a modest house on a pecan farm.
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Hickson said she began to feel joy again, seeing beauty outside in fennel, poppies and gum leaves.
"Our farmhouse was tiny and grim, but I smothered it in the beauty all around us," she said.
"Through the act of bringing flowers in, it gave me a reason to focus on the environment around us and look at the world through a flower filter."
She, husband Ed and children Daisy, Tom and Harriet found contentment living a simplified life.
They spent time in nature, and creating beauty from foliage, flowers and produce freely available in the landscape.
Hickson completed online courses by naturalistic American florist Sarah Winward, and travelled to New Zealand to learn from floral designer Nicole Land.
She insists on the accessibility of flower decoration.
"We are so quick to outsource as much as possible in our lives that we have lost the dignity in doing, and the creative process," she said.
Secateurs in the glovebox
With her inside knowledge, secateurs in the car glovebox, and florists' tape, chicken wire and cable ties in her kit, she began writing about and photographing her floral creations.
These range from small-scale arrangements on her kitchen bench to wedding bouquets and decorations; seasonal installations in a shearing shed, shearers' quarters and old convent; and an aspect of floristry rarely talked about: funeral flowers.
Creating a mock funeral for A Tree in the House, Hickson explored the "outrageously secretive" process of decorating a casket with flowers.
"This ritual could be a helpful way to express your grief and you know better than anyone what flowers your loved one liked. It's not the result, it's the process."
- The launch will be from 11.30am to 2pm on Tuesday, April 2, with a grazing box picnic lunch prepared by Jenkins Street Guest House
- Lunch will be $50, or lunch and a book $100 - tickets are available at annabellehickson.com/shop/nundle-book-launch-party-april-2nd