Foraging for wildflowers is the perfect way to enjoy the lovely spring weather and bring nature into your home. Fresh flowers don’t have to come from the store.

On Thanksgiving Day, as Tara was busy preparing food in the kitchen, I had one task — decorate the table. I knew we had a bushel of pumpkins left over from Halloween on the front porch and that some flowers had been purchased from Trader Joe’s. I remembered that years ago on one of the very first Thanksgiving’s Victor and I hosted for our parents, I had made flower vases out of pumpkins. I selected some pumpkins and started carving. I used small glass jars to insert into the pumpkin after I had hollowed it out, filled the vases with water, and then started arranging the floral. The best pumpkins to use are the ones that are tall.