WILTON – Nimble fingers pull fragrant branches of balsam fir together while quickly winding wire around the tips to create a fresh, locally made Christmas wreath.

For about six weeks starting early in November, Russell and Susan Black devote much of their time and energy to producing wreaths for local buyers and large mail orders.

“We’ve made them for over 25 years. It’s time to pass the baton on,” Susan Black said Monday as she worked on wreaths at Rocky Hill Landscaping and Lawn Care.

She started making wreaths for the Apple Core. Then when it closed, the couple bought the machinery and started on their own.

Along with her full-time position as the county’s register of deeds and Russell’s multiple responsibilities of tending a herd of cattle, cutting firewood and serving on the Board of Selectmen, the couple also produce maple syrup, honey and grow acres of fir trees for selective cutting on their farm.

The obvious choice to take over the responsibility was son and daughter-in-law John and Corey, owners of Rocky Hill Landscaping, who have a better location to sell the wreaths, kissing balls, garlands and swags, Russell said.

With a college degree in landscaping, growing up in the family’s gardens and learning the art of working the branches first-hand, John had already started making and selling wreaths.

The days of making 1,200 to 1,500 wreaths have passed but the season still brings several hectic weeks, Russell said.

Making such large numbers of wreaths involved the whole family, their four children and sometimes their children’s friends, Black said, remembering nights when the family would stay up to 3 or 4 a.m. to label and prepare mail-order shipments.

“I can still see the sheet after sheet of names of customers in Kansas,” Susan said. “The business had a ripple effect,” she said, explaining that when someone here sent a wreath out-of-state, the recipients would often order wreaths for their friends.

The pre-holiday weeks, while hectic, are also a slower time of year with short, dark days providing the right time for wreath making, Russell said.

The family creates wreaths of all sizes, from 8-inch to 4-feet.

The best part of their wreaths is the freshness of the boughs. Each year, they wait for a couple of hard frosts before starting to cut the brush. The frosts set the needles, she said. The couple harvest about 20,000 pounds of large branches.

“The brush we gathered today becomes a wreath tomorrow,” John said.

The hardest part for the Blacks is finding local wreath makers, people who can produce quality wreaths on a per piece basis, Russell said.

Susan can make four wreaths in an hour or eight to 10 with the machine and someone helping by cutting branches.