It’s that time of year; pine trees are beginning to get ready for winter and start to drop their cones. You would think it would happen in November or December, but actually August and September are the prime pine cone collecting months for the Washington D.C. area.

I collected my first batch for the season today - boy were they sticky and covered in sap - yuck! The sap is such a pain that I absolutely recommend wearing plastic gloves while doing your scavenging.

Sap is not the only deterrent to collecting pinecones. Little bugs and spiders call pinecones home so before you store yours away for fall and winter table decor, preserve them first.

There are two basic preservation methods - one includes scrubbing and vinegar and the other includes baking. I prefer a hybrid of both. Here is my method:

1. Spritz all your pinecones with a combination of 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water.

2. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the pinecones a couple of inches apart. Use foil to prevent the sap making a golden mess of your cookie sheet.

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and bake for 19 minutes. DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM! Every other blog will tell you to bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes but after several attempts, I found the sap really wouldn’t melt properly until the temperature was 325 degrees. The higher temp does increase the chance that your pinecones could catch on fire, so stay vigilant and if you want to be extra cautious, keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

4. If possible, open the windows or run a fan before removing the pine cones from the oven. A waft of pine smoke may billow out when the pine cones are ready.

5. Allow pinecones to cool in a (non-flammable!) spot.

Glitter time!

Once the pinecones are cool you can begin to add some sparkle. There are two ways to add glitter to your pinecones. You may use a bottle of glue or spray glue to dot, paint, or spray the glue onto your pine cone.

Once you have the glue where you want it, you can either pour glitter directly onto the pinecone or roll your pinecone in a bowl of glitter. “Spray and roll” provides the most glitter coverage while “dot and dump” gives you minimal coverage.

Voila! You’re done. Sit back and admire your beauties.