Fall Events: Beekeeping & Canning Workshops, Harvest Festivals & Hereford Farm Market

Our regular market, Hereford Farm Market, is about halfway through its season. We’re there once a month this year, which is working for us. I miss being there every week, but we had a lot of scheduling conflicts this summer, so I’ve been grateful for the Saturdays we’ve been able to sell there. We’ll be at HFM again tomorrow, September 6^th from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Most of our crystallized honey is gone but we’ll have honey from this year’s harvest, as well as cut flowers (zinnias and dahlias) and the last of this year’s handstitched OOAK upcycled aprons, which can be used for cooking or gardening.

Upcoming workshops & fall fests – Come see us!

Beekeeping Workshop at Hereford Library – Sept. 13th 2-3 pm

Introduction to Beekeeping

Humans have been keeping bees and harvesting honey for thousands of years and you can too! An experienced beekeeper discusses the basics of backyard beekeeping – the equipment you’ll need, best practices and common challenges. This workshop provides a simple overview of honeybee anatomy, a hands-on demonstration of how a Langstroth hive works, tips for honey extraction and where to find more information. There is an observation hive with live honeybees, so participants can spot the queen, and a Q&A session. Weather permitting, the program may be held outside.

Craig & I + one of our queens will be the hosts for this workshop.

Canning Workshop at Norrisville Library – Sept. 16th 6-7 pm

Water Bath Canning Basics

Learn how to safely preserve fresh fruit in sealed jars using traditional water bath canning. We’ll discuss the types of fruit home canners can safely can, the process and best practices, the equipment needed to get started, how to find trustworthy recipes, and more.

I’ll be hosting this workshop solo. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to can like your granny once did, now’s your chance!

Oregon Ridge Honey Harvest Festival – Oct. 5th 10 am – 4 pm

Join us on Sunday, October 5th, for our annual family-friendly event that celebrates all things honey and nature-related in the bucolic setting of Oregon Ridge Nature Center!

Enjoy a variety of food trucks offering artisanal beer, crabcakes, burgers, donuts and ice cream. Shop from over 25 local craft vendors and honey farms offering a plethora of honey products and happy to talk about the practice of beekeeping. Visit the goats in the petting zoo or join a sing-a-long in our “1,000 Acre Woods”.

The Central Maryland Beekeepers Association will lead the honey extractions as we learn about all things honeybees – from pollinators to beeswax. Relax and listen to local musicians as your children do crafts, play lawn games or get up-close and personal with animals – from raptors to turtles to chickens. Take a tour through our historic tenant house and learn about the history of Oregon Ridge.

Craig & I + Mandi & Rob (Rosie Posie) will be sharing a table for this event. Mandi will have all sorts of colorful, fun, seasonal knit items and we’ll have lots of HONEY!!

Dejon Vineyard Harvest Festival – Oct. 11th 12 – 5 pm

13th Annual Harvest Day! A Family Fun Day!
$10 Adult Admission Upon Arrival – FREE Entry for Kids
Live Bluegrass Music from PORCH SETTERS UNION!
Hayrides, pumpkins, more local vendors. Delicious Wine!
BYO PICNIC/FOOD

Craig & me for this one. In past years, this has been a beautiful, laid back event. Hope to see you there – or at one of the other places we’ll be this fall!

Adding raised beds to our garden

Our biggest outdoor project this summer was building, filling, planting, and growing in raised beds. We decided to experiment with them because I thought it would help with the weeds and insane garden chaos that usually happened in years past. It worked! The beds turned out beautifully. They were a ton of work to build and fill, but planting and growing in them was much easier than when we planted directly in the ground. Our garden is still a work-in-progress, but I love the changes we made this season.

Before…

During…

After…

Other fun stuff…

After a worrisome late start, the dahlias turned out beautifully! We also grew some cactus flower zinnias. Love their “Raggedy Anne” look. Our milkweed came up again and we saw at least two caterpillars and a chrysallis. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the chrysallis transform into a monarch. Maybe next year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer and is looking forward to a fun Fall! See you soon!!

May 4, 2025July 9, 2025

Welcome back! Spring 2025 Update

A rainy Sunday seems like a good day to reach out to everyone with an update for this season. Below the first couple pics is info on where we’ll be selling this year, some new things we’ll be offering, and news about our bees, hives, and honey. Opening Day for our regular market is next Saturday, May 10th. Hope to see you there!

WHERE WE’LL BE THIS SEASON

Confirmed Places and Dates

May 10 – Hereford Farm Market Opening Day

June 7 – Oregon Ridge Music in the Woods

June 21 – Hereford Farm Market

August 9 – Hereford Farm Market

September 6 – Hereford Farm Market

October 4 – Hereford Farm Market

October 11 – Dejon Vineyard Harvest Festival

November 15 – Hereford Farm Market

Still Firming Up Plans…

Other possible places we might be later this year include the Maryland State Fair, the Bel Air Farmers Market, Oregon Ridge Honey Harvest, Hereford Fall Festival, and possibly some other places. I’ll keep everyone posted and will update our “Where to Find Us” page as our plans firm up.

What we’ll have this spring & early summer

HONEY

We only sell raw, unadulterated wildflower honey. We don’t add anything to it and, since our apiary is small, we have no idea which flowers or plants our bees are getting their nectar from. So, each small home-harvested batch is unique. Its taste and color are always slightly different from the last batch we harvested.

All raw, unadulterated honey will naturally crystallize over time. This means it slowly transitions from a liquid state to a semi-solid state. This does not mean it is bad. Raw, unadulterated honey that is properly stored is shelf stable for an indefinite period of time. It never spoils!

If your honey crystalizes, but you need it to be liquid again, just gently heat it in a double boiler. Or heat some water, take it off the stove, make sure it is well below boiling temp, and set your honey jar in it for a few minutes. Do not microwave your honey! It will destroy all of its natural goodness.

If you use your honey for toast, tea, or oatmeal, you could just use it in its crystalized form. Scoop it out with a knife the way you would peanut butter. Some people even prefer crystalized honey because it is less messy.

We’ll have at least three different honey choices for you at our table this season: crystalized honey, Windtree Valley Honey, and Apple Valley honey. Technically, they are all the same honey (raw, unadulterated honey), but they’re all different batches, so they have different characteristics.

The Windtree Valley honey was harvested from bees who foraged in Windtree Valley and the Apple Valley honey was harvested from bees who foraged in… yes, you guessed it, Apple Valley, which is a neighborhood about a mile from us. The Apple Valley honey has a darker color and a more robust flavor.

Each raw wildflower honey batch has a different color and taste, depending on where the bees forage for nectar.

Jam & Jelly

Strawberry Agave Jam – a chunky jam sweetened with agave. If you like your jam with bits of fruit and sweetened with something other than sugar, this is the jam for you.

Blueberry Lavender Jam – a smooth jam sweetened with honey and flavored with a pinch of dried lavender flowers (the kind you make tea with). Turned out beautifully – looks pretty and tastes great!

Rhubarb Hibiscus Jam – I adore rhubarb! Someday, I’d like to grow it, but for now I have to resort to calling all the stores in my area every spring to check if it’s in. Picked up a couple pounds of it down at Mom’s organic market. This recipe is lightly flavored with hibiscus tea. A gorgeous sweet tart jam I’ll only be offering once. When it’s gone, it’s gone!

Pomegranate Jelly: Pomegranates symbolize the cycle of life, rebirth, and abundance – so I thought this jelly would be perfect for spring. Made with fresh pressed, 100% organic pomegranate juice.

Mimosa Jelly: No alcohol in this jam. It’s made with fresh squeezed orange juice and reminds me of Spring & Summer Sunday brunches.

Home-Stitched Aprons

Each one of these is a work of art. Home-sewn by my daughter, she used all sorts of repurposed fabric: freshly laundered men’s button down shirts, vintage tablecloths, old lace, second-hand scraps, and a bunch of bee-themed fabric she bought at a Joann Fabrics going-out-of-business sale (RIP – we’ll miss that store!). You could use the half aprons for cooking or gardening.

Cut Flowers

Later this summer, I’ll hopefully have some zinnias and dahlias to offer. I ordered a few dahlia seedlings from Burpee and hope to level up my gardening skills this year by learning how to collect and store dahlia tubers. Fingers crossed this small project will be successful.

How are the bees??

Better than expected after that crazy winter we had. I’d been complaining for years that Maryland never gets a winter anymore (I love all four seasons). But this year, we did! It wasn’t endless months of blizzards, but there were a lot of really, really cold days and a lot of extreme temperature swings, which aren’t good for the bees. But most of the hives made it!!

And Craig has once again been able to repopulate our apiary with naturally occurring, spring-caught swarms. Due to the generosity of another local beekeeper, our own bees, and Mother Nature, our apiary is looking good! Touch wood that our bees’ good luck continues.

Bonus Spring Pics

Beachcombing at Calvert Beach – my daughter who made the aprons
“The Old Woman and the Bay” – hahaha (me looking out over the Chesapeake)
Calvert Beach – we didn’t find any shark teeth but did find some fossilized shells, coral, barnacles, turtle shell pieces, and a possible ancient arrowhead??
Oak Spring Farm
Oak Spring Farm
Oak Spring Farm
This hive box needs a new tenant
This Oak Spring hive made it through winter!
Magnolia – one of our neighbor’s grandchildren is named after this tree!
Cherry trees – one of the best signs of spring
Forsythia – we’re thinking of adding more even though the bees are indifferent to it
More gorgeous cherry trees
Spoiled rotten!!

Thanks so much for sticking with us through the winter! Hope to see everyone at Opening Day for Hereford Farm Market on May 10th!! Come and buy something for Mom! Happy Spring, all!

September 11, 2024

This Sat: We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market with wellness expert, Karen Dubs

Wellness expert and yoga instructor Karen Dubs has taught the Terps basketball team and the Ravens. She is also an author, animal lover turned dog rescuer, and all around awesome person! She’ll be at our table this Saturday to answer questions and share seasonal wellness tips. Bring your dogs! They’re welcome at the market and we’d love to meet them. Below is more information about some of Karen’s upcoming classes and events, as well as what Mandi and I will have at our “Hats & Honey” table. Hope to see you this weekend!

Flexible Warrior’s 6-week Yoga Cross Train series: 9/23 – 10/28

These classes will be a 20/20/20 format, so you’ll get the ultimate combo of cardio dance, yoga & Pilates with weights for strength and balance + restorative yoga stretch for flexibility. (If you’re not a cardio dancer, you can take a 20 min trail run or walk during our dance time.) Themed classes during the series are:

9/23 – Autumn Equinox Warrior Walk
9/30 – New Moon Intention Setting
10/14 – Full Moon Yoga
10/28 – Halloween Yoga & Monster Mash

Click here to sign up for classes or stop by our table this Saturday with questions for Karen! She offers a student rate for Hereford Zone kids and is happy to chat with any of you about offering classes to local sports teams or clubs.

Other reasons to come see us this Saturday…

Adorable hand-knit baby booties

Gorgeous fall hats!

Pumpkins and honey that never spoil!

We’ll have hand-knit pumpkins and local honey, both of which have a shelf life of FOREVER! 🙂

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful fall weather and that we will see you soon!

September 5, 2024

Where to Find Windtree Bee Honey

We’re a bit past halfway through this season, and it’s been terrific! The bees were very generous to us this year. Below are all the places you can find us and our honey. Stock up for winter! HONEY NEVER SPOILS! It will keep forever. So get your jars now for winter tea, oatmeal, pancakes, peanut butter & banana sandwiches, etc.

HEREFORD FARM MARKET

Our regular market is HFM, which is held every Saturday from 9:00 am to noon in the Hereford High School parking lot. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table with Mandi from Rosie Posie Design Co. Regular vendors include produce farmers, dairy farmers, fruit growers, flower growers & florists, fiber artists, pottery artists, fungi aficionados, bakers, beekeepers & honey sellers + plenty of pepper sellers (hot, specialty, etc.) There’s usually live music, a food truck, and fresh, organic juices. More information on HFM can be found on its website or Facebook page.

OAK SPRING FARM STORE

Craig is the beekeeper for Oak Spring Farm, so we keep two of our hives there. For anyone who isn’t already familiar with Lisa Duff’s awesome CSA farm, check out her website. Members can pick up their share at the farm on Tuesdays from 1:00-6:00 pm. During that time, Lisa sells extras and other goodies, including our honey, at her farm store. 20633 Mt. Zion Road in Freeland.

OREGON RIDGE HONEY HARVEST FESTIVAL

This local festival is on Sunday, October 6th, at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center from 11:00am – 4:00 pm. They’ll have education stations, children’s crafts, animal encounters, pumpkin painting, cider making, and of course — lots of beekeepers and honey! For more info, check out the event page.

HEREFORD FALL FESTIVAL

October 19th (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) & October 20th (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) This year is the 25th Hereford Fall Fest. 24 Mt. Carmel Road in Parkton, behind the Royal Farms. We’ve participated in this event for years and it’s always fun. It’s a fundraiser for the Hereford Volunteer Fire Company. They’ll have food trucks, beer trucks, craft vendors, and live music. Past years have offered helicopter rides, mechanical bulls, and monster trucks. Wear shoes that can get muddy and dress for blustery autumn weather!

FEDERAL ARMORED MUSEUM CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

On Sunday, December 8th, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at 130 Lakefront Drive in Hunt Valley. This is a FREE event. Santa will be there, so your kids can come with their lists and you can get pictures with little to no wait. Music majors at Towson University will be singing carols and they’ll be vendors selling jewelry, ornaments, stained glass, candles, cards — and honey! My winter jars will have holiday quilt square toppers. Our honey makes a great gift for teachers, neighbors, friends, family, and coworkers! More info on the museum can be found on its website.

OTHER VENUES…?

I’m actively searching for some additional markets for our honey — both in-person events and small, boutique retail stores. If you know of a place where home-harvested honey would be a welcome addition to the offerings, please reach out. I’ll be posting here if/when we add more places and events to our calendar.

OTHER UPDATES SOON

It’s been a busy year! Be on the lookout for future updates on: our hives and queen bees, local and exotic butterflies, beeswax candle making, and Apple Valley honey (a fun partnership with Karen Dubs of Flexible Warrior Yoga).

December 11, 2023

The Colors of Fall 2023 + Thank You!

The first snow seems like a good time to post the last of my autumn pics. This year’s foliage was some of the best I’ve seen in years. The October Glories lived up to their name — and the Sugar Maples and Sycamores were beautiful too.

Our Fall 2023 Colors: Orange, Blue & White

Our older daughter is graduating this year, so we spent more weekends in State College than usual this fall. Loved every moment, but we are looking forward to visiting our younger daughter at FIT next semester. Look for some spring posts on NYC parks and urban beekeeping.

Windtree Bee Winter Jams

We’re out of honey, but if you would like to buy a case of small batch jam or jelly during our off-season, please contact me for pricing, etc. We can chat about flavors and personalized labels.

Thank You for a Wonderful Season!

Craig and I are very grateful for each and every one of you who reads these posts, stops by our table, and/or buys our honey, jam & flowers!! We loved selling at the Hereford Farm Market this year and look forward to continuing to sell there in 2024.

If you miss me this winter, you can find me down at Princeton Sports or hiking with the Maryland Mountain Club. Now that our bees are tucked in, we’re hoping for lots of snow!

Wishing You & Yours a Very Happy Holiday Season!

Fellow Beekeeper Chuck Elrich’s House just south of the old Parkton train stop. Lights go on at 5:30 p.m.

September 1, 2023

Summer & Fall Jams + Penn State’s Arboretum & Mt Nittany

We’ll be back at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow with two new jam batches (although both are old favorites):

Berry jam – a top seller! Raspberry, strawberry, blackberry & blueberry all mixed together in one delicious all-season, year-round jam; and

Caramel Apple Coffee Jam – perfect for coffee lovers! Awesome on homemade cinnamon rolls or on ice cream (try it with butter pecan or salted caramel because plain vanilla can be boring) +

Honey! The last of the 2023 harvest… stock up for winter. Honey NEVER goes bad!

Where have we been?

End of summer means kids heading back to college. We spent the last two weekends in State College and NYC. While we were in Happy Valley we were able to hike Mount Nittany and tour Penn State’s Arboretum. Both were a lot of fun! The last time Craig and I hiked Mount Nittany we were students there ourselves… so it’s been awhile!!

Craig and me at the Mike Lynch Overlook. The first part of the trail is a 600 feet elevation gain over a half mile or so. That’s Beaver Stadium in the background!

We finished off our hike with a stop at Happy Valley Vineyard. Got a flight and then a glass of their yummy Blue Luna blueberry wine. The arboretum keeps getting bigger and better every time we visit. They’ve added a honeybee observation hive, other free standing Langstroth hives, bee hotels for the solitary species, and tons and tons of flowering plants (including some people might consider weeds). It was all beautifully done and the bees — and us — were loving it!

Hope to see you at the market tomorrow! You can find us at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent. The Hereford Farm Market is at Hereford High School from 9:00 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Best wishes for a beautiful Labor Day weekend!

August 11, 2023

2nd Honey Harvest, Cowboy Candy + Queen Scarlett Heads to Appalachia

Our second and last honey harvest for 2023 is ready for sale!! We jarred and labeled it and are bringing them to the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow. When they’re gone, they’re gone and we always sell out — so if you want honey, don’t wait to buy! We’ll also have cut flowers, seasonal jams, and homemade grape jelly for the kids and Orioles.

Candied Jalapenos, a.k.a. Cowboy Candy

This summer, we planted more flowers than vegetables, but we still had a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. We’ve been eating tons of eggplant parm, tomato and mozz, and stuffed peppers. But we had soooooo many jalapenos, we wanted to make something new. Craig found The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Cowboy Candy and we made it last Sunday, just before our Pittsburgh beekeeper buds arrived for a visit.

Queen Scarlett has left the building!

Our observation hive is no longer in residence at the Windtree Bee nuc yard. This is a good thing. We always knew our time with Queen Scarlett was going to be brief. The observation hive box isn’t something a hive can overwinter in. And, believe it or not, most beekeepers are already starting to think about winter. (Craig started treating our hives for varroa as soon as we finished harvesting the last batch of 2023 honey.)

We were going to give celebrity Queen Scarlett and her now experienced retinue to a local beekeeper for overwintering, but when our Pittsburgh beekeeper friends arrived last Sunday, it seemed like fate. They are both biology teachers and are working to have their beautiful two-acre property Audubon Certified. They had room for an extra hive, so we thought, PERFECT!! We bundled them up for travel in an extra-large mesh laundry bag and sent them west. Everyone arrived safely! They’ll be transferred to a Langstroth hive box that can be winterized later this week.

Kids, don’t try this at home! The observation hive bundled for a car’s backseat.

Hope everyone else had a nice week and stayed safe during the crazy storm we had. We had minimal damage – a leaky window, one downed tree limb, and an evening of candlelight reading due to the power outage. The weather looks great for tomorrow though, so stop by the market and see us! We’ll be at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent.

August 3, 2023August 3, 2023

Maryland-inspired Favorites

This Saturday, we’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market with some homemade, home-inspired jelly and jam — please come see us! 🙂

Old Fashioned Grape Jelly: Ours has only three ingredients — unsweetened grape juice, pectin, and sugar — that’s it. You should buy two jars, one for your kids (or anyone in your house who loves PB&J) and one for the Orioles. The birds love it too!! We’re offering 8 oz jars and little 4 oz jars because you can put those right outside for the birds.

Savory Peach Jam made with Maryland’s Favorite Spice Mix: If you have to ask what the spice mix is, I’m guessing you’re not from around here. (Okay, yeah, there’s at least one other well known Maryland-based spice mix, so I’ll tell you… I put a pinch of McCormick’s Old Bay in this recipe.) This jam is divinely delicious!! Terrific as a chicken wing dipping sauce, pork chop glaze, or charcuterie board ensemble cast member. Or slather it on brie or cream cheese and eat with crackers or crostini.

We’ll also have cut flowers from our pollinator garden and some other seasonal jams. Hope to see you there!

July 21, 2023

Seasonal Jams, Colorful Flowers, and Butterflies

We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow . For anyone new — the market is held at Hereford High School every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to noon — live music, food truck + tons of great vendors! 🙂

We’re bringing our usual mid-summer offerings: seasonal jams and flowers. I grow lots of flowers for the bees and butterflies. It’s no secret that zinnias are some of the easiest cutting flowers to grow, which is good because I’m a middling gardener at best. I always joke that I like gardens a lot more than I like gardening – ha! 😉

For a short time during mid to late summer, I offer cut zinnias for $1.00 a piece. You choose which ones you want. Free clear jar with your purchase. Sometimes I offer colorful ribbons or vintage vases (prices vary for those). I can arrange your cottage bouquet or you can. I’m no more a professional florist than an experienced gardener — but our flowers are beautiful and every purchase helps support the bees. Any profit from our market table goes toward our beekeeping expenses.

From left to right: Chai Tea Rooibos Blend, Chai Tea Assam Blend, Pina Colada Jam, Black Forest Preserves, Maple Strawberry Jam, Mimosa Jelly, Strawberry Chipotle Jam.

Ladew Gardens’ Butterfly House

I volunteered there again this past Thursday. There were twice as many butterflies in the house as there were last week. It’s been really neat learning more about them. Obviously, butterflies are very different from honeybees! It’s fun chatting with other people about pollinators and pollinator gardens. And, by the end of the summer, I’m hoping I’ll be able to identify most of the butterflies that visit our house, gardens, and bee yard.

Hazy summer morning at Ladew Gardens, walking toward the Butterfly House.

See you tomorrow at the market!

Look for Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent!

July 14, 2023July 14, 2023

We’re back at HFM tomorrow!

After a three week hiatus, we’ll be back at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow! We’re bringing: Mimosa Jelly, Pina Colada Jam, Black Cherry Preserves, Maple Strawberry Jam, and our Chai Tea loose-leaf blends. The market is on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Hereford High School.

Honey Update

We’re currently out of honey but will be offering a second harvest soon. Craig pulled a bunch of supers off the hives, so now we just have to centrifuge the frames, filter the honey, jar and label it. We’ll probably have it ready for sale in 3-4 weeks. I’ll definitely let everyone know when it’s available again. End-of-summer honey is always delicious!!

Another Use for Our Chai Tea?

My younger daughter, Ellie, is a Fashion Design student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She wanted to experiment with natural fabric dyes, so earlier this week we spent one morning testing tea blends, including chai, to see which worked best.

Ladew Gardens Butterfly House

The Butterfly House at Ladew Gardens is open! It’s early in the season for butterflies, but the interns have caught a half-dozen or so beautiful, native butterfly species. One of the neat things about Ladew’s Butterfly House is that you can see all four stages of a butterfly’s life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. The docents there — including me! 🙂 — will happily show you which species are in the house on the day you visit and point out where all the life is happening inside.

Our Garden

Absolutely overgrown with weeds! I made the mistake of not weeding before vacation and — wow!!! — came back to monstrous growth. (I know, I know… I should not be surprised; this is what happens when you let a garden run amok.) There are more weeds than flowers in there right now, so I spent a lot of time this week trying to restore order. It’s an ongoing project.

One silver lining is that the pollinators don’t care about the weeds. In fact, they’re thriving amongst the chaos. Because of that, I’m being selective about what I yank out. A bunch of mint and three ginormous yellow sweet clover plants sprouted up in the middle of our white clover walkway. I left them. The yellow sweet clover is always covered in different types of bees, but was quickly growing to overtake the entire middle of my garden. I gathered up all of the overflowing branches/vines/tendrils and gently staked them.

My messy garden — I’m sharing this in solidarity with other lawless gardeners who color outside the lines. Pollinators are perfectly happy in an imperfect garden!

Zinnias! Hope to have more of these soon…

See you tomorrow at HFM! Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table!!