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!!

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.

November 9, 2022

Fermentation Class + NYC Parks

Just before Halloween, I took a fermentation class down at the Baltimore Chef Shop. It was awesome! I’ve taken other classes there and love the vibe of their workspace and teaching areas. Their instructors are super friendly and full of know-how. Class sizes are small too, so you can ask lots of questions and chat with fellow students.

Our instructor was Flynn Harne and his enthusiasm for All Things Fermentation was contagious. Other folks in the class included a woman whose dog was nursed back to health using fermented goat’s milk after gut surgery, a professional baker, and other frequent water-bath canners like me who wanted to cross-train in the art & science of food preservation.

Mak Kimchi, Dill Pickles, and Basic Sauerkraut

We made three of the most popular veggie ferments and then sampled some of the many ferments that Flynn brought to class. All-in-all, a great time! If you are interested in Fermentation 101 or other Baltimore Chef Shop classes (they have an upcoming Bûche de Nöel class that looks amazing!) check out their schedule here.

And, for anyone heading to the Big Apple… Here’s my quick take on five NYC parks!

Last weekend was Family Weekend at my daughter’s school. Because she’s a nature-loving urbanite, she took us on a whirlwind tour of her favorite outdoor places.

Madison Square Park

This is a cute little park northeast of the Flatiron Building. It was the original site of Madison Square Gardens and the very first Westminster Dog Show, which makes its current dog park historically apropos.

The High Line

A rail trail, but not one you can ride on. This wonderful park is in Chelsea on a mile and a half of abandoned track that was repurposed as urban greenspace. I’ve walked along the High Line twice now and each time I’ve been thrilled to see little pollinators buzzing happily in the gardens.

Washington Square Park

The park’s most notable feature is its ginormous arch, which was built to commemorate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration. It’s also the same arch that was featured on the cover of, and in the story of, The Golem and the Jinni. I was told, that if you’re an NYU student, you shouldn’t pass through the arch until you graduate… or you won’t. So, of course, my whole family passed through posthaste. If there’s some sort of dire warning about what happens to non-NYU students who pass through, don’t tell me!

Washington Square Arch and Helene Wecker’s 2013 novel.

Hudson River Park

A 4 1/2 mile waterfront promenade with various piers that have been redeveloped for recreational use. (It’s part of the larger Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a 32 mile walking/cycling path.) You can pretty much find whatever sports & leisure activity you might be into here: tennis, volleyball, skateboarding, rock climbing, outdoor yoga, sunbathing, etc. We just strolled and enjoyed the view. 🙂

Central Park

The most famous park in NYC… and maybe the world?? It seems both crazily small and enormously large at the same time. When I look at maps of NYC, I can’t wrap my head around all that concrete. And there, in the middle of it all, is this speck of green. Yellowstone National Park is over 2,200,000 acres while Central Park is a mere 843. It doesn’t seem like it would be enough green space for everyone. And yet…

I’ve been to Central Park at least a handful of times and I’ve still not seen it all. Partly, that’s because I’m always walking (not biking) and I’m usually rushing to fit in other stuff (like the four other parks we visited). But it’s also because Central Park is legit BIG.

This time, we took the subway up and entered the park near the Museum of Natural History. We wandered around the Great Lawn for a bit, learned about Seneca Village, and then made our way over to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Next time, we’re renting bikes!!