Summer in a Jar

Strawberries mean the start of summer and watermelons mean the end. By Labor Day, watermelons are everywhere. One year, we tried to grow them without success. I haven’t wanted to give up prime garden space to try again but maybe someday.

Earlier this week, I bought three huge watermelons and got to work making this week’s offerings: watermelon lemonade jelly and cinnamon watermelon rind pickles. Wow! It was a lot of work — but worth it. After all, capturing summer in a jar is no easy feat! 😀

Even though making the watermelon recipes took two days (the rinds have to brine overnight), it was fun! And I was able to use the food mill that my mother-in-law gave me earlier this summer for my birthday. (When I first heard of food mills, I was skeptical. It reminded me of the old hand-crank beaters that everyone used to make whipped cream with. But, unlike a manual whipped cream beater, no one has come up with a way to improve what a food mill does, which is separate large seeds and pulp when pureeing. Food processors and electric blenders puree everything together, which is gross if you have bitter seeds or too much pulp.)

What else am I bringing tomorrow?

Classic BBQ Spice Rub: I’ve offered this before, back in June for Father’s Day. Use it to season rib racks, flank steaks, or anything else you want to grill.

How to use the jelly and pickles

Watermelon Lemonade Jelly: In addition to your morning toast, use this to flavor cakes, cupcakes, or other baked goods. Can also be used as a flavoring for vodka cocktails (which is how I used it after two days of chopping, peeling, hand-cranking, and processing!)

Watermelon Lemonade Cocktails
Put 2-3 tablespoons of Windtree Bee Watermelon Lemonade Jelly in a rocks glass. Heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Watch it and remove it as soon as it turns to liquid. (Don’t overheat.) Fill the glass halfway with sparkling water. Add a shot of vodka (citrus flavors work well). Stir, add ice & enjoy!!

Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles: these turned out fantastic! They are delicious paired with chicken salad or pork chops. They would also be perfect on a charcuterie board, especially if you are looking for something different and hard to find.

We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon tomorrow. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.

August 26, 2021September 3, 2021

The Dogs of Hereford Farm Market Pics!!

Thanks to all the dogs and dog lovers who came to the market a few weeks ago for our first Dogs of Hereford Farm Market Day! The dogs and puppies were absolutely adorable. Below are the pictures that Haley took of all the amazing pups who participated. Feel free to use these pics however you’d like. If you have trouble copying them, reach out or stop by my table and I’ll try to help. If we made any mistakes (names, spellings, dog breeds, etc.), please let me know and I’ll change the info on this post. It was truly an honor meeting each of your wonderful four-footed BFFs! We hope everyone enjoys the pics!! 🙂

ALMA

Can you believe Alma is a puppy?! She’s only six months old. She’s a Great Pyrenees, which is a mountain sheep dog. These dogs were originally bred to help guard sheep in the Pyrenees region between France and Spain. They’re known in France as the Chien de Montagne des Pyrenees, a.k.a. Le Patou.

COOKIE BEAR, THEO, AND GINGER BEAR

Cookie Bear and Ginger Bear are border collies. Border collies are another working dog breed, but they are herders, not guard dogs. This breed originated along the border of England and Scotland. Theo, in the middle, is a Pomeranian Chihuahua mix. Pomchis are gorgeous, feisty lapdogs who were bred to be companionable and awesome.

ENZO

Enzo is a fox-red lab. You’ve probably heard of the three standard colors most labs come in (yellow, brown, and black) but there are other, less common shades out there, including fox-red. He’s a handsome pup and was very cooperative!

LILY

Lily is a Golden Retriever. These dogs were originally bred to be hunting/birding dogs. They have super soft mouths and are able to retrieve ducks and other game birds without damaging them. They are also excellent companions because of their intelligence, loyalty, and friendliness. Lily was such a sweetheart!

LUNA, LEO, BRUNO, AND STELLA

Okay, so this pic wasn’t taken at the market — but I wanted to include it because some of these dogs have visited our table this season. Dog rescuer Karen Dubs is fostering the big guy, Bruno, and has adopted the other three. Check out Karen’s book, Adopting Joy, the story of how she found, rescued, and adopted Stella.

MR. WRINKLES

Mr. Wrinkles is Mandi’s adorable pug. He is wearing one of Rosie Posie‘s knitted cowls. Doesn’t he look dapper? (He certainly looks like a good sport!!) Pugs are great companions! The breed started in China and then became popular in Western Europe. Queen Victoria was a fan. Mr. Wrinkles couldn’t make it to HFM Dog Day, but I wanted to include his pic because he’s the best! 😀

OSCAR

Oscar is a white boxer, which is a recognized AKC color, but less common than brindle or fawn. He was very happy and easygoing. Funny, since boxers were originally bred to hunt big game like boar, bears, and bison. In modern times, they’re used for tough tasks and are often war dogs, watchdogs, police dogs, and the like… but Oscar was chill. A real cutie!!

PRINCE, A.K.A. “FRANK”

This adorable little pup was with his gang — a bunch of kids who told us that his name was Prince… but that he also goes by Frank (I think). I’m not sure what breed Prince/Frank is, but does it matter? He is 100% fantastic!

RILEY

Riley is another Golden Retriever. He’s also a rescue dog — from Cairo, Egypt, which is pretty cool. (Riley has traveled farther than I have! 😀 ). He and his human buddy, Bob, are frequent market goers.

RONAN THE DESTROYER

Ronan is an Irish name that means “little seal” and I’m sure, as a black lab puppy, that’s what Ronan looked like. Lab puppies are known for chewing. We’ve lived through two lab puppies now. Phone cases, TV remotes, dresser knobs, even wall trim has been gnawed. Ronan the Destroyer has likely chewed his way to his nickname. (Don’t worry, Chris! It’s all worth it. When he reaches two years, he’ll be Ronan the Best! 🙂 🙂 )

ROO AND MOE

Rumor has it Roo’s mum was a corgi (or, if you want to be posh, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi — ya know, the breed that Queen Elizabeth loves) and her dad was a sturdy German Shepherd. Even though the German Shepherd was originally bred to herd sheep, it’s now more famously known as the canine member of K-9 police units. They’re smart and have a good sense of smell while corgis mostly look adorable and are extremely agile. I’m sure Roo inherited all the fantastic traits of both her dam and sire, but Moe kinda stole the show. How cute is he?! 😀

SANDRINO

Sandrino is a Labrador Retriever, the most popular breed of dog in the United States. (I absolutely adore labs — one is a member of our family — but I was pleasantly surprised by all the dog diversity at HFM. Out of the twenty-one dogs pictured here, only four are labs.) Sandrino was sweet and calm, typical traits for an older lab. But he was also special for another reason. He’s a service dog for Warrior Canine Connection. He and his partner, John, are a team and they work together. All of the dogs in the WCC are named after Fallen Heroes. Sandrino is named after Sgt. Alessandro “Sandrino” Plutino, who died ten years ago in Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

While I was writing this post, thirteen U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan and more were wounded. I’m still processing the news and what it means, but one thing is certain — my family is extremely grateful to all those who serve in the U.S. armed forces. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the fallen. If anyone is looking for an additional way to support veterans, Warrior Canine Connection is a Maryland 501(c)(3) that trains service dogs for veterans at Schaeffer Farm in Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County. You can donate to WCC here.

SHADOW

Shadow is a Shih Tzu mix. Shih Tzu’s were originally bred in China and were royal favorites. They are tiny but sturdy and super cute. Shadow is a rescue pup from Saving Grace Animal Rescue.

TUBBY

Tubby is a Keeshond, which is a beautiful breed I’d never heard of before meeting him. Keeshonds were bred to be barge dogs. Historically, they were companions to the captains of Dutch canal boats. Due to their friendliness, the breed is nicknamed “The Smiling Dutchman.” One other fun fact about keeshonds? If there’s more than one of them, they’re called keeshonden.

TUGG

Tugg is a chocolate lab, born and bred in Baltimore County. His full name is Tugboat (my kids added the extra g because, well… you’ll have to ask them. Ha!). His predecessor was another much loved chocolate lab named Clipper. We stuck with the boat theme for names. Tugg is sporting one of Rosie Posie‘s super cute canine kerchiefs. Many thanks to Mandi for making it for him!

Final Thoughts on Dog Day

Lots of tongues! So many tongues!! That’s because the Dog Days of Summer are hot. (Did you know dogs sweat through their tongues and toes?) Next year, I’ll have water at my table. As for where I got all the breed info above? The AKC website and Wikipedia. As for what the photographer is up to now? She’s back at Penn State for her sophomore year studying Public Relations. I’ve already booked her for the Second Annual Dog Days of Hereford Farm Market. Mark your calendars — August 2022!! 😀

What am I bringing to the market this Saturday?

We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon Saturday, August 28th. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.

July 30, 2021August 1, 2021

We have honey!!

After a two week hiatus from the market and a two year hiatus from selling honey, we finally were able to harvest a large batch for this season. Soooooooo happy about it!! This year’s batch is perfect — light-amber in color with a sweet, floral taste. Not too mild, not too strong. (Craig’s calling 2021’s harvest the “Goldilocks Batch.”) 🙂

For anyone who is new to Windtree Bee, welcome! You can read more about us here but basically, we’re backyard beekeepers who have a small one-acre apiary in Parkton, Maryland. We started selling honey a few years ago at the Hereford Farm Market and other local places. We’re not commercial beekeepers. We don’t travel around the country with our bees boxed up in a hot truck hauling them from monocrop to monocrop to pollinate on-demand. Instead, we have only a handful of hives. Except for giving them a sturdy Langstroth hive to live in and treating for varroa after the season’s harvest, we let our bees do their thing. They fly free, foraging for pollen and nectar wherever the wind and their little wings take them. They pollinate whatever crop or plants they feel like pollinating.

Our bees are our partners

It’s important to us that our hives are as healthy as they can be, so we never harvest all the honey that the bees make. We leave enough for them to over winter. If we had harvested every drop of honey our bees made this year, we might make more money at the market, but then they wouldn’t have enough food to make it through winter. We could feed them sugar water, but that’s like feeding your kid only Pop Tarts from September through December. How healthy would they be by January? (And the lead up to spring is the time the bees need to be at their healthiest and strongest. That’s when the queen needs to be laying brood and pumping up the hive’s numbers so they can be ready for spring foraging.)

Bee-loved flowers

We plant lots of flowers for our bees: zinnias, black-eyed Susans, lavender, bee balm, etc. If you’re interested in buying a “Bee-loved Bouquet” from me, let me know! Bouquets would be one-of-a-kind and full of whatever is blooming that day — hand-picked and arranged by me. (Expect a casual cottage bouquet in a mason jar or thrift store glass vase. Don’t expect something that looks like it came from a professional florist! 😉 ) For various reasons, I won’t be selling flowers at the market this year, so the only way to get Windtree Bee flowers this summer is to reach out!! Prices will vary based on bouquet size, bloom freshness, and whether I’m delivering the bouquet or you’re picking it up.

What else will we have at the market tomorrow?

Peach Preserves made with fresh, local peaches from Shaw’s Orchard and our own honey!! I’ve made jams with honey before, but not with our “2021 Goldilocks Batch”!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Pineapple Preserves, a.k.a. home-canned pineapple, which is THE BEST. There are only two ingredients — fresh pineapple and simple syrup.

Chocolate Raspberry Sauce. I’ve made a few chocolate jams this summer. This one is specially made to pair with ice cream!!! 😀

I also have new, gorgeous suncatchers from my niece & nephew’s glazier grandma, Mary Nolan. She designs beautiful, bespoke bee and honeycomb glass for me.

See you at the market tomorrow! We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.

Interested in a Windtree Bee flower bouquet? Use the form below to let me know!

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July 2, 2021July 2, 2021

Jar & Bottle Buy Back + 4th of July

Bring your old jam and honey jars back for 50 cents off!

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be offering fifty cents off per jar or bottle returned to me. The jars have to be ones I can use, which means NO CHIPS, CRACKS, OR DAMAGE.

I’m specifically looking for jam and honey jars that are:

Ball or Anchor Hocking brand canning jars with regular mouth openings in quarter-pint, half-pint, pint, and quart sizes.
Glass honey jars shaped like a bee skep in one pound and half-pound sizes. (Those are the shapes and sizes I sold at Hereford Farm Market and Hereford Fall Fest in 2019. If you bought honey from me, those are the jars I’m looking for.)

I’ll also accept any generic glass canning jar that has a regular mouth opening. (If my lids fit your jar, I can use it. Maybe not for canning, but probably for something else.)

Why am I doing this?

Mostly because… reduce, reuse, recycle. I’m not sure what happens to the glass you give to Baltimore County, but if you give me a jam jar or honey bottle back that isn’t chipped, cracked, or damaged, you KNOW I will use it again. Glass is easy to sterilize and reuse.

What about the lids?

I can’t reuse them. I might be able to use the lid rings again if they are in good shape, but for now, I’m just offering a buy back for the glass jars.

Am I going to give you money for the jars if you don’t buy something new from me?

No. Sorry. I make so little on each sale, I can’t afford to fund that kind of program. For now, I’m just offering fifty cents off per jar returned to me from that day’s purchases. This is a pilot program for me. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while now. I’ve been selling jam at the Hereford Farm Market for two months now, so it seems like a good time to experiment with this buy back. I’m excited! Now, bring me those empty jars!!! 🙂

This Sunday is the 4th of July!!!

Which means our table is offering some fun things to celebrate. I’ll have a sampler pack of red, white & blue jams and jelly — a trio of 4 oz jars of red raspberry jam, white apple jelly, and blueberry jam.

Besides toast and PB&J, what can you use these jams & jelly for?

Red raspberry jam can be used to make thumbprint cookies.

White apple jelly is great with grilled sourdough & brie sandwiches or whole wheat crackers & whipped cream cheese.

Blueberry jam is terrific when mixed into plain yogurt or spread on French toast.

Mandi (Rosie Posie Design Co) also has American flag mug rugs, a.k.a. coffee coasters. If you’re headed to a neighbor’s picnic or backyard BBQ this weekend, they make great hostess gifts!!

See you at the Hereford Farm Market! Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table next to The Contented Rooster.

June 18, 2021June 19, 2021

Bee, Honey & Flower Update

Three of our hives look really good. They’re so healthy that Craig’s added extra supers and is worried about them swarming. Look at them in this pic! They are practically bursting out of this thing. We’ll know more about the honey harvest in about a month.

My zinnias look horrible. I don’t even have the heart to share a picture. They are the opposite of the bees. Instead of thriving, they’re just… not. They’re not growing. They’re stunted. It’s not that we planted too late. It’s not the rabbit. It might be that I didn’t mix in the right soil amendments this year. But I think what really happened is I didn’t thin them when they first came up as seedlings. It’s a rookie mistake and one I’m regretting. Live and learn.

My beautiful “Brush Strokes” violas are doing well.
They look terrific and taste earthy. Sort of mild and spicy at the same time.

And the surprise flower success of the season — clover!
Both in our garden as ground cover for the walkways and in our yard.
We intentionally sprinkled clover seed in all our bare patches and it came up beautifully. The bees love it!

What am I bringing to the market tomorrow?

This week’s choices were inspired by Father’s Day. All savory, spicy offerings that pair well with grilled meat.

Honey Peach Chutney — With vinegar, ginger, mustard seeds, and crushed red pepper flakes, this has a tangy, spicy bite. Serve with pork chops, beer-can chicken, or goat cheese and toasted baguette slices.

Apple Onion Marmalade — this is actually an apple jelly flavored with onion. Spread it on a turkey & cheese sandwich or an everything bagel.

Dad’s BBQ Spice Rub — a classic barbeque rub with brown sugar, smoky & sweet paprika, and a half-dozen other grilling spices.

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021

How to pit cherries and not get arrested for bootlegging

I try to spend part of every Monday figuring out what new jams I’ll make for Saturday’s market, so I have time throughout the week to buy the ingredients, make the jams, and label them. Because Father’s Day is coming up, I became inspired by my Father-in-law’s love of Manhattans, that classic cocktail that’s usually made with whiskey, vermouth, and bitters.

I decided to make brandied cherries, a perfect garnish for Manhattans and a perfect gift idea for dads. (Dad doesn’t like old fashioned cocktails? No problem! Brandied cherries pair well with venison and Cornish game hens too!) I was so taken with the perfection of my idea that I decided to make two more boozy recipes for Saturday.

I bought all the ingredients, mostly tons and tons… and tons of cherries. Lianna Krissoff, author of Canning for a New Generation, warns not to use a cherry pitter when making brandied cherries. It’s fine for making cherry jam, because the cherries will end up getting smashed to bits anyway, but for preserving whole cherries, Krissoff recommends using a paperclip.

I was dubious at first. A paperclip?! It would be like trying to debone a chicken using a fork. But it worked — and worked well. (To pit cherries with a paperclip, unfold it once, so there’s a bend at each end. Hold one end and use the other to pierce the top of the cherry and fish out the pit.)

I pitted and pitted… and pitted. Finally, I had enough cherries to begin. I mixed my ingredients, processed the jars, and listened to the joyful ping, ping, pinging of the lids sealing after their boiling water bath.

The next day, I was so excited about how popular my boozy offerings would be, I made a promotional graphic before I even made the last two batches. And then it occurred to me (yes, rather belatedly) that there might be the tiniest problem with selling a product that was full of booze, even booze that had been boiled.

I won’t bore everyone with my research, but I will share that, instead of making this week’s berry ale jam with the wonderful Flatbed Pale Ale I’d bought from Big Truck Farm Brewery, I drank it while re-reading the Maryland Cottage Food Laws. I paid particular attention to the parts about selling food products containing alcohol. The liquor control board was mentioned. A food lab was listed as a possible resource.

I stared at my gorgeous batch of brandy-soaked cherries. Learning how to paperclip pit was one thing. Figuring out how I could legally sell brandied cherries was another. I was ticked that I couldn’t bring my beauties to market this week, but I was also relieved my fever dream was over.

What will I be bringing to market this week? Cherry chocolate jam — because I’m an expert paperclip pitter now. And berry ale jam made with Erdinger’s non-alcoholic malt beverage. See you tomorrow!

June 4, 2021

Strawberries are in season!

The signs are everywhere — strawberry shortcake at the grocery store, plentiful containers of ripe berries at the farm market, and Pick Your Own open for business at nearby orchards.

Two of this week’s jam flavors feature hand-picked strawberries from Shaw’s. I drove out there earlier this week for berries and picked them myself right from the field. The orchards were beautiful and this year’s strawberry crop is terrific. I managed to pick about five and a half pounds in the time I had. I filled in the rest of the strawberries I needed for this week’s jam batches with berries from Oak Spring Farm. If you haven’t yet bought local berries, what are you waiting for??

Look for me tomorrow at the “Hats & Honey” table at the Hereford Farm Market!