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.
Black SwallowtailPromethea Moth CaterpillarHummingbird Clearwing MothEastern Tiger SwallowtailMonarch Caterpillar
See you tomorrow at the market!
Look for Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table near the musician’s tent!
[UPDATE 6.23.23 — Our celebration will have to wait. Hereford Farm Market canceled tomorrow due to weather. Luckily, our cocktail-inspired jelly & jam saves and there’s plenty of time left in the summer to enjoy them. I’ll post here about when we’ll be back at the market. In the meantime, hope everyone stays safe and has a terrific weekend!]
June is a great month for celebrations. My birthday is this weekend, so to celebrate I’m bringing two new things to market — Mimosa Jelly and Pina Colada Jam. Neither of them are actually made with booze.
The Mimosa Jelly was made with fresh squeezed orange juice and sparkling cider. It’s a beautiful tangy orange color.
And the Pina Colada Jam was made with fresh pineapple and coconut flakes. Perfect for pairing with coconut ice cream — or get creative and try with chicken, pork, or veggie tacos.
Returning favorites from previous weeks include a few jars of Black Cherry Preserves, Maple Strawberry Jam, and our chai tea blends.
See you this Saturday at the Hereford Farm Market at HHS from 9:00 a.m. to noon. We’ll be at the “Hats & Honey” table near the music tent.
We’re bringing two jams dads will love to Hereford Farm Market tomorrow: Hot Peach with Sriracha (great as a marinade for grilled chicken & pork) and Strawberry Chipotle (excellent with turkey sandwiches or cheese & crackers). We still have about a dozen jars of honey left until our next harvest. Our honey makes a fantastic base for homemade hot honey or honey BBQ sauce!! Make dad happy this Sunday with a jar of something spicy!!
Hot Peach JamBerries from Foggy Bottom FarmStrawberry Chipotle Jam
Also… Ladew Gardens’ Butterfly House opens July 6th!
Ladew Gardens is a wonderful public garden right in Monkton. Perhaps best known for its topiaries, it offers all sorts of excellent nature-themed info, education, and entertainment. I’ve posted here about its awesome fall event, Garden Glow. This summer, I’m volunteering in its Butterfly House, so I can help out in a place I’ve admired for years.
Ladew Gardens Butterfly House
Native Butterflies
The neat thing about Ladew’s Butterfly House is that it’s a native butterfly house. Many of the region’s butterfly houses are gorgeous and magical, but they are full of non-native species — beautiful tropical varieties that look spectacular but wouldn’t live outside of their enclosed spaces. At Ladew, all of the butterflies are caught each year instead of shipped in from elsewhere. That way, it’s not a big deal if they escape. It also makes handling caterpillars easier and (frankly) nicer. If there are too many caterpillars in the house to be supported by the greenery in there… off they go to the great outdoors right outside the door. The other reason Ladew’s native Butterfly House is so cool is that it allows all of us (myself included) to learn more about those colorfully winged pollinators.
Did you know that butterflies don’t eat? They only eat in the caterpillar stage. AND many of them eat only ONE TYPE OF HOST PLANT. So, if that plant isn’t around… neither are they.
I hope to post more about the Butterfly House in the future. We can learn together — hahaha! In the meantime, please come see us at the market this weekend. Pick up something hot & spicy for Dad or the dude in your life! 🙂
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, which is located at the Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, Hereford, Maryland, tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Look for Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table!
Earlier this week, my awesome neighbor, Elizabeth, dropped by to say her sweet cherry tree was ready for picking — as in, right then, immediately. So, of course, I grabbed a bucket and followed her. She told me her tree doesn’t always reliably produce great cherries, but when it does, they’re amazing — and this year’s harvest was one of the best.
Black Forest Preserves
After picking, I needed to pit them. Admittedly, not my favorite part. I’ve tried a few different ways to pit cherries and have settled on the paperclip method. (If you’re new here, the backstory: How to Pit Cherries and Not Get Arrested for Bootlegging).
After poking around in my recipe books, I debated making cherry marmalade, because the recipe’s provenance was old and ancient (Cherry Marmalade from JP McMahon’s The Irish Cookbook, adapted from one of the oldest known collections of Irish recipes, written by a woman who was born in Castle Birr, County Offaly, in 1666) but then I found a much more contemporary recipe that sounded positively divine.
Ball Canning‘s recipe for cherry preserves uses cocoa powder and a hint of almond extract. Last night, my family sampled our jar by the spoonful and tonight we’re gonna put it on s’mores.
Maple Strawberry Jam
Just because cherry season is off to a rollicking start doesn’t mean strawberry season is over. We’re still getting strawberries out of our strawberry beds. They are small but tasty! I added some organic strawberries, maple syrup, and voila! This jam is the perfect spread for waffles or pancakes.
Come see us at the “Hats & Honey” table!
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow, Saturday, June 10, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Hereford High School. In addition to the jam and preserves, we’re also bringing honey and Queen Scarlett and her retinue in the Observation Hive. Last week, we sold out of nearly everything, so don’t wait to come see us!!
This Saturday, June 3rd, we’re bringing an observation hive to the market.
What’s an observation hive?
It’s a specially made hive box that allows a queen and her attendant bees to be transported safely to an event, so that people can see what the bees look like up close. Everyone (especially kids) have a great time looking for the queen. The observation hive is sealed, so air can get in but bees can’t get out. There are two clear panels on either side of the top that give observers a chance to see what’s going on in the hive.
If observation hives are so neat, why don’t you bring one every week?
Moving a queen and her attendants from their regular hive box (the Langstroth box where they live year round) into a temporary observation hive is stressful to both the queen and the hive. In the past, we occasionally did it, because bringing live bees to an event always leads to some great interactions and discussions. But, because it was stressful for our bees, it was also stressful for us. Good news though! One of our beekeeper friends recently caught a swarm and loaned it to us for this summer. It’ll live in the observation hive until early fall and then we’ll return it, so that it can overwinter at our friend’s house in a winterized Langstroth box.
We’re excited to have an extra queen and hive just for observation purposes! Since this queen is going to be a celebrity, I’m naming her Scarlett after Scarlett Johansen, who dabbled in beekeeping. (This was a quick pick name – want something different? Stop by our table and you can suggest a different one!)
What else are we bringing to the market?
Honey! We have about two dozen jars left and then we’ll be out until we harvest again at the end of the summer.
Honey-sweetened strawberry jam: I’m excited about this batch because it was made with strawberries we grew and honey we harvested – neat, right? Because my strawberry patch is small, I supplemented it with some of Krista’s awesome berries. Foggy Bottom Berry Farm grows different varieties than we do, so the mix is delicious!
I also have a few jars left of my Spring Honey Rhubarb Jam and Chai Tea Blends (both caffeinated Assam and decaf Rooibos).
Windtree Bee Strawberries!Foggy Bottom Berry FarmMe, celebrating my first strawberry harvest
It’s biking season!
Since there was no market last weekend, Craig and I took a trip to Pittsburgh to visit Beekeeper Rebecca (Rebecca, a.k.a. Boudica II’s namesake). On Saturday, we hiked in McConnells Mill State Park. We toured the mill and then walked down to Eckert Bridge and back. It was a pretty hike and relatively easy. There are some other intriguing places like Hells Hollow and Breakneck Falls that we might explore next time.
McConnells MillDandelion Kindness RockGorgeous woodsSlippery Rock Creek1874 Covered Bridge
On Sunday, we biked the ‘Burgh’s streets, bridges, and one tunnel during the city’s Open Streets.
If you’ve never been to Pittsburgh, you need to visit! It’s beautiful, has great food, Point State Park at Three Rivers, inclines, and tons of bridges and tunnels. A very fun weekend getaway / road trip destination!
Allegheny RiverAndy Warhol BridgeThree Rivers & The Point
That’s it for this week! I wish you happy hiking, biking, gardening, beekeeping, or whatever else you do that makes you happy. Craig, new Queen Scarlett, and I hope to see you this Saturday!
Hereford Farm Market at Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Saturday, June 3, 2023. Lots of parking! Easy to get to! Easy to walk around! Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table.
Tomorrow is World Bee Day, a global celebration of the importance of bees, beekeeping, and pollinator-friendly gardening, lawn, and ag practices. The date was chosen because it’s the birthday of Anton Jansa, a Slovenian pioneer of modern apiculture. Historically, honeybees have been kept in many different shaped containers. The two most of you would recognize is the bee skep (the woven upside-down basket) and the Langstroth box, which is the type we use. The Jansa hive boxes can be arranged in rows and stacks. Many of the front panels are hand-painted with nature scenes because Jansa was also a painter.
Mandi has a cute collection of animal/avian sweatshirts — foxes, birds, and now bees! The new bee sweatshirt will be available to buy tomorrow. I’m bringing wildflower honey, rhubarb and berry jams, loose leaf chai tea blends, and peanut butter banana granola. I’m also bringing our queen bee t-shirts and my remaining seed bombs. THIS IS THE LAST WEEK I’LL BE SELLING SEED BOMBS!
Rosie Posie’s new bee sweatshirt
Is there a better way to celebrate World Bee Day than to buy some of our bee-themed merch and wear it proudly?!
Modified “Mo Mow May”
It’s a coincidence that World Bee Day is celebrated during the month of No Mow May, but it also makes perfect sense since the purpose of each event aligns almost magically. No Mow May encourages people to leave their lawns in a wild state so that pollinators can have access to food during the crucial early spring when they’re active and hungry, but when many flowers haven’t yet had a chance to bloom.
A perfectly manicured lawn is like a desert to honeybees and other pollinators. Honestly, I don’t even think all-green lawns look good. To me, they look unnatural. Regarding No Mow May, I understand if you are a bit reluctant to participate. Afterall, not mowing your lawn for an entire month can lead to some pretty tall grass where we live. There could be lots of reasons you’re hesitant about participating: you have young kids who need to play outside, you’re understandably concerned about ticks, you have neighbors who would complain, etc. I get it. I’d rather people participate halfway (which is what we’re doing) than not at all.
Our front lawn — very bee friendly!
If you can’t go an entire month without mowing, consider these alternatives:
Mow less. Instead of mowing every week, maybe just mow 1-2 times a month during April and May.
Set your mower at the highest setting.
Don’t use pesticides or herbicides on your lawn!
Intentionally plant clover. We sprinkle clover seed (not grass seed) in every bare patch. This gives our yard a beautiful cottagecore look.
Make as many wishes as you can! Encourage dandelions to grow in your lawn. Then have fun picking them and making wishes as you spread more dandelion seeds around your lawn.
No Mow May Bonus – Dandelion Harvest
Did you know that dandelions are edible? They were once a beloved flower and medicinal botanical. Most people think of them as weeds, but they’re an herb. If you participate in No Mow May (or a modified version of No Mow May) you can harvest your dandelions and make all sorts of delicious things out of them. I plan to make Dandelion Honey (a.k.a. Dandelion Syrup). If you harvest your dandelions, let me know what you make! 🙂
Quick Strawberry Update
Our little strawberry beds are looking great! I couldn’t believe that we had to once again cover them the other night. I’d been lamenting that I haven’t yet had a chance to get my zinnia seedlings in the ground, but this past Wednesday I was glad for my delay because it was less for us to cover that night. Hopefully, that will be the last spring frost warning for 2023!
Strawberries look terrific!Beehives after a spring rainZinnia seedlings hardening up in the wind and sun
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market tomorrow, May 20th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Hereford High School. There’s no market on Memorial Day weekend, so our next market after tomorrow will be June 3rd. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table. Hope to see you there!
For tomorrow’s market, we’re bringing lots of great gift ideas for mom:
Wildflower honey – spring 2023 bonus harvest!
Loose leaf chai tea blends – both regular (made with black tea) and decaf (made with red bush tea).
Honey rhubarb ginger compote – delicious mixed in yogurt parfaits or on ice cream.
Peanut butter banana granola — one of my favorite recipes!
Bedazzled Queen Bee t-shirts – Save the queens! Support local royalty!
20% off seed bombs and suncatchers! – These make awesome gifts for mom! Beautifully packaged and improved, our seed bombs are ready to be planted. Make mom, Mother Earth, and the bees happy! 🙂
Rhubarb, honey, and gingerPeanut butter banana granolaLoose leaf chai tea blends, perfect when sweetened with honey!Seed bombs! There’s still time!!Bedazzled queen bee t-shirts and other Windtree Bee favorites
Hope to see you tomorrow at the Hereford Farm Market, which is now at Hereford High School (17301 York Road, Parkton, MD) from 9:00 a.m. to noon. You can find Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table. Happy Mother’s Day to all!
This Saturday, May 6th, is Opening Day for the Hereford Farm Market! It’s in a new location this year, the Hereford High School, 17301 York Road, Parkton, Maryland. Same time — 9:00 a.m. to noon, May through November. You can find Craig and me (Windtree Bee) at the “Hats & Honey” table — look for our banner!
Before each market day, I try to post what we’re bringing. For Opening Day, we’ll have honey, honey-sweetened granola, berry jam, loose leaf chai tea blend (which tastes excellent with honey!), bedazzled Windtree Bee merch, and improved seed bombs.
What the heck are Seed Bombs?
Seed bombs are more warm and fuzzy than they sound (some people call them bee bombs or seed balls). They look like little meatballs and they contain tons of seeds. The idea is that you throw them wherever Mother Earth needs a little help with beautification — the neglected road median, a tree well with no tree, a patch of dirt. Originally, guerilla gardeners used them to “throw and grow.” While the idea of tossing these over your shoulder as you hike might be appealing, your best bet is to actually plant them. Choose a spot where the flowers will be welcome and will have a good chance of thriving. The bees will appreciate it!
What’s improved about the seed bombs?
More seeds! I added more “Bee Feed Mix” to them, lessened the amount of water I used, and am using quilt squares for the jar tops instead of canning lids. This should help make them more shelf stable — although I recommend planting ASAP because spring won’t last forever and the bees need food NOW! 🙂
“Happiness? The color of it must be spring green” — Frances Mayes
Craig checking the hivesTugg practicing for No Mow MayOak Spring Farm DucklingsPenn State’s HUB lawnMe, still getting used to my new suitBogart, Marshy Point Nature Center’s box turtle
COME SEE US FOR OPENING DAY!! TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO COME TOO!
Dejon Vineyard
Earth Day Celebration, April 22, noon to 5:00 pm
5300 Hydes Road
Hydes, Maryland
*bring your picnic blankets & camp chairs!
Dejon Vineyards is a family-owned and operated winery in Hydes, Maryland. (It’s near Boordy Vineyards and the Prigel Family Creamery; to the east of Loch Raven Reservoir.) Denise and her husband, John, renovated the original cattle barn and it’s now a “cool country-chic” tasting room.
Their Earth Day Celebration is this Saturday, April 22, from noon to 5:00 p.m. The event’s theme is Make It/Bake It/Grow It/Conserve It, which dovetails nicely with what Windtree Bee is all about. (For anyone new here, we sell home-harvested honey, homemade jams and preserves, and cottage bouquets made from pollinator-friendly blooms.) The folks from Ecotone (ecological restoration), Marshy Point Nature Center, and the Gunpower Conservancy will be there to discuss wetlands preservation and Maryland’s natural wildlife. Other educators, exhibitors, and vendors will also be there to share their skills.
Craig will be there to talk about honeybees and beekeeping. If you’re interested in beekeeping, or you want to learn about local honey, or if you’re an entomologist, biologist, teacher, scout leader, etc. – please come see us!!
There will be wagon rides, kids’ crafts, live music, and LOCAL WINE! 😊
There will also be HONEY — because we have honey to sell at the beginning of the season this year! (How did that happen?! Well, it’s not because we didn’t sell out last season — we did. It’s because we lost hives over the winter. Boo! But the silver lining is we had more honey than our current bees need, so we were able to harvest it.)
Other Things We’ll Have
Breakfast Berry Jam: Our most popular jam. I made three batches!
Honey Almond Granola: Crunchy, homemade, delicious. Sold in canning jars, so you can pour your milk right in there and eat it while you’re off to work or on a hike.
Loose Leaf Chai Tea Blend: New and improved for this season! I’m now using dried and sifted ginger instead of candied ginger; 100% Assam loose leaf tea instead of a miscellaneous blend; and star anise.
Seed Bombs: Originally a guerilla gardening tool, seed bombs are also a super fun, hands on way of spreading the word about the need for pollinator-friendly plants and flowers. (There’s a guy in Dorset who calls them Bee Bombs.) My bombs are a mix of “muck” (a nutrient-dense starter soil); shredded paper (so glad to have found a use for it, since Baltimore County doesn’t recycle shredded paper); a small amount of water; and pollinator-friendly seeds (non-GMO, non-neonic).
Bedazzled t-shirts: These are slightly modified Windtree Bee logo shirts that I’m going to bedazzle myself. (I learned to bedazzle at lightning speed during my younger daughter’s dance years. Every season, I had to gem multiple costumes in less than a week. When she graduated, I swore I wouldn’t miss it – but I kinda do!)
Scenes from my former life as a Dance Mom
These are our awesome designs for the new t-shirts. I’ll post pics of the final bedazzled shirts later…
Where have I been?
For those of you wondering where I was all winter and why I didn’t post anything here… I was working down at Princeton Sports, the ski and bike shop off Falls Road (west of Lake Roland). McCulloughs are a four-season family and I love skiing as much as biking, so helping people get ready for their next outdoor adventure was a great fit for me! Princeton is a third-generation family business and the owners, customers, and my coworkers were super friendly and always fun to talk with. While I didn’t see as many people from the Hereford Zone as I used to see at the library, I enjoyed working down there and hope to return next year for their busy winter season (which conveniently starts just as Windtree Bee’s active season wraps up).
Me in Park City, Utah, earlier this year.Good advice from Princeton Sports!
I’m looking forward to the 2023 farm market and festival season! I have some exciting news about the Hereford Farm Market, which I’ll post about soon … In the meantime, happy spring and hope to see you this Saturday for Earth Day!
Craig and I visited Scotland last month. We flew into Edinburgh, spent a couple of days there, and then took the train up into the highlands. They were magnificent! I really hope we can go back again someday.
Lots of people asked us, “Why Scotland?” We were asked if we had family there (no), if we planned on golfing (no), if we liked whisky (no), and if we planned on doing any Outlander tours (no). Friends pointed out that the weather there is often gloomy and rainy. The time of year we chose for our trip was also curious (fall, not summer). But I gotta say… it was AMAZING!! I feel so lucky to have been able to go. Part of the trip was a generous gift from my in-laws for our 25th anniversary. And I can think of no better way for Craig and me to celebrate than to go trekking about in Alba. It’s a country that epitomizes our favorite vacation style – rugged days and cozy nights. If you are debating a trip to the U.K. anytime soon, I highly recommend!
Hillwalking
Hiking in the U.K. is often referred to as hillwalking. Although Scotland’s tallest mountain isn’t as tall as the shortest mountain in the Appalachians, hillwalking can still be risky, especially in bad weather. But we had great weather!! The days we spent hiking were sunny. And the shorter days meant that we reached the summit and/or lochs right at sunset.
Arthur’s Seat at Sunset
The highland culture seems to fully embrace hillwalking. The Scots have a statutory “right to roam” (although it must be exercised responsibly) and the inn where we stayed regularly makes bagged lunches for guests to tuck into their daypacks. We grabbed ours, walked out the door, and just started walking. Not having to worry about driving to a trailhead felt gloriously liberating.
Reindeer
The Cairngorm Mountains have a herd of free-ranging reindeer. After one of our walks, we serendipitously stumbled into their Glenmore visitor center, a little paddock up by Loch Morlich. The enclosed area is kind of like a reindeer spa. The reindeer take turns coming down from the mountains for health evals and a bit of pampering.
Reindeer R&R
If your child asks what to leave for the reindeer on Christmas Eve…
They don’t eat carrots or celery. Too bad since those things are easier to get than what they do eat: heather, sedges, lichens, blaeberry, and birch. Maybe offer them some regular ole blueberries and see if they’re gone on Christmas morning. 😉
Drambuie
We tried lots of whisky, but I preferred Scotland’s craft beers. I also enjoyed Drambuie, which you can get here in the States. Drambuie is whisky blended with honey, herbs, and spices. Since I know where to get delicious, local honey, I may experiment with making a DIY version of Drambuie this winter.
Is Drambuie French or Scottish?
Ah… it’s complicated. I asked a couple people this question and the answer depends on how you interpret its origin story, which may just be a bit of fanciful brand marketing. In any case, the story goes that, after the Battle of Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie fled to the isle of Skye. As a thank you for sheltering him, he gave his prized French elixir recipe to an officer there. Its name is supposedly derived from the Scots Gaelic An Dram Buidheach, which means “the drink that satisfies.” Indeed, it does! 😀
Christmas Bazaar
We’re doing one more event this year – a Christmas Bazaar down at the Federal Armored Museum this Sunday, December 4th, from 1-3 pm. Santa will be there! Admission is free. Bring the kids, get a pic with Santa, and do some Christmas shopping. This will be the last time you can stock up on honey and homemade jam before winter! I have a couple of bee & honeycomb suncatchers left. They make excellent, one-of-a-kind gifts. Our honey & jam is the perfect hostess/thank you/holiday gift. You probably know an awesome teacher, coach, neighbor, friend, or family member who would love a jar. Or just treat yourself! 🙂
St Gobnait, Patron Saint of Bees and BeekeepersLoose Leaf Chai Tea Blend – Delicious with honey!Windtree Bee honey – best holiday gift ever!
Looking ahead to winter…
Craig and I are returning to the Hereford Farm Market next year. In the meantime, I’ll post periodic updates here. Winter is a great time for hiking, skiing, and reading!
WISHING EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!!
Windtree Bee 