Tag: fall

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Hereford Fall Fest + Season Wrap Up

This weekend, we’ll be at the Hereford Fall Fest. We’ve been vendors there for years and it’s always a great event. Weather should be typical fall weather here – cloudy and a bit windy. Bring your muck boots and a giant backpack for all the stuff you’re gonna buy! 😉

We’ll have:

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Applesauce – a favorite that was very popular last fall. This year’s batch was made with SweeTango and Cortland apples. I like to use at least two different varieties because I think it gives the applesauce a better flavor. (But, honestly, what isn’t good with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves added to it?) Even if you’ve had your fill of PPS drinks, no one ever gets sick of PPS applesauce!!

Caramel Apple Coffee Jam – for coffee lovers! Delicious all year long, but especially in the fall and winter. I simmer the apples in espresso before turning them into jam. The caramel flavor comes from the brown sugar I add to sweeten it. This jam is perfect for a Pumpkin-Shaped Baked Brie Puff Pastry.

PUMPKIN-SHAPED BRIE & JAM PUFF PASTRY

We’re also bringing:

Honey – the last of our 2023 harvest. We only have a couple dozen jars left. You know the deal, when they’re gone, they’re gone! Stock up on local, raw, minimally filtered, unprocessed, pure honey for your winter tea, oatmeal, toast, etc. It never goes bad. (Ever.) If it crystalizes, just gently heat it (do not boil) to bring it back to liquid form.

Summer jams – SALE! – I have a dozen or so “summer cocktail” jams that I’ll be selling at a discount. They’ll be shelf stable through the winter, so use them for thumbprint cookies come January when you need a sugar boost!

Windtree Bee Merch – SALE! – I’ll also be selling our #SupportLocalRoyalty bedazzled t-shirts at a discount. They are adorable and make great gifts!

Our Market Season is Wrapping Up

We really enjoyed selling at the Hereford Farm Market this year! We missed a lot of HFM weekends in September and early October due to various conflicts and commitments. After Fall Fest, however, we plan to return to HFM for Halloween weekend (Oct 28th).

What have we been up to?

Last days at the Butterfly House
Thinking about buying more milkweed for next year
Admiring these Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars
Discovering a Painted Lady in our Frankenstein Garden…
Helping out at Ladew Gardens’ Garden Glow
Getting excited for Halloween!
Watching Tugg retrieve his bumper from the Big Gunpowder Falls
Hiking the Gunpowder Falls South Trail
Checking on the Wye Oak descendant we planted at Redeemer Lutheran Church 15+ years ago
Buying this ginormous straw bale…
to winterize these teeny tiny strawberry beds
Getting ready to cheer for our favorite college football team…
at Penn State’s White Out Game
Lamenting our empty garden

Other fun pics of insects…

Three of our beautiful hives
Our honeybees enjoying their bee bar
Beehive at NYC’s Church of the Holy Apostles
Praying Mantis Pumpkin
Praying Mantis I rescued from the Butterfly House anteroom

See you this weekend at Hereford Fall Fest!

Rosie Posie’s Handknit Pumpkins
Windtree Bee’s Local Honey
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Goodbye, beautiful bouquets; Hello, mulling spices, tea blends, and cider jelly

“The pollen-dusted bees
      search for the honey-lees
that linger in the last flowers of September” ~George Arnold

Mid-September means the growing season is ending. We’re still pulling flowers and peppers out, but that’s about it. I have mixed feelings about my flowers this year. On the one hand, my zinnias weren’t as strong as they usually are. I didn’t sell any at the market, which has been a goal of mine for years now. I wasn’t even able to give as many away this year as I have in years past.

Dahlias versus zinnias: similar but different

On the other hand, I was completely smitten with my dahlias this year. I’d never tried to grow them until this summer and, even though they are more difficult than zinnias, and don’t seem to last nearly as long in the vase, I was thrilled to be able to include them in this summer’s bouquets.

I’m also just very thankful and so grateful that I was able to grow, cut, arrange, and enjoy the many flowers I was able to pull from the garden this year. This winter, I’ll be mulling over what worked and what didn’t, what to do again and what to give up on but, for now, I’m posting a few more of my favorites as a way to say goodbye to the beautiful bounty of summer 2021.

My younger daughter loves to buy clothes at consignment shops and second-hand stores. She loves the idea that each piece gets a new life. She sews and often upcycles them into something different. I think she also finds the range of clothing (from every decade and style) more interesting than anything that’s offered in the “fast fashion” mall stores. In any case, when I go with her, I shop for flower vases.

One of my favorite finds this summer was the silver-plated vintage vase pictured above. I found it in a shop on South Street in Philadelphia. It’s not worth much — a couple of dollars at most — but I think it’s beautiful.

What am I bringing to market tomorrow?

To celebrate the upcoming fall equinox, I made a bunch of autumn-inspired treats.

MULLING SPICES: wrapped in unbleached “steep sacks” and tied with butcher’s twine, each jar holds four bags, which will each spice one bottle of wine or eight cups of apple cider.

FALL TEA BLENDS: Chai and orange spice. Best when sweetened with honey! 😉

CIDER JELLY: Spread on raisin bread toast or stir a spoonful into a mug of hot water for instant hot spiced cider.

SMOKY APPLESAUCE: This is a savory, spicy applesauce. The woman who made the recipe pairs it with pork or chicken, but I had mine with pierogies and red cabbage. Delish! 🙂

SPICED PEAR JAM: a great jam with the usual morning breads or on a cracker with brie.

I often use local and/or organic ingredients.
Left to right: smoky applesauce ingredients, cider jelly ingredients,
cinnamon pears, and some of the finished products.
DON’T WAIT TO STOCK YOUR WINTER PANTRY! 😉

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.