Hereford Farm Market – Page 2

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!!

June 22, 2023June 23, 2023

Celebrate summer with our cocktail-inspired jams!

[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.

June 16, 2023

Jams Dads Will Love

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!!

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.

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!

June 9, 2023

It’s Cherry Season!

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!!

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023

We’re bringing honeybees to the market this Saturday!

This Saturday, June 3^rd, 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).

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.

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!

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.

One of our honeybees on our garden’s clover

May 19, 2023May 19, 2023

Celebrate World Bee Day with Us + A Modified “No Mow May”

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.

Rosie Posie has a new bee sweatshirt!

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!

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.

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!

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!

May 12, 2023

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas!

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! 🙂

Loose leaf chai tea blends, perfect when sweetened with honey!

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!

May 4, 2023

Hereford Farm Market: New Location + Opening Day!

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

COME SEE US FOR OPENING DAY!! TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO COME TOO!

October 28, 2022

End of Season Sale: Suncatchers 20% off!

Our stained glass, one-of-a-kind, artisan suncatchers are 20% off!

I’m offering 20% off my remaining suncatchers this Saturday at Hereford Farm Market. We have maybe a half-dozen or so of them left. Each one is handmade by my niece and nephew’s grandmother, Mary Nolan. No two are alike. There are suncatchers with bee charms, honeybees made of glass, and guardian angels. I often refer to the angel as St. Gobnait, who was the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. They make an excellent, thoughtful, unique hostess or holiday gift for nature lovers and gardeners!

The market season is winding down…

This Saturday is the last day we’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market this year. It’s been a terrific season!! Thank you to each and every one of you who came to the market and supported us and the bees! I have a handful of jars left of most everything I brought last week: wildflower honey, mulled cider jelly, pumpkin-pie spiced pear jam, honey-maple cranberry sauce, smoky chipotle berry jam, and loose leaf chai tea. I’ll also be selling Mandi’s adorable knit pumpkins and pumpkin hats.

It’s been an amazing biking season too!

I’ve been biking since March, trying to reach my mileage goal for this year. This week, I finally did — 1,000+ miles for 2022!! Most of those miles were logged on the NCR/Heritage Rail Trail, but I did a few organized rides too. Next week, I’ll take my bike down to the shop for a much needed tune up. 🙂

The Heritage Trail up near Seven Valleys, the Howard Tunnel, and an apropos pic of my bike on Home Road on my last day of biking this year.

Happy Halloween!!

After tomorrow, we hope to do one final event this year — a Christmas Bazaar down at the Federal Armored Museum on December 4th. I’ll keep everyone posted on that. In the meantime, we wish everyone a safe and wonderful Halloween and an amazing, gratitude-filled Thanksgiving! WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU AND YOUR SUPPORT!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Our honey, hives, and a Kindness Rocks message Craig and I found on the trail

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

October 21, 2022

Oak Spring Farm Chili Feast

Tomorrow, we’ll be at our regular market — Hereford Farm Market — from 9:00 a.m. to noon. And then on Sunday, we’re vending at Oak Spring Farm’s Chili Feast. For anyone who hasn’t yet heard of Oak Spring, it’s an organic CSA farm in north Baltimore County run by Lisa Duff. She and her farm are awesome! We’ve been CSA members for years. We also keep a few hives over there. You can find us there on Sunday from 2:00-6:00 p.m. NON-CSA MEMBERS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!

From Lisa’s Facebook events page:

Let's celebrate YOU, our amazing CSA Members who helped us make this season an absolute success, with a chili feast and potluck!

SUNDAY, October 23rd, 2022 from 2pm - 6pm

We will provide two BIG pots of chili - one meat based and the other suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Please bring a dish to share, whether it is more chili, a chili-friendly side like cornbread, chips, or crackers, or other toppings like sour cream, cheese, fritos, etc. You're also welcome to bring dessert, drinks, and of course BYOB. Anything is welcome, and we encourage you to use as local and sustainable as possible!

There will be LIVE MUSIC, family friendly GAMES, and a RAFFLE for CSA members to win $100 off of their 2023 Season CSA Share!

Bring your picnic blankets, chairs, family, friends, dogs, and good spirit. We can't wait to see you.

***Non-CSA members are absolutely welcome to come!!***

What are we bringing this weekend?

We still have a few jars of honey left, but they are going fast. I also still have little 4 oz jars of mulled cider jelly left, some spiced pear jam, and — new for this week!! — HONEY MAPLE CRANBERRY SAUCE, SMOKY CHIPOTLE BERRY JAM, and OUR LOOSE LEAF CHAI TEA BLEND.

The cranberry sauce recipe I use is THE BEST. It’s a whole cranberry sauce with a smooth texture. Sweetened with my two favorite natural sweeteners, honey & maple syrup, and seasoned with cinnamon and a pinch of lemon zest, it is sublime!! Makes a perfect hostess gift for the holidays!

The smoky chipotle berry jam is a traditional blackberry jam with a hint of chipotle chili powder. It turns my ever-popular berry jam into a specialty spread that is perfect for turkey sandwiches, grown-up grilled cheese, or as an addition to your weekend charcuterie tray. This jam would pair excellently with gouda, goat cheese, or Brie. I’m offering it in little 4 oz jars — a perfect size for sampling.

My loose leaf chai tea blend is back on the menu too! Just in time for cooler weather! Stock up!! (My favorite way to sweeten it is to use honey, of course, but maple syrup works wonderfully too.