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!!

September 2, 2022

Labor Day Sale!

Hereford Farm Market is tomorrow! 9:00 to noon. We’ll be there with fresh cut zinnias, home-harvested honey, fruit jams, smoky-spicy applesauce, and artisan suncatchers.

If you buy honey, flowers, or a suncatcher, you get $2.00 off one of our homemade jams AND zinnias are $1.00 each (min $5.00 purchase; the jar is included).

Tomorrow may be the last day I sell flowers at HFM this year, so if you want a Windtree Bee cottage bouquet, don’t wait to stop by our table!! 😀

Mandi’s back too, and she’ll have her adorable knitted pumpkins available. Look for our “Hats & Honey” banner, across from the Contented Rooster at HFM tomorrow — 17004 York Road, Parkton, Maryland.

August 26, 2022August 26, 2022

We have honey! and flowers!!

The Summer 2022 honey harvest has been filtered, bottled, labeled, and is ready for sale!! As always, its taste is unique to this particular summer and we won’t have it for long. Every year, we sell out, so if you want it — please stop by our market table soon!

We didn’t enter our honey in the State Fair this year because we were moving our daughters into college. Both of them are at school now, which means I’ll need to muddle through Instagram solo now. Hahaha! 😉

Ellie is at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC

After a slow start, the flower garden I planted for the bees is finally blooming. This means, for a short time only, I’ll have beautiful Mason jar bouquets for sale at the market.

I’m not a professional flower grower, seller, or arranger. But I get so much joy out of my tiny flower garden. It’s full of pollinators — honeybees (of course), bumble bees, moths, and butterflies. Saw my first monarch of the season today, which made me happy!

Our Mason jar bouquets have zinnias in them. That’s it. But they’re pretty and every jar you buy supports our queens and their hives — remember Elphaba, Buffy, Cleo, Gaia, Tempest, and the rest? #supportlocalroyalty 😀

Hope to see you tomorrow at the Hereford Farm Market! We’ll be across from The Contented Rooster. Look for our Windtree Bee Banner! (Mandi has the “Hats & Honey” banner, but won’t be there tomorrow.)

On sale for a limited time only! Don’t wait to buy your jar!!

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.