Justamere Tree Farm Blog

Work Hard, Play Hard

We finished processing about 90 cords of firewood. Now this week we begin delivering firewood as orders come in.

We are also mowing and weedwacking around our 14,000 x-mas trees on our farm. We’ve had plenty of moisture this past spring for the x-mas trees to put on extra growth.

We will be canning syrup this week and also starting to make more of our maple products such as candies, maple cream and maple walnuts and peanuts. We have a fair on Nantucket called The Nantucket Folk Art and Artisan Show coming up in July. I will let you know more about that later.

J.P. completed his first Century Ride. He rode to Vermont, New Hampshire and back with friends. J.P. said, he  wasn’t sure which felt better - having all the firewood cut and split or finishing the 100 mile bike ride!!

Perfect summer evening

We had company over on Sunday and I served a Summer Spinach and Strawberry Salad which was delicious along with Shish ke bobs which were marinated in a red wine sauce with Grade B syrup added to it. Everyone raved about the salad and shish ke bobs. Since it is spinach and strawberry time of year I will pass along this recipe. Its definitely worth trying if you have access to fresh spinach in your garden and strawberries. I purchased my strawberries from the farmers market and had abundant supply of spinach from my garden.

Summer Spinach and Strawberry Salad

4 cups washed and dried spinach leaves

1 pt strawberries, washed, hulled, and quartered

½ cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

½ cup feta cheese crumbled ( I substituted with cranberry goat cheese from the market which was wonderful.)

Raspberry Orange Vinaigrette

1/4 cup each canola and olive oil

1/3 cup raspberry vinegar

2 TB orange juice

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Combine vinaigrette ingredients and whisk well.

Toss salad ingredients with ½ cup vinaigrette

Transfer to platter or individual dishes. Serve vinaigrette on the side. Serves 4-6.

I found there to be extra dressing so I just saved it and used it on spinach the following day.

Marinating Sauce

Olive Oil, Red Wine, Maple Syrup,(Grade B) Rosemary,.salt and pepper, fresh garlic and tamari. I do not have measurements for this but from my experience I know you cannot go wrong with these ingredients.Have fun experimenting!

Fast And Simple Maple Tips

Justameres Pure Maple Syrup is the simple to-use secret ingredient that is sure to excite everyone.

1. Grill and glaze fresh salmon
2. Top off favorite ice cream
3. Sweeten a bowl of oatmeal
4. Enliven grapefruit halves
5. Make glazed carrots or green beans
6. Mix in your cereal or granola
7. Glaze a juicy baked ham
8. Add a sweetness to ice tea or coffee
9. Great in marinades
10. Enhance whipped cream