Justamere Tree Farm Blog

Choosing The Best Sweeper and High Heights

We went to Roseland Cottage last week-end and both days were beautiful fall days. Numerous people returned once again to this great event and as always there were plenty of new faces. These two people in the photo, one being a friend Robert, were deciding which handmade brooms felt the best. After sweeping with several different ones they each made their personnel decision. We always encourage people to handle our brooms and find just the right one, because each handmade broom is unique and can feel differently.

J.P. put up a new stack on the sugar house this week with the aid of a lift, as you can see in the photo. He had a spectacular view of our colorful hillside. The colors today were especially brilliant with an overcast sky. The rains this evening will take a lot of leaves down. We welcome the rain tho.

I am beginning to put the garden to rest and prepare ground for my garlic beds. We will have enough garlic for the winter and I will plant in my beds the largest of my crop that I harvested in July. It feels good to dig in the garden once again before winter sets in.

Enjoy these warm fall days!

Treehouse with Broom and Roseland Cottage Arts and Crafts Festival

We received a email today from C. Hutto, a woman who purchased a Traditional Broom from us and is using it in her tree house! We wanted to share a picture that she sent to us. The Handcrafted Traditional Broom with the sassafras handle and natural broomcorn complement the detailed vine work done on the treehouse. She wrote that she loves using her broom and how it looks next to her treehouse. Janice Shields, owner of Cut It Out, a business committed to recycling invasive species to craft practical and decorative structures for the garden did the creative vine work.

We will be leaving for Woodstock CT this Friday to attend the Roseland Cottage Arts and Crafts Festival which is being held on October 13^th and 14^th. We will be selling our Pure Maple Syrup Products and Handcrafted Early American and Shaker Brooms. We have been doing this fair for several years now and always look forward to seeing a lot of people that we know and enjoy all the new people we meet.

Check for more events at other locations on our website. www.justameretreefarm.com

Country Fair and Pumpkin Pie Recipe with Maple Syrup

We attended Ambler Farm Days over the week-end. It was a beautiful fall day and the farm had many activities for the families. J.P. and I were very busy sharing about our farm and selling our wares.

I did slip away to take a couple pictures. My favorite is the milking cow which explains itself. The kids were fascinated by it all and someone was kept busy filling the jug behind the scene with milk!

Also at our own table 2 young girls bought a jar of Pure Maple Cream and Maple Coated Peanuts. They could not wait to open the jar and stick their fingers in the maple cream for a luscious lick. Their faces were gleaming with maple delight. They had wished they bought the larger jar!

People loved our fireplace brooms especially at this fair. A lot of people in the area had several fireplaces in their homes and could make use of these brooms. They seemed to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into each broom.

I want to share my pumpkin pie recipe that uses Pure Maple Syrup from Justamere Tree Farm.

PUMPKIN PIE WITH MAPLE SYRUP

1. 3 cups pumpkin puree

2. 3/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup (Grade A Dark Amber or Grade B)

3. 2 Tbs. Molasses

4. 1/4 tsp. Powdered cloves

5. 3 tsp. Cinnamon

6. 11/2 tsp. Ginger

7. 1 tsp. Salt

8. 4 eggs, slightly beaten

9. 2 cups scalded milk

Mix in order given. Pour into favorite pie shell and bake about 40-60 minutes at 375 degrees, or till set. Serve with ice cream or heavy cream. Add maple syrup or maple sugar to sweeten whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Ambler Farm Day and Geese overhead

 

We will be attending The Seventh Annual Ambler Farm Day on Sunday, September 30^th, in Wilton CT. This event is held at 257 Hurlbutt Street from noon-4pm. It is a family event with fall activities for everyone. We will be selling our Pure Maple Syrup Products and Handcrafted Brooms.

On Sunday we attended a fair in Easton CT. I took two pictures of J.P. demonstrating. People stopped by throughout the day and watched and listened to J.P. tell the story of broom making. As you see in one photo these children posed for the photo shoot. Kids are always interested in broom making and some even know how to sweep with a broom and do enjoy it. They are fascinated with the ideal that they are sweeping with a sassafras handle and actual broomcorn for the sweeping part. J.P. always draws a crowd wherever he is demonstrating.

On the farm this past week, we heard overhead the first flock of geese and also the leaves are beginning to turn warm colors of fall in the Berkshires. I will post my pumpkin pie recipe next time using pure maple syrup from Justamere Tree Farm. Enjoy the fall colors.

Fall Country Festival and Life on the farm

We are doing a great event in Easton, CT this Sunday, September 23rd. This craft fair will be held at the Easton Firemen’s Field. We will be attending the fair with our Handcrafted Early American and Shaker Brooms. Also we will have our Maple Syrup products to purchase. This fair is well attended and it is always fun to see all the fine crafts for sell. We are busy here on the farm handcrafting brooms for this show. J.P. will also be demonstrating broom making at this event.

On the farm we are delivering firewood as the nights cool down and the days are getting shorter. We did split all the wood over the summer, so now we load it onto the truck and make our deliveries.

I am busy in the gardens these days as well. I am thinking about where I will be planting my garlic this fall. We always plant enough garlic to get through the winter and into spring. It is the best! It is planted in the fall so the ground needs to be prepared for planting by mid to late October here in the Berkshires. I will be digging up my potatoes this month as well. We have a root cellar that I will store them in. It is great to stock up with all the wonderful foods from my garden as well as other organic produce I purchase. We are fortunate to live where we do.

Enjoy the beautiful fall days.

Maple Carrot Cake and Justamere Tree Farms Maple Cream Frosting

Maple Carrot Cake- Preheat oven 350 degrees for 45 minutes

1. 1 cup Justamere Tree Farms maple syrup

2. 1 cup sugar

3. ½ cup vegetable oil

4. 4 large eggs

5. 2 cups flour

6. 2 tsp. Baking powder

7. 2 tsp. Baking soda

8. ½ tsp. Cinnamon

9. 1/4 tsp. Ground ginger

10. 3 cups grated organic carrots

11. ½ cup chopped walnuts

12. ½ cup raisins(optional)

Whisk together maple syrup, sugar and vegetable oil. Add 4 eggs one at a time to liquid. Gradually add to liquid all dry ingredients. Stir in carrots and add walnuts and raisins.

Pour into 2- 8 inch greased and floured cake pans. Cool and frost with maple cream frosting.

Maple Cream Frosting

1. 1- 8 oz. Jar of Justamere Tree Farms maple cream

2. 1 stick butter

3. 1 package cream cheese

4. 1 cup powdered sugar

5. 4 oz. Unsweetened chocolate(optional) Melt in double boiler

Mix all ingredients together till smooth and creamy. Enough frosting for a layer cake.

~Can use more powdered sugar if want sweeter. Also can vary chocolate according to taste.

Enjoy!

Preserving food with maple syrup and maple sugar

With reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (highly recommend) just reaffirms what we believe in. We are busy putting up food in our freezer. I bought a big box of peaches at the Amherst Farmers Market yesterday and will slice them, add Justameres maple syrup and in the freezer they will go for this winter. Also I have been busy picking blueberries at a neighbors and have been cooking them down with Justameres maple sugar added. It turns into a wonderful blueberry sauce which will be good on most everything this cold winter.

I will add my carrot cake recipe and maple cream frosting in my next entry. Carrots are plentiful this time of year!

P.S. Be sure to check out Justamere Tree Farms new look on our web site. We have been busy for several weeks working on this. Enjoy!

Shearing and wildlife at Justamere Tree Farm

We have a few week-ends without craft shows, and we are trying to get caught up on the farm. I will continue to go to the farmers market in Amherst, MA every Saturday.

Here is a picture of J.P. next to a Fraser Fir tree that he is just beginning to shear. We are busy shearing our 14,000 x-mas trees. We do it all by hand using a shearing knife and clippers. All our trees get sheared once a year. This tree in the photo will be ready to sell this coming x-mas season. We are having a excellent growing season with plenty of rainfall.

Last week we saw lots of wildlife on our farm. In our pond for several days two otters were playing and making themselves at home in our pond. They were very cute to watch.

J.P. was hiking through our property and heard raucous nearby. It was a big shiny coated black bear digging around a stump.

Then one evening we saw off our porch a deer and its fawn grazing in our x-mas trees.

We love seeing wildlife on our land. They seem to enjoy the woods, cleared land, pond and stream. It’s a great place for them and us to live!

Maple Nuts

This is the Maple Nut recipe alot of you have asked for.

1. 8 lbs. walnuts, cashews, pecans or peanuts
2. 1/2 gallon Justamere tree farms pure maple syrup

Boil the syrup to 258 degrees and then pour over nuts and stir immediately till crystallized.( 5-10 minutes)

Easy Blueberry Syrup Recipe!

1. 1cup Pure Maple Sugar from Justamere Tree Farm
2. 2 Tbls. cornstarch
3. 1 cup water
4. 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
5. 1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix  maple sugar, cornstarch and gradually add water. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir about 1 minute. Serve warm over pancakes, ice cream, waffles and etc. Enjoy!

P.S. This week I will also post  our recipe for Maple Nuts. Be sure to check back with Justamere Tree Farms  Blog.