Remodelista is one our our favorite websites to peruse when looking for creative, thoughtful, and conscientious ways to create a home environment.  Since we spend the wide majority of our time working and living on the farm, keeping Justamere a clean, and carefully considered space is part of our daily work routine.

Nonetheless it was actually our daughter Anna who forwarded us a link to a recent Remodelista article that spolights our Traditional brooms.  A great resource for the most up and coming in eco-friendly and aesthetic cleaning tools, Remodelista editor Janet’s “10 Easy Pieces:  Editors’ Essential Cleaning Tools,” will help you gear up with everything you need to tackle your spring cleaning with chic.”

We had a great time this past weekend at the 2012 Maryland Sheep & Woolcraft Festival!  It was so much fun seeing everyone’s enthusiasm for handcrafts and agriculture.  Thank you to all of our customers for making it a great show for us.  We loved seeing all the familiar faces as well as lots of new ones.

Thanks to those who were buzzing  on https://www.ravelry.com/account/login about our maple cream, we hope you all enjoyed the samples and were able to take some home with you to enjoy! We will be sure to bring more next year for all of you who missed out. Remember you can order on our website  and have the MAPLE CREAM shipped to your door by going to our website! https://justameretreefarm.com/maplesyrup/

Here are some snap shots that encompass Justamere’s time at the MSWCF.

This young woman jumped on Justamere's brooms as soon as she saw them!

This young lady found the perfect broom to purchase for her very own cleaning!

Loved the brooms and the way they swept!

We’re looking forward to another lovely start to spring at this fun family festival!

The 39th Annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

May 5 & 6, 2012
Saturday 9 – 6
Sunday 9 – 5
(Always the first full weekend in May)

Come join us for a fun-filled weekend of live animals, crafts and supplies, entertainment and more. Check out our schedule and events pages for more details about the Festival. We look forward to seeing you!

☼

Howard County Fairgrounds
2210 Fairground Road
West Friendship, MD
21794-9604

MORE INFORMATION on the MD Sheep & Wool website.

Maple Lovers at the Market

 It’s that time of year again!

The sounds of birds, peeping frogs, and the popping up of spring flowers are all delightful first signs of the growing season ahead, and with it a fresh Farmer’s Market season.  We love sharing our Pure Maple Syrup Products and Handcrafted Brooms with new maple lovers and sweepers each year, and always look forward to seeing old friends from past seasons.

It’s hard to believe that our first farmer’s market for 2012 will be THIS SATURDAY, April 21st 7:30-1:30 in the parking lot next to Amherst Common. 

Sweet smiles at the Amherst Farmers Market

The Amherst Market will continue every Saturday 7:30-1:30 until Thanksgiving.  Find the schedule for the rest of our markets posted below, or on the events page of our website!

Fresh food, fun, and farmers.  Stop by and say hello to Justamere Tree Farm at our markets this season!

J.P. and I took a field trip on Saturday and delivered Maple Syrup to our wholesale customers.  Our first stop was Hawthorne Valley Farm Store– a 400 acre Biodynamic farm in Central Columbia County, New York.  We love this store and what it offers.  You can purchase really fine cheeses and lacto fermented products made right there, and meats grown and raised biodinamically their on the farm. 

One extra special thing about Hawthorne Valley is their very own saurkraut cellar.  Check it out!

Next we visited Hillsdale General Store  in Hillsdale, New York.  There’s lots of beautiful and fun things to admire here, and they carry our handcrafted brooms!  Take a look around this homey space and spot Justamere’s brooms in this panoramic video of the store.

Our final stop was Bash Bish Falls.  This beautiful waterfall located in Southwestern New York is quite a sight, and the visit was a refreshing ending to a fun, busy day.  Their are some great hiking and walking trails around the falls, and lots of state forest land to enjoy.  Definitely worth the trip!

Bash Bish Falls

The sugaring season is really getting into the swing of it now here in the Berkshires.  Here at Justamere we’ve had several very successful boils, and are looking forward to plenty of syrup to come!  Here’s a visual timeline of what happens on our farm to turn raw maple sap into Pure Maple Syrup!

Raw sap dripping from the tap in a Maple Tree

The sap is boiled down in our woodfire evaporator. We stoke the fire to keep the sap at a rapid boil so that water leaves the sap quickly!

Once the syrup is thick enough and sweet enough we do a "draw off" and open a valve that releases the syrup into a stainless steel pail.

The fresh syrup is pumped through a filter press, insuring that the Pure Maple Syrup has a smooth, syrupy taste.

The filtered syrup is pumped into a 40 gallon stainless steel drum, and stored until it's time to can it into containers for your kitchen table. Now that's a lot of syrup!

J.P., MDAR Commissioner Scott Soares and Marian

MDAR Commissioner Scott Soares taps a maple tree to signify the beginning of  the agricultural season.  It’s the start of the maple season, our first harvest of crop here in Massachusetts,” said Commissioner Scott Soares, who told the crowd who attended that aside from cranberries, maple syrup is considered a signature product of the state.

J.P. and I were thrilled to attend this event and celebrate sugar makers across Massachusetts. Let’s hope we all have a SWEET success from our farms!

Sctt Soares attaching the bucket to sugar maple that he just tapped!

Each spring as the winter snow pack melts, before the buds swell and the plows turn the soil, the first work of the season is the making of maple syrup.

John Burrough says

A sap-run is the sweet goodbye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of sun and frost.

-John Burroughs “Signs & Season” (1886)

To celebrate the maple season, try this Maple Syrup Pie!

Scrumptious and Seasonal!

Justamere's Pure Maple Syrup

Maple Pie

1  9-inch pie crust, prebaked and, ideally, warm from the oven

1  tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1½ cups Justamere’s  maple syrup,  Grade B or Dark Amber Grade A

½ cup heavy cream

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

3 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, bring maple syrup and cream to a boil and allow to boil for about 20 seconds. Turn off heat but leave pan on burner. Stir butter in to melt completely. Whisk a little bit of maple-cream mixture into the flour mixture to make a slurry and then whisk in the rest. Whisk a little of the maple-cream-flour mixture into the beaten eggs and then whisk the tempered eggs back into the maple-cream mixture until completely incorporated. Pour hot filling into warm prebaked pie shell. Bake about 50 to 60 minutes until dark golden-brown and set in the center such that a sharp knife comes out clean from the center of the pie. (Pie will settle as it cools.)

Serve at room temperature with ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche. Enjoy!

JUSTAMERE TREE FARM

Marian and J.P. Welch produce one-of-a-kind brooms and artisanal organic maple syrup products at Justamere Tree Farm in Western Massachusetts. Everything they make is beautiful in quality – the brooms are all handcrafted and they’re functional and gorgeous. Martha Stewart buys them and has documented J.P. working on them on her show. The maple syrup is made in Justamere’s sugar house, and they’ve perfected a spread called Maple Cream that’s thick, creamy and irresistible.

Attention to detail and commitment to making a quality product is their number one priority. Marian has even posted a number of recipes on their site featuring maple syrup, and we highly recommend you take a look. You can order online or find Marian and J.P. at various farmers markets throughout the Berkshires in spring, summer and fall. You can also find them on Facebook. www.justameretreefarm.com

Check out their website for more information on local products.

http://www.berkshirefoodjournal.com/shopberkshires/local-products