November 29, 2012

Our Shop readied for the Open House 2012

The wreaths are ready and the shop is setup for the upcoming Holiday Open House.  A few last items need to be made to complete our preparations.  Luckily we are not getting any of the drenching rain from the west coast.  The weather will be seasonal which is good.  Remember our wreath greens are all freshly cut after hard frosts set the needles so they will hold on the branches for months.  You can even use them indoors and they will maintain the needles and great green color through the New Year in most cases.

HOURS this WEEKEND will be: 9 am to 4 pm Sat Dec 1st and 10 am to 4 pm Sun Dec 2nd

We still have 2 more Farmers Markets this year in Newburyport Ma.  Sunday Dec 9th and Sunday Dec 23rd both from 9am to 1pm

November 23, 2012

Hope you all had a wonderfully Happy Thanksgiving.  We’ve been working on our traditional day after meals.  Breakfast – apple pie, lunch – turkey sandwiches and dinner turkey, gravy , potatoes, peas and stuffing of course. Mom and I spent the day putting the prepped decorations on the real wreaths today and we have 15 done so far.  Here are a couple to check out.  Lots more to do this week and plenty of maple products to get packaged and ready too.

Williamsburg style fruit wreath

Frosted greens and cones with a cheery Cardinal

November 14, 2012

Holiday Open House 2012

Sat Dec 1st 9am – 4pm           Sun Dec 2nd 10am – 4pm

Hope you can drop by on Dec 1st or 2nd for our Holiday event.  Brian has been working for a week already making wreaths.  Friday he’ll make his second trip north for more prime balsam greens.  Here are a few photos from years past showing some wreaths to give you the flavor of what we will have to select from.

 

November 9, 2012

The holidays are coming fast.  In 2 weeks we’ll all be stuffed as full as those turkeys we’ll be enjoying.  Can’t wait myself to tuck into the mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy too.  Not to mention the traditionally amazing selection of desserts.  It’s not Thanksgiving in our family without Great Grammy Thurston’s Bread Pudding with Hard Sauce.  Yum-O!

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE 

Dec. 1st and 2nd we’ll host our annual Open House featuring our own handmade balsam Holiday wreaths.  Brian went to Whitefield on Tuesday to cut the first batch of greens.  The mountains had a pretty frosted glow in the bright sun that day.  The wreath selection is varied and a few sizes are available.  Some just for Christmas, some whimsical, some with glitz.  Some are just simple with cones and berries (You know, like the famous mail order place but priced much less!).  We’ll have swags and a few kissing balls too.  And of course we’ll have plenty of maple syrup and other maple goodies for gift giving along with Maple Gift Baskets ready to go.

New Hours for the Holiday Season

Now that the Farmers Markets are pretty much done we will be opening from 12-4pm on Mondays and Fridays for folks to come by.  As always we can open on demand with just a phone call to Brian to be sure someone can open the shop up for you.  Tel 603-370-0908.

October 7, 2012

Happy Fall Y’all.  This is a wonderful time of year here in New England that I don’t think I could ever live without.  The colors on the trees, rustling leaves, the change in the air and the earthy smell of the season all seem to feed a need in my soul.  And of course there is always Halloween.  I think perhaps it’s my favorite holiday.  This year we have joined the Chester Scarecrow Clan by adding our “Jenness Beach Surf Club’ Member perched on the nose of a surfboard riding a thigh-high set (of leaves).  Not many will expect a surfer instead of a sugar maker!

Sept. 1, 2012

Hope you all have been having a good summer.  We’ve been busy with markets and the garden.  On August 10th we welcomed the arrival of our 3rd grandchild, a little girl named Allie.  And we went on vacation Aug 20th to Quebec.

Tadoussac, Quebec is a location actually better well known in Europe than NH for whale watching.  It’s a fabulous place. There is a coastal route along the St. Lawrence river called the Whale Route where you can find places to watch whales from land.  The unique thing about this town is it’s location at the mouth of the Saguenay fjord.  The rich water from the fjord mixing with the water in the St. Lawrence makes for abundant feed for whales and other ocean life.  Within the first 2 hours in town we went to a location called the ‘Dunes’ which looks down on the bay and we saw a humpback who the locals have named Blizzard.

The next day we went out on a whale watch in a mid-sized zodiac.  Within 10 minutes we were watching Minke whales surfacing, a group of about 150-200 grey seals feeding and Northern Gannets diving out of the sky into the water after fish.  It was awesome.  Over the next 2 1/2 hours we saw more Minkes, the humpback Blizzard, at least 2 different blue whales (yes they are the biggest ones!), harbor porpoises and a mother and calf Finback whale and a Beluga whale.  The St. Lawrence and Saguenay fjord are home to a population of the white whales year round.  We also got to see many of them in the fjord waters and the morning of our departure from the B&B in Tadoussac where we were staying.  At 7 am we were having our last breakfast and 4 belugas came into the river mouth because of the change in the tides to feed.  So we were able to watch them while eating breakfast. Not bad!  Later on our travels we also spotted a Pilot whale off the coast of the Gaspe peninsula on our way to Perce. It was just the kind of vacation we were looking for.  Had perfect weather everyday, camped a couple of times during the week and got to see some beautiful areas in Quebec and through New Brunswick and northern Maine on our way home.

This area is surprisingly close.  It’s an easy 2 day drive but can be made in one day of you are used to long drives.