Join Us at the Sharrott Winery Harvest Festival!

The best way to wind down these last days of summer is with music and wine! Join us at the

Sharrott Winery Harvest Festival
August 28 & 29
12:00 to 5:00 pm
This Fall Festival in the Vineyard celebrates the coming harvest at the Outer Coastal Plain's newest grower and producer of fine wines.

•Bring the family, a blanket and lawn chairs
•Live music both days
•Face painters and activities for the kids
•Local food and Crafts

The Sharrott Winery is a relatively new vineyard in New Jersey - but it certainly making a name for itself! This year they won 5 gold medals, 1 Best of Class, 3 silvers and 2 bronze medals in international wine competitions.

Not only are their wines wonderful, but they throw a great party!

Both days of the Harvest Festival will feature wine, food, craft - like Celtic Chairde Creations! - and music. Saturday the Matt Noffsinger Band will keep the place rocking. And Sunday is none other than the wonderful Shorty Long and the Jersey Horns.

So stop by for a great end of summer day.

And if you mention this post - you'll receive a free gift!

Free gift is only for in person purchases at the Sharrott Winery Harvest Festival on

August 28 and 29, 2010.

It's Wine Time! Come to the Cape May Wine Festival

Music, food, amazingly wonderful New Jersey wines and a spectacular view are just the beginnings of the Cape May Wine Festival. This is the last of the festivals sponsored by the Garden State Wine Growers Association - well, at least for the season.

Join us!

CAPE MAY WINE FESTIVAL OCT. 10 & 11 CAPE MAY LEWES FERRY TERMINAL, Cape May, NJ October 10 & 11 from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Tickets for the festival are $20 a person at the gate. Advance tickets for the festival can be purchased only at the association web site for $18 a person. A discount price of $16 per person is available for bus groups and group sales of 15 or more.

We always have a wonderful time at the wine festivals, and the cool autumn days are perfect for a picnic on the terminal grounds. Celebrate the bountiful harvest and growing wine industry of New Jersey! There will be craft vendors (like ourselves) as well as a wonderful selection of food and wines. Bring a chair and spend the day!

It's Grand Harvest Festival Time at Alba Vineyards

Autumn, the time of harvest and celebration. Cool, crisp days that may require a sweater of light jacket, but don't chase you in side. These are days to revel in natures beauty. How best to celebrate? Does sitting on the grounds of a vast vineyard, enjoying an amazing selection of award winning wines, listening to terrific music while enjoying a variety of yummy food offerings and browsing fine crafts and vendors sound good?

Then join us at the

GRAND HARVEST WINE FESTIVAL
October 3 & 4 from noon to 5:00 p.m.

at Alba Vineyard, Village of Finesville, Milford, NJ

This is one of the most fun filled wine events of the season. It takes place at the lovely Alba Vineyards in Hunterdon County. Entertaining the crowd with be the always lively and entertaining VooDUDEs. The event is sponsored by the Garden State Wine Growers Association, and over 20 vineyards from around the state are expected to participate. Admission is $20, which gets you a wrist band and wine tasting glass. If you aren't planning on drinking, admission is $10.

We're excited to be going to this wonderful all out party. And even if it rains, we'll be there having a great time. Hope you'll join us!

Count Down to Herb Day - Preserve the Harvest

As we approach the end of the harvest season, that age old question comes to mind - now what do I do with all these herbs?

There are a number of methods to keep the taste of summer going all year long. Below are some quick suggestions to help you keep the flavor and fragrance of your herbs until you start harvesting next seasons crops.

The North Carolina State University website has some wonderful guidelines for harvesting your herbs at their peak.

Freezing: I use one of two methods for freezing herbs. One is to rinse them off, then roll them in paper towel to dry them off. Discard that paper towel and place a new one in a zip lock bag and freeze. Then when you need fresh herbs, break off a hunk and use! Another method is to coarsely chop the herbs. Place them into an ice cube tray and barely cover with water. Freeze and use when needed!

Drying: I have some wonderful friends. Last Christmas time they gave me a wonderful dehydrator. I use it for flowers, fruits, and herbs.

If you don't have a dehydrator, try drying them the old fashioned way. Take bunches of your favorite herb. Tie the ends together and hand in a cool, dry place with good air circulation. A closet or the attic are good places to do this. Drying in this manner works really well with lavender, chives, dill, sage and thyme.

If you are lucky enough to have a gas oven, you can also dry your herbs by laying them out on a layer of paper towels that have been placed on a cookie sheet. Let them sit on the lowest rack of the oven to dry.

Preserve in oils or vinegars: Infusing oils and vinegars with the fresh taste of summer herbs is easy and fun.

For more information about preserving herbs, check out this great article in the Herb Companion, and start saving all of your hard work!

Count Down to Herb Day - A Touch of Polish with Horsetail

Horsetail, also known as shavegrass, dates back to prehistoric times. It's a basic plant, whose delicate looking stems are sturdier than you'd imagine. Don't let it's simple appearance fool you - it is a true work horse that is packed with silica crystals.

Although it prefers damp, swampy areas, it's quite adaptable to a variety of soil and light conditions. I have small stand of these interesting reeds growing in my garden, and their stately presences is a real treat. But they can get to be invasive, so I have to watch these wondering wonders.

Shavegrass was once use the sander of choice for wood workers and pewter smiths. Just gather a bunch of the reeds and tie the ends together and you have a fine sander that gives wood and metals an beautiful patina. I've seen walking sticks that have been polished with horsetail that were so smooth and silken to the touch, it was hard to believe a simple herb did this. Whenever I chip a nail while I'm gardening

(which is more often than I'd like to admit), I grab a piece of horsetail and use it as a nail file.

The silica properties in Horsetail also make it a wonderful addition to hair rinses. It's a key ingredient on our Mela Tae Bright and Moon Hair Rinses.

I've never tried using Shavegrass in a tea, although it is said that it is said that it is a good diuretic and antispasmodic.

To find out more about this herb that adds a dramatic touch to your garden, check out Well Sweep Herb Farm, or A Modern Herbal.

The Nip of Crisp Air Marks the Change of the Season

The light has subtly changed. There's a briskness in the air. Blankets come our for snuggling under in the evening. The days are growing shorter - but candles come out to warm and lighten the night. It's autumn, and it's wonderful.

I love this time of year. The Autumn Equinox the other day marked the beginning of the dark season, but there's such a rush to the end of the calender year, that it's not so bad. After all, tis harvest season - one of the yummiest seasons of them all.

Right now my home is filled with the smell of warm apples getting ready to be made into Lughnasa Butter (apples, fall raspberries and currants - yum!) Very soon I'll be picking pumpkins to carve into dozens of scary and festive scenes for Halloween. Some will be saved for Pumpkin Butter, pumpkin pies and cakes and cookies, and of course our Honey Pumpkin Face Mask. Even the veggies know the time has come. They've suddenly put on that last burst of ripening to fill my table with tomatoes, zucchini and peppers.

The herbs are drawing the bees as I finally let them flower before harvesting them up for the long winter. The rush is on to finish up the gardening and gathering before frost and winter make us huddle up in our homes.

The moral of this story - get out there and enjoy! Season's pass quickly so watch for those leaves changing, celebrate the warm days, and enjoy the change that is Autumn!