Another Visit to the Wonderful Herb Fair at John Jay Homestead
Down the road from my farm in Bedford is the 62-acre John Jay Homestead Historic State Park. John Jay, (1745 to 1829), of course, was one of America's principal founding fathers. He was a co-author of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the revolutionary War, and also the Federalist Papers, which aided ratification of the US Constitution. He served as president of the Continental Congress, as US Secretary for Foreign Affairs, first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, and as the second governor of New York State. In 1801, after his distinguished career in public service, John Jay retired to Bedford, where he created a comfortable home and a working farm. After his death, this profitable farm was looked after by four succeeding generations of the Jay family, before it was declared a State Historic Site. The grounds are used for many wonderful events, including last week’s 64TH annual herb fair, sponsored by the New York Unit of the Herb Society of America, which maintains a fabulous herb garden on the site.
1 The John Jay Homestead is located right down the road from my farm.
2 This is the John Jay Homestead main house, which looks much the same as it did when completed in 1801. John Jay lived here for the last twenty-nine years of his life.
3 The herb fair is a very popular gathering.
4 The herb fair is always held beneath a tent, although the weather was quite splendid.
5 Money raised at this fair helps to support many gardens.
6 The pantry section always has delicious home-made products for sale.
7 There are many varieties of jams, jellies, canned fruits, and dried herbs.
8 All sorts of pickles, chutneys, and relishes
9 And many flavored vinegars
10 These vinegars are infused with herbs.
11 Bags of Gingery Granola
12 The pantry items sell out fast!
13 Of course, there were fresh herbs for sale.
14 Fennel
15 Amaranthus
16 Flavorful chives
17 And fragrant lavender
18 Vivian Utko was there to answer horticulture questions.
19 The Herb Society of America chose rose hips as their "herb" of the year.
20 Shirley Lindefjeld, runs a company called Woolworks. www.sustainablewool.com
21 They raise sheep and turn the wool into lovely yarn. This is undyed yarn.
22 But they also use a variety of flowers, plants, trees, and insects to make natural dyes.
23 This pink yarn was died with rose hips.
24 Black walnut and indigo
25 Beets
26 Red onion skins
27 Pomegranate
28 And black walnut
29 There is even a New York Unit member who had a herb garden in England.
30 Charming little baskets of herbs and peppers
31 Fragrant lavender sachets
32 And lavender dryer bags
33 These handmade sachet covers were filled with lavender.
34 There was even herbal bedbug repellent! - Eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender, and cloves
35 Attractive beeswax candles
36 Dried rosie sprays
37 Elizabeth Van Bront's very fragrant potpourri is always popular.
38 The New York Unit has their own herbal cookbook for sale.
39 D.J. Haverkamp from Bedford Bee Honeybee Service is a fixture at the herb fair. www.bedfordbee.com
40 He always brings a frame of live bees behind glass, of course.
41 His local honey is dark and delicious.
42 Honeycomb in vacuumed sealed pouches
43 D.J. was selling a lot of honey.
44 There were also many nice baked goods for sale - Zucchini Tea Cake.
45 Anise cookies
46 Lemon poppy seed bread
47 The raffle prizes are really good every year.
48 People were lining up for chances.
49 Alexandra was there representing my friend Sal Gilberti of Gilberti's Herbs.
50 Sal has a new line of herbs and greens called Petite Edibles, which are excellent! www.petiteedibles.com
51 Amawalk Farm was selling their amazing garlic, a large stiff-neck variety called Porcelain Music.
52 This is a garlic head grader and you can see how large the garlic is.
53 Lunch at the fair is quite popular and people love the lovage soup.
54 This was the line for the soup.
55 Tables were set under the trees.
56 Spiros Exaras provided pleasant background music.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
What a great place!
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | September 24th, 2012 at 12:34 am
Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | September 24th, 2012 at 8:24 am
It's always a treat to attend the NY Unti of the Herb Society and this year topped them all. Obvious a lot of work and effort goes into this. Had a great time. Thank you.
Posted by: cheryl carter | September 24th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Hi Martha, I'm doing another comment now and I hope it goes through! I love this blog you shared with us today all about your latest visit to the Wonderful Herb Fair at John Jay Homestead! I recall you going there before and this time is even better to see! The historical part you told us is fascinating and your photos are fantastic-I love everyone of them! Was nice to see those 2 websites, also! I loved seeing John Jay's Homestead and it it a beautiful home! You must have had a wonderful time at that herb fair and I'll bet you got lots of great items to take home! I have never seen such a beautiful herb fair and would love to visit it some day! Everything they were selling from homemade items, Herbs, wool yarns, lavender, herbal bedbug repellant, DJ's honey, the baked goods, garlic, and the lunches looks so great and I would like it all! Spiros Exaras must have had fun playing his music for all of you! Thanks so much for sharing this delightful, beautiful, wonderful blog today! It's a wonderful way for me to start the day! Hope you have another great day! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | September 24th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Martha you have to be the most luckiest person in the world to live in a town like that ,I wish I could be there myself but you bring your world to us so i guess thats about as wonderful as it gets.
Posted by: MICHELLE GILES | September 24th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Being a huge fan of our Founding Fathers, thanks for the shots of the John Jay homestead. Has your magazine featured historic kitchen gardens in any articles? Old Salem,NC certainly doesn't compete with Monticello...brings to mind some of the good gardening practices we can learn from historic gardens. What a pretty day ya'll had!
Posted by: Bruce Boon | September 24th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
looks like so much fun....the gorgeous yarns, the little herb platters, and of course my favorite to grow, lavender...just wish they didn't have these things on weekdays...our local garden clubs just had a flower show...Buzzards Bay, and Little Compton...but it was a Friday til 3! I am such an avid gardener...but I teach and could not get there
perhaps it's time for me to start my own flower/garden show!
Posted by: Nantucket Daffodil | September 24th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
It's a mutual admiration society. The units which make up the Northeast District of the Herb Society of America were treated to a tour of your Bedford farm several years ago. We enjoyed it so very much. You had beautiful vegetables, trees, and flowers. It was hard o go home to my little patch. We truly appreciate the publicity for the fair via your blog. It is a small country fair for which members produce most of the products (including fennel pollen shortbread cookies from your recipe!) We also plant, maintain and harvest the Herb Garden. All of us are volunteers and we donate our home made products to the fair. That people enjoy it is wonderful to hear. It keeps us going.
Posted by: Tyler Jenner | September 24th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Always fun to see an herb fair around the country and at such an historical venue. It looks like it was full of herbal goodies. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.
Posted by: Lemon Verbena Lady | September 25th, 2012 at 10:52 am
Can't seem to find your show. Are you still on hallmark? What days and what times for the east coast? Thanks. Looking forwardto finding you again.
Posted by: barb elford | September 27th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
What a beautiful partnership between a historic institution and a beloved group doing good work!
Posted by: Karen | October 20th, 2012 at 2:39 pm