I always enjoy visiting local shops whenever I can. It's important to support small businesses, meet the entrepreneurs who own them, and learn about their specialties.
One of my frequent stops is Mast Market & Cafe, now in Bedford, New York - just minutes from my farm. Mast is a combination eatery and organic grocery co-founded by brothers, Rick and Michael Mast. The shop includes a coffee bar; a food counter serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts; a section for local farm fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products; and a large variety of pantry staples including their own artisanal chocolates and homemade spreads and condiments.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Mast opened in Bedford last October. It had previously been located in nearby Mt. Kisco, but due to a fire in 2023, it reopened here.
This new establishment offers menu items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On this day, lunch was warm soups and stews.
Baked goods include a selection of cookies and cakes made fresh daily.
… And there is also a warm beverage bar that offers a variety of coffees, teas, and hot chocolate.
Mast is also proud to offer its delicious organic chocolate made from simple, sustainable ingredients, and ethical sourcing. It is the same thoughtfully-made chocolate sold at Mast’s previous locations.
The Mast brothers have been selling their own chocolate since 2007. The cocoa bean is the primary ingredient in chocolate. Cocoa beans, or cacao beans, come from the Theobroma cacao tree – a fruit tree, whose name means “food of the gods”. The cacao beans, which are technically seeds, grow inside pods surrounded by a white fleshy pulp known as baba.
Mast chocolate bar flavors include dark chocolate, milk chocolate, almond butter chocolate, sea salt chocolate, oat milk chocolate, and others.
They are available in single bars as well as gift boxes – don’t forget, Valentine’s Day is just weeks away.
Mast also offers its own homemade line of spreads and condiments.
The peach jam is made from hand-picked, sun-ripened peaches.
There is also blueberry jam made with just blueberries, organic cane sugar, lime juice, and pectin.
And this is Mast’s artisanal classic Tomato Ketchup made with vine-ripened tomatoes in small batches.
On this wall, Mast lists the local farmers that provide the products sold and used.
Here’s a selection of fresh, organically grown fruits from a nearby farm.
And farm fresh milk, packaged in recyclable glass bottles.
Several aisles of pantry items and grab-and-go snacks fill the shelves.
There are also non-alcoholic beverages.
… And specialty olive oils and vinegars – all ethically sourced.
In this corner, a pleasant, light and airy dining area for guests.
If you’re ever in or around the Westchester area, I encourage you to make a stop at Mast Market & Cafe. You’ll be glad you did.
Another interesting building project is underway at my farm.
In a back corner of my farm, I have a small woodworking shop, a dedicated space where I store and use some of the equipment and tools needed for various building tasks. For the last several weeks, carpentry master Dmitri Logvinski of Logvinski Construction LLC, has been working there to create beautifully carved cedar rafter tails, or tailpieces, for an upcoming pergola restoration project. So far he's hand cut about 80 pieces - all based on a design I conceived and drew.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Up in the loft of my workshop are all the finished rafter tails. Rafter tails are also called outlookers, outriggers, lookouts, or tailpieces. They are the decorative edges where the rafters cantilever outside a pergola’s frame.
The beautiful 13-foot wooden boards I’m using are from Medford Cedar Products in Southampton, New Jersey.
Dmitri works in pairs. Here are two undone pieces of timber on the workbench.
First, Dmitri measures out the wood and determines how much to cut off at one or both ends.
Some of that decision depends on the board’s visible knots. These areas are much harder to cut through than the rest of the wood and are best left avoided if possible.
Dmitri draws the design at the end of the piece of wood using a template.
I designed this tail myself and drew it out for Dmitri. He and I agreed it was the best look for our project.
Dmitri uses a Skilsaw, or handheld power circular saw, to cut the extraneous wood off.
Then he uses a jigsaw to cut out the design. A jigsaw is another handheld power tool that cuts curves, shapes and lines in wood metal, plastic or ceramic.
Dmitri has a very steady hand. Notice he also holds the end of a vacuum hose, so the dust created is contained right away.
Any leftover pieces are saved for other projects – any ideas?
This is the wood after it is cut, but it is not done yet.
Here, Dmitri uses a belt sander to smooth out the widest areas of the wood.
He also sands down the edges. A belt sander is good for aggressively shaping and finishing the wood. It uses an electric motor and a continuous loop of sandpaper to smooth out the surfaces.
A finer sander is used next to get into smaller crevices.
Here is the tail after it’s been sanded with the portable tools.
Dmitri then uses a sanding sponge, which is a foam block wrapped with fine sandpaper. He goes over the edges again by hand to make it even smoother.
And then finally, he sands down the area with sandpaper.
Dmitri does the same process for both sides of each board. It takes time and precision to get them all complete, but each one comes out perfectly.
And here is Dmitri with one of the finished products. And it’s just the beginning. In future blogs, I’ll share the building process. Be sure to stay tuned.
Fine craftsmanship is art. It involves manual dexterity, technical knowledge, and a passion for the job. Take time to appreciate the craftspeople in your area. Thanks, Dmitri.
Another important chore that can be done during winter - pruning the berry bushes.
I love growing all kinds of berries and have been growing them for many years. I currently have large patches of red raspberries, golden raspberries, black raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. For the best yields from these plants it's crucial that some berry bushes be pruned regularly. Pruning produces larger berries in greater volumes and helps to control diseases that might otherwise spread. My gardeners pruned many of the berry bushes last week - trimming the old canes and branches back to get them ready for next season.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Fresh, homegrown berries are so delicious. I’ve been growing my own berries for years and am fortunate that all my bushes are so prolific. We harvest trays and boxes of berries every summer. These are black raspberries.
Here’s a box of red raspberries freshly picked with a sweet, tangy, and slightly tart taste. Many berries are best eaten raw, but they can be used in a variety of ways – as ingredients in jams and jellies, pies and tarts, and delicious summer juices.
One raspberry plant can produce several hundred berries in a season. I cook with them and share them with family and friends.
The currant bushes are also prolific. White currants are sweet and tart with floral undertones. Although the fruits are the primary source of food from the plant, the leaves, and tender, young shoots are also edible.
These are called champagne currants. These fruits are blushed with pink, but currants also come in dark purple, bright ruby red, and the white. Currants are still largely unknown here in the United States. They are well-loved in many other countries, and here in the US, they are slowly gaining popularity, especially because of the high antioxidant content. They are now more prevalent at local farms and home gardens.
The color of gooseberries depends on the variety. It can range from red and purple to yellow and green.
These fruits typically start ripening in late June into July. I check the bushes almost every day during these months for ready to pick berries.
But now that it’s winter and all the bushes are bare it’s a good time to prune and groom them in preparation for the next growing season.
When pruning, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew first cut all the dead, diseased, damaged, or deranged branches.
My crew always uses sharp tools, so they leave behind nice, clean cuts. If the pruners cut messily through the stems, the wounds won’t heal as quickly or as neatly.
This is where a dead branch was cut – it’s brown and woody.
Adan also thins out the center of the currant bush, so light and air can circulate properly.
And any crisscrossing branches are also removed.
Nearby, my raspberry bushes – red, golden, and black – are also pruned. These raspberries are located outside my main greenhouse where they get full sun.
Just like the currants and gooseberries, the raspberry canes cut first are those that are dead, diseased, damaged or deranged.
Black raspberries are identifiable by their purple canes. Raspberries are unique because their roots and crowns are perennial, while their stems or canes are biennial. A raspberry bush can produce fruit for many years.
Here at my farm, they are all supported at row ends by these antique Chinese granite posts I purchased. I use them for these berries as well as for my long pergola, and to hold up my apple and pear espaliers.
The heavy gauge copper wire laced through them keeps the canes up. The wire can be tightened or loosened depending on the need.
The canes are lined up along the wire to train them where to grow. Raspberry plants spread by suckers and will spread out far and wide if allowed. Unpruned raspberry bushes will still grow, but won’t yield more berries. Leaving them unpruned also makes them more prone to disease.
Most raspberry plants also have small thorns, or prickles, along their stems and canes – they are part of the rose family.
Raspberries bear fruit on two-year old canes, the canes that sprouted last season. Here, they look much better after pruning.
Here is a bed of currants after pruning. Once they are trimmed, everything looks uniform and level.
All the cut branches and canes are driven to the compost pile where they will be made into mulch. There is a lot of work to do around this busy farm all year round, but one by one the tasks are well completed.
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