The Merry Mead Gathering

With nearly 25 people in attendance for the Mead Making workshop on Saturday night and guest speaker Greg Fink at the helm, the farm was a rockin' good place to be for feasting, fellowship and the flowing of fine fermented beverages! A truly great time was had by all. It was a glorious evening by the gardens, as well, and a bit cooler outside than in the Farm at Coventry kitchen packed with bodies enjoying the finest of Greg's tasty wares. For my Kansas connoisseur: I served strudel with the sweet dessert mead, chocolate brownies with the dry blackberry melomel (couldn't help my chocolate craving regardless of the expert recommendation) and fresh herbed goat cheese with the sparkling apple cyser. There was also an excellent plum mead that was my own personal favorite.
Greg brought along a few of his mead horns that were beautifully carved by a friend. He shared the proper holding technique of the mead-filled horn so as not to suffer the dreaded backslash burp and wet shirt that results from holding it the wrong way! A heathen faux' paux to be sure.
We were also greatly excited by the last minute news that our very own bee-wrangling bud, Trey, would be in attendance for the event, selling the first honey harvested from the Farm at Coventry colonies in the back 40!! He was happy to report a harvest of over 600 pounds with still more to glean from the remaining hives. We purchased a 5 gallon bucket in anticipation of our own mead making excursion and were gifted a case of raw honey for home use. It is sublime. I swear I taste shades of catnip and anise hyssop in the mix...those little bees are certainly workin' it hard.
Even more precious, if that is possible, was the beautiful beeswax that Trey was able to take away from that 600 lbs of honey...only 2 pounds, believe it or not, but it is the finest gold I could imagine. I put it on a pedestal in the center of the feating table for all to admire. Take a lookey see... I think I see a special bee-keeper's salve in Trey's future. Hey, move over, Burt. Oh it isn't Burt's Bees anymore, is it? It's Clorox's Bees now. I prefer to keep my salve making to small batches, made with hand harvested plants and fine beeswax such as this. Can't imagine that kind of superior quality when you're projecting $500 million a year. Keeping it real and small here on the farm...better to know folks like this, bringing together good home grown food, swapping cool tales and ales, and keeping the fine art of 'crafting' of all kinds, alive here in Pennsylvania. Raising the mead horn to all who attended Saturday. Would surely love to make this an annual event. Perhaps I could convince the MAN to do a brewing class. A Beef and Beer, perhaps. hmmm. I like the sound of that. Beer brewing is normally a winter time happening. Plenty of time to plan for that...stay tuned