Sweet Apple Cider Jelly
Apple season at Weaver’s Orchard means the cider press is in full swing! In fact, since apples store so well during the winter months in our cold storage, we have a fresh supply of apples to keep the cider press…
Rebecca Talbot
Rebecca is a freelance writer with a love for cooking, gardening and culture. She works with VanDuzer Design & Marketing, which handles the marketing and blog writing for Wolff’s Apple House, Weaver's Orchard, Conebella Farm and Lone Star Farm. Her role includes copy writing and blog writing. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Roosevelt University and a BA in Professional Writing from Kutztown University.
Pumpkin Pie from a 1911 Berks County Cookbook
Toward the end of 1911, a group of “public spirited women” were anticipating the “gloomy prospect of an expensive winter.” They were managing The Home for Widows and Single Women at the northwest corner of 16th and Haak Streets in…
5 Crazy Easy Apple Appetizers for Fall Parties
At a cooking class in June 2014, I heard Phoebe Canakis of Phoebe’s Pure Food describe fillo shells as “a nice cheat.” This kind of shortcut is a sanity saver when it comes to entertaining. When you’re throwing a big…
Need Fall Hostess Gift Ideas or Christmas Inspiration? Here’s Edie’s Advice.
Fall is a time filled with a lot of parties and get-togethers as we make the most of nice weather and safer roads before we hibernate for the winter. That means it’s a good time to think about hostess gifts.…
Apple Dumplings: From Failure to Success
My husband often talks about one of my most spectacular kitchen failures. But he speaks of it fondly, and almost dreamily, because sometimes even the messiest kitchen mistakes are still quite edible. Here’s what happened. I was trying to make…
Chocolate Applesauce Cake with Raspberry Drizzle
When most people think of picking fruit in September, apples are the fruit that comes to mind. And with good reason. At the time I’m writing this, there are five apples to pick at Weaver’s right now, with three more…
12 Labor Day Picnic Recipes
“There never was, and never will be, such a remedy for the tired, overworked human body as the pure, fresh air of the country,” wrote an author known as Mrs. A. Sherman Hitchcock in an article published in 1911. Picnics were nothing…
The Forgotten Peach Orchard of Reading, PA
In the area of Reading, Pennsylvania that is now bordered by Oley, Douglass, Front and Weiser Streets, there used to be a magical place called “Paradise Peach Grove.” Today, this is very much an urban neighborhood with many homes, stores and…
How to Start a Cutting Garden: An Interview with Vonda Stoltzfus
Last month, inspired by the fresh flowers arriving in the market, I started chatting about flowers with Vonda Stoltzfus, Weaver’s Orchard’s event coordinator. You can find Vonda’s tips for flower arranging here. For this week’s article, we talked about how to…
How to Make Beautiful Flower Arrangements This Spring
It’s that time of year when winter is starting to last too long, and you just want more flowers in your life. That’s why I caught up with Vonda Stolzfus, Weaver’s Orchard event coordinator, for this week’s blog. Vonda makes…