The ongoing trials of running a 100-Year old caramel machine

What's new on the farm:

Happy November!

The weather has been cool and biting, which has been great for our bees. They are still sitting in our home yard waiting to go to the west coast.

Fortunately our truck driver has confirmed that his truck is back in order, so we are now organizing the logistics of the move to head out (hopefully) by next week!

That involves getting permits to cross provincial borders, booking a spot on the ferry (which is a special process since we have live bees!), and booking flights and vehicles on the Vancouver Island side to move our crew and the bees once they arrive.

We're glad to get some forward progress and soon have the bees on their way.

In the Kitchen

In the meantime, we have also been busy preparing for the holidays!

Our honey packaging has been steady, but the kitchen has been churning out a lot more caramel than usual.

Last week, we were having problems with the wrapping machine.

Our wrapping machine is an antique Model K Cut and Wrap machine, built in the 1920s.

It's a workhorse, but it is also sensitive.

The week before, almost half of the product that we made wasn't wrapping properly.

We were spending way too much time sorting out or tossing pieces with torn wrappers, or re-wrapping pieces by hand.

So last week we spent the whole week trying to fix it.

I even had to call a fellow candymaker in Boston for help.

The Model K is an antique machine. There are only a handful of people in North America who own one.

So when I first bought ours, I looked for other Model K owners.

I've only reached out to a handful, but every person I've approached so far has been happy to share their knowledge.

Thanks to them, I have been able to learn a lot about how to use the machine in the relatively little time that we have had it.

Our Boston friend suggested a few adjustments based on the videos that we sent him.

Sometimes it involved moving a screw or a part just a few millimeters, and it made a world of difference.

Finally, we are back running even better than before things went sideways, which is a relief!

We have just enough time to stock up for a couple Christmas markets coming up this November, plus we are starting to get some bulk orders from our wholesale partners.

I'm a little biased, but if you are looking to share something unique and delicious for Christmas, it's worth grabbing them while we have stock!

Baked Pears with Cinnamon and Honey

To me, pears are one of the most underrated fruits and my favorite fall fruit.

They are so tender, juicy, and have the best subtly sweet flavor profile.

This dessert recipe is so simple with just a handful of ingredients and gives you a ton of bang for your buck in terms of effort.

The pears are baked in a cinnamon honey drizzle, but you can also save the drizzle for after baking if you want to retain some of the honey's nutrients.

It's so good with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Check out this recipe from To Simply Inspire to try it out!