Wheatland

As part of our recent Traveling Herb Seminar of Lancaster County, PA we visited this lovely Federal Home and grounds.  Wheatland is the home of the only president to come from Pennsylvania, James Buchanan.  While he does not hold a place in history as a particularly effective president, his home is still intact and does provide us a great glimpse into the time period.

James Buchanan never married. His sister died young and one of his nieces choose to live with her Uncle James. She came to live with him at age 10. This niece was quite poised and at age 26 she was the hostess of the White House during his term. This was Harriet Lane and she was the first person to be called "First Lady".

She also guided her bachelor Uncle through decorating decisions and china ware options.  Harriet Lane went on to help begin the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a home for invalid boys (now part of Johns Hopkins) and the St. Albins School for training choir boys.

Wheatland is a Federal Style home with 17 rooms many of them with original Buchanan pieces in them. The second owners made very few changes and then bequeathed the property to the Jr Civic League of Lancaster who later gave it to the Lancaster History Organization.

Sugarplums & Tea

Sugarplums and Tea was our lunch stop for the traveling herb seminar. This tea room is located off the beaten path in a planned housing development. With the tea room on the first floor, the top part of this converted farmhouse is utilized as a community room for the area.

This beautiful spring day allowed for seating inside and outside on the patio. Tea options included a wide selection of hot teas or iced teas. 

Once our tea orders were taken, Afternoon Tea service began with presentation of two scones, cream, curd and berry garnish. A variety of scones were served that included: Chai, Traditional, Poppyseed, and Cranberry.

The tea tray featuring their famous Hawaiian Chicken salad, Cucumber Sandwiches, Pinwheels and Veggie Pizza was served next. A trio of sweet desserts completed our afternoon tea that included raspberry mousse in a white chocolate shell, a rich chocolate truffle and peanut butter bites. No one left hungry!

Herbal Springs Farmstead, Ephrata, PA

Lancaster County, PA provides fertile farm land and space for small nurseries and businesses to grow.  Recently we visited Herbal Spring Farmstead, 447 Brossman Road in Ephrata, run by Rhoda Martin.  Rhoda grows herbs, perennials, hostas and other native plants. 

She graciously welcomed our Traveling Herb Seminar bus group to her home and her farm.

An avid baker Rhoda brewed her famous herb tea where she gathers a few leaves of this and that, whatever is available and adds a couple of leaves of stevia and steeps it all together.  Always a light and delicious beverage. Very refreshing on this beautiful day!

She also made Rosemary Scones and Cranberry Lavender Scones for our group to enjoy under the pavilion.










With a spring season that has seen one day after another of rain, we were so fortunate with this trip, as we enjoyed a beautiful day blessed with sunshine.

We loved the quiet serenity of this farm garden.

And we loved all the little touches she has tucked about in the garden beds.

Ephrata Cloister

Ephrata Cloister, located in Ephrata, Lancaster County, is part of the PA Museum and Historical Commission. This property was one of America's earliest religious communities, founded in 1732 by German Settlers. It is the creation of German mystic Conrad Beissel.

It features very unique architecture for 1732 and the original buildings; the meeting house and the sister's hall, are still standing and available for touring. In 1750 this community was 300 members strong.









The community became known for its charity, helping new settlers to build houses, caring for the poor and elderly, operating a school for area children and offering guests free lodging.







The many different buildings include a Weaver's Workshop where they spun linen from flax, an Academy opened in 1837 as a private school for the neighborhood children, a Bakery which produced bread, the mainstay of a colonial diet, the Physician's House which held homemade herbal remedies, a Small Bake House for preparing candles and soaps.

The herb garden features many dye plants to be used for fabric or to color candles.  This is laid out in a very typical German Four-Square style.

The members lived a very simple life, ate very little meat, were celibate and slept on a wood plank with a block for a pillow to help them dedicate their life to God. 

An interesting part of our local history, Ephrata Cloister  is worthy of a visit.

This was the first stop of our recent Traveling Herb Seminar that journeyed to destinations in Lancaster County.

Vanilla Rosemary Cookies

Looking for something quick and simple to serve at your next club meeting, tea party or neighborhood get together? These Vanilla Rosemary Cookies are a nice soft cookie that is very easy to mix and bake. You can use the same mix to make a cake or a cupcake. They also freeze well so it is easy to make them ahead of time. Other flavors available include Chocolate Spearmint and golden Lavender Verbena in addition to the Vanilla Rosemary.
Check them out at The Rosemary House!

Happy Birthday, Susanna!

Herb Robert

This little European Geranium has naturalized itself here in the Americas.  It is a sweet lacy leafed plant that has small pink flowers most of the summer. It self sows into crooks, cracks and nooks always popping up in an unlikely spot. It is not a sweet smelling plant but it is ooh so pretty, and grown mainly as an ornamental plant now.  It does have a long history of medicinal uses and about as many theories as who "Robert" was!

White Violets

This little row of White Violets is always such a joy in the spring. It was originally tucked in the garden as a single plant in 1990, by our mother, as a blessing for the tea room when it first opened. It has since spread to several different areas of the garden! This viola is native to our region, extremely easy to grow as it pretty much takes care of itself. It propagates readily by seed and blooms for 6 weeks or so in the early spring. Violets are edible so we are happy to add these to a pretty pink iced cupcake or if placed on a dark chocolate treat, they add a pop of contrasting color.

Finding Tea Cross Country!

Stepping back in time, in 1996 in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, we (the four daughters) presented our parents with an Amtrak excursion across country. Referred to as the 'Choo Choo Trek West', mom documented the adventure in a small spiral bound notebook where she shared the journey, included photographs that they took and supplemented it with purchased postcards of vistas unable to capture with a camera.

The journey took them across the northern most United States with stops in Chicago, Minneapolis, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Seattle. The journal page that caught my attention began with: "We saw a sign for High Tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Alberta, Canada. So we crossed the border at Waterton Park - adjacent to Glacier. The 2 combine into Peace Park. Tea was beyond words - lavish, elegant, beautifully presented in the lobby and $15.00 each. We had tiny sandwiches, little muffins, fresh berries, (blueberries, strawberries, and big sweet red raspberries) with a large bowl of clotted cream, flaky scones and all the sweets imaginable - petite fours, strawberries dipped in chocolate, jelly roll, assorted layer cakes and cream puff swans."

Doesn't that sound grand!? And, with the wonders of the Internet, it's possible to confirm that the Prince of Wales Hotel is still in operation, that they continue to serve Afternoon Tea, and that it now costs $30.00/person. It was a real bargain in 1996, and it still sounds like a bargain!

View from the Lobby where they served tea.

The picture to the right, was one that my mother took while they enjoyed Afternoon Tea in the Lobby offering a beautiful vista of Waterton Lake.

So happy to have my mother's journal as it's a lovely remembrance of their special vacation. She concludes with: Nancy and Susie met us (at the airport) about midnight - a long day. If we had realized how much we would enjoy the train, we would have rode the rails home. A perfect vacation, 50th Honeymoon, over too soon.

Bertha and Byron Reppert, 1996