Bartered Goodies

With canning season well underway and so many people canning and making different items I have opened up to some bartering. It's said that the tax man doesn't like this kind of doings, but most of us are just trying to survive and enjoy the home made goodies.
In exchange for two cases of home made sweet relish I received two packages of home crafted venison sausages, we've eaten almost all of the other package, and two packages of ground venison. Along with the venison came a quart, yes a quart, of home made local maple syrup. I can't wait to make breakfast sausage out of the ground venison and enjoy a breakfast of waffles and home made syrup with home made sausage patties.
Then there's Paul's grape jelly. Paul a co-worker grows his own grapes. A small back yard garden keeps him busy. He made raisins and has a years supply, but wanted to try his hand at jelly. I kept encouraging him to try. I traded him some goodies for fresh grapes and grape jelly. I feel like it's Christmas. Items I enjoy and don't get myself are in my kitchen for future use.
I am going to make salsa and can it this weekend. With tomatoes at their peek I can't wait to fill the pantry for a long winter of great treats.

The Vermont Cheese House

Rick and Jody the owners of The Cheese House will make you feel so welcome when you visit them. We were just spontaneously driving through southern Vermont not looking for anything when we came across this quaint cheese house and gift shop. We just had to stop. The original owners built the cheese house to resemble a wheel of cheese which you can see when you visit thevermontcheesehouse.com to see how it looked and learn it's history. Jody explained that they lost their cheese making room during hurricane Irene last year and are starting to rebuild the business after the damage. I can tell you that they are well underway and I wish them a good season. Needless to say yes I did shop. I bought goodies to eat of course. No shirts or souvenirs just items for my tummy. You can order these items at the above website. You will need to read the ordering information carefully because the items are perishable and may not be easily shipped until the weather cools off. Rick and Jody explain clearly on their site.  Here are some of the goodies we came home with.

First and most important the maple syrup. Sold at the Cheese House but from Bob's Maple Syrup. bobsmapleshop.com. I'm always looking for fig spread or jam and sure enough they had fig spread and I didn't leave without some. We also purchased Boysenberry syrup from Maple Grove Farms of Vermont. maplegrove.com. We had home made waffles for dinner the evening we got home and used the boysenberry syrup on them. Yummy!

I can only tell you how wonderful the raspberry peach jam and apple butter were. They are from the Side Hill Farm in Brattleboro VT. No website was available, but I bet you can order them from the Cheese House. Then there were Halladay's herb blends. Sure I know I can get some of these locally, but I had never seen the Lobster bisque dip or the Dilly herb dip. I've used the Dilly herbs on Tilapia fish since we've been home and it was awesome. If you can find them you should try them. The website is halladays.com.

Then there's the cheese and sausages. Many, many to choose from but we purchased smoked apple cheddar and these two fine items. Venison summer sausage and Truck Drivers' sharp cheddar. When they say sharp this is it. As you can see there's not a picture of the apple cheddar and the Venison sausage has been opened. We couldn't wait so we sampled some with special crackers in our hotel room.
I really hope you can find time to stop by their site and check it out. Business's trying to recover from natural disaster can use all of our help no matter how little it can be. Just make sure you read the shipping information.  Have a wonderful day. I look forward to sharing more of our finds in this coming weeks blogs.