>> NARRATOR: Come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before.

A true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer, adventurer, and traveler Richard Wiese and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region, as they uncover the hidden New England that only locals know.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Coming up on Weekends with Yankee.

>> TRAVERSO: Look at them go!

>> NARRATOR: Richard and Amy visit Mayfair Farm... >> TRAVERSO: Oh, you're brave.

Hello, yes, you're nibbly, too?

>> NARRATOR: ...a sustainable New Hampshire farm that's cooking up incredible dinners, and raising healthy and happy livestock.

>> Good morning, everyone, and welcome aboard the Motor Vessel Challenger.

>> NARRATOR: Next, it's all aboard for a trip to the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on a perfect New England day.

>> Oh, there's the queen!

>> WIESE: Oh, right here, with the dot on her.

>> NARRATOR: Then Richard suits up and gets up close and personal with the bee colonies at Red Bee Honey in Weston, Connecticut.

>> Isn't it the best?

>> WIESE: It is one of the most wonderful tastes in nature.

>> (laughing): Right?

>> NARRATOR: And Amy makes some delicious cakes with baker, author, and TV host Gesine Bullock-Prado, at her baking school in Vermont.

>> TRAVERSO: We're going wild!

>> This is what happens when you live in Vermont.

You go crazy by not weighing your batter.

(Traverso laughs) >> NARRATOR: That's all coming up next, on Weekends with Yankee.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Mayfair Farm is a beautiful family farm and catering business in Harrisville, New Hampshire.

♪ ♪ Here, Sarah Heffron and her partner, Craig Thompson, raise sustainable pigs and lambs.

♪ ♪ But that's not all.

They also produce maple syrup, award-winning cakes, and they host very special farm dinners, to which both Richard and Amy were invited.

>> Good morning.

>> WIESE: How are you?

>> Good.

>> TRAVERSO: Good to see you.

>> Good to see you both.

We're a small-scale family farm.

We produce pork and lamb and maple syrup.

We have some pick-your-own fruits, make a bit of hay, and host weddings and events and things like that.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, look at these guys.

>> These guys are about four weeks old, these little ones down here.

>> TRAVERSO: They are cute.

♪ ♪ >> Optimism and persistence are an awfully good place to start if you want to run a successful farm in this day and age.

There's plenty of things that'll get you down, and if you can keep getting back up again, eventually you can turn a corner and have some success.

(Traverso laughs) >> TRAVERSO: Do they have really good senses of smell, right?

'Cause they... >> And senses of humor.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah, oh, really?

>> TRAVERSO: Anybody... want to say hi?

Oh, you're brave.

Hello, yes, you're nibbly, too.

A little nibble... >> Right here, that's the lamb barn.

This is a group of 29 lambs.

>> WIESE: Oh, wow.

>> And they've just been weaned last week.

The best part about farming is probably newborn baby lambs.

>> TRAVERSO: Look at them go!

Hey, guys!

Hey, wait, what?

>> WIESE: Wow.

>> TRAVERSO: What, what?

>> WIESE: Amy, Amy they've had a great reaction to you.

>> TRAVERSO: I've just got here!

(laughing) >> WIESE: They must recognize you from the cooking sections.

(Traverso laughing) >> There is nothing better than coming down to the barn in the morning and finding a ewe with a couple of twin lambs laying there next to her, the steam still rising off of them on a cold morning.

That's about as good as it gets, right there.

♪ ♪ You know, there is a real connection to the animals when you spend so much time with them, you know.

If you can't find me on a given day, I'm probably down in the sheep barn or over in the pig barn, just kind of sitting there on a bale of hay, watching what they're doing.

♪ ♪ One of the reasons I farm is, I'm not really good for much indoors, and so I'd much rather be out in a pasture or in a barn at any given moment.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> There we go.

>> WIESE: Well, I would love to see more of this farm.

It's just stunning.

>> Let's go for walk.

>> WIESE: Sure.

>> TRAVERSO: I'm going to go find Sarah in the kitchen, and meet her and help out.

>> Okay.

>> WIESE: All right.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: With fresh green tomatoes and kale picked for dinner, Amy heads over to meet up with Sarah.

Only two hours now until dinner.

>> I've always loved food.

My mom is a chef, so I grew up around her different food businesses, and I was always involved in some way.

And I tried to do different things, I rode horses for a long time, I got a master's degree in school counseling, but my first love was really food, and so I just kept coming back to it.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: So Sarah, I recognize these tomatoes, because we picked these earlier today.

>> I know.

It's the end of the season, and they're what's delicious.

>> TRAVERSO: So the fried green tomatoes technique is to kind of make the green, less ripe tomatoes delicious.

>> Yes.

>> TRAVERSO: So, what kind of food do you like to cook?

I mean, how would you describe your style?

>> My favorite foods to cook are vegetables, or side dishes, and dessert.

When we lived in South Carolina, I used to say I was the only Jewish vegetarian pig farmer in our neighborhood.

(Traverso laughing) But I think I hold that title... >> TRAVERSO: I think you probably hold that title across the country.

>> In a wide area, yes.

My mom's advice was always, "Do anything but food."

I think it is a hard thing to watch your child do, to, you know, work so hard, sometimes 18 hours a day, and be covered in burns, and work in, you know, relentless conditions.

But once she realized I tried to do other things, she was very supportive and accepting when I pursued food.

And then she joined in with us.

>> TRAVERSO: So the ideal temperature for frying is usually about 375 degrees Fahrenheit, but, instead of getting out a thermometer, a quick way to find if your oil is hot enough is to just take a little corner of whatever you are frying, dip it in, and if it starts sizzling around, then it's ready.

♪ ♪ And I'm smelling in this, in this kitchen, something that smells a lot like bacon.

But I assume we are not having a giant bacon fest... >> We are not having... we're having a ham.

>> TRAVERSO: It's... >> It's a delicious smoked ham.

>> TRAVERSO: And is this from your farm?

>> It is.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow, that's great.

>> Yeah.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> TRAVERSO: So these hams look so delicious.

So what you going to be doing with these?

>> We're just going to slice them and serve them on a bed of leeks.

So the leek is a really nice purée.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, nice.

(jazz band playing inside) >> I just wanted to welcome everybody to Mayfair Farm.

It is super-nice to have you guys here.

>> Tonight, we're doing a nice fall menu.

We have several passed hors d'oeuvres.

We got celery root and endive, we've got some mushroom phyllos with foraged maitakes.

>> Please find a chair, and let's, uh, let's dig in.

♪ ♪ >> We're going to make a ham, and we're doing a maple and Madeira sauce.

Also making polenta with pumpkin, fried green tomatoes.

We're going to have sautéed greens, so kale and spinach, and also a leek purée.

>> WIESE: This is a five-star dinner.

>> Awesome.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: Listen, I just...

I know I'm not from New Hampshire, but I feel like the spirit of New Hampshire is sort of really here at, at this particular farm, Mayfair Farm.

And I'd like to thank you for having us as guests.

You embody so many of the things that we hope to see in other farms, the idea that it's this beautiful, self-contained unit, that you grow things because you have a love of food, a love of, of the animals in, in here.

>> Maybe the best judgment of our success in life is how our children do.

And so to me, I would think that I was incredibly successful as a farmer if my kids wanted to farm when they grew up.

>> My hope for the future of our farm is that it lasts, that it's sustainable, that it can stay in business, that it can always be open land, and that maybe someday our kids will want to run it.

>> WIESE: I'd like to really toast your excellent stewardship of this land.

Congratulations, and thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> Cheers!

(glasses clinking) >> Cheers!

>> Right.

>> Cheers.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: From Harrisville, we head to the New Hampshire seacoast and the historic city of Portsmouth.

♪ ♪ Today, Portsmouth is known for its thriving restaurant scene, boutique shopping, and lively arts and cultural offerings.

♪ ♪ We've come here to catch a boat to the Isles of Shoals.

>> Good morning, everyone, and welcome aboard the Motor Vessel Challenger.

♪ ♪ (man continues on loudspeaker) >> NARRATOR: The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges sitting about seven miles off the coast, right between New Hampshire and Maine.

♪ ♪ There are nine islands in all, four in New Hampshire, five in Maine.

Today, we're visiting Star Island, home of the beautiful Oceanic Hotel, and the only island that can be accessed from the mainland by commercial boat service.

>> You are more than welcome to explore all over this island.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Back in the 1600s, Star Island was the busiest fishing port on the East Coast.

(gulls squawking) These days, it's known for its stunning scenery and one of the best porches in all of New England.

♪ ♪ >> Part of what makes Star Island so stunning are the views.

From the Summer House, you get to look out, and you can see all the way from Massachusetts through New Hampshire, up to Maine.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Near the hotel lies an old burial ground called Caswell Cemetery, which offers amazing views down to the sea.

Elsewhere on the island are some small cottages and a parsonage, as well as the old Gosport Chapel, which was originally built back in 1685.

After two fires, the current building was put up in 1800.

(people cheering) ♪ ♪ >> (chanting): Oceanic, Oceanic, rah, rah, rah!

We will come back!

We will come back, we will come back!

(cheering) >> NARRATOR: After a short visit on the island, we head back to Portsmouth, a fantastic way to spend a summer day on the water.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ From Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we head south to Weston, Connecticut, Richard's hometown, and a place that locals call "The Happiest Town in Connecticut."

This is also the home of Marina Marchese, a honey expert and self-described Queen Bee.

Along with her colony of bees, Marina is changing the way people appreciate honey.

>> WIESE: At what point do you put your face guard on?

>> So, you know, I will put it on if I feel like I need it... >> NARRATOR: Richard suits up and gets ready for some real New England beekeeping.

>> WIESE: I've heard beekeepers say that they can tell sort of the mood of the hive.

>> We can, actually.

So today, we can see that there's a lot of bees out on the entrance, because it's a very hot and humid day.

I was introduced to honeybees back in 2000, when a neighbor invited me over to visit their honeybees, and at the time, I didn't know anything about bees.

I was actually terrified of honeybees, like most people, but the neighbor of mine, he was very, very calm.

And I really started to get comfortable with the bees, because you can see, they're very docile.

What I'm going to do is just give a little puff of smoke to the front of the entrance, >> WIESE: Okay.

>> And then I'll lift the lid, and you could give them a quick little smoke.

>> WIESE: What kind of mood are they in, can you tell?

>> Well, I think they're pretty calm right now, but I'm going to put my veil on, just because I see that they're very active.

It slowly became one of these hobbies that just was so intriguing, that one hive became two hives, became three to seven.

Essentially, it was a hobby that turned into a business.

We've got honey here, honeycomb, being drawn out.

>> WIESE: And what's capped honey?

>> It's honey, if you want, you can even stick your finger in and taste it.

Look, when I pop it, it ooey-gooeys.

You can taste it.

Isn't it the best?

>> WIESE: It is one of the most wonderful tastes in nature.

>> (laughing): Right?

The biggest misconception about honeybees is people mistaking docile, domesticated honeybees for wasp and yellow jacks, which are meat eaters.

And those are the ones that you see flying around and come to your barbecue, and honeybees really don't do that.

("Flight of the Bumblebee" playing) Oh, there's the queen!

>> WIESE: Oh, right here, with the, the dot on her.

>> Yeah, see, she's much bigger, and she's crawling around.

("Flight of the Bumblebee" continues) Each one of these boxes is a hive, and in each hive is one colony of bees, and every colony of bees is essentially a family, and they have one queen bee.

She's the mother of all the bees in the hive, and she can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.

>> WIESE: And how long does a queen live?

>> So, a queen can live about three to five years, and she outlives all of her children.

The workers and the drones will live about six weeks.

>> WIESE: Six weeks?

>> They live for six weeks.

>> WIESE: Oh, my gosh.

>> They work themselves to death.

>> WIESE: I know this sounds like a very naïve question, but how do they make honey?

>> Essentially, what they do is, they land on a flower and they sip up the nectar from the flower, and they put it into their honey stomach, and then they fly back to the hive to deposit it.

The younger house bee will put it into these little cells, and then they cap it, and they will store it up for the winter.

>> WIESE: I'm so curious to compare this Weston, Connecticut, honey to honeys from around the world.

>> We can do that.

♪ ♪ I really love to do honey with cheeses.

You can just make a really beautiful platter, cut a piece of honeycomb right off of the frame.

Grab... >> WIESE: A piece of bread.

>> ...a piece of bread.

And how about some ricotta cheese?

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Just grab some of that honeycomb.

>> WIESE: I'll just grab that.

>> And take a nut, because honey goes with every single food group.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Here we go.

>> WIESE: Mmm.

That is so wonderfully fantastic.

This was the honey from here-- it has a very light taste to it.

>> Yeah, our honey... >> WIESE: I mean, it's very sweet.

>> Yeah, our honey's pretty light this time of the year.

There's nothing better than fresh honeycomb.

>> WIESE: I can honestly say that is the best honey I've ever had.

Such a light flavor, sort of dance.

>> It's fresh, really fresh.

>> WIESE: It's so...

It almost danced on my tongue.

>> Right?

That's a great way to say it.

I think the future is going to be just introducing the public into how amazing honey really is.

And it just is not just this sweet liquid that you put in tea.

It can be used in so many different ways.

It goes with food, all kinds of culinary applications.

>> WIESE: Now, these are honeys from different locations?

>> This is a clover honey.

And look at the color, it's just really, really beautiful.

>> WIESE: So this is very light.

>> So this honey, we call it red currant, because it's produced actually in a vineyard where they grow red currant.

>> WIESE: So that's the flavor I should be looking for?

>> Yeah, like a cranberry... a red berry.

>> WIESE: It actually has that raisiny... >> Red, yeah... >> WIESE: Aftertaste.

>> That cooked fruit.

And the last honey we have is a really dark honey with a little bit of a red tint.

And this honey is actually organic.

It has, it's like an umami honey.

It's very savory and very dark.

>> WIESE: Yeah, like that licorice on there.

>> You're a good taster.

♪ ♪ I really enjoy working with the bees, because I feel like there's a lot of science there.

But then, I just really love that I can do the art and apply it to honey and sort of stage these beautiful tastings, and, you know, admire the colors and the aromas and the flavors.

It's really, um, a sensory experience, working with the bees, but also with honey.

So my world's complete.

(chuckles) ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: From Weston, Connecticut, we make our way north to beautiful Hartford, Vermont.

Here, we find Gesine Bullock-Prado-- baker, cookbook author, and star of the Food Network show Baked in Vermont.

She also runs her own baking school here, Sugar Glider Kitchen.

Gesine settled here after leaving a career as a successful movie producer in Hollywood, where she worked with her sister, Sandra Bullock.

Now she's found her true calling and home in New England, in a former tavern built in 1794.

>> I fell in love with Vermont when my husband took me to New Hampshire, of all places, for a football game-- he went to Dartmouth College.

And then he drove me across the Ledyard Bridge, which goes across the Connecticut River into Vermont.

And I just, I sat up a little, and I went, "Wait, this, it feels different.

This feels like home."

And to me, it felt a little like my childhood in Germany, and my other part of my childhood in Virginia, in that, I love being around the mountains with the small towns.

You can see that church steeple as you crest a hill.

It was, like, "This is it, this is where I want to live."

Amy, welcome!

I'm so glad to have you here, and I'm sorry it's so cold.

>> TRAVERSO: Well, I have to say, looking at this place, I mean, if you were looking for a New England experience when you moved here, you have got it with this space.

>> And then there's cake inside.

>> TRAVERSO: That's so great, let's go make cake.

>> We are making a cake I developed.

It is both American and German.

So it has this lovely streusel in the middle.

And then in the middle of those layers, I put German chocolate cake filling, because... >> TRAVERSO: Oh.

>> I mean, come on, get over it.

It's delicious!

>> TRAVERSO: That's so cool.

>> And then outside, caramel buttercream, because more caramel, more better.

I just butter the bottom of the pan.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, I'll do that.

Now, you talked about your German background.

Tell me a little bit more about that.

>> Well, my mom was German-- she was a great baker.

And we would spend half of the year in Germany, so I have kind of the German cake culture in my blood.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> And I have American Oreos streaming through my system, as well.

(Traverso laughing) This is a combination of granulated sugar... >> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> ...brown sugar, and some maple sugar.

>> TRAVERSO: Ooh, nice.

Maple, it's very Vermont.

>> We are in Vermont!

(Traverso chuckling) ♪ ♪ (mixer whirring) So while we wait, we can start cracking eggs.

So a nice firm whack on the table, and then you got your egg.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Okay, so I've got all the eggs in here now.

>> Yes.

So this is looking much better, right?

Fluffy, lighter.

And we can add our first egg.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, oh, okay.

♪ ♪ Now, outside of the kitchen, are you a patient person?

>> No.

(Traverso laughs) >> TRAVERSO: So this is good discipline for you.

>> Well, this is what I love about baking, is that in order to do it right, you have to be patient.

>> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> But in being patient, you're giving yourself a gift.

It's almost meditative.

A lot of people will laugh.

It is scientifically shown to be a stress reducer, to be meditative, to have all those, like...

I would rather do this than sit and meditate any day.

And the smells are better.

(Traverso laughs) Now it's time to add the flour mixture and our buttermilk mixture.

Create a funnel-- I can even turn on the mixer.

>> TRAVERSO: This is how you do it?

>> Yes, I create a funnel.

So if you hit the paddle as it's going, you're not going to harm anything.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> And you're actually going to get in the bowl, because more often than not, I'm ready to put my batter in the cake pan.

And then I look down behind the mixer, I'm, like, "Oh, half of my flour is on the bench."

(Traverso laughs) (mixer stops) We're just going to eyeball this, because we're being a little crazy today.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> This is how I go crazy.

>> TRAVERSO: We're going wild!

>> This is what happens when you live in Vermont.

You go crazy by not weighing your batter.

>> TRAVERSO: So we're just trying to get an even... >> An even layer.

This is the streusel, which is toasted pecans, some brown sugar, and some cinnamon, just in a food processor.

>> TRAVERSO: Yes.

>> For the top bit of batter, I put it into a piping bag.

This is kind of a way of making sure that you don't pick up the streusel when you put the top layer on.

>> TRAVERSO: How much does being in Vermont inspire your baking?

>> So much.

It is such a pleasure being around so many local artisans, farmers, cheese makers.

Seeing these gorgeous ingredients and using them every day makes baking more of a joy than it already is.

>> TRAVERSO: That's great.

>> And now, into the oven.

>> TRAVERSO: Yay!

>> 350, depending on your oven.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> For about 30 to 35 minutes.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

So these have been baked... >> And cooled.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, so what's the next step?

>> Turntable, very important.

Caramel buttercream and also our German cake... >> TRAVERSO: Filling.

So these, I am noticing how nice and even these layers are.

>> Like before with the batter, I use a piping bag to pipe my buttercream.

I first pipe around the perimeter of the first layer.

And the filling that we have is our German chocolate yumminess.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, God, that looks so good.

>> And the second layer goes straight on top, and then do the same thing again.

♪ ♪ Now the third layer and last layer goes on top.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, that's so nice and tall.

>> And again, makes...

I know, I love tall cakes.

That's why I always have another layer in the freezer waiting for me.

(Traverso laughs) >> TRAVERSO: That's really great.

Whoo!

(laughs) Oh, that's so nice.

>> You go all the way around.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: That is pretty.

It's like watching somebody, a painter working with a painter... ...a painter's knife.

>> It's looking great.

It'll refrigerate for, like, ten minutes, and then we can finish it up, and we can party.

>> TRAVERSO: Great.

>> And eat some cake.

>> TRAVERSO: All right.

>> Are you ready?

>> TRAVERSO: I can't wait, I'm so... yeah.

>> Okay.

And I'm... one thing I'm not good at with cakes is cutting a straight line through a cake.

I think it's because I'm cutting into my cake that's upsetting me.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> So it's, so I go sideways.

>> TRAVERSO: Look how gorgeous.

>> You got it?

>> TRAVERSO: It's so beautiful.

That swirl of streusel is amazing.

>> It's lovely.

>> TRAVERSO: I'm going to taste this.

>> Yeah, get in, get in there.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Mmm.

Oh, that is so good.

This is amazing.

>> Well, thank you for baking with me, because I always love to make a big, tall cake for people I like.

(Traverso laughs) >> TRAVERSO: Well, thank you for all the techniques.

My cake baking is forever changed after learning these techniques, and I thank you for having us.

Cheers.

>> Cheers.