Freshman Farmer | New Organic Farms Set Roots

Posts Tagged ‘bees’

Looking back on Summer

November 20th, 2011
Wise Moon Farm | Blog

The heat of Summer has passed and the chill of Fall has arrived.

The last red ripe strawberries and tomatoes were picked several weeks ago.

We enjoyed a great harvest of apples, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, onions, potatoes, sunchokes, tomatoes, chard, kale, cabbage, and much more. Our fig tree we ordered this year from Peacefull Valley gave us a dozen delicious figs.

All the animals on the farm are doing great.

All four Bee Colonies are healthy and thriving. We harvested a few jars of honeycomb and honey from the hives. We left everything else for them to have for the winter. We practice natural beekeeping. We believe it’s healthier for the bees to have honey instead of fed sugar.

Now we are focused on our fall crops. Microgreens are going in the greenhouse. Cilantro, peas, Italian parsley, and other herbs are doing well. Potatoes, onions, garlic, and red shallots have all been planted.

The Earthworm bin has been moved to the greenhouse. We are now focused on cleaning the beds and planting cover crops. Looking forward to the next harvest.

Tags: Wise Moon Farm, summer crops, peacefull valley, bees, honey, honey comb, onions, shallots, chard, kale, garlic, potatoes, harvest

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First Farmers Market

May 15th, 2010
Driftwood Farm | Blog

On Wednesday we made it to our first Farmers Market (we only missed the first week). We didn’t have a whole lot to sell, but we figured if we started going while it is still slow, we could ease into it. The kale, lettuce and eggs we brought sold quickly, and we were able to sell more starts than we’d expected. It was great to finally meet the market manager we’ve been corresponding with via e-mail for over a year! She, and the vendors we met, were so friendly and welcoming. Matt was right at home, socializing and making friends right off the bat. It took me a bit to feel comfortable - not being one of the great social butterflies of the world - but it was easy to relax with all the positive feedback (... as many other freshman farmers have attested!) Before next week, we hope to have finished our ‘farm name’ banner for the booth.

This week, we also did our first check-up on the bee hives, planted some heirloom “San Francisco Fog” tomatoes that are supposed to do well in our cool coastal summers, and continued with the routine seeding, weeding and chores.

Tags: farmer's market, bees, bee hives

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To Bee

April 27th, 2010
Driftwood Farm | Blog

We are really excited to have picked up and installed into our hives two packages of bees from a semi-local (two hours away) supplier. Since we haven’t raised bees before, we decided to try two breeds: one hive are Italians (noted for fast production), the others are Carniolans (known for their winter hardiness). We put them in the hives on Saturday, and we’ve seen lots of activity from them - during the good weather spells - since then. (Now every time we see a bee around the yard, we wonder… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: bees, producer's certificate, bee hives, CPC, Italians, Carniolans

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Pollinators

March 5th, 2010
Driftwood Farm | Blog

When I first started to write this post, my intention was to segue into photos of our top bar hives - the first of which Matt completed today! - with information on the importance of honeybees to agriculture (and the economics of agriculture). Most gardeners and farmers are accustomed to embracing the important role that bees play. While doing some research for those impressive numbers - the billions of dollars and percentages of crops to be credited to honeybees - I learned that other pollinators,… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: bees, honeybees, native bees, Orchard Mason Bees, top bar hives, bee hives, pollinators, beneficials, good bug blend

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Odds and Ends

May 7th, 2009
Honey in the Heart Farm | Blog

We had a real spring storm over the weekend. The sky opened and dropped over three inches of rain. It really slowed down our frantic tilling schedule as the ground was compleletly saturated once again. Kind of like the eye of the storm, we just couldn’t keep going at the same pace. The compost we were having delivered couldn’t make it up into the farm area because of the mud…. It seemed like a natural time to tie up other odds and ends. We finally got our electric fence… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: potatoes, rain, tilling, transplants, bees, electric fence, turtle

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Bees!

April 7th, 2009
Honey in the Heart Farm | Blog

We went to the local bee meeting last night, and apparently swarm season is in full swing, earlier than usual. Because of all the moisture we’ve had, the manzanita is blooming like crazy, and the bees are getting plenty of nectar. This prompted us to take a look at our hives to insure that there’s enough room for the bees and that they won’t try to swarm (move to a new location). We had to move our hives last fall because our bear protection wasn’t adequate and the neighborhood … Read the rest of this article »

Tags: bees, pollination, bears, electric fence

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Three farms are starting from scratch.

They are turning the dirt and hoping to be successful enough to turn a profit, and to become a valuable part of their communities as suppliers of organically grown food.

Peaceful Valley is giving them a head start by offering them special pricing as part of this Freshman Farmer program.

The Farm Blogs

Freshman:
New Farms Coming Soon!
Sophomores:
	Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA
	Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT
	Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA
Graduates:
	Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA
	DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA
	Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA
	EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO
	Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA
	Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA
	Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA
	Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA
	Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA
	Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA