Purple Dog Lavender Farm

Growing with Change

2014-05-26T10:05:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows that life brings constant change. How you receive change and how you respond to the change can be positive or negative. This winter was a hard winter on the farm. We lost all our beehives. The bulk of our lavender plants even our oldest, strongest and most protected had a large, abnormal amount of winter-kill. What does this mean for us? Well no lavender honey this year, no lavender or small amounts to sell by the road. The gypsy wagon we finished last year will have little if anything to place in it. What to do? Well we could replant but we are moving on from the initial purpose of the farm. This year we will focus on what we can grow and grow that well. We very adequately grow a large part of our pantry. Garlic, onions, canned tomatoes sauce, beans, lettuce greens and everything else you grow in a garden we have great success with. We have other ventures we want to focus on in our lives. There will still be enough to do on the farm, for our orchard to yield well takes it takes effort. The house still needs the last coats of paint, windows in the barn need repair and paint. Then yesterday the tractor water pump broke. So we will be busy just in a different direction. Change happens, embrace it. One can hope our new bees and remaining lavender will give us that great flavor of lavender honey next year.

Mushrooms

2014-05-18T09:59:00.002-04:00

We love mushrooms. A year ago my wife bought me a present of a box of grow your own mushrooms. It was fun but didn't yield many. So this year I bought some mushroom spawn, (not seeds, but the way that mushrooms reproduce) from an outfit in Washington.

We go through at least a pound a week in a variety of mushrooms, so anything we can do to reduce the money spent will be well worth the effort. Shiitake mushrooms are a healthy choice as well as many of the stir-fry dishes we make have them as the mushroom of choice. We like the meaty texture of these mushrooms as well. I'll post more picts as this project progresses. Today it will be inoculating the log with the spawn. Then I have 6 months to a year till I get a yield but the logs will yield for 1-2 years.

Spawn on the wood dowels

Prepping the log for the dowels

Hammer them home with a rubber mallet

The log in the forefront is plugged then sealed with wax.
The one in the back is plugged waiting for the beeswax to seal it.

Why We Grow Our Own Garlic

2014-04-14T08:21:00.000-04:00

Interesting article from Australia on garlic. Microgardener article
The highlights of the article, besides how to grow, is the majority of garlic in the world is produced in China using methods we would rather like to avoid. As we begin our spring planting and I watch the garlic cloves we planted last October begin to poke through the mulch we laid to protect it through the winter, I think why doesn't everyone grow their own. In the northeast it is really an easy and fun crop to grow. You plant the cloves in the fall spread a layer of mulch to protect it in the winter and about mid July you pull it out of the ground. It is one of our favorite tasks to pick on the farm. There is nothing like pulling out beautiful heads of garlic all started by a single clove. We grow more than enough to stock us for the year ( we go through about 3 heads a week) and to sell by the road. We grow about eight different varieties, softneck and hardneck. After reading the above article I am more glad than ever that we grow our own. It really does matter where your food comes from. It is even better when you grow it yourself.

Making the Maple Syrup

2014-03-12T17:56:00.001-04:00

With a lull on the farm, a great winter and 3 maple trees on our front lawn "sugarin" was calling to me.
I have always wanted to try my hand at it and the local Agway was selling the equipment so we tried it out. I had been collecting sap for the past week. I had about 7 gallons from the 3 trees and 5 taps.

I didn't know what to expect. We collected a little bit each day over the course of a glorious warm spring like week the first part of March. We then had a blizzard come through which gave me a day off from other responsibilities. So what better time to reduce the sap. It takes about 36-40 gallons of sap to get one gallon. Basically you boil off that much water to reduce it to syrup consistency.

We had a clambake setup my brother had given us along with a full tank of propane so I filled the pot about 7 gallons worth of the 10 gallon pot and got it to a boil. This was about 9:00 in the morning. I figured I would be lucky to gat about a pound and half of syrup out of the sap. It took till about 4:00 in the afternoon to finish the boil and then we filtered it through some cheesecloth. The resulting taste was delicious for our first attempt. Maybe we'll gather some more sap over the next week and try it again.

Soil for Health

2013-12-29T11:12:00.004-05:00

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”

Wendell Barry

This weekend a friend on Facebook posted a link to an article. This lead me on a hunt for similar articles on the topic. Food Soil and our Nutrition I found three articles that all spoke to how our food even organically grown is missing nutritional benefits compared to food from 70 years ago. This is due to our soil being depleted by traditional agricultural methods. In one article, selenium which is known to help battle the growth of cancerous cells in our bodies is becoming absent from our food. Artificial fertilizers, petrochemicals used in agriculture may provide NPK(nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) but though that is what is needed to grow healthy plants, it is not the sum of the whole. There are 27 trace elements that plants also absorb which then can make its way into our bodies to help our immune systems. But these have been depleted from our soil. We haven't been feeding our soils. Steve Solomon founder of Territorial Seeds back in the 70's has spent his life working the land and understanding what the soil gives to us. His book "Gardening When it Counts" speaks to the power of the soil. Initially when I read it I thought this guy knows his stuff, but it was just some guy's take on how we should garden. After reading these articles his book has caused me to take his recommendations more seriously. These articles speak to the rise of diseases and illnesses in humans since the advent of modern agricultural methods. How certain trace elements are all but gone in the soils. One such element is calcium. If you have deficiencies as everyone knows leads to bone loss and osteoporosis, but it also leads to depression, problems with blood clotting and heart palpitations.Vegetarians used to be able to get all their nutrition from the food they ate but now they can't because those vital nutrients are missing from the soil. You can also look and say that it is also missing from our meats too as our animals are eating processed food that is also missing those trace elements. Read the following articles and you will understand how we growis just as important as what we grow.

Here are the three articles you should review:

http://www.nutritionsecurity.org/PDF/NSI_White%20Paper_Web.pdf

http://www.soilsforlife.org.au/announcements/soil-health-human-health

http://theweek.com/article/index/250753/peak-soil-why-nutrition-is-disappearing-from-our-food?

Paleo, Vegan, Pescatarian, Anti-inflammatory, Where to go?

2013-12-21T10:40:00.002-05:00

The Grain Brain is a book on the top of the book charts lately. It supports the latest fad of diets pertaining to the paleo diet. The diet is geared towards what the paleolithic humans of the world ate. No grains, no starches primarily. In our kitchen we are constantly trying to balance what we eat with the latest information for health out in the data world. What to eat what not to eat could drive you absolutely up a wall. For every positive report their is a report to refute it. We have tried to strike a balance based on repeated research verified from different sources. If different sources are saying similar things based on different research it is probably a good bet that there is some truth in the assertions. Our take on things? Eat mostly plant based diet, eat healthy nuts stay away from processed food and red meats. We basically stay away from all meats except for fish. If you would ask we have a rationale for it all. One book that was fascinating in its laymen's description of how cancer and inflammation works in our bodies is "Anti-Cancer A Way of Life" It explains how sugars feed the cancer and our cells. In a class I taught called "You Are What You Eat" We looked at food pyramids that are on the net. Asian, Mediterranean, Vegetarian, South American. We looked for what they all had in common to make personal choices for our eating. Most had grains, fruits vegetables and nuts at the bottom of the pyramids. Red meats were at the top of all of them in small portions as was added sugar. A recent article in Business Insider speaks to all the diet fads and the research out there. "What Gluten Really Does to Your Brain" mentions that "When a person advocates radical change on the order of eliminating one of the three macronutrient groups from our diets, the burden of proof on them should be enormous. Everything you know is not wrong." Use common sense and verified advice that gives you not what you want to hear but what truly makes sense. We avoid red meat not because we don't love it. It is totally because of my heart health concerns and more reports have proven that red meat is a concern for heart patients than evidence to the contrary. So we have eliminated that from our diets. Most medical research has shown walnuts and almonds have good benefits to heart health. My cholesterol and bloodwork numbers support those claims. We try to eat mostly seasonal foods. We do have our top 3 or 4 vegetables which are pretty much staples in our diet. Kale, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts. Garlic, pepper, turmeric and onions are other staples in our pantry and in most of the dishes we prepare. All have been proven to be good for the heart and our diet. So the bottom line for us is most things in moderation, grow what we can and eat that. Eat seasonally and minimize or eliminate processed food where ever possible.

Balance

2013-11-03T16:02:00.002-05:00

"When you try to control everything, you enjoy nothing. Sometimes you just need to relax, breathe, let go and live in the moment." Unknown

This summer was a summer to learn this. I worked night and day to finish the gypsy wagon and I was exhausted. When I finished I realized what I had placed aside. The house wasn't finished with the last sides unpainted. The garden was overrun with weeds, the whole farm suffered from weeds. My aches and pains which I attributed to working so hard on the wagon persisted, so I took a few days of rest. The aches and pains didn't improve with rest. I could barely walk without pain. I took to walking with a hiking pole. I finally went to my doctor and asked what was going on and he narrowed it down to the statin I was taking. It would take a month to a year to get my strength back and it made me come in touch with my mortality. I am not getting younger. Do I work to make a buck or work to have income and work to enjoy this piece of paradise we call Purple Dog? Shari has told me for awhile, we have to focus on what we do well and what we enjoy. The goal of this farm has always been a lifestyle choice. We knew we would never replace my income with proceeds from the farm. We came to this farm to grow food. Our food. What ever food was more than we needed we would share with others. Sell the extra by the road, give the garden overflow to friends. It is all a matter of balance. Do what we enjoy, share it with those who are close to us and savor the moment. The things I enjoy most are my family and friends and cooking for them. Dinners with witty conversation, politics, religion, laughing and stories these bring richness to my days. As fall draws to a close we will look to these things as we plan our next growing season. "Enjoy the farm", is as much a statement for our friends as it is for me.

Not Just Salads

2013-10-31T15:30:00.001-04:00

Recently we went out to dinner with some friends. As so often happens when dining out the conversation centers around food. Our friends made a statement oh you're vegetarians so you must eat a lot of salads. Salads? Actually to the contrary, we eat salads when the garden is producing our lettuce but the rest of the time no not often. We have found so many recipes that are nourishing and filling that we just don't think about salads. Recently one of our favorite cookbooks is Ottolenghi. This cookbook based on the recipes of a restaurant of the same name is just an amazing flavorful book. The recipes are centered around middle eastern cooking specifically Palestinian and Israeli. The flavors are exotic and unique and Yotam Ottolenghi teaches you techniques and blending of spices you would never think go together. We have three of his cookbooks and we are always surprising ourselves and out dinner guests with flavors that are just decadent. Check out his site to get a peak of some of his creations and some recipes. Ottolenghi.
For inspiration we have looked to other cultures that are more plant based in their diets. Many Asian inspired cuisines have little or no dairy and most are heart healthy. So salads are just not on the menu often at our house but when they are you know it will be filled with the fruits of our garden.

Cheeseless Vegetarian

2013-10-27T10:47:00.001-04:00

Most vegetarian recipe books are loaded with cheese. It seems many makeup for lack of meat and protein by adding cheese. Before my heart issues I loved cheese, still do. That has been the more difficult thing to get out of my diet, cheese. Sure I miss the nice grilled steak on the 4th of July but think about cheese and what you may have it in. On a sandwich, on your pasta, in an omelet or your favorite pizza. This is one of the areas I have found some replacements come in handy. In most cases I don' t want to mimic something I love. I will reduce the quantities or find an alternative. Rice shreds, this company makes a cheddar and a mozzarella that okay doesn't melt like the real deal but we use it in omelets and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. It gives me what I am looking for a great omelet with none of the fat from cheese.
Pesto
We make our own pesto with our own basil, and garlic from the garden. We found a pesto recipe in a vegan cookbook. Vegan With a Vengeance ,instead of cheese she uses nutritional yeast. Pesto is high in fat between the cheese and oil so reducing any portion is helpful. We cheat a bit and sprinkle a good quality pecorino romano or parmesan over the top of the dish. The nice thing about hard cheeses they are lower in fat(but higher in sodium) than other cheeses. This recipe also uses walnuts vs pine nuts which are heart healthy as well.

The other cheese we use is fat free feta. I have grown to appreciate this cheese. Sprinkle it on salads put it in a wrap this cheese adds flavor and protein.

My take on my diet is, if I have to exclude things from my eating then you bet I am going to make it as flavorful and enticing as I can. This diet has opened up my palate to many dishes and cuisines that I never would have tried before. I don't starve and I don't eat just salads. I devour freshly prepared, flavorful dishes which helps me to not miss the things that are not in my diet.

2013-10-27T10:45:00.003-04:00

A few years back I had some health issues. Heart related. Reading, research and a great doctor had me reassess my eating and health habits. This was not as straight forward as it sounds. I had no history of high cholesterol, no high blood pressure. None of the typical warning flags that go along with heart problems. Life stresses like everyone yes. At first I moderated what I ate excluded red meat and cut back on dairy. After a year I had another scare and when I came out of the hospital my wife and I took a look again at what I was doing right and wrong. Since the first incident we moved to a country farm house and began growing our own food to help defray the cost of the fresh produce that became more and more a centerpiece of our diet. I say "our" because to my wife's credit she changed her diet to reflect mine. She didn't have to, but being supportive and from both our research we found that it could only help her health too. So we began our journey down the road to vegetarianism. We both look back now and say it truly wasn't as hard as it seemed at first look. We are not vegan, we still eat eggs(we have our own flock) but we eat very little dairy and the only meat in our diet is fish typically once a week. In some ways we are more vegetarian than most vegetarians. Many recipes in most vegetarian cookbooks bury the dishes in cheese. We are virtually cheese free except some hard cheeses like pecorino romano and fat free feta. The hard cheeses we use a bit on our pasta dishes for flavor no more than a tablespoon. Fat free feta is used in some of our salads. Our Sunday mornings are omelet day and we typically have mushroom omelets with a fake cheese called "Rice Shreds". It melts just enough in an omelet to be convincing and to make us not feel too deprived. Actually that is the amazing thing we don't feel deprived. We have found so many new dishes that we felt like we eat like royalty. Our cooking skills and exposure to other cuisines has increased dramatically. Our independence from fast food, and prepared foods has been a benefit to our health and our wallets.
My purpose in writing here is to chart our progress from carnivores to herbivores, from medically damaged to healthy. From just consuming to self sustaining.

Fall, the Farm and the Future...

2013-10-14T09:55:00.001-04:00

As we slip into the short days of fall the harvesting of apples, the prepping of the beehives for winter, our minds look to what the farm will hold for us. When we look to what the farm means to us it is more the lifestyle. We strive to be self sufficient, we are at the whim of the weather and the changing seasons but we enjoy that challenge. We are not getting any younger and maintaining some of the things we have created takes its toll on living the lifestyle we strive to enjoy. We are looking at scaling back some of our day to day endeavors and refocusing on the things we enjoy and the things that brought us here in the first place.
Honeybees
Honey and the bees have been a surprising joy. Both of us knowing little about what it means to keep bees we are looking at plans to make the farm an oasis for the bees to help provide for them and keep them healthy in a sea of pesticides and lack of environmental support.
Our Orchard
We began with sixty trees, some have died some where replanted we added some pear, peach and plum. We love sharing our harvest with friends and family and we look to keep our fall cidering event sharing our bounty.
The Garden
This year it got away from us the weeds were never ending and between working on the wagon our yield was not quite what it could have been. This is the main reason for the farm. We strive to grow what we need and share the extra by the road. It is here where we will refocus and look to develop our gardening skills to be more successful at growing the food we enjoy.
Lavender
Lavender is work. We love the scent , the beauty and the benefits to the bees. We feel that the bees are healthier because of this flower. A natural miticide we haven't had to medicate our hives this year for varroa mites. We hope this will continue. We will harvest lavender for our home, our friends and the wagon but it will be here mainly for the bees. Their lavender honey is second to none and we will maintain it for the bees.
Our Health
We moved here for my health - our health and we have seen the benefits in our medical checkups. Weight loss, lower cholesterol, lower stress. Increase vigor in our lives. By switching to a primarily plant based diet we have seen dramatic improvement in our way of life. You will see in our blog more of an emphasis on how we made our changes to this way of life and how it has affected us. We are not vegetarians or vegans in the strict sense of the definition. We eat much more than just salads and the food we create is rich with nutrients, full of flavor to the point we don't miss what is out of our diet.
If we can share with you our journey maybe it can help someone else who is struggling to lose weight, or rebound from their diagnosis of heart disease or diabetes - and to live healthier richer lives.

Farm Store Hours

2013-08-24T08:27:00.001-04:00

We stay pretty busy on the farm. Most weekends we are on the farm doing some chores, painting, fixing, feeding animals. If you cruise by the farm and see a car in the driveway and want to visit the farm store but the doors are closed, you will see a sign on the wagon saying ring the bell for help. We have a school bell on a post near the wagon. Just ring it and we will come running to open the store.
It is that easy. We have the last of our lavender honey in the shop. Our orchard is looking great and we may have some apples for sale in October too. The wagon will be hit or miss during the week as one of us heads back to teach in September. We are usually home at night so if you are in need of anything stop by or message us on Facebook.

Farmstore Open

2013-08-04T09:13:00.001-04:00

The gypsy wagon is finished and up by the road selling our wares and some of our friends. Besides carrying our honey and lavender products,we are also carrying Merrifields jams, butters, chutneys and soap. Merrifield is a beautiful small farm down the road from us. Craig the creator of these products is a true craftsman when it comes to making preserves.

Working the Wagon Doors

2013-07-29T09:04:00.000-04:00

"Making the mortise"

Almost done, now for the paint.

When I initially designed the wagon, the scale model had a dutch door. Through my research I found that there were differences from the English caravans and the French caravans. The French seemed larger and roomier and they had, of course, French doors. I decided it was easier for me to make the French doors. A friend of mine gave me the stained glass windows that I used in the doors and now to make them. I knew it would be impossible to find doors pre-made to fit the space so I endeavored to make them. I had never made doors before so this was a challenge. The fun part was using all my hand tools I don't often get to use. My son bought me a great set of chisels for Christmas, which really worked out well for the mortises. I modeled the doors after the ones in our 1840's farmhouse. The joints are pinned using wood dowels that allow the door to expand in different seasons without splitting. This being a sound approach (as the doors have lasted since 1840) and an easy solid joint feature it was the easy path to take for the novice.

First coat of the color "Gypsy Pink"

Doors in place.

The Gypsy Wagon

2013-07-28T18:39:00.001-04:00

The wagon was completed and brought up to the road. Tomorrow we will be completing the steps and stocking it with our products. It has been a lot of work and a lot of fun to create. It required skills I didn't know I possessed as well as all the tools I owned. It is far from perfect but a labor of love just the same. It took over a year to create.

Ready to move

Just A Peek

2013-07-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

The gypsy wagon is nearing completion. Ornate brackets came yesterday for the entrance and I am finishing up the french doors this week as well as much of the detail painting and trim. The steps to the entryway will be the last item before we pull it in to place on the farm. The colors are bold and colorful and I won't show you anymore till we have it complete, but here is a little tease.

Gypsy Wagon

2013-07-03T14:46:00.000-04:00

The past week has been a non-stop work to get the gypsy wagon completed. If you have been following the blog, we are building a gypsy wagon to act as our farm store. The spring due date has gotten away from us due to spring garden and farm work as well as getting ready for a wedding. Now with my full efforts able to be placed on the wagon a lot of progress has been made.

First it was the roof. We had the inside roof completed and really needed to get it all on before the rain that was due this pas week and we completed it just in the nick of time.

Then it was to work to complete the siding and frame in the windows.

We have a couple more windows to frame in and trim out and finish working on the french doors for the entrance. Hopefully this weekend we can begin painting.

Soon!

2013-06-23T09:17:00.003-04:00

People have been asking. Is the lavender in bloom? Soon is what we say. Our earliest variety in the labyrinth is almost ready to pick and the other varieties will be available for U-Pick in about 2 weeks. Like the bees on our farm we are busy getting ready for that time. Stop by and see us if you are in the area.

2013-06-15T13:10:00.004-04:00

Nothing like a sunny day for a wedding. Last summer a lovely young couple asked if they could rent the farm for a wedding. The bride always wanted to be married in a lavender field. Well today is the day and we finished weeding and mowing in between rain spells to have it done just in time for the wedding. They invited us as guests and already they seem more like friends than guests on the farm.

This will be the 2nd wedding on the farm our own being the first a few years back. Who knows maybe there will be more to come.

Lavender Labyrinth

2013-05-19T09:53:00.000-04:00

The second spring on the farm we decided to create a labyrinth in memory of my oldest brother who passed away. It was quite a project and that winter some of the plants were too exposed to the wild and crazy King Ferry winds and died. Some grew back and the past two summer drought conditions didn't help matters. This spring, though not real wet, has given the lavender enough warmth and moisture to green up beautifully. This year we ordered some replacement plants from our favorite wholesaler, Stonegate Lavender in Oregon. The labyrinth is going to be stunning this year as are many of the changes we have in store for our customers this season. We are working furiously to get the farm ready for a wedding amongst our lavender in June. We are also working to get the gypsy wagon completed. The walls are up and hopefully this week we will get the roof on. Everything thing on this farm is a labor of love, but this time of year the planting, and pruning, as well as all the other spring farm work, can be a bit overwhelming. In the midst of summer though we will remember it was all worth the effort. Remember to check here and Facebook for upcoming events and activities on the farm as well as what we are harvesting.

The scent of lavender is just a step away at Purple Dog Farm.

Gypsy Wagon Update

2013-04-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

Now that spring has sprung, we are beginning to get more work done on our farm store gypsy wagon. Recently we finished making the form that will be used to bend and laminate the rafters.
The form will receive 12 foot long strips of ash that will be glued up to create our rafters for the wagon. After they are laminated we will run them through the planer to even them up.
The other part of the wagon we have been working on is repairing the stained glass windows that will be used for the dutch door on the wagon. These windows, donated from a friend, needed a few pieces of glass replaced and Serviente Glass in Ithaca was gracious enough to advise us on how to make the repairs and supplied us with the glass and other components.
Next, it is on to working on the walls and getting the rafters in place to receive the roof. If all goes well (and that is mostly dependent on the weather) we hope to have it done by Memorial Day.

Windows repaired and cemented

Nugget

2013-03-26T19:48:00.001-04:00

Five years ago when the farm was just a wish, a hope, a dream, my fiance decided to buy six chicks. All in an effort to live more the way we wanted to be. I had a little experience with hatching chicks but raising them to full grown layers was a bit different. We were successful, all six made it into adult henhood. Right from the start there was one chicken that had attitude and she was literally top of the pecking order. We named all our first chickens after food. Chicken Cordon Bleu was named Blue. Chicken Patty was shortened to Patty, Chicken Rosemary was Rose, Chicken BBQ was named Barbie and Chicken Marsala became Marcie. Chicken Nugget became Nugget and she was the queen of the henhouse. She ruled the roost.(pardon all the puns, but I couldn't resist) This Rhode Island Red was not fearful of anything. She would walk right up to our three golden retrievers and not back down. One day she hopped up on my lap as we were sipping wine in our Adirondack chairs. She would greet us in the morning at feeding and pick out bugs while we were gardening. Nugget passed on to the great henhouse in the sky. Her personality and attitude will be missed. We no longer name our chickens, it makes it all the harder when they do pass on. We raise our chickens for their eggs not their meat. We let them live out their lives in relative ease, realizing that as they age they give us less eggs and just eat our feed. We live in a co-existence together. The chickens give us eggs and we give them a place to live with freedom to be chickens and enjoy what they may find on the farm.

The Hive and the Honeybee

2013-03-09T08:38:00.001-05:00

The Hive and the Honeybee is a website.It is one of the largest collections of material on the etomology of honeybees and beekeeping maintained by Cornell University. Recently a friend shared the information with me that many of the books and material has been scanned digitally and placed on line for viewing. What a resource for the novice, the oldtimer and the curious. Many beekeepers and especially those looking to keep bees more naturally are looking to the old treatises for information that may to keep bees more chemically free. I am on a quest to do the same. Some of the chemical free beekeepers I read about are looking at doing this I think by shear overpowering of numbers. Raising healthy hives to replace not as healthy hives, to selectively breed stock to develop natural resistances to some of the pests that plague bees. Just as a natural beekeeper has their bees draw out their own comb instead of using pre-made foundation that may have trace amounts of chemicals in the wax, beekeepers are raising multiple nucs to have on hand as replacements to strengthen a weak hive or to replace failing hives. This summer I will be experimenting with adding my own nucs(small nucleus of bees and queen that will eventually develop into full hive). I'll be looking to split stronger hives and try to raise some of my own queens. I want to build on some of the hearty stock that has survived here on the farm.
I have one hive that I re-queened once(and I forgot to record where I purchased the queen and what type of bee) but this hive in the back of the property seems to have smaller darker bees than my other hives. These bees seem to weather winters better and though seem to bulk up slower in the summer than the others, they still seem to marshal their resources better and survive on less. I wonder if they crossed somewhere with feral bees as their smaller size suggests. I plan on taking splits from this hive and another hive and see if I can develop more hives. We are also working at developing our acreage to have more nectar and pollen sources available for the bees. All this to help the bees, but also to make the farm more naturally sustainable in the life force that uses our land.

First Plantings for the New Year

2013-02-24T08:57:00.000-05:00

Spring is in the air or at least we hope. One sure sign for us of spring is the beginning of our seed plantings. Some of the first plantings for us are herbs. They seem to take the longest to develop and need the most care. Today we cleared out our back office and decided to make that our early spring nursery this year. We also cleared it out as we are getting ready to repaint the room so the bride that will be using the farm this summer has a nice place to prepare. In years past we have tried a lot of ways to get our seeds started. grow lights in the basement, placing flats on the radiators in the rooms of the house. This year we will probably have them still scattered through the house on radiators. The steam heat warmth really kickstarts the seedlings. We will then transfer them to the office which is well lit and warm and once the hoophouse is warm enough(it is unheated) we will transfer our seedlings to harden off and finish getting ready for sale there. We have increased our varieties for sale this year. We will have new varieties of tomatoes, more melon and watermelon varieties, a whole bunch of herbs and some new sweet pepper varieties.

Nor'Easter

2013-02-09T08:13:00.002-05:00

Ugly weather. Steady, blowing mess of sleet and heavy snow. I had a three hour drive in the mess last night driving around people who should learn to drive in the snow if they are going to be out in it. Today chilly with winds and drifting snow, we've decided to hunker down and get some indoor projects done and save the fun outdoor activities for tomorrow. The storm has blown past and now we just have to deal with digging out, but things are not quite as bad as they projected. A good book, sitting by the fire is in good order for the day. The gypsy wagon is in the next stage of building getting ready to laminate the curved roof supports. Pictures to be forthcoming as the laminating begins.