A gorgeous Saturday and the big job was to do the first post-winter bee hive checkin. I’ve been watching the hives for the past month or so and seeing lots of activity. They’ve been on the to do list for awhile but when I had time, the weather was too rainy, or windy, or cold.… Continue reading Suddenly Spring!
First Day of Spring
Another winter is exiting in a flurry of mud and fluxuating temperatures. It seems a very long time since my last post. Life on the farm always has its ups and downs. We lost a few pigs this winter and it’s always sad. And, today, we saw the fox that has been picking off our… Continue reading First Day of Spring
Pigs, Produce and Preserving
I need to stop making pledges about any particular schedule of blogging. Summer gets the best of us in many ways. The weeds begin to win and the wind goes out of the sails, often just when it is time for fall gardening. I don’t think people understand the importance of this overlapping time period,… Continue reading Pigs, Produce and Preserving
First Honey Harvest
After nearly 18 months, two failed hives, and a long cold winter of worry, I harvested two frames of honey today! Only one of my hives produced any honey–and it looks like there are easily three or four more full frames in the super–so I decided to go the slower, low tech route of draining… Continue reading First Honey Harvest
What We’re Picking Now
Carrots, cantaloupes, snap beans, peppers and tomatoes of a wide variety, squash, watermelons, eggplants, basil, and sunflowers
August!
August has arrived very quickly, it seems to me! The weekly updates I promised got lost in my my work travel and the farm. We are taking produce to two markets each week. We are in Claremont, Virginia, on Fridays from 6 to 8 PM, at the Claremont Circle Store. Then, Saturdays, we attend the… Continue reading August!
Five Months Later
It was a tough winter here at the farm. We didn’t get a lot of snow but the freezing temperature required extra work keeping pigs and chickens war, keeping water from freezing and worrying about the bees. I’m happy to say that both hives survived and are now busy making honey! I added a queen… Continue reading Five Months Later
What We’re Picking Now
Beans, peppers, greens, cut flowers…and there are always fresh eggs!
Making a Life
Over the holidays, a friend strongly encouraged me to read Kristin Kimball’s memoir of her beginnings as a farmer. I knew I had a copy of The Dirty Life on the shelf but I had someone managed to avoid reading both it and all the other memoirs of life as a farmer. For me, reading… Continue reading Making a Life