Today’s rain is allowing us to take a break from the outside work, to hopefully catch up on our planning, and take a deep breath.
Matt has been working on converting a 10’ x 20’ car canopy into a greenhouse, as well as building a couple of top-bar bee hives from scratch. In the meantime, I’ve been preparing beds, getting our first batch of seeds started in the small (8’ x 10’) greenhouse, and getting the rest of the perennial crops into the ground (the latest were artichokes and more blackberries) ahead of the rain.
We have a relatively short growing season here on the northern California coast (our place is about 1 mile inland). The farmers markets in coastal Mendocino, where we are, run from May to October. There is so much to do, that we are glad we still have a couple of months to get ready before the markets start… although we know the time will go quickly!
Hi Dustin -
Matt is building the hive following free plans that we found online (after reading a Mother Earth News article). If you go to The Barefoot Beekeeper’s site, on the left about halfway down the page is a link to a pdf of the plans. Matt’s using salvaged redwood, but I think in the plans the author lists some other suitable types of wood.
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.
| 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 |
| Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA |
| Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, 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 |
| Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT |
| 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 |
| Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA |