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 set up to keep the bears out of the bees. So now all we have to do is move the hives and and buy bees for three more hives. Electricity is a scary beast. Neither Billy or I had the courage to test the fence, so we have to rig something up with jumper cables. We finished putting out the cool weather transplants. All the brassicas and lettuce are pretty much in the ground now. Weeded the strawberries and peas. We’ll probably have to replace some of our potatoes because I didn’t think about the trenches being pools in this clay, un-drainable soil, so I think some have rotted from the excess water sitting there. We may do the potatoes differently next year.
We found a Western Pond turtle in the road today. It’s the only native freshwater turtle in California. We saved it from an emminent future as road kill and released it into one of the streams bordering the farm. It felt like a good luck omen.
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 bear destroyed two hives looking for tasty honey and larvae. So they are now in town, and we have to figure out a way to get our two remaining hives onto the farm. Most beekeepers use electric fence to keep the bears out, but it’s a bit expensive and we need a solar one as there is no electricity down at the farm. So hopefully we can move them by the time things are blooming. It was so exciting to see the bees again after a winter of dormancy, and taste blackberry honey!
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 |