As of March 22nd there are 26,909 Corona virus cases in the U.S.A. which has caused 349 deaths. Schools have been closed for the rest of March at a minimum. The Stock Market has fallen about 30% from this year’s high and is currently trading at 19,174. A disagreement between OPEC and Russia has caused […]
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I was mulching the strawberry bed and nestled in the wheat straw was this baby copperhead snake. A good reminder to stay alert, wear good gloves, and boots.
We have 8 blueberry bushes in our garden, but we would like to plant some in our new little orchard. Below is a link to an article about propagating blueberries from cuttings. We will be trying this in a couple months. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/start-blueberry-plants-another-grown-plant-57053.html A honey bee pollinating a blueberry blossom in the garden.
Brent and I have been helping our dad build a greenhouse. Between the rainy weather and corona virus precautions the progress on my parents greenhouse has slowed way down. Greenhouse progress…all pressure treated framing.
We have chickweed growing all over our garden. The chickens love it and we use it in our smoothies and salads. Here is a link to more information on Chickweed… https://www.nybg.org/blogs/plant-talk/2012/03/tip-of-the-week/eat-the-weeds/
We currently have one Langstroth style bee hive in the orchard, but we would like to have a few more hives. We can buy a packaged box of bees that includes a queen for about $125. However, we may be able to catch local honey bees that are swarming, usually in the Spring. There are
Making Honey Bee Swarm Traps (Layens Bait Hives) Read More »
This past spring we inoculated about a dozen red oak logs with a cold weather shiitake mushroom strain called Snow Cap. They have been fruiting all winter long! We also inoculated logs with a warm weather strain called Halo. Between the two we should be harvesting mushrooms more regularly throughout the year. Picked almost a
We are already getting our seedlings started inside for the spring garden. For these seedlings we’re using a standard set of 4 foot LED lights as grow lights…nothing special. We also use a couple thermostatically controlled heating mats to help some seeds germinate. A 10″x 20″ flat of brassicas (brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli) planted
It was a warm day for the end of January and the bees were out and about. We were shocked to see them flying in with pollen. I thought the bees were done collecting pollen until spring, but on January 27th some bees were loaded with pollen on a warmish day.
We had a nice open area where the harbor freight portable garage was, so we made some more raised beds. These garden beds are made from cedar slabs, or first cuts from the chainsaw mill. I’ve been saving the good ones that have significant heart wood for building projects like this. The finished beds. 1/2