Archives | Curbstone Valley

An Update on Jenny’s Eggs

by Clare | May 13, 2011 | Farm Blog, Turkeys

Well, it’s Friday the 13th, and it’s Fowl Friday. You can already tell where this is going, can’t you? As much as we love to share our successes, life on the farm doesn’t always go quite the way we intend. It’s been a difficult spring...

Installing Our Package Bees

by Clare | May 9, 2011 | Farm Blog, Honeybees

When we first decided to venture into beekeeping, one of the considerations was where would we source our bees? The two most common, and economical choices, are either to catch a swarm, or to purchase bees in a ‘package’ from a commercial apiary. Not sure...

Spring Wildflowers in the Orchard

by Clare | May 6, 2011 | Farm Blog, Flora and Fauna, Native Plants

For most of last spring our orchard was primarily overrun with invasive grasses and thistles. Removing them early in the season might decrease the number of them that reappear each year, but rather than stare at bare dirt, our goal was to replace the weeds with...

Hive Inspection: Hoping for a Well Bred Queen

by Clare | May 2, 2011 | Farm Blog, Honeybees

Last week we inspected both the Saliva Hive (primary swarm), and our smaller nuc hive (afterswarm), and noted that the difference in progress between the two hives was due to the presence of a mated Queen in the primary swarm, and a virgin Queen in the afterswarm...