Clare | Curbstone Valley

Beyond the Sink Hole: A New Garden Plan

by Clare | Apr 13, 2012 | Farm Blog, Garden

Last October the area immediately in front of the house was excavated to repair a rapidly widening sink hole. There used to be a large deck on the front of the house, which was in violation of county building codes, because the original builder constructed it directly...

Orb Weaver Spiderlings

by Clare | Apr 9, 2012 | Beneficial Insects, Farm Blog, Garden

As life returns to the gardens this spring, it’s not just the plants that are stirring. At a turn in our driveway there is a large volcanic rock, no doubt put there by the previous owners, to prevent vehicles from cutting the corner. Typical of lava rock,...

Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra)

by Clare | Apr 6, 2012 | Farm Blog, Flora and Fauna, Native Wildlife

In all the time we’ve been here, I’ve only ever seen one frog. Just one. We hear them frequently, sometimes down by the creeks, other times up on the slopes above us, but they’re rather shy, and we have some very dense woodland here, so being able to find our...

Splitting the Lavender Hive, and Rechecking Rosemary

by Clare | Apr 3, 2012 | Farm Blog, Honeybees

Last Friday we spent the afternoon working in the apiary. At the end of February we had split the Salvia colony into our (then empty) Rosemary hive. As a month had since passed, we expected we should see evidence of a new Queen by now, so we needed to see how this...

Mason Bees, and the Mighty Mizuna

by Clare | Mar 30, 2012 | Beneficial Insects, Farm Blog, Garden

Mason Bees, and Mizuna, sums up a large part of my afternoon in the garden yesterday. We first brought Mason Bees to the farm a couple of years ago. This is their third year hatching in the garden here. For the first two seasons we mostly saw evidence of Mason Bees,...