Farm Blog | Curbstone Valley

Pollinators Aplenty for Pollinator Week

by Clare | Jun 21, 2012 | Beneficial Insects, Farm Blog, Garden

As you may have heard, this week is officially Pollinator Week! It’s not that the pollinators are aware of that, but as gardeners, it is an excuse to stop and think about the pollinators in our gardens, and consider how diverse pollinator species can be. Over...

Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

by Clare | Jun 12, 2012 | Farm Blog, Flora and Fauna, Invasives

When we cleared the slope for the orchard, we cleared a small area that had been choked with vegetation, including a number of invasive species, and dead, or diseased trees. This resulted in much more sun reaching the slope, and a significant amount of soil...

Grafting Heirloom Tomatoes: From Greenhouse to Garden

by Clare | Jun 5, 2012 | Farm Blog, Garden, Vegetables

In our last tomato grafting post we discussed why we’ve chosen to try grafting some of our favorite heirloom tomato varieties this season. Tomato grafting isn’t new, and many commercial producers rely on this method of heirloom tomato production to improve...

Spring Garden Update: The Kitchen Garden

by Clare | Jun 1, 2012 | Farm Blog, Garden, Vegetables

The kitchen garden this year has been running a little behind. Somewhere around February, peak seed starting time, we found ourselves knee deep in barn building, instead of sowing seeds in the greenhouse. Once the barn was finished, we had to scramble to catch up....

Spring Garden Update: The Native Gardens

by Clare | May 29, 2012 | Farm Blog, Flora and Fauna, Native Plants, Natives

There’s no question that this is my favorite time of year. The native gardens are at their absolute best between May and June, when so many of the plants are in peak bloom. This proved to be a very busy weekend for us, as we tried to catch up on a rather long...

Lotus & Minnie: A Grand Day Out

by Clare | May 22, 2012 | Farm Blog, Goats

When Lotus wrote the last post, she was convinced the farmers had completely lost the plot. Over the course of a week the girls had been bathed, clipped from head to toe, and had both of their ears tattooed. Even though they didn’t realize it, this was all to...