Let It Rain

It finally started raining yesterday and that's a blessing because we can use it! The past week has been a warm one but good growing weather ... the tomatoes, corn and squash are coming along ... all they needed was a little deep rain. We picked this beauty from our home garden and was it yummy! There are lots of flowers on the plants and small tomatoes. The local people are awaiting the arrival of fresh tomatoes for sure, but they'll have to be patient a little longer.

Last week we planted 4 grapes and are watching for them to take hold.

The varieties are:

*Seedless Concord

*Fontinac

*Edelweiss

*Valiant

The grapes are mostly the "table grape" variety and we should get a crop next season. The Valiant grape already has 5 grape clusters on it ... we'll be watching for those to ripen.

For now, there are other projects, but in the meantime ... Let It Rain!

Freebie Friday ... Hummingbird Saturday

Today (Saturday), while I was working at the farm, I saw this little dude again. He sure likes our sugar water.

Yesterday, seemed like Freebie Friday. I am thankful for the blessings. I was on the way to the farm when I stopped to get air for the truck tire (FREE). Then I stopped at the local store to see what they had left for annuals and WOW, they had a whole bunch for FREE! That was great. I brought some home and took the rest to the farm. My wife had mentioned that we should rake hay for the strawberries that morning and guess what, I also picked up some FREE hay. WOW! What a day. I got all the annuals planted and went back today (Saturday) to water and plant more flowers from our yard. We managed to get 3 rows of strawberries planted and some hay put down ... the rest will have to wait until next week.

Till then ... Make It A Great Day!

Geraniums by the Truckload!

On Thursday, we stopped by a local retail store and they were offering geraniums at an unbelievably low price. Thinking large scale, I couldn't resist so I bought all they had ... a full truckload ... 130 geraniums. Well, it has been rainy so Friday evening we got a break and planted all our little beauties ... yep, all 130. This will be a good week to get them well watered.

The geraniums were planted in several locations in blocks like in the picture above. Some were used by the ponds for borders. We checked them a couple days after planting and the geraniums are green and starting to put out flower buds so next week may bring some flowers. Buying flowers in large numbers is not a scary thing ...it's rather quite fun. The frustration can come if the weather doesn't cooperate but remember ... many hands make light work!

All the veggies are liking the rainy weather and showing real promise. We have had two ripe tomatoes so far this year and many peas ... can hardly wait for more goodies.

Till next week. Keep on growin'!

Strawberry Bed Cleanup

The grasses and weeds often grow faster than the berry plants themselves. With the threat of showers on the way, today was a great day to clean up the berry beds.

I used a weed wacker to cut the weeds and grasses close to the strawberry plants in our new bed containing 1000 plants. Once the weeds were down, I gave supplemental water to hold the plants over until the rains come. It doesn't usually rain that much at the farm and takes alot to get a deep watering job done so I water whenever I get the chance. So far this year, I have used fish emulsion on the plants once to give them a boost. I plan on making a second application to help the plants get big and bushy before the seasons end.

It was quite a surprise to see no berries on the plants this past week but, I am guessing that our Roosters enjoyed red berries more than bugs. My hope now is that we can keep all the critters out of our strawberry beds and enjoy the second crop. The few berries we did try were simply delicious and sweet.

Bees on the move again!

Today was bright and sunny in the high 70's ... a good day to check the bees. Still feeling that the bees could use more sun earlier in the day, Honey-pie moved the bees southward to a new location.

We were surprised that the bees had not done anything yet with the new super that was put there more than a month ago. We put a new super on anyway. When the honey flow starts, they will be workin overtime to store that golden honey.

It's been quite cool this Spring and everything is late in blossoming so, maybe the bees are behind as well.

Keep watching for updates on our buzzy bees!

A Ripe Tomato

At last we have another ripe tomato ... it may be small, but it was yummy. Our last ripe tomato was on Father's Day. It has been quite a long time to wait.

All the tomato plants are growing much better now. We have still had cooler temps than they would like, but come August we should be in good shape.

Yesterday, the girls bought some flowers and herbs so today, we worked on our gardens. We are just waiting for the steady good weather so everything can get to full bloom. Enjoy the sun!

YIkes!

It has been getting colder since yesterday and now the weather is predicting 38 degrees for tonight. YUK! Where we live it is usually a few degrees colder than the prediction ... so it could be possible for a FROST. We'll just think posititvely that the weather will stop dropping over the next few hours and then get warm again.

Bees and Blossoms

Wow, time sure zings along! We've been down at the farm working most every day but Sundays. The strawberries are growing and the flowers are doing well. Since our mowers are pitching fits, the field grass is very high. We are getting a lovely show of wildflowers throughout the field since I haven't been able to keep it cut. I always wanted a field of flowers and now I've got it! Those bees have been busy!

On Saturday, I was mowing with the push mower (while it was still cooperating) as the drive areas and paths needed attention severely. While I was mowing the bee yard, I accidentally bumped the pallet the beehive is on and got stung for the first time. Of course, I broke all the rules so it was my own fault. It was a cloudy, rainy day (sunny day, happy you, happy bees!). I had no protective gear on. I had a loud, noisy machine near the hive (calm, quiet movements near the bees). I had the wrong colors on (wear white, white, white!). And I should have stopped after bumping the pallet but I wanted to get ONE MORE strip done and that's when I got it! Listen to your instincts. Listen to that inner voice. God gave it for a reason!!

And then as I was trying to move away in a slow, calm manner (while trying to get the bee biting me off my eyebrow) I thought of that bee giving it's life for the safety of the whole hive. That reminded me of Jesus. Yep. Right there in the midst of the very mad bee stinging me. I had all these thoughts whizz through my brain. Thanks Jesus that you cared so much for us that you laid down your life. I know you rose again, too, and that's the difference between You and the bees. We know the outcome of Your Sacrifice and instead of death, it's eternal life!

Harvest is on the way!

OUR FIRST RIPE TOMATO

Picked fresh from the vine 6/23/09!

When you can taste the harvest, it is truely a great delicacy. This is our first ripe, red tomato from a seed we started back in Winter in our window boxes. This is absolutely the earliest tomato harvest we have ever had ... and was it ever delicious! At the farm, there are a couple more tomato plants with small tomatoes on them and some plants with flowers. With this high heat week, we should be eating more tomatoes real soon.

Even though today was a scorcher, I went to the farm alone, to plant the remaining plants that were in our greenhouse. Now, all the tomato plants are finally in the ground. I no longer worry about the ones that get leggy as I plant them in a furrow, leaving only about 5-6 inches of the top showing. This is a good trick as roots will grow all along the underground stem. No staking necessary!

The strawberries and corn have doubled in size over the past two days with the increased heat wave. Keeping things well watered can be a chore, but I am watering in the evening so the plants can have time to absorb the water before the baking sun comes up again. Sometimes, it feels like a desert there.

With all the primary seeds finally planted, we can tend to some other activities. It has been a tough, back breaking Spring, but I can say that the family all pitched in when needed and got it done. Many hands make light work, that's for sure.

I've ordered 150 Wopper strawberry plants to arrive after April 15th, 2010. When things are sold out early the year you want to plant them, it's never too early to get next year's order in.

We'll do our best to tend to the blessings we have for this year and wait on the LORD for a bountiful harvest.

Planting and Then Some

This image was taken by our 14-year-old daughter of a hummingbird that lives at our farm. There are now three of them.

Today Hubby and the older youngins headed out to the farm to do some more planting. It seems strange to be planting some of these things at such a date on the calendar, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. It's up to God now.

They planted:
* Early Yellow Summer Squash
* Zucchini
* Sugar Baby Watermelon
* Table Queen Squash
* Cantaloupe
* Butternut Squash
It has definitely changed over to summer here in the Upper Peninsula! We've now been in the high 70s to 80s for the past few days. When it's prudent, some of us stay home with the littles so they can stay healthy instead of baking in the field. When planting and such slows down, we have a few building projects to consider:
* Nicer entry gate to farm
* More secure/permanent entries to orchard/garden space
* Shade from the elements for littles, for resting and picnicking
* Log shed (either vertical or log-end)
* Permanent log greenhouse
I've heard it said that when you have your own place, the work never ends. Truer words...but it sure is worth it to see the family working in unity (mostly), being visually reminded on a regular basis that we are indeed dependent on God, seeing actual progress and God's Hand working on our behalf, watching things grow (including the children and adults) and seeing the former pasture/hayfield gradually being changed to a "farm" yielding abundant fruit for ourselves and others.

Things are A'Growing and I'm Not A'Mowin

What gorgeously beautiful days we've been experiencing! We seem to be close to that awaited "honey run" with our honey bees. I had to add a super to the hive this morning so now we're working on honey for the human family. That is to say, the bees are. Up to this time, they've been working in the main hive creating the bee family and storing up reserves. We have never had such flowers (daisies, buttercups and some sort of orange flower I need to look up) in the field and so many blossoms on our berries! Thanks God. And bees.

As far as the mowin. Well, that was a short shift today. The dear machine needs some work. It just wouldn't cooperate and stay running today. So, Mom moved on to other projects.The hay got raked some more instead and the tulip bed the deer munched (before we got the fence fixed) got half weeded. Our 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter diligently raked hay and then finished mulching the main strawberry bed. Yay! Such accomplishments!

The yellow, yellow-white and purply-brown irises are opened. There are more to come.

There were several trays of pepper and tomato plants languishing in the greenhouse, so after Hubby tilled up a bed around the onion mounds, I transplanted a whole bunch in there. Still more to go. One of the tomato plants left in the greenhouse has 2 tomatoes on it! I think it's a Beefsteak plant.

Hubby is awaiting tomorrow with bated breath as he just may get the first ripe tomato from here in the yard for Father's Day! That'd be a perfect gift!

A BANDIT On The Loose!

This 3 month old rooster we call "BANDIT" ... we didn't like his given name. He seems to be the leader in the group and sure wants to be out on the loose. He has become a better forager though since we have been walking him and his group (band of followers). He usually follows when we call, but will run after us when we get too far away. A quick shuffle of your feet will make the bugs jump so this guy can start 'groovin' on them. He even brings his band of followers under the fence and into the orchard because he wants us to be nearby.

The past two days have been spent weeding the new strawberry patch and laying down hay we raked from the fields. We work for several hours until it gets too blasting hot, then we come home for a few hours and head back out at night when it gets cooler. During the weeding session, I managed to water the gardens and put in some seeds and plants.

Two days ago, I transplanted some beautiful carnations from our flower bed at home. I put them along the walking stones for my pond. The slight shower we had helped a bit and they are coming along fine. I have iris, two types of carnations, viola, an aloe plant and seashells all around my pond. The plants in the pond are doing well also and I really like my striped rush and marsh marigold. I also put a few gambusia in the pond to see how they'll do ... looks like the weather is warm enough for them. Today, I planted varigated vinca seeds, portulaca seeds and cosmos seeds around the pond to fill in between the plants.

I tilled a new area for our watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and pumpkins this morning and we put some seeds in. It was quite buggy and they were biting hard due to the threat of a storm/rain so we ended our morning at the farm and went to Grandma's to build her arbor.

Bee's A'Buzzin, Strawberry Beds Mulchin

Yesterday, June 15th, we were able to get several more rows of strawberries weeded and mulched. I moved the buzzy honey bees to a new site within the bee yard where they will catch the morning sun much earlier to get them up and moving. I was talking to them and myself. Thank the Good Lord, I had the sense to walk over the path I had to take to move them several times to remove obstacles. Sure didn't want to trip carrying that heavy box! I was sad to see many bees confused for a while, but Hubby says that by 10pm they had found the new hive site. It will soon be time to add a super but not quite yet. I also sprinkled them with a cup of powdered sugar as a precaution against mites. I'm not in favor of disturbing the bees more than necessary to do all the inspections that some people and books favor. It interrupts their work flow. I'm also not in favor of antibiotics and chemicals, thus the choice we made.

There are now three hummingbirds at the farm feeder. They are sucking down sugar water like crazy. It is so nice to see them out there while we're working. They are getting used to we human critters being around.

Got some zucchini, butternut squash and summer squash planted. Seems crazy to be planting some things this late, but the season's been so cold.

Bug Busters in the Roost

The other day whilst I was mowing, I noticed a bazillion little bugs jumping around in the hay. Oh no! The grasshoppers are back! How shall we deal with all of them? Now that we have the sod, water, pollination and such going well, we surely don't want to get wiped out by those green hoppin' things.

I sighed to God and asked Him what can we do and I thought of chickens. Then the next few thoughts involved the purchasing, receiving, keeping warm and fed until they are big enough to be outside stages. Then a day or so later, I noticed an ad at YooperYardSale.net for someone giving away roosters! Wow. What an answer! These dudes are about 2 months old and already love eating bugs (they even ate them off our daughter's shoe!) and are trained to go "in" for the night. Thanks to a nice lady in Rock, we now have 14 roosters at the farm to eat the grasshoppers and other unwanted buggies! And since there are no "girls" around, they seem to get along just fine. Thanks God for answered prayers!

Hubby says that my question regarding our hummingbird buddy was answered yesterday. They saw he had a friend so maybe we'll have babies around soon!

Cleaning up the Beds

The strawberry beds, that is. The biggest bed is 32 rows wide. It takes approximately an hour per row to weed. Whew! Yesterday was a p-e-r-f-e-c-t day for weeding...overcast with sun peeks now and again and a slight breeze just enough to blow the biting critters away for the most part. There are now 13 rows totally weeded and 11 rows totally mulched. We have more rows to hoe, ey?

There is something to be said about those vertical strawberry poles...no weeding! However, it shall be interesting to see how we can overwinter them. Yes, I know. Winter. Have to constantly be thinking about that when you live in snow country. We do have an ideer or two for overwintering those poles. Time shall tell.

I didn't get any more of the baby lilac row weeded but I did get more mowing done.

This year is definitely slower than we've been experiencing in the past few years. Just heard that our friends (aren't most Yoopers friends?) down in Trenary expect their strawberries to be ready around July 4th.

Planting Ponds?!?

Yesterday was another cloudy, cool, rainy-type day around Snowflake Farms. Hubby and our 13-year old daughter placed our last two 90-gallon ponds from our home to their new spots at the farm. They dug out the new "planting spots," placed the prefab "ponds" in their new homes, leveled them, filled them with fresh water and placed a whole bunch of water plants in each. They also landscaped around each one. The hummingbird feeder was relocated by the middle pond...that little 'ole hummingbird didn't take long to find it, either!

They also planted broccoli at the edge of the northernmost strawberry bed and a gallon ice cream bucket-full of glads behind the middle pond.

While they were doing all this, I was out on the mower, dodging those ground rats (gophers?) and ticks. The middle section of the field is back to manageable height but really needs raking!

For the past many times I've been out to the farm I have been working on weeding at least a teensy bit. The long row of baby lilacs are about 1/2 weeded and the flower bed behind the middle pond is partially done (mostly due to hubby's rototilling to put in the glads.)

I also mowed raspberry lane and our ATV/access path around the field's perimeter. The raspberries are coming along fine for the most part. While mowing the area by the bee yard, I noticed that besides wild raspberry canes, we have a whole bunch of wild strawberries! The bees were not active in the cold and gloom of the day and I only saw a sentinel or two come out briefly. I was so chilled that I had both a sweater and a coat and eventually succombed and put gloves on!!

Sure would be handy to have a tractor on the farm, no matter the color (brand.) We've had lots of fun gaining experiences doing things the real old-fashioned way, though.

Planting In The Rain!

We took all of our pepper plants to the greenhouse today. It was cool outside only 46 degrees F. Since it was quite rainy, we spent our time in the Greenhouse starting new seeds in flats.
We planted:
*Grand Bell Peppers
*Sweet Banana Peppers
*Bush Beefstake Tomatoes
*Early Cabbage

We also planted the following flowers:
*Glorosia Daisy
*Petunias
*Geraniums
*Celosia
*English Lavender.

The 25 HOSTAS we planted on Saturday will be much appreciating today's wet weather. We divided all our Hostas and planted them in a shady spot. For quite some time, I have heard that Hosta can handle sun or shade. They have never gotten very big in the sun so we'll try the shade this time. Since the deer love Hosta,
we planted them, the HOSTA not the deer, in the orchard for safety.

Hostas, Water Plants, Berry Blossoms Galore

Hubby transplanted the hostas this afternoon. He also moved all the water plants down to the farm. I got a bit of mowing done but the mower was acting up. Both it and I do not like mowing that particular section of the field due to those "ground rats" slinking along in the hay. There are also a LOT of mounds they've piled up that make it a challenge to mow. Honestly, the area needs raking as it's so thick that it makes mowing difficult, especially with our last year's deal of a mower. (It's ok, dear mower, you are a good kid!)

I got several sections of the baby lilacs weeded and also a small portion of the glads weeded. Lilacs sure love the UP! I was enjoying looking at a lot of them in our travels today.

It was so lovely to see all the white blossoms on the strawberry plants, in our new beds, old beds and the poles! (I also have a porch planter here at the house with some showing up...didn't notice any in our bed behind the house yet. Oh yes, I noticed blossoms AND berries on the few plants left right behind the house while I was watering our little apple starts. (The photo is public domain...will try to get some of our own photos in the near future.)

Hubby decided to retry our strawberry poles again this year. We tried them before with little success. This year he changed the operation a bit and placed an actual section of drip water hose in the middle of the PVC pipe for easier access for watering. They have survived the many recent frosts and also have blossoms! Thanks God!

Corny Strawberries a'Hummin

Today, Hubby, aka MisterSnowflake, put a fresh battery on the electric fence for the bee yard. He also planted two more furrows of corn (Early Vee and Sweet). Our 14-year old weeded the old strawberry bed. The green beans and the peas that were planted last week are up. He deep-watered all the berries and the veggies with the hand-wand. The shallots are 4 inches high! And the onions are about 3 inches high.

While they were out there, they refilled the hummingbird feeder and the local hummingbird stopped by! They also hung out another bird feeder. The resident squirrel has figured out how to get to the one out by the orchard. We had fun watching it a few days ago as it hopped from branch to branch trying to figure it out.

We're happy and thankful for progress as we're slowly changing the microclimate out there!

What's in a Name?

We know how important names are...we've had plenty of practice. Naming our children, all their stuffed animals, our bunnies, our fish, etc. We came across this guy from our past and wondered what you think his name should be? He's sure ready for gardening and farming with all those tools! Can you see them all? He's carrying:

* A burlap bagged tree
* A bare-root tree
* Rake
* Shovel
* Sprayer
* Saw
* Loppers
* Shears
* Trowel
* Wheelbarrow

I wonder what he's gonna put in that wheelbarrow since he decided to carry the trees?!?

Flowers Galore

On Saturday, Hubby and our 8 year old daughter planted a whole bunch of flowers at the farm.

* Bachelor Buttons (Cyanus Double Mixed & Blue Boy)
* Marigolds (French Dwarf Double Mixed)
* Cosmos (Single Sensation Mixed & Cosmos sulphureus)
* Statice (Sinuata Mixed)
* Flower Garden Mix (including Calendula officinalis, Clarkia elegans & Zinnia elegans)
* Red & Orange Poppy
* Perennial Mixed Wildflowers
* Rudbeckia Marmalade
* Alyssum
* Evening Scented Stock
* Tri-Color Daisy
* Blue Salvia

They also transplanted carnations, exotic lilies and hen and chicks from the house here over to the farm.


It was so nice to see these daffodils by the fenceline earlier this spring while I was out mowing. I had thought they were goners...turns out the grass/hay was probably too high!

Strawberry Plants Galore!

On Tuesday, I went through our original strawberry bed at our home and pulled out the runners and extra plants. The TRISTAR, TRIBUTE and OZARK strawberries have been growing in our home garden for a few years and needed thinning desperately. I brought the home garden back to 3 single rows and took the plants I removed to the farm to start a new strawberry bed. It rained for the next two days, so I ended up creating two new beds on Thursday and had the children plant the new plants. Wow, was I shocked when we counted 421 strawberry plants in the ground. Can you believe that wasn't all ... we still had plants left to plant. Today, we weeded the original strawberry bed at the farm and pulled out plants that were in the walking path. We took those plants, plus the ones left over, and created another new bed (2 rows) and filled the remaining two pipes we use for a strawberry tower. I haven't counted, but we probably planted around 110 plants today. A quick estimate would bring us to around 1550 strawberry plants in the ground at the farm! Our strawberry plants are greening up nice and some have flowers already. The onions are up and coming along nicely. And as if I didn't have enough to do, I also planted a 20 foot row of hollyhocks.
Today, I also set up the pepper hut (greenhouse cover over plastic hoops) with 8 little peppers to see how they make it outdoors. Just for fun I planted 4 leggy tomato plants in cages outside.
Even the blueberries got their share of attention. I mulched with peatmoss covered with dried field grass with cedar mulch on top. Once the weather stays consistant, we should see great growth out of all the berries.
Yikes, the weatherman is saying we may get a FROST tomorrow night! Arrggh! It looks as if next week will be cool too.
They say that if you don't like the weather here in the U.P., just wait 10 minutes and it'll change.

Attack of the Aphids!

It's hard to believe that a little CREATURE less than 1/10 of an inch long can do so much DESTRUCTION! Our PEPPER plants have been growing very well inside the home on the window boxes we made until just a few days ago. Being a soft bodied, pear-shaped green insect, I guess it is not too surprising that these little creatures can find their way inside. One day, it's nice healthy green leaves and the next day the leaves are turning yellow and dropping off the plants. Aphids usually over-winter in bark and dead leaves and appear at the end of May. They lay eggs on the undersides of leaves and when the newbies hatch, they just start sucking the juices out of the plants. They can reproduce quickly and really make a mess of your healthy plants. I took about 3 hours and inspected each plant and sprayed them with insecticidal soap. Being an organic gardener, insecticidal soap, garlic or water are a few of the choices on my list. Once the aphids were removed, I watered the plants well and will watch them over the next few days to insure I have gotten rid of those pests.
Aphids seem to like peppers quite a bit but have not touched my tomatoes.
To date, here's what PEPPERS I have left and growing:

FAT N SASSY = 2
VOLCANO = 2
JALAPENO = 3
CA WONDER = 8
SWEET BANANA = 23
GRAND BELL = 32

It looks like I will have to be planting more PEPPERS soon. The weather is just starting to get warm again and I am hoping the cold nights will stay away. Over the next week, I will concentrate on getting the outdoor veggies like BEETS, SPINACH, PEAS and CORN in the ground. Don't be in too much of a rush to get those peppers and tomatoes outside just yet, as we still can have a FROST. Happy Planting!

Hit by a deep FREEZE!

Wow! Can you believe it? ... at 2 AM this morning it was a bone chilling 20 degrees outside. I went to the farm around NOON and found that the strawberries and blueberries survived ok. All the tomatoes inside the greenhouse were dead. The honey bees are doing well and are really sucking down that sugar water!
Yikes! I hope this is the last FROSTY for the season.

It's Blueberry Planting Time

May 5, 2009
Those blueberry plants that came yesterday were planted inside the fence today:

Highbush
4 Blue Crop
6 Blue Gold
2 Blue Jay
8 Blue Ray
2 Chippewa
2 Friendship
2 Jersey
2 Meader
8 North Blue
4 North Country
6 Northland
2 Polaris
2 Rubel
2 St. Cloud

Low Bush
4 North Sky
2 Ruby Carpet
2 Blue Boy
2 Little Crisp
2 Partridge Lake
2 Green elf
3 Blue Sunset
3 Leslie
3 Princess Jenny
2 Baby Blue

There are 2 high bush Bonus blueberry plants that are backordered.

Besides the blueberries, Hub and our eldest daughter planted the 2 Ben Lear and 2 WSU cranberries by the small pond in the southeastern corner of the fenced area. They also watered as the pump setup is working again as of yesterday! Yay! Thanks God!

Bees are Home Sweet Homin' It

May 4, 2009
Ok. Today's the day. I have to get those honeybees transferred into their new hive. Remember what the instructor said in the bee class? Sunny day...happy bees. Rain is in the forecast so it's now or never. Gulp. Before I head for the farm, UPS drops off our 86 blueberry and 14 raspberry plants. I bring them to the farm in case Hubby wants them but he'll probably be ready to wait for another day to plant any of them!

It IS sunny today but also windy. Thanks to Hubby Dear, the bee yard has a nice, tall (at least 12 feet!) windbreak.

I read my instructions once again. I suit up in my grey sweatpants, white inside-out sweatshirt, bee hat and gloves. Press the bottom grate down into place in the smoker. Break off a small amount of smoker fuel and place into the smoker. Light the smoker and give the bellows a few puffs. It's smokin'! Yay! Whoops. It's not smokin'. Relight the fuel. Now we're cookin'!

Remember, slow, deliberate movements. Calmness prevails. Hubby has already turned the electric fence off (3rd day running on deep cell battery with charger on it!) and opened the two strand handles for me. I approach the nuc box. The bees are buzzing. Are they happy (it is sunny!)? They sound a little fired up to me. I approach the box and see that the little door indeed did NOT stay open well and they are having a difficult time getting in and out. I puff a little smoke towards the door and gently pry the door open further. I puff more smoke into the box. They are a bit wilder than I like. I open the top of the box and puff a bit of smoke inside. It is my first glimpse into hive life in person. It's very active! Okay. I'm not experienced enough to know if they are happy or not but they feel a little upset so I walk away and let them simmer down and eat honey for a bit (that's what the smoke gets them to do and it calms them down). I need to do the transfer before I lose my nerve so I approach the box again. Some are still whizzing around and a few like my hat growing louder. I talk quietly to them, welcoming them to their new home, etc. I open the top of the box but it is attached to the box and doesn't just come off so I gently struggle to make it stay open without tossing the whole box around and upsetting the bees. The book said the frames inside the box will be stuck together with propolis so I need to gently pry with a little pressure until they loosen, being careful not to jar too hard. Hmmm. The first side comes off and then voila! The first frame is loosened. Put the tool down and now I gingerly stick my fingers into the box and pick up the first frame by the edges, slowly and carefully lifting it into the nearby hive. I do the same for all five frames and the transfer is complete, thank the Good Lord! Now I just gently slide the five frames from the nuc box together and place five frames from our new hive on the sides (2 on one edge and 3 on the other) to make a total of ten frames. I am supposed to gently turn the box over and "knock" the stragglers down into the hive. It doesn't work well for me but perhaps I am too dainty with it. I now have bees buzzing around me in earnest. I place a small patty of food on top of the frames, set the queen extruder over it (probably didn't have to leave it there), put the top and cover on. I prop the nuc box, as suggested in the book, near the hive entrance so the stragglers can find their new home. I make sure there is fresh water and sugar water near the hive entry and I slowly retreat to watch. I want to be sure the bees have found the entrance to their new home. I double check that we have the entrance reducer on the small opening and bring the five extra frames and my tools outside of the bee yard. I close up the fence and reset the switch. Whew! They are home! Thanks God! You're awesome. Those critters are very interesting. Welcome home, bees!

Hubby decides to stay longer and plant raspberries. He finds out they gave him an extra of two different types so we have 16 he planted inside the fence today. Autumn Bliss, Autumn Britten, Caroline, Anne, Polana. I wanted some inside the fencing since the deer have munched on Raspberry Lane recently. Thanks Dear. Hon.

The Bees Are Here!

April 3, 2009
Although it's the Sabbath and we normally refrain from work, the bees have arrived and we need to pick them up.

We picked the bees up about 45 minutes from the farm and so they had another jostling ride today after a very long ride yesterday from IL or somewhere way down yonder. We ordered 3 lbs of a new Minnesota variety in a nuc box and that's what we received. We brought the bees to the farm and followed the instructions in the book "Keeping Bees and Making Honey" by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum that our 8year old daughter had ordered from the library. It tells exactly and specifically what to expect and what to do, step-by-step! It was an excellent resource and greatly appreciated!!

I "suited up" in my plain white sweatshirt, bee hat and gloves and took my hive tool with me. I had grey sweatpants and white socks and shoes with my pants tucked into my socks. Hub turned off the electric fence and opened the two strands by their telltale yellow handles and hooked them onto the pole he conveniently placed for such a purpose. Then Hub and I went into the bee yard and set aside the hive cover and 10 frames on our extra pallet strategically placed for working with the hives. We set up the water bowl with a few twigs floating in it for a fresh water source nearby and placed the sugar water (1:1 sugar:water ratio) on the feeder. Then Hub handed me the nuc box and I slowly walked back down to the bee yard and placed the box on the hive bottom. The nuc box was too long for the bottom board of the hive so we just placed the hive right next to it on the pallet for easy transferring. Now for the nervewracking part. I gingerly began prying open the little cardboard door for the bees to become acquainted with their new home area. They were diving to get out! I spoke to them quietly telling them to hold on and finally got up the nerve to open the door so they could really get out. They came piling out! Pushing and shoving like little kids in line for ice cream! They even pushed some right up into the sugar feeder! I wasn't sure I had the door opened well but had also placed a clump of grass by it as suggested in the book to keep them from coming out too fast. I did wonder if they had a big enough opening but since there were many flying around, I didn't go back to recheck. I had quite a few sticking to me as I calmly (reminding myself to remain calm!) walked away. As I got close to the edge of the bee yard, they were all back to business. As of 2:24pm EDT, our Snowflake Farms honeybees are on site in our bee yard. Hubby went back later and redid the fence. So far so good!

As a side note, we also worked on getting the well pump running to water all those awesome strawberries but it wouldn't cooperate. So....guess who watered by hand again??

Planting is the Berries

May 1, 2009
With Hubby tilling and preparing the beds, the three eldest children came along behind and planted the 1k strawberry plants in only 8 hours! What a great crew! They made 33 rows, 35' each. Hub also put several small groups in our standing PVC pipes for vertical plantings to see how they do out there in the field.

May 2, 2009
Hubby gets battery setup in place for the electric fencing around the bee yard. We're all set now for the bees' arrival anytime now.

Strawberry Field

April 28, 2009
Hub and eldest daughter spent many hours tearing up the sod to prepare the bed for our new plants. The 1,000 strawberry plants are shipped via FedEx from California.

April 29, 2009
Rented a sod busting machine, a Husky. Sure lives up to it's name! Ate up that sod in no time. What a lovely thing to see all that sod being cut and ready to be rolled! We were able to remove half the sod from the new strawberry field. Need to be ready soon as the berries have been shipped!

April 30, 2009
Strawberries arrive!!

Fencing the Hives

April 24, 2009
We went to the farm today with our own plans of getting things done. When we arrived, the deer had gotten through the old deer fencing and made a mess. The tulips and rhubarb had been munched and the fence was a disaster. Good thing we were planning on expanding the orchard and adding fence already. We spent the whole day doing and redoing fence.

Actually, we didn't fence the hive today but our beehive arrived after being backordered. Wow. What timing! God is awesome. Thanks God!

April 25, 2009
Before going to celebrate our youngest son's 3rd birthday, we put the hive together to be ready when the call comes that the bees are here.

Tomato Transplanting, More Planting

April 22, 2009
To offset that winter blast, we planted more spinach and tomato seeds! We also transplanted tomatoes today.

This is Northern Michigan!

April 20 - 21, 2009
Snowstorm. This is northern Michigan in spring. Need I say more?

Peas, Spuds and More Mowing

April 18, 2009
What a day! Planted peas and potatoes at the farm. Also got the road frontage mown in front of the fence. It took way longer than I estimated as we have a total of 1/4 mile frontage. I was unable to mow the whole area due to banking and bushes on both sides of the field but that's fine as we can leave some wild growth habitat for beneficial critters.

Greenhouse Goes Up

April 17, 2009
After several configurations of greenhouses, both at the house and the farm, our new greenhouses are up at the farm. Heavy-duty plastic over metal frames from Menards, this go-round. Hub placed the frame on top of leveled cedar posts cut from our woods. He placed two 6'x8' greenhouses side-by-side and used both of the door ends so we have a door on both the west and east sides. He then had our eldest daughter sew velco strips so he could attach the bottom sides around the cedar logs to control flapping in the wind. When we need to get more air into the greenhouse, we just have to undo the velcro and roll up the sides. Very handy! They are in the northeast corner of the orchard, which is enclosed by deer and snow fencing.

A Milestone!

April 14, 2009
The field is completely mown! Wow! After 4-1/2 years of hand-cutting, push-mowing and now finally riding ... the field has been completely fluffed up! Yay!!

Bee Supers Arrive

April 10, 2009
It's 6am and it's 12 degrees...above zero, at least! Later, the two bee supers we ordered arrive and Hub and our eldest son put them together. Now we just need our other package which contains the main hive, the protective gear, the hive tool and the smoker.

Mowing, Mowing, More Mowing

April 8, 2009
Since the riding mower is now functioning, I spent three hours mowing the field. Hubby put together and setup the log signpost for the farm! Nice to see things coming together.

April 9, 2009
This day, I spent 6 hours on the riding mower. That old field doesn't know what hit it. It's been sitting fallow for years and years and all of a sudden it's getting a severe haircut! While I was mowing like ever, Hub and our eldest son put up a windbreak for our awaited honey bees. Hub already cut an area into the woods right at the edge of the field to set up our bee yard. Wow. We're really doing it!

Field and Raspberries

April 7, 2009
Got the riding mower running today. Will work on getting the rest of the old hayfield mown to give it a chance to revive (maybe help get rid of some of those old ticks?)

Planted the beginnings of "Raspberry Lane" down on the west side of the farm with six canes (2 red, 1 gold, 3 purple).

Transplanting Tomatoes and Harvesting Green Beans

April 3, 2009
We transplanted our beefsteak tomatoes that were getting big. We also planted colored peppers and banana peppers.

Today's harvest included two green beans from our indoor plants with three more flowers on last year's tomato plant. The red geranium we brought indoors last fall is blossoming nicely in the window box again. So nice to see that bright patch of color so early in the season!

Harvesting Spinach

Mid-March 2009
We harvested spinach from our indoor planting of spinach. It was very scrumptious on our homemade pizza! What a lovely early harvest!

Our Bee Journey Truly Begins

March 17, 2009
We attended a beekeeping class at our local "big city" library hosted by our local co-op store. We've been investigating and contemplating taking this honey bee journey for many years. After attending the well-run, well-attended class, we joined with other participants in jumping in and ordering our first bees. A local bee club was also established. We have around 30 members already!

Now, we need to brush up on our knowledge, order our beehive(s) and other equipment. Any honey produced will be a bonus to the pollination those little critters will supply our farm!

Skating

Due to the cold weather and the melted runoff into our driveway, the children enjoyed two days of ice skating on our long driveway March 11th and 12th. What fun!

Composting Class

Look in your area for classes put on by the extension service of your local ag university, co-ops, etc. We attended a composting class at our local "big city" library on composting on March 3rd.

Tomatoes from Last Year

Early in March 2009, we enjoyed two tomatoes from last year's plant. We thought we had enjoyed the last of them around Christmas but they began blooming again. These are the small pear-type tomato. We had read that you can overwinter the smaller tomato plants indoors (pear, cherry types). So, last fall when the weather began getting colder, we brought several plants indoors. It works! We've enjoyed an extended yellow pear tomato harvest, albeit much slower growing, since last summer. Yummm!

What's Up!

February 26
It may still be snowing outside but with the sunshine coming through the windows, the plants are growing well. Most are now 1"-2" high with multiple leaves. It's hard not to think of spring with all the growing going on. As of 2/20/09 here's the list of what's up:

Sub Arctic Tomato (55 day) QTY = 6 Correnta Spinach QTY = 8
Siberian Tomato (57 day) QTY = 7 Lemon Basil QTY = 2
S. Marmande Tomato (68 day) QTY = 16 Chives QTY = 1
Red Pear Tomato (70 day) QTY = 4 Blue Kale QTY = 7
Beefsteak Tomato (80 day) QTY = 55 Tulip "Claudia" QTY = 8
Greencrop Beans QTY = 5 Tulip "Daydream" QTY = 10
Fat N Sassy Pepper (61 day) QTY = 3 Hyacinth "Pink Pearl" QTY = 18
Early CA Wonder Pepper (70 day) QTY = 8 Tulip "Dynasty" QTY = 29
Jalapeno Pepper (75 day) QTY = 3 Tulip "AE" QTY = 85
Tomatillo Pepper (80 day) QTY = 3 Tulip "Big Smile" QTY = 25
Tulip "Mixed" QTY = 18

Those window boxes sure are working nicely ... the Hyacinths have been growing well too! It sure is nice to have flowers inside so early on. After ordering two Greenhouses for the Spring, we decided to start a few of our other varieties of Tomatoes and Peppers so that we would have some of each started early. Here's what we planted on 2/25/09:

Fourth of July Tomato (49 day) QTY = 6
Manitoba Tomato (58 day) QTY = 3
Bush Beefstake Tomato (62 day) QTY = 3
Glacier Tomato (63 day) QTY = 3
Anna Russian Tomato (65 day) QTY = 3
Jetsonic Tomato (68 day) QTY = 3
Red Currant Tomato (70 day) QTY = 16
Yellow Pear Tomato (78 day) QTY = 3
Volcano Pepper (63 day) QTY = 3
Grand Bell Pepper (65 day) QTY = 3
Sweet Banana Pepper (72 day) QTY = 3

WOW ....there sure is lots happening here! Come back later to check "What's Up!" .... HAPPY GROWING!

Spring is on it's way!

February 09
With the WINTER WEATHER trying to hang on ... some signs of Spring are showing up here, as the seedlings inside are growing. It's currently 34°F and it is supposed to be warm over the next couple of days. Our new window "SUN BOX" is working out well and we have many plants getting warmed by the Winter sun and lots of light from the reflective snow. February and March are the two best months to capture the most amount of "reflective sunlight" from our Southern exposure ... partially due to the vast amount of snow accumulation during the period. The white stuff sure is piling up here, but has not stopped us from planting. We have plants in our "SUN BOX" that are already 1-2 inches tall. The reflective sunlight is enough that we have not used any indoor artificial growing lights at this point. Here's the current list:

1 Tomatillo Tomato
14 Super Marmande Tomato
7 Pink Hyacinths
8 Claudia Tulips
We also have a window box with Gladiolas, Tulips and Crocus bulbs that are up about 3inches and growing great!

Winter may be here for another month or two, but we are ready for Spring ...time to do more planting!

Snow and Planting

January 29
Today, it's snowing again! ... Here at what most would consider the "Frozen Tundra", Spring is more than around the corner. At Snowflake Farms, planting outside doesn't usually happen until sometime in May.

Now, inside is definitely a different story, those catalogs that come during the winter months start the stirrings to get planting. Having set aside peat moss and potting soil in the fall we can usually get started before the local stores have planting supplies on hand. Last year, I wanted to get started so early that we had plant racks of beans, tomatoes, peppers and squash ready to go outside before the weather could accommodate them. So this year, I will try to put the "brakes" on planting and do more planning.

For the past two years, we have had killing frosts at the farm in the beginning of August ... just when you are getting things really growing, that weather has done you in and you face nothing but total crop loss. It has been a retraining of my thinking for sure and time for some new ideas.

This year we are planning to grow more in greenhouses and have hoop houses to combat the early season frosts. For those plants that are outside, we will be trying some new varieties. We really enjoy tomatoes and are looking forward to growing these earlier ones (designed for the COLD North):

Anna Russian (I) 65-70 days
Bush Beefsteak (D) 62 days
Manitoba (D) 58 days
Siberian (I) 57 days
Sub-Arctic (D) 55-65 days
Red Pear (I) 70 days
Come back later to this BLOG to see how we are doing and what other great things are happening here at Snowflake Farms!

Welcome to Snowflake Farms

January 28
Welcome to Snowflake Farms

Welcome to our view from northern Michigan and our 23 acre "farm" and our "mini-farm" of 1.9 acres. We're experimenting with plants, methods and techniques both plant-wise and building-wise while we work toward eventually landing permanently at our "big" farm.


Today's view at our "mini" farm. Looks harmless enough but the past three nights have been brutally cold! Try -26°F, -22°F and -22°F for cold. Yowie!!
The cranberry cuttings I took by digging through the snow on January 7th are growing nicely in our sand grow box. Only one of the original hollyhock seeds is still growing and has already been transplanted into a small container.
One of the cherry type tomato plants that we brought in last fall has a new blossom on it!! Two plants currently survived our December cold adventures. Our brilliant pink cactus is flowering the second time, also.