It’s been an exciting week on the farm! The North Branch Beekeepers bought a baby colony of bees (called a nuc, or nuke, not sure how to spell it) a couple weeks ago and then transferred it to a new hive body. They seem to be doing pretty well despite some rainy stretches. Below are some photos from the first hive check after they got moved into their new hive body.
Mother-son beekeeping team
Bees going in and out of the hive
A frame of brood (baby bees) and some honey, I think
In the world of vegetables, there’s been a lot of hand-weeding, horse-cultivating, scuffle-hoeing, and Colorado Potato Beetle squishing. We’ve also frozen about thirty quarts of snap and snow peas and 3(!) quarts of blueberries from our high bush blueberry patch.
Miriam squashing potato beetles with a passenger on her back
We’re getting very, very close to completing the high tunnel we’re building (from Ledgewood Farm Greenhouse Frames), which is funded by the NRCS. This is good, because we don’t get any of our grant money until it’s totally done. Two evenings ago, the weather was a neutral 70-ish degrees and windless and we decided to put the plastic on. Greenhouse plastic shrinks in the cold and stretches in the heat, so we have to be a little careful about what the temperature is when we first put it on–if it’s too hot, when the winter comes around the plastic will shrink and possibly tear, and if it’s too cold, when the weather really heats up the plastic will be all loose and flappy. This is our fourth time plasticking a greenhouse and by far the easiest–the whole process was over in about an hour.
Before…
…and after
Sweet success and wild, acrobatic celebration!
