Things are buzzing here on the farm this week but first a couple of announcements.
The annual Garlic Planting Gala has been scheduled for Saturday October 6th from 1:00 until done. This is THE social event of the already crowded fall social calendar. The preliminary schedule is to plant garlic from 1:00 until 4:00 or whenever we finish, followed by a bonfire and potluck dinner. The more people we have the faster it gets done and the sooner we can relax around the bonfire and enjoy each other’s company. There are activities for all ages! Please let me know if you can make it.
We are still selling maple syrup. For those who pick-up at a drop site I can send it in your pick-up tote. The price is $10 per pint and it is delicious.
Farm News
As I mentioned above things are really buzzing here on the farm this week. The buzzing started on Friday around 4:00 in the afternoon. As we were unloading some produce into the wash area I noticed that there were honey bees trying to get into a rotten watermelon we had in the “stuff to give to the chickens” box. I had never seen honey bees do this before. I’ve seen plenty of wasps and hornets but not honey bees. So I did what any good farmer would do and cut open the melon to give them greater access. This was step one in my scientific experiment. I wanted to see if more bees would come eat watermelon if a couple bees had discovered it.
As I observed the box over the next 15-20 minutes I noticed and interesting pattern. More and more bees showed up. They say that bees communicate with each other by dancing in the beehive. This is how they explain where the rest of the hive can find the food. I wondered what the dance for “rotten watermelon next to the washing area” looks like. Probably similar to what I look like dancing at a wedding I imagine.
Anyway, the number of bees kept increasing. They were joined by some smallish wasps. The bees and wasps got into a bunch of skirmishes. So I did what any good farmer would do, I cut open another rotten melon thinking of course that then the two warring factions could blissfully coexist — kind of like the two state plan for the middle east. What could possibly go wrong?
Of course much like the middle east neither the bees nor the wasps wanted to give up their claim to the now two open melons. “Can’t we all just get along?” I thought. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I was in uncharted territory. So I did what you’d expect me to do, I looked at my watch and said to myself, “Well you just wasted a half hour of time!” and went about the rest of my day as if there was no large scale conflict occurring in our schmutz box.
The following Monday morning was cool and calm and I of course had forgotten about the bees and wasps. We spent the day harvesting a whole lot of produce and proceeded to drive back to the washing area. When we arrived we were greeted by a large swarm of bees, wasps, hornet and other potentially mad stinging insects blissfully munching on the rotten watermelons. Who knew there were so many different kinds of stinging insects? Many of the insects were trying to find a faster way home by flying into the wash area — not something we preferred. So Rebecca did what anyone in that situation would do — she grabbed one side of the schmutz box and dragged it ten feet away. Not a good plan. Suddenly there were 1,000 or more stinging insects flying around us looking for the missing cut open watermelons and only finding two unfortunate farmers who should have known better. Luckily we out smarted them by running away and no one got stung. But we figured that was a good time to quit for the day so we loaded the produce into the cooler and left the whirling dervish of danger.
The next morning was cool so there were fewer insects and those that stayed around were moving quite slow. I took advantage of this and moved the schmutz box to the chickens where they could devour the rest of the melons. Chickens sting a lot less than bees and wasps. Over the rest of Tuesday we’d find a few bees and wasps looking for their watermelons and finding none. They for the most part just moved on. We were quite happy it was over.
What will we have this week? Everyone gets a spaghetti squash! We also have onions, garlic, peppers, summer squash (this is the first time in the history of the farm that we picked both winter and summer squash in the same day), carrots, potatoes (a russet potato), a few rutabagas, a few beans, a few tomatoes, some tomatillos, a few cabbages, some kale and probably a few other things.
Only FlowerShare this week. No fruit, cheese, salmon or ice cream.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, etc.