We are planning on being at the Conway Farmer’s Market on August 23rd from 8 am to 1 pm, depending on the weather.
Market Line-Up:
- Our very own Local Honey, while supplies last.
- Aloe Vera and Basil plants.
- Homemade Soap and Balms with locally sourced ingredients.
- 6-packs of lettuce starts.
Farm Overview
I’ve rendered the rest of this year’s beeswax from the cappings of our last honey harvest. The Balms I started making take more beeswax than soaps, so I will make them while supplies last.
Sunday, we drove out to Whiteville, NC, to pick up more locally sourced buttermilk for my soap making. It was a beautiful day, and it was our 23rd anniversary, so we enjoyed the day together.
The garden has not been doing well this year. The heat has kept us inside more than we’d like to admit, and while the drought was tough on the vegetables, now everything has turned mushy and overgrown from all the rain.
George does best with root vegetables, where you plant, thin them out after a week or so, and let them grow until you harvest. No picking along and along to maintain their sizes and to make sure they keep growing, after all, he is a very busy man and has a regular full-time career on top of all the rest. So, we are excited that we have received our carrot seeds for our fall plantings. Our garlic should arrive soon, too. We chose smaller garlic this time, but it still takes months before harvesting. We did save our elephant garlic bulbils found in the garlic scape, but they can take a few years to form bulbs. He has also started growing micro tomatoes inside, and they are breaking through the soil already.
Honeybees
Well, it happened; we lost a hive. Beekeepers say everyone will lose bees, but it still feels rotten. The hive was fine one day, and the next day, they were just gone; the hive was empty. When he thought about it, he did notice the day before that bees were flying all around the hive, so it was probably a case of robbing. It’s difficult to notice behaviors like this even for experienced beekeepers, and robbing can take out a hive in a matter of hours if you don’t recognize it.
Literature on bee robbing: Robbing Source
George started with two hives last year; we caught two swarms over the summer and made three hives from splits. We lost one, so we have six total as of today. Now it’s a matter of keeping what we have healthy and strong going into the winter.
On August 16th, George joined some of his beekeeping buddies from the club at the Conway Tractor Supply to celebrate World Honeybee Day. They had an observation hive set up and were there to spread awareness. That is it for now, I hope to see you nice and dry this Saturday at the Market!
♥tootles♥
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