Strawberries are about to Bloom Again!

Well, we thought surely our beautiful berries would rest a lot longer, but here they are blooming again and some of them have tiny green berries on them! We are giving them lots of water and love and also a foliar spraying of Brix Mix, which is an organic fertilizer product which increases the sweetness of the fruit while feeding the entire plant. Also this warm, bright weather is helping, too! Cheers! We will let you know when they will be ready for the Grower's Market! Have a beautiful day!

People ask me all the time, "how do you do it?" Namely, how do I juggle having 2 kids, a candle business to run, 4 farmer's Markets a week to attend, a farm to run, and I don't know what all else...all while battling fibromyalgia, CFS, and chronic migraines.

The truth is sometimes I really don't know HOW I do it...but from time to time I will try to share some thoughts that might help others business owners and moms survive.

The number one thing I know is with all that on my plate, I have no other life...sad but true, so if you want to be on the PTA, having hair appointments every week, or whatever, trust me, don't get into this lifestyle! Total commitment is definitely a must whatever you choose to do with your life.

So while wage earners can punch the clock and go home and forget about "work" 'till tomorrow, we have work as an organic part of our existence. It is not only what we do, it is who we are.

Another very valuable lesson is that whenever you say "yes" to anything, you invariably must say "no" to something else. I can't keep adding and adding to my plate, as then my kids would never see me, product would never get made, the house would be a pig pen... although sometimes it seems these things happen anyway... Limits are very valuable.

Thirdly, I need to have a plan for each and every day that is fairly iron clad. Even though it is a rare thing to actually finish everything I intend to do on any given day, I have a pretty good idea what I am going to be doing when I wake up in the morning. Naturally, stuff happens, so flexibility is required (as well as a sense of humor!)

Next, I can't do everything myself, so I have a support system in place. Luckily we live right next door to my husband's parents, so they gladly watch the kids for us, and are pressed into service from time to time to pick up the kids from school, or whatever we might need to get through a busy day.

Well, I've got to move on to something else now -- but more on this topic soon!

We've picked our first strawberries! YAY!!

Well, we just picked the first berries for 2009 on Monday and we sold out right away at the Ashland market! We will have more on Thursday in Medford but be sure to come early because they won't last long! They are super-sweet and yummy too!!

First Posting!!

Well, this is a milestone for me...I have finally got the time to start this long-awaited blog...By placing the seat of the pants on the seat of the chair for about 4 hours today I have been able to both work on our website AND start the blog...Time like this doesn't often appear in my schedule, especially at this time of year,, but there was snow (!) today so that pretty much kept us all at home and so here we are...

Welcome to all of you. Everybody wants to know how the bees are doing. The short answer is they are doing fine, if you don't count the 60% loss we suffered this past winter...(more about that in later posts; lets keep to the better news).



The miracle of bees is that they are able to regenerate them selves so fast in the Springtime. This is their growth season. In nature, they would build themselves up heavily at this time of year. The queen will lay up a storm, filling the nest with eggs, which hatch into new bees. Eventually, the nest becomes so full, another queen is raised. (normally only one queen is permitted per hive). When she is mated and ready to go, the old queen and a percentage of the workers leave the hive to look for a new spot to live. This is called a swarm, and this is how honeybees reproduce themselves.

Many people are alarmed to see many bees swarming around and clustering in a tree in a big clump, but this is a good thing. It means the bees are on the increase for the year. This aggregation of bees sends out scouts to look for likely nesting spots. Eventually, all the bees leave en masse and another hive is born.

So what beekeepers do is exploit this tendency. By controlling how crowded the hives become, (by pulling frames out, for example, and placing them into other hives or creating new hives with the excess), s/he can prevent or delay swarming. This is what Mike is now doing, dividing up the hives to make more. Some are to be sold, but most are just to build up our dwindling stock and get ready for the honey flow later in the year!

About half of our hives are still in California. Some are in the orange groves, to make Orange Blossom honey. Last year we didn't make any orange honey, so we are crossing our fingers that we will get some this year. The rest are in the Rogue Valley.

Well, bye for now. I'll try to keep you updated often!