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Author Archives: jim
Oregon state beekeeping conference
I was starting to feel a little jealous about the scholarship that Emily won to go to the Young Farmers’ Conference, even though I’m so happy for her. Then, out of the blue, I won my own scholarship to the … Continue reading
End of the Garden
The winter cold has finally brought the gardening to a halt. But our winter is not much like the sudden, piercing cold we were used to in the midwest and other parts of the country. We’ve had a few soft … Continue reading
Oh dear
This one goes out to my Dad, who likes these kind of stories. When Emily and I left the midwest to move out to Oregon and start our farm, my dad stopped me as I was packing, to talk about … Continue reading
Brother Jim the monk
Wow, today was gorgeous. I celebrated by spending the entire day in the garden, by myself, listening to the birds and working in nature. I often feel like I’m a monk on days like today, eschewing personal contact to be … Continue reading
Pumpkin pie, kids, and strawberries
Since the very beginning of this venture, Emily has been dedicated to the idea of educational outreach as part of our mission. Today she put that into action at a local preschool in Tillamook, where she and a bunch of … Continue reading
Vanishing of the Bees
We just watched an interesting documentary, The Vanishing of the Bees. It’s about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder), a mysterious new problem that is affecting bee populations all over the US. Basically, all the bees in an affected hive just disappear. … Continue reading
Tomatoes
Much of this year’s work has been an experiment. Some of it is qualitative, like “do we enjoy this?” But much of it is quantitative, to see how much of what we can get how quickly from a square foot … Continue reading
Opening day
Saturday was a special occasion for us: the first market we’ve attended where we had our own produce stand. This might seem odd, being the last market of the season, but it’s because up until this point, Emily was working … Continue reading
Canning
Well, a frantic summer is finally starting to ease off a bit. Last weekend was the end of the season for both the Tillamook Farmers’ Market and the Manzanita Farmers’ Market. The only remaining market we have now is a … Continue reading
Surprise, honey!
…or, rather, honey that came as a surprise. Last Tuesday I popped out to the hives to do a mite inspection, and noticed to my horror that Colony A was in the middle of swarming. This is a disaster, because … Continue reading