Bees!

The bees arrived two days ago and they are adjusting to their new hives.  They have a lot of work to do!  In the picture below you can see the sugar water solution in the quart jar.  It is there to assist them with nourishment so they do not have to forage so far from the hive to find nectar.  Right now the focus of their energy needs to be on building honeycomb so their queen will begin laying eggs.  The sugar water allows them to expend less energy finding food during these initial days.  Even bees have housekeeping to do when they first move into a new home!

The bees are the small dark specks against the white of the hive.  

Bee Prepared

We are getting ready for the arrival of bees.  They will be pollinators for our crops and, in time, producers of honey for our table and for market.

First, Lloyd Lee mowed a portion of the pasture to prepare a bee yard.

Bee hives in place.

Available for immediate occupancy.

Ready for bees.  Any takers?

Pollinators

Bee on squash flower

On a farm there can never be enough pollinators! Pollination for many of our plants relies on the bees moving pollen from one plant to another which allows the flowers to become the produce on the plant.  Soon we'll be acquiring bees (and hives) for the farm to assist with the pollination of our crops.

Stay tuned for news and pictures when the new arrivals actually show up to begin working.  Won't be long!

A Day on the Farm

On a recent, beautiful Spring day, there was a lot of activity on the farm. . .

In pasture one, Charlie was removing "deer guards" from young fruit trees and
Jason was spreading lime on a newly plowed field.

Lloyd Lee was assisting Mike with the renovation of an old metal wagon into the produce wagon for the farm store.

Susan was at work in the greenhouse planting seeds in flats.

The garlic was growing.

And the peach trees were peacefully blooming.

Meanwhile, Jan was simply walking around taking pictures and listening to the hens celebrate the many eggs they were laying.

Opening Day of Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market

Today was the "season opener" for Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market.  Wings of Dawn Farm was in the starting line-up and the team of vendors pulled out a winner thanks to the support of lots of fans who came to see, to learn, to shop and to eat.  Thank you!

After these photos were taken some real excitement began--the first "Food Truck Rodeo" held in Burlington, hosted by the market, was held in the parking lot behind our tables.  Here are some of the trucks arriving:

Six different food trucks, members of the Central Carolina Food Truck Alliance, came and the lines of customers were long!  The atmosphere was very festive.  The sense of community was obvious as children licked ice cream cones and adults chowed down on foods such as tacos, jambalaya and BBQ.  Cooperative weather added the finishing touch to a great day!

Signs of Spring

Despite the cool, windy weather of March-as-lion, we can see glimmers of life as we wander the farm.  ("Wander" sounds so much more relaxing than "trudge" or "work" about the farm, but don't let that fool you.)  Here are a few of the ways in which we know it's the season known as Spring.

     Two tractors in the field.

 Jason planting onion sets in the rows he's just hilled.

Peas are planted and just peeking out of the soil although you can't really see them in the picture.

 Layers are laying eggs galore.

 The incubator is FULL of eggs!  Stay tuned--in a few weeks we'll have pictures of really cute chicks.

Raised Beds

Raised beds

Last year, we built three raised beds in the early spring beside one of our garden plots. They are constructed with large timbers, originally milled locally to become a floor, a very sturdy floor.

Edge of a raised bed

We transplanted some of our perennial herbs into one of the beds and added the seeds of an old-fashioned vining petunia.

Herbs in one of the raised beds

And then we direct seeded sunflowers, cosmos, lettuce and zinnias into another bed.  We enjoyed everything that grew!  This year, we have perennial onions in the middle of the three beds.  The two outer beds await whatever is to be planted this year and will soon be looking like the picture below.

Seeds starting to come up