How to Bee Happy: Delivery #4

Honey Bee on a Wild Onion Bloom

Turnips Fresh From Their Beds

 Hello Moon Bears,

I had a moment in the squash patch when I Knew that This is what the Earth is Truly like underneath all the fierce challenges happening right now in our environment. The Summer Squash were bursting out of the plant bases. Their flowers waving lazily in the gentle breeze. All around me were honey bees and the big fuzzy native bees. They spiraled in and out of the flower forest. Some spun around my head. The buzzing was ecstatic. I felt the brush of their wings on my neck and arms as I reached in to harvest the bounty. And I brought back a smile along with the squash. This is what the Earth offers us in the garden: Joy, especially when we treat her with reverence and integrity.

FYI: If you want to make the bees happy, let some of your garden crops go wild and flower. Bees love radishes, kale and onions when they bloom. In fact, a single radish plant will stand about four feet tall, with a thousand blooms, if you let it bee.

Check Out Our Golden Beets

On Your Menu This Week:

• Rainbow Chard
• A Trinity of Kale
• The Last of the Ruby Turnips
• Tender Green and Armenian Cukes
• Golden and Detroit Beets
• The Best Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes
• Dutch Yellow Onions
• The Last of the Pre-Heat Wave Lettuce
• Small Summer Garlic

Tender Green and Lemon Cucumbers

Thanks,
See You in the Garden

Rick





(c) Copyright, Words and Images, Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, July 2015

June Bloom - Deliveries Start June 18th

 The North Garden in Mid May

 

Karakovan Style Hive

Hello Moon Bears,

Looks like we will start deliveries on Thursday June 18th. We have a lot of new kale right now if anyone wants to cut some themselves. We also have two spots available for our CSA (See the last entries for details).

You can see how green everything is. This time of the work year is sort of like riding a runaway truck with no brakes. The weeds and the sprouts and the bugs and the soil preparation and the promotion happen all at once. Just hang on and do as much as you can.

Potatoes are nearly two feet tall, with little 1 inch spuds hidden in the pile beneath. Broccoli is growing heads. The bees are swarming around the bolted kale and radishes. And the Caraflex cabbages have the cutest cone heads you've ever seen.

We listened to your feedback from last year. So this year we are planting more salad greens in succession. Also, our  onion crop is twice the size and variety as last year. So far the winter squash looks good too. We'll try to never repeat our 50% loss from vine borers last year. We rotated our squash patch far away from the infected areas. Keep your fingers crossed. Control is not an option in a true organic garden. One can only rely on patience and presence and practice With the Earth as partner.

We also installed our first beehive. This is an old time design made with a hollow cottonwood log. It's primary purpose is home for the bees, a round sanctuary. Its a modified Karakovan hive and it also is akin to many African designs. See these links for more details: Karakovan & Stellar Bees. We also have a nice patch of milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies we saw last year.

We're so looking forward to seeing you this Summer, with coolers full of living, lovely produce.

Rick

(c) Copyright, Words and Images, Moon Bear Produce, Rick Sievers, May 2015