Weekly Update: May 24

Last Sunday, we got to be present while Emma and Rebekah from Bee & Bloom brought two colonies of honeybees to the farm for their new forever home. I didn’t realize it would be yet another bucket list type experience since our whole farm adventure began. Wearing the bee suit and pouring bees into their box (well standing next to Emma as she did it) was incredibly peaceful. Peaceful? Who knew that would be the word I walked away from it with. Peaceful and grateful to be part of it. When we were done, Jim took off his suit and said “Some people might call that the stuff of nightmares.” Hahaha. (Photos and videos below.)

There is a theme here. This week in the office, Maggie and Chrissy told us that whenever they ask both Jim and me for an answer on anything farm related, Jim and I always give the opposite answers. This cracks me up, I didn’t even notice it — I guess opposites really do attract. And that is good thing, because we really have had to divide and conquer to try to get everything done before we open in a few days. So much is up in the air. The biggest two issues: Strawberries and Covid-19.

Our strawberries are just not ready. With the hot weather predicted later this week, we should have a few fields that will start to ripen by this weekend. But we just aren’t sure. And with Covid-19 there is a higher demand for fresh produce, making it difficult to get extra berries from other farms, because they just don’t have extra.

Then we found a field covered with small bugs on some of the leaves. We are not using any spray on our farm. And we’re growing everything without any chemicals or poisons, so when we found this, my heart went into my stomach. In one instant, everything we worked for seemed in jeopardy. We started combing all the fields. After sending photos to multiple folks, we got confirmation the bugs are ladybug pupae. It’s incredible the highs and lows you can go through in a matter of hours. Ladybugs are great to have in strawberry fields, because they eat aphids. Jim and I ended the week last night by sprinkling Ladybugs in some of our other strawberry fields.

We are so grateful for all our neighbors and friends who continue to give us incredible support, such as identifying the bugs. Thank you Kari (from the Pumpkin Patch) for holding my hand and walking me through so much of this. I call Kari the Sauvie Island version of Dolly Parton. She always has a smile on her face and you will never hear anything negative out of her mouth. This week she helped us navigate some of the issues we were having with the OLCC. Cross you fingers, looks like we might have our license by the time we open!

My favorite one of Michael’s bikini masks so far.

We had to drop our masks, so you could see Phil. He is not planning on working the BBQ this summer — time to relax a little. Although he continues to come by and offer his help and wisdom. Thank you Phil!!!

Two of the most used pieces of equipment this week.

One of the most exciting deliveries this week.

Extra hand washing stations.

Byron, one of the owners of B and L Fabrication, dropped off the port-a-potties himself. Aren’t they beautiful?! And they arrived a day early!

Not everything went smoothly. Backhoe tires aren’t cheap.

And we had to replace all the fans in our new-to-us produce cooler because it sounded like s jet engine.

A season’s worth of berry boxes and flats.

Countdown to opening weekend.

My phone was out of space, so this is the only photo I took when walking through the vegetable fields yesterday. It’s so gratifying to see everything exploding thanks to all the rain. To see photos of what the strawberries looked like yesterday, go to our U-Pick page.

The queen bee is inside this. Her new colony will eat through the sugar enclosing her and let her out in a few days.

Moving in.

Welcome.