Thank you to all of you that came out last Saturday to our Pop-Up Market! We had a great time with Wandering Cow Farm and all our neighbors and attendants. We served some great food, met some wonderful people, and, most importantly, found some fun during this time of uncertainty. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to host our Pop-Up Market this weekend due to Gov. Ralph Northam issuing Executive Order 53. However, we will be posting a list of available meats and produce on our social media with included instructions on how to order and pick-up your goods.
We had an amazing day Sunday as well! We met Back Forty Bees at the James River Feed and Seed and they provided us with some great looking, brand new bee colonies! We had so much fun setting them up.
Each bee hive comes with a colony containing a healthy population of females, a healthy queen, and a few males latched on to the outside… you know, for a free ride through the commonwealth!
Each colony is transported into a new hive, the queen is attached to a frame using rubber bands, the colony is released from its cage into the hive, and a sugar solution is added to provide the bees with enough food to acclimate to their new home. In a couple weeks we will remove the sugar solution feeder and replace it with a more secure top to prevent hive intruders. Many wonder if all this activity is harmful to the bees, but the truth is that they don’t even notice! This time of year the bees are mostly focused on keeping the queen alive. We are actually one of their last concerns!
We’re also super excited to announce that our asparagus season is beginning! We’ve seen a couple very small twigs pop up, nothing substantial, but stay tuned! We’ll be announcing when it is available for purchase at the market.
To get ready for the season we spend a few days preparing the asparagus beds:
First, we remove all the old stalks, weeds, and last year's mulch. Second, we scratch the surface of the soil using a garden rake or hoes, to help reduce weed pressure at the beginning of the year. And lastly, we cover the beds with a substantial 3” - 4” thick layer of compost. This layer helps feed the asparagus all season so we can continue to harvest through the summer. It additionally helps to block sunlight to weeds, limiting the occurrence and survival of weeds.
And the warmth from the biological activity in the compost--and the heat it absorbs from the sun--helps the asparagus to emerge earlier in the season.
Anyways, thanks for keeping up with us! And do be sure to check out the vendors below who would have been out this weekend. Stay safe!
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