How Do You Know It Is Fall?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:44:38 -0400

Some people say it is Fall when you start loading pumpkins. If you want more proof than that, there’s the autumnal equinox which marks the beginning of Fall. Here’s some info on it from EarthSky.org.
Sept. 22 Autumnal Equinox
Rob

The sun sets due west today!

Beginning to See Orange!

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:40:02 -0400

Yep, some of the pumpkins are beginning to orange up. They are planted at different times and some varieties mature at different rates. So, throughout the farm there are pumpkins ranging from green to orange. No matter what the color is, they are all LOOKING GOOD!
Thanks for the pictures Gayle.

Bees and Thank You

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:44:08 -0400

Remember to say, “Bees and thank you!” Gayle sent these pictures from her trip to the farm at the end of July/beginning of August. The bees are brought to the farm accomplish the all-important act of pollination. Hundreds of hives are trucked in to make sure there are plenty of bees to go around. Read up on bees with the excerpt below from the Nature Conservancy website or click to go to the webpage.
Honey Bees: Nature's Greatest Pollinators
It cannot be denied that the honey bee is the greatest pollinating machine when it comes to agriculture. Their large perennial colonies can be moved to wherever they are needed and they can communicate direction and distance from the hive to nectar sources. Honey bees also practice flower fidelity which makes them very efficient pollinators. Flower fidelity is the habit of concentrating on one specific specie of flower when gathering and transferring pollen even though the insect is attracted to a large variety of flowers.
Honey bees are also excellent at finding the most abundant and sweetest source of nectar near the colony. Scouts communicate information about the source to their brood with what is called “dance language”. Even in the darkness of the hive, the direction in which a bee is dancing can be easily followed by other worker bees and the odor of the nectar that the dancer provides gives the followers a clue as to what kind of flower the dancer has found. This unique language, the societal habits of a colony and their proficiency in pollination has made the honey bee an interesting and popular specimen to study for science and agriculture.
How Bee Pollination Works
Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains between the male germ cell of a plant (anther) and the female reproductive system (stigma) in seed plants. It is a vital process for both plants and humans; without it plants would not be able to reproduce and crop bearing plants would not be fertilized enough for necessary food yields.   In many plants, the anther and stigma of a single flower mature at different times, so pollen must be moved from one flower to another. Insects - including bees, wasps and hornets - move the pollen from one flower to another so new fruit can be formed. Pollen can also be spread to plants by the wind but the pollen of alfalfa, almonds, avocados, cotton, and peaches and many other plants, needs to be carried by insects, and bees do this job better then any other specie.

Keeping Cool

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:15:55 -0400

With the temperatures constantly in the upper 90º’s, who could blame the horse for cooling off in the sprinkler. And what a BIG sprinkler it is.
Rhonda

Plants are GROWING

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 23:47:17 -0400

The pumpkin plants are big enough to cultivate so thats what they are working on now.. Here are a couple of pics of the corn. It’s looking real good.
All is on track for now, and the bees got here last night.
Rhonda

The Farm

How Do You Know It Is Fall?

Beginning to See Orange!

Bees and Thank You

Keeping Cool

Plants are GROWING