Notes from the Edible Classroom 

It feels like fall. The breeze is still warm, but now,  just below the surface, an undercurrent of cool air.  A walk through the Edible Classroom confirms what the calendar is showing us, we are marching, albeit slowly, toward winter.  But don't despair, we have plenty of warm, sunny days before many trees drop their leaves.  We still have ripening figs and the Asian Pears continue to delight our CSA members.  Stop by the EC before they're gone!

The onset of fall leads to many visible changes in the garden. Flowering beauties have given way to seed heads filled with nooks, crannies and lots of seeds!  The coneflowers (Echinacea), zinnias, sunflowers and cardoon, once a riot of color, have settled into fall and the birds are loving it!  Walk through the EC's main gate and pass under the grape arbor, if you're lucky you may see a charm of goldfinch or a host of sparrows racing from one seed source to the next.  I love seeing them swoop across the garden in perfect precision.  How is it that each bird knows exactly where and when to turn to maintain those beautiful flight patterns?

Not only do the birds love all those seeds, but so do many people.  More and more gardeners are collecting current - growth seeds and saving them for next year.  Seed saving has  seen a rebirth over the last few years and it seems an easy enough hobby.  Gather seeds from a favorite plant, place the dried pod in a jar or envelope, put the container in a cool, dark spot and wait for spring.   Click here for a straightforward "how to" on seed saving.

Depending upon the plant, the seeds can be either started indoors and then transplanted or sown directly into the warm soil.  A few folks have come through the Edible Classroom talking about how easy and fun it is to save seeds from one year to the next.  Find a great tomato or flower?  Why not harvest a few seeds now and plant them in the spring?  If you'd like some cardoon, zinnia, sunflower or Echinacea seeds, stop by the EC and collect a few for next year.

The second round of cole crops is coming along nicely and we should have broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts and kohlrabi in the next few weeks.  The bed once devoted to strawberries and currently yielding some beautiful greens, will soon be planted with a stand of leeks.  Once the leeks are established, we'll install row covers so they can grow into the late fall.  

Other fall projects on the horizon include preparing the fruiting plants for winter, finalizing cover crop selections and mulching as needed.  If you have a few minutes to stop by, please do.  The EC is a great spot to wander around, have a chat or just sit and relax for a few minutes before heading off to your next activity!

Happy New Year

Diane 

Pear Vanilla Jam Class with Marisa McClellan
Tuesday, October 2, 7-9pm, $40

 "Wildman" Steve - Hunt for Shaggy Mane Mushrooms 

Ferment Your Food

Tuesday, October 23, 7:30pm, $20 

Fermented food is more nutritious than fresh food, it is full of beneficial pro-biotics and it tastes good! What else are you going to do with all that cabbage this winter? Prepare your own sauerkraut and ginger carrots to take home. Cabbage and carrots will be provided.  Register here 

Bees and Varroa Mites 

Farmer Dennis here. I'd like to bring you up to date on what's going on with the farm hives. We're feeding them a sugar solution to assist the colonies in bringing up their honey levels so they'll have sufficient stores for the winter months. We are also checking for Varroa mite levels in the hives and treating where necessary. Let me talk a bit about the mites themselves.

After World War Two, a war industry saturated with nitrates for explosives and chemical agents, looked for new markets. American farmers were sold on the idea of chemical fertilizer (the nitrates) and pesticide/herbicide (the chemicals). Thus the "green revolution" was born. While crop yields increased dramatically, we've only just begun to understand the environmental damage done by conventional farming methods. The insect world quickly adapts to pesticides, creating the need for ever more toxic chemicals to be developed and introduced to ecosystems.

Luckily the "green revolution" passed bee keeping by as there were no real needs for chemical inputs. Bee keeping remained essentially "organic."That changed with the introduction the mite, Varroa Destructor, from Asia in the early seventies. As was standard practice, many chemical cures have been introduced, all of which had negative impacts on the bees and honey they produced. Luckily fueled by consumer demand, low impact treatments were developed that were both safe for bees and humans and could be used during the honey flows (not harming the honey). That's what we do here at the farm though conventionally harsher chemical treatments are still common. There are also mechanical controls available. They're non toxic but also less effective. Some are used here on the farm too.

A Vorroa mite is a saucer shaped insect that attaches to adult bees and feeds on the bees blood/fluids. For an idea of scale, if you had one on you, it would be about the size of a dinner plate. They also invade the brood cells of the hives and feed on the larva present They prefer drone brood as the drone cells are larger, giving the mites more room and bigger bee larva to eat. So the mites impact not only on the bees themselves but also their offspring.

Though Vorroa mites can easily take out a weakened or compromised bee colony, healthy ones can usually shoulder the burden of an infestation. But as winter approaches, the bee population in a hive starts to drop as fewer workers are needed. Sadly mite populations remain constant so their impact increases as it gets colder. We treat the hives now to ensure that mite pressure doesn't overwhelm the hives during the winter months.

Hope this was interesting. I'll see you on the farm.