Greetings from the farm. Last week we shared a photo of the placement of bees that we count on to assist with the pollination of our crops. In addition to those domesticated, social honey bees we depend on native pollinators. Many of these are solitary creatures, like the Yellow Faced Bee pictured below. Our efforts to maintain and increase habitats for the farm's population of these valuable natural resources include commercial bee poles, selectively sized brush piles, and native wildflower plots.
 | | Yellow Faced Bee on a blueberry blossom |
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 | | Gloria and Goslings |
Canada Geese
Although Canada Geese are found almost everywhere in our area, we still enjoy nesting season at the farm.
For many years we have had a strong nesting pair that territorially guard the pond and ensure that the population of geese does not become unmanageable. We call them Gordon and Gloria. Gloria is pictured at right with six of their goslings.
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We're looking forward to June 15th. Here's an update:
 | | Andrew planting the first pepper |
The last week has been almost non-stop planting. So far, we have transplanted kale, three varieties of cabbage, broccoli, two varieties of Brussels sprouts, onions, seven varieties of peppers, eight varieties of tomatoes, six varieties of potatoes, basil, rosemary, chives, French tarragon, and lettuces. We always feel rewarded by the transfer of these plants to the outdoor beds from the flats where we started them from seed.
We have directly seeded green beans, wax beans, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, sweet corn, and radishes. We also continued our seeding into flats with escarole, lettuces, and cauliflower.
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Check out this poignant, graphic reminder of our dwindling natural resources and expanding human activity. The link below shows the Amazon Rainforest, but you can view other developments using the bar of thumbnails below the large rainforest image.
Google Earth Engine: Annual Timelapse 1984 to 2012
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Sincerely,
Jessica
Hunter Farms
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