so much is happening it's hard to know where to start...

photo credit: Mollie Firestone

It is spring! The kind of spring that turns to summer- the sun blazing only to have the sky turn dark with clouds and pour. Did you know that there was an all time record set in Portland this past Saturday evening? The most rainfall ever to fall in one hour. One inch in one hour. Amazing. Read this blog to learn more. So much is happening. Such as... the farm stand! Tomorrow will be the fourth week of the farm stand this season. What will you see when you come by? As always, lots of greens: salad greens, kale, chard, spinach, and delicious butter head lettuces (ONLY $1.50 per head!). AND you'll find PEAS! First of the season. Peas are always a treat. Another treat is that my mother, Jane, will be at the farm stand! She is visiting from Arlington, VA and would love to see you! So come TUESDAY 4-7pm, get your veggies and meet my mom.

wrestling with the tiller.
photo credit: Brian Rae

A lot of work has been happening on the farm. I want to thank the guys at Project Grow for generously letting Blue House Greenhouse Farm use their tiller. It's incredible the amount of time some machinery and gasoline can save. I was able to prep seven beds in the time it would've taken me to prep one. It was certainly a blessing. Thank you Tim and James! What else? We've planted part of summer- tomatoes and beans. Peppers, cucumbers, and squash are on the way this week. We are continuing to plant radishes, lettuce, beets, and carrots through the season. And we continue to fend off leaf miners, slugs, cabbage loopers and try to keep the bind weed at bay.  I am amazed by the wonderful volunteers that help each week- harvesting, at the farm stand, planting, weeding, doing whatever needs to get done. The farm wouldn't be where it is without them, that's for sure.

Henny, volunteering and ready for anything in rubber
coveralls, and me.  photo credit: Jeff Ramsey

I also wanted to share an incredible new addition to the farm- some inadvertently invited guests. Bees! So here's the scoop. Jeff and our friend, Brian, have been talking about keeping bees at the farm for months. They planned on making their own bee boxes, but hadn't gotten around to doing it when Jeff was offered a box from someone he works with. Lucky.  He left the box at the farm near the shed, where I do my post-harvest washing and packing. The plan was to clean the box and get some bees. However, things don't always happen by plan. About a week and a half ago, while Quinn, a lovely volunteer, and I were getting produce ready for sale, a swarm came. Thousands and thousands of bees filled the sky. For about an hour and a half they made their way to this box that had invited them here! And after moving the box to a more comfortable distance away, they are still here!  Check out the photos below and get ready for some blue house greenhouse honey.

bees in the sky! photo credit: Quinn Emerson

bees making their way in the box

After Jeff and Brian moved the box,
they put new frames to be able to clean the old ones

This is the comb the bees made in place
of a missing frame in only five days!!