The Honeybees of Marianmade Farm

The honeybees have arrived at Marianmade Farm! This has been in the works since last year, and we’re so excited they’re finally here. Beekeeper extraordinaire Tim Forrester (suited up below) arrived with his  handcrafted boxes filled with bees. The bees will thrive in the lavender and flower gardens throughout the farm, and we’re enjoying the process of learning about this fascinating species from Tim.  And, with any luck we’ll have some Marianmade honey to offer soon! Enjoy the photos below, and we urge you to read more about honeybees at the Maine State Beekeepers Association.    

Beekeeper

Bees

Hives

Smoking

Making Honey

Bees CU

Honeycomb

Bees ECU

Well hello lavender, it’s spring time!

Hooray! It’s finally spring time in mid-coast Maine. Our farm’s owner, Michelle, treks to Maine early in the season to check on the lavender plants and in late April it’s finally time to remove the covers that have protected the lavender for the entire season of wind, snow and bitter cold temperatures.

In the warmth of summer, when the bees are buzzing around the lavender and the essence of the plant blows with the breeze from the river, it’s hard to imagine the work that goes into keeping the lavender looking great all year long. Michelle shares a bit about the process of covering and uncovering the plants in the late fall, so they can be enjoyed all spring and summer:

I have chosen to cover the majority of the lavender on the farm so that there are fewer unknowns. I like taking the covers off and finding that the plants are greening up. The plants have less breakage from the winter ice and snow. I wish the covers could be placed and staked down, but the winds across the farm are far too extreme, so the covers are laid and the edges buried under nearly 6 inches of dirt. The covers cannot be placed for protection until the warmest days of autumn have passed.”

Mason inspecting the covers of the lavender plants
Mason inspecting the covers of the lavender plants

 

About the process of uncovering the plants:

“I wish I could just yank the covers off, but no such luck. You develop a rhythm of up and down, reaching and pulling slightly straight up on the cloth and then bending and reaching forward to repeat. A true “waist whittler.” But the reward is seeing the plant, unscathed and really starting to show the signs of a green cast overshadowing the grey of a dormant lavender plant. Each row is approximately 100 plants long and you have to travel up and down both sides of the row in the same repetitious manner. At the end of both sides of 5 rows my waist and lower back were screaming at me to stop….and only 10 rows to go.”

Lavender revealed after being covered all winter
Lavender revealed after being covered all winter. Soon the grey will give way to green. The signature purple buds aren’t far behind.