Berry Development!

One of the reasons I love what I'm doing here is the fact that the job is rarely the same. Yes, there are always weeds to be pulled, but the excitement comes from the change in which "weed season" it is. Yes, there are bees to manage, but what you do with them each time changes - at least so far, having three more to "care" for. Yes, there is always paper work to fill out and appications to send in...well I haven't had to do that, actually, so I no excitement in that for me. and yes.. there are things to spray, but it's always changing and requires a different technique to applying it. Such as "cover all and only dirt spots" - this is a mixture of water and Nematodes* (to be posted about later) or "sprinkle on just the leaves" - this is a mixture of water and Oxidate* (also to be posted about later) or "coat mainly the blossoms" - this is a mixture of water and Pledge Bee Attractant* that smells just like Pledge. Being a strawberry farmer is just one job, but it sure has many different jobs within it!

It's looking good isn't it!?
Meet, Ed, He's a Senior in high school
-works every day after school and Saturday-


As I previously posted that were 524 blossoms in just one row, let me tell you, that figure is long expired! Today, I counted 30 blossoms on just ONE PLANT!


Like I said, lots of blossoms!


But.. there have been some developments in the blossom department:


We've got some growing berries on a lot of plants!


But.. there are still some plants that are working on getting bush bigger and stronger:

Not even a single blossom in this variety yet!


Can you see what I see?
yup.. it's a bee on a blossom!


AND:


The Ladies are still with us!


*Everything we spray is Organic Approved, just for the record.

Let It Rain!

It's been raining for, FOUR days now. I'm missing the sun and I'd say we've had enough time to catch up on a few things.

During the past few days...

I've clean up my room, still not everything is put into it's place, but it's much more organized and I can find things much quicker.

I've done three loads of wash - can you believe I've dirtied that many clothes already?

I've received 3 bundles of flowers. James has brought me in, first, white and orange Narcissus, second, purple and white "flowers from the backyard", and third he brought me some purple, lovely smelling Lilacs.

I've ate subway for lunch and steak and corn, pizza, Mac N Cheese, Stroganoff and corn for supper. (all of which James made, except for the Mac N Cheese of course)

I've slept in! Noon! Can you believe that? I'm sure most of you can believe that I've slept until noon! I love rainy days for that reason, that's for sure!

I've James has bought three more bee hives, due to the bee's preference for other blossoms than strawberries, the more hives you have the less surrounding things for them to munch on, so the more likely they are to munch on the strawberry blossoms. With that being the case, the purchase of more bee hives, we've begun to build some more boxes.

I've pretty much been quite a bum, to be completely honest, James would probably testify to that.


We have also had to put the frost blankets out four times (May 10th, May 18th and 19th -all day, and May 25th - just for record) It is quite the thing to roll them out, James and I can manage it, mostly, but on the windy days.. whoosh! It just about takes me flying! Frustrating at times, but we're getting better.

This is two of the blankets out, covering all but about 5 rows,
which don't have to be covered yet because they don't have any bud clusters yet.


We also went to the beach on the 14th! It was beautiful and we spent about 4 hours there! Oh how I love Lake Ontario, STILL. Here's a few pictures for you!

I don't like feet, but I quite like this picture I took.

It's it beautiful! Thank you God for beaches!
-they even sound beautiful-


Just to truly update you, one day as I was purely bored spraying some bee attraction on the blossoms so I decided to count to see how many there were. In just ONE row, there was.. 524! Can you believe that? I'm getting quite excited for the season to get here, along with the summer heat!


Coming Soon: Another Poll and Possibly Another Bee Story!