Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Staking a Field

In the last article I talked about the baby lavender plants, all cozy and warm in their wood stove heated nursery just a few mile north. January is well underway, and it's time to start thinking about preparing a home for the children. Last week I agreed to come out today and start staking out the new fields... with none other than lavender stakes of course! But that was before I saw the weather. I woke up this morning, and yikes! She was really letting loose. I put on my hat and jacket to feed the chickens carrying an empty bucket with me. When I arrived at the coop, the bucket was full. That was how hard it was raining. I broke out my oil slicker and rubber boots for what promised to be a WET day!

The new field is going to be integrated into a functional landscape. And the terrain is not completely flat. So the field planning is a bit more complex than a simple rectangle with north-south running rows and irrigation. The first order of business is to determine exactly where the lavender are going to be planted. In this case, the landscape design company has provided me with some CAD renderings of the fields, but it is important to verify exactly where the fields are going to be, and take measurements for developing the field and irrigation plans.

Now, I have friends who's family farm cattle, corn, and wheat in Kansas. And they to a lot of their planning via satellite. In fact, it's amazing how much is done these days with technology. All those millions of dollars spent during the cold war to try to see where the nuclear missiles were going, are now helping farmers plan and manage their crops. Real whiz-bang Buck Rogers stuff. I suppose someone is still looking out for the missiles, but it's nice to know technology is being used for something constructive nowadays.

But there is nothing better than working right on the ground. At least for me. So I broke out my really high-tech farming gear. Satellites ain't got nothing on a good measuring wheel and compass! They might not be fancy pants, but they git er done.

The work will be done in two stages. First, the field measurements. Second I'll draft up a set of field plans. Since I'm a visually oriented person, I like to have a map with me in the field while I'm taking the measurements. So I sat down this morning at the kitchen table with the CAD renderings and drew up a crude field map. I'll use this as reference. Then I hopped in the car and drove down to the site.

Now, remember the rain. Yeah, well, I'm not a duck. More importantly, without the proper writing instruments and laminated maps, trying to take notes in the middle of a biblical deluge is kinda tricky. So I have to admit, I sneaked a peak on the satellite, even though I was trying to be so Luddite. I could see that the front coming in off the ocean to the west was petering out. My estimates, I could go now and get soaked. Or wait an hour and get there during a break in the rain. Excellent. That was just the excuse to take one more cup of tea.

When I arrived, the storm tail was just passing. So I waited 10 minutes in the car for it to pass, and then got out and started my work. Using the map as reference, I picked obvious landmarks, labeled the map and took measurements. Namely distances and directions using the measuring wheel and compass. I recorded all of these for each field area on the field map.

The nice thing about being on the ground like this when marking the field is that you get a real feel for the soil and terrain. You can make adjustments for tree shade, drainage (helpful to notice when it has just rained!), buried utility boxes and sewers, as well as slope. Things that are just not present, or more difficult to feel on the satellite images. And more importantly, you get to be outside on a beautiful (albeit wet) day, wind in your face, enjoying the deer meandering by, birds, turkeys, cool mushrooms, and squirrels. Well, maybe not the squirrels (see my previous post on ground squirrels here). But you get the picture. Life couldn't be better.

Once the data was collected, I packed up the gear and headed home. Even with the rain gear, I got a bit wet. So I started a fire, took off my wet socks, and warmed up with another cup of tea. Rain started again. That's okay, we can use it.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Baby Lavender

Last month, I took a trip up to Watsonville to visit my new babies. Lavender babies of course.

This year I am partnering with a local resort to plant a brand new lavender field in Carmel Valley. This is an amazing opportunity. Not only is the lavender going to be absolutely stunning, because the field will be located on a property with regular visitors, it is going to provide a real hands-on way to share the amazing experience of growing and distilling lavender with the guests. While I enjoy sharing what I do through the website and blogs, I am looking forward to doing the same work face to face.

Well, back to the babies. This is going to be a substantial field. Several thousand plants. Here you can see some of the little plants in the greenhouse, where they will grow before they are taken into the world and planted out.

This close-up taken in December shows the baby plants in the pots where they will develop their roots. This type of lavender (grosso) is propagated through cuttings. Cuttings are taken from the mother plant, and placed in a special soil mixture, where they form roots. Once the cutting has its first roots, it is now a baby plant. These plants are then transplanted into the pots you see them in the photo. Here in these pots, they will be kept warm in a greenhouse all winter so they can develop more extensive root systems and be ready to grow big and strong in the spring.

To assure they grow to their full potential, the greenhouse is kept

warm. Obviously the sun does a lot of the work with the clear canopy of the green house. Soil activity also contributes to the warms. And this greenhouse has an added helper, wood burning stoves. Here in this photo, you can see one of the wood burning stoves used to heat the greenhouse on the colder winter days. Pretty low tech, but it does the job. Standing next to the stove, I was actually starting to sweat!

It will be fun to check back in a month and see how our babies are doing.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Winter Bee Check

Today I made a quick winter check of the bees.

Usually in the winter, I don't worry too much about the bees. Hopefully if things were done properly in the fall, they would have stored enough food to survive. In the cold weather, they are usually balled up in the hive, and I don't like to disturb them.

Yesterday I heard from a neighbor that she had lost her hive already. The hive autopsy sounded like starvation, but there was still frames with honey in the hive. And the temperatures have been quite mild, save one or two weeks in December. So I went and sat by some of my hives. It was kind of chilly yesterday, and I did see a few bees, but not many. Today it was warmer, so I decided to take another look.

There was much more activity today. Here you can see one of the workers entering the hive. And she's FULLY LOADED. Wow. Seems to be finding plenty to eat. Look at the pollen on her hind legs.


It surprised me to see so much pollen. So I made a quick survey of the surrounding area. There were indeed flowers on many of the plants. The rosemary had beautiful blue blossoms. And the bees seemed to make right for it. Here you can see one of the little ladies drinking from a nearby bush.

The fava planted back in October is also blossoming. There were bees foraging on them as well.

A couple of hives did seem to have reduced activity, compared to the others. I think those might require a closer look. I may check back tomorrow, but if they didn't make it, there really isn't much that can be done until springtime anyhow. So I suppose I might as well let them bee.

Bees are sensitive creatures. It occurs to me that I am going to have to get used to losing hives (though it still makes my heart sink) and follow an annual plan that restores the lost colonies on a regular basis. The troubles do make the honey difficult and costly. But when you taste it, I think you agree it is worth the effort.