Hansen's Green Bluff Orchard #14

Cherry season is fast approaching on Green Bluff. We plan to open a week or so after the Fourth. These are Lapins Cherries which must be a deep purple, like the Bing Cherry, before picking. We'll update as cherry season nears on Green Bluff. The Bing and Van Cherries will be the first to ripen. 4 - 5 days later the Lambert and Rainier Cherries will be ready. Montmorency Pie and Lapins Cherry 7 - 10 days after Bing Cherry.

Be sure to check out our IPM (Integrated Pest Management) page. This is the information we use to determine both disease and pest problems in the orchard. As the required conditions occur we will post the information.

Derricks beehive swarmed on 29JUNE. Luckily Dad noticed the noise and bee activity so we could notify our local beekeeper, Harry Smits, to catch the bee swarm and relocate them to his bee yard on Green Bluff. Swarming begins in May and continues throughout the summer.

Swarming is a natural, if unnerving, bee activity. The queen leaves the hive with her workers to form a new colony. About 40% of the bees in a colony will leave with the swarm. The remaining bees and brood raise a new queen to replace the one which left with the swarm. In this way, the population increases.

As you can see it takes a while for a swarm to 'move into' it's new home, called a nuc. The swarm is left in the nuc until the queen resumes egg laying, typically 4 - 5 days. Once the queen begins laying eggs the swarm is moved into a larger hive.

First crop of the season - Rhubarb!

Nothing compares to the taste of fresh rhubarb, straight from the plant.

Just don't eat too much or you'll get a belly ache.

Remember that the leaves are posionous.

Rheubarbarum is native to Asia Minor and China. No garden is complete without at least one plant.

As early as 2700B.C., Chinese were using this herb medicinally.