Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
It’s strange that something so trivial as a well being drilled on our property should bring such excitement–but it does. The first time we lived at this property we did not have a fancy drilled well–or plumbing at all for that matter. We made use of one of the old dug wells on the farm…
Now that the balmy days of summer are behind us, and the time to tuck in for the long cold of winter has come–I like to play around with growing different foods inside my house. The gardening season may be over, but providing fresh and nutritious foods for family meals is a never-ending task, and…
On Wednesday the new mobile home was brought in to Runamuk. Here she is sitting in the driveway while the Ames crew does some last minute site-prep. This is what the mobile home company designed to be the back of the home, but I decided it will be the front of our home–mainly because it…
It’s that time of year again–no, I’m not talking about the holidays–it’s time to start thinking about Bee-School! This year is the 3rd annual Bee-School offered by the Somerset Beekeepers, hosted by the University of Maine’s Somerset County Cooperative Extension. I’m excited to be able to teach this course yet again. Last year we had…
Yesterday the Ames crew were prepping the site for the cement pad to be laid. The ground was smoothed out and leveled, and while we were there they began laying a woven wire mesh inside the framework–it will serve as reinforcement for the cement. Keith and I decided that this was not the time to…
The word came early this morning that our new trailer had arrived at the Ames Mobile Home Center in Canaan, and the Ames’ crew were bound for our farm-site with equipment and machinery. Barely able to contain ourselves we drove out to meet them. When we arrived we were greeted by the sight of heavy…
I’d never heard of Kirk Webster until earlier this summer when I was talking shop with a friend, who is also a beekeeper. He happened to bring up the notion of ordering some of Kirk’s Queens for the purpose of installing hygienic genes into his colonies to help in the fight against varroa–which made perfect…
It was painful to visit the farm after we were forced to move into town. And easier to avoid it, even though the old trailer sat there, rotting away, and needing to be cleared out. The mess nagged at my conscience, but still we left it. It remained a scourge upon the land, a hideous…
At the Maine State Beekeepers’ annual convention, Deborah Delaney took the floor for a second time that day to present a talk that was entitled: “Honey Pricing & Marketing Risk Management Education for Honey Producers”. Deborah told the crowd about yet another aspect of her research which involves scientifically identifying how to improve marketing of…
I love the assortment of people who are drawn to beekeeping. Young and old, eccentric and conservative, financially solvent–and bootstrappers like me–those who make do with less. People from all over the state come together for the annual Maine State Beekeepers’ conference to join together in the spirit of learning; to bask in the feeling…