Happenings on the farm

 One of our honey bee workers collecting the delicious sweet and sticky pollen of Blue Hyssop.

Blue Hyssop is an intensely aromatic herb and used for making great tea but also for curing colds and coughs. It is an expectorant and clears excess congestion and mucus related to wet coughs. 

Wild Bergamont harvest with a hint of Bee Balm. The bees and butterflies love this plant and it grows in the wild. We love it so much we had to grow it at the farm. It  tastes and smells like oregano, and helps with digestive problems. A poultice of it helps draw infection from things like bee stings too. 

 Hanging Milky Oats to dry. Oats are considered a nutritive herb help replenish the body. They are loaded with calcium. It is a nervine tonic which means it helps with stress and anxiety. This is the same plant your oatmeal comes from...just harvested at a different stage of maturity. 

Just like the sun, Calendula opens up everyday. This flower does wonders for skin ailments including eczema, sunburns, rashes, you name it. Internally great for stomach problems and makes a mouthwash for helping canker sores. The flowers are edible and we make a colorful gazpacho with it.

 Angela, one of our solid and amazing interns harvesting chamomile among the densely planted area of Blue Vervain, Tulsi and Sage

 Casey and Eli are pumped like usual!

Casey harvesting Yarrow in flower

Externally coined "natures stitches" since it stops bleeding and promotes clotting, internally reduces fevers, helps ease menstrual cramps in women and reduce bleeding. 

 Mullein in flower. We collect the flowers for an ear oil we make to cure ear infections. Mixed with some infused garlic, it does the trick! The leaves are used for lung infections, asthma and other respiratory related issues. 

Having a social party picking mullein flowers

Sightings in the Pine Barrens

Pitcher Plant overlooking the lake, a habitat for so many amazing plants and wildlife... 

Pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant and like most of their family, live in swamps or bogs where there isn’t a lot of nitrogen in the soil. They get their nitrogen from the insects and other live bugs that they eat. They have learned how to do this in order to live because a plant usually cannot survive without enough nitrogen.

 A mama whip-poor-whil nesting on her eggs at night. These birds are incredibly camoflauge and Casey found this one by its eyes and bird call in the middle of the night. They normally sleep during the day and forage at night for insects and nest on the ground among dead leaves.

                           Sundew, another carnivorous plant of the wetlands. See the fly that      
                            just got caught in its sticky tentacles? It gets its name from its sticky  
                                             dew like droplets that look like morning dew.

                              Yellow Swallowtail enjoying the pollen of newly opened Mountain Laurel blossoms

A new plant called turkey's beard we discovered along the roadside in this special dwelling tucked in the pines.