Larsen Farm and Orchard

05/26/2026

05/26/2026

Weekend round up.

It was a bee swarm weekend for sure. 4 new swarms moved in, recovers a fifth down near Eugene. Spent a lot of time reconfiguring boxes and trying to maximize bee hive readiness for the honey flow.

Speaking of which, blackberries are already out in force. Lots of nectar coming in, but it’s a lot earlier than normal and the strength in some of my new hives is not enough to take advantage of the increase in nectar opportunities.

Lots and lots of flowers in bloom. Walked through the woods on Sunday and there were so many honey bees and wild bees on the vetch and wild rose in the woods, I thought there was a bee hive nearby. Nope, just dinner time.

Asparagus is done for the year, but June strawberries are out in full force.

Chickens and ducks are all feeling the urge to hatch youngins, but aren’t dedicated enough to sit there all day.

All in all, rewarding weekend. Spent plenty of time throughout the weekend remembering/reminiscing about those I served with that did not make it home.

We remember!

Eric

05/23/2026

Guess what we are harvesting this week?

05/16/2026

So one of the things we do on the farm is work with the NRCS to set aside some of our land as pollinator habitat for native bees and butterflies. It takes a while to get established, but this year the land along the fence line is starting to pop with native wildflowers. Here is a gigantic patch of riverbank lupine…it was a 12 inch plant last summer. Now it is a 4 ft by 4 ft mass full of bumblebees! Lots of other flowers too, including Oregon sunshine, Camas and California poppies. Lots of color this year

05/13/2026

One bee just about finished coming out of the comb and another 3 a few minutes behind her.

05/04/2026

Meadowfoam field. Glad I planted this in the fall, as the commercial meadowfoam growers nearby transitioned to grass this year. This is the best tasting honey…kind of like a vanilla marshmallow flavor.

05/02/2026

Part of the native wildflower plantings in our middle field. The Orange flowers are California Poppies.

04/24/2026

Four blue Anconas, 1 week old. Got to work on their tans today for a few minutes.

04/23/2026

I have a broody duck that decided the best place to hatch a clutch of eggs is right in front of the farmstand on my driveway. Now she is pulling random tree tags to line the nest.