Ride to the Farm!
August 30, 2012
As we harvest our organic hops it appears lady bugs are catching a ride to the farm... They are the most beneficial in our organic toolbox, so we might be giving them a ride back to the field!!
The Moxee Dirt Diaries
Hops are Sounding Ready!
August 28, 2012
Loading the first vines into the machine!!
This year the first variety harvested is not what we expected but they are sounding ready… We measure harvest maturity in many ways, but one of the best ways is walking through the fields and getting your hands on them. When hops are mature you can squeeze them and they sound like a baby rattle!
Professional Bird Abatement…
August 17, 2012
During the months Roy Farms fruit begins to ripen, Vahe' Alaverdian, owner of Falcon Force LLC. Professional Bird Abatement Services (www.FalconForce.com) is hired to fly his raptors throughout our fruit crops and deter the nuisance birds from wanting to feed on the fruit (for example, starlings & sparrows). Falcon Force uses natural predator/prey relationship to discourage birds from feeding on fruit by instilling fear that they may be attacked by a much more powerful bird. This is much more effective than the screamers, booms, cannons and streamer flags used by many orchards and vineyards. Each raptor flies 2-6 times per day and Vahe' uses a lure made of a tennis ball, a pigeon wing, and a length of cord that allows him to make the lure fly fast enough to be hunted by a Peregrine!
The 2 year old male peregrine falcon, Shaman, who he is flying in this picture is equipped with a radio telemetry tracking device on his back.
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