Argento Acres

03/20/2026

Today's hyperlocal breakfast: 2 chicken eggs, garlic Argento Acres), veggies and prosciutto.

03/11/2026

In my last post I talked about scaling back my beekeeping efforts because it just hasn't worked out as planned over the past few years. But, as they say, nature abhors a vacuum. So the GOOD news is, a new species has joined Argento Acres! Meet Meriadoc (brown) and Estelle (white) two pedigreed, show-quality, Angora rabbits.They came from FuzzyKritters Farm in Edmore, MI and I am so excited to bring them home! Why Angora rabbits, you may ask? Besides being adorable and providing the best quality manure to fertilize my gardens, they provide a soft wool that can be spun into yarn. The wool can be harvested by brushing and by shearing them a couple times a year. I have long been interested in fiber arts including spinning and felting, as well as incorporating natural fibers into handmade paper artwork. This may not only be a new animal on the farm, but also a doorway back into creating art. Yes, these photos are of them running around in my bathroom until I got their cages set up in the barn.

03/11/2026

So the bad news is that all of my beehives succumbed to the severe winter we had. My last remaining hive was alive and flying during a brief thaw in February, but has since gone silent. After a few years of heavy bee losses and low honey harvests, I've decided to scale down my bee project from my original goal of 10 hives down to no more than 5, maybe as few as two. I started selling off my extra equipment last fall and I'm going to sell 2-3 more complete hives (I have at least one buyer already.) Aside from difficulties with weather and the health of the bees, it's been increasingly difficult for me to lift hive boxes during inspections and I need helpers to do basic inspections and harvests. If I can catch a swarm or two I will have bees this year, but I'm not spending $250 on each colony of replacement bees, plus pay for medications and paying a helper, only to have very little harvest. I've kept an average of 7 hives over the past couple of years with only enough honey harvested for my own use and very little to sell. In the last few years most of my hives die off in winter and I need to buy new bees in spring to maintain the number of hives and build up to my goal of 10. In a good year I can get more than enough honey from two hives for my own use and I'd be able to cover my costs selling honey from the rest of the hives all year round. This year, if I can't catch any swarms, I might even sell off all of my 8 frame hives and look into buying two of a less heavy type of beehive, probably a top bar hive that is horizontal and has no boxes stacked on top of each other that need to be lifted. You can harvest by removing one frame at a time and you can do smaller, more frequent harvests. Top bar hives have disadvantages and may not be as preferred by the bees, but require no heavy lifting for routine inspection. I've kept bees for a very long time and hope to continue with them, especially since I am moving away from processed suger in my own diet. But sometimes you have to pick and choose where you're going to get the most value.

10/31/2025

The Argento Acres farmstand is all ready for trick or treaters...but will they find me here? NextDoor app has a treat map, I added my house to it, so we shall see! It looks like my blue slate turkeys would like some Halloween treats, at least.

10/21/2025

It's too windy to set up all the signage, but I did set up my farmstand today. If you are in Coloma stop by and check out farm fresh eggs, flowers, tomatoes and tomatillos!

10/13/2025

Now that the St. Joe's Farmers Market is done for the season, I'm setting up a self serve farmstand for the first time. Wish me luck! And if you are in the area, stop by and check it out!

08/02/2025

Hello from the St. Joe's Farmers Market!

07/19/2025

It's a beautiful day at the St. Joe's Farmers Market, stop by I have some blueberries for you!

07/05/2025

It's a great day at the St. Joe's Farmers Market!

06/28/2025

It's a gorgeous day at the St. Joe's Farmers Market! The weather is in the 70's and business is brisk. It's 10 am and chicken eggs are sold out, but I still have duck eggs.

06/21/2025

I have some extra duck eggs this week for on farm pick up.

$3 — Duck Eggs, Half Dozen near the Lake Michigan Beach neighborhood in Coloma, MI. Find items in For Sale & Free on Nextdoor - all listings are local.