Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery

04/29/2026

We had sunny skies for our basket making workshop by instructor, Jen Vanlarken. Materials used included multiple willows, red twig dogwood, apple suckers, woodbine, grape, bittersweet and wisteria, all harvested from the farm. We have more workshops lined up. Please visit the website for details and if you are not yet on our mailing list, you can sign from the website. We will be fully open (by appointment only) as of Monday, May 11th. Call 207-845-2140. Happy gardening!

04/10/2026

Happy Spring! We are offering more workshops at the farm this year. Check out the details in our website. Reach out if you have any questions!

Workshops Pruning Young and Bearing Fruit TreesSaturday, April 11th(rain date: Saturday April 18th)9AM - NoonWith professional pruner, Charlie Mead of Charlie’s Tree and Gardening Services.$65 (Invitational Group Members $50)Bring tools you hope to use on your own trees. Bring a lunch and hang out...

03/02/2026

Future Buttons! It was a perfect day and I had a little free time so I started prepping horns. These are going to make some beautiful and unique buttons for people looking for natural, durable button options. These ones are from goats in particular but we will have Jacob Sheep ones coming too! 😊

Stay tuned for when they become available or check out our booth this summer!

03/02/2026

Handmade, hand cut, hand wrapped and waiting for you at your local farmers markets this weekend.
Please know that these couple of months are the slowest for local farmers in Maine and the ones where last summer’s proceeds are scraping the bottom of the bucket. And still they show up. If you can, get to your closest market and show them love. A little goes a long way. And rejoice because it won’t be long before we’re in the full swing of things.

02/20/2026

All parts of this perennial are delicious and edible - and the flowers are loved by beneficial wildlife.

02/19/2026

The "ladybugs" swarming your house every October?
They're not ladybugs.

They're Asian lady beetles. Harmonia axyridis. An
invasive species released intentionally by the USDA
between the 1960s and 1990s to control agricultural
pests.

It worked. Too well.

They outcompete native ladybugs for food. They
outbreed them. And they EAT native ladybug larvae.
The invader eats the babies of the species it replaced.

Since the Asian lady beetle became established, several
native ladybug species have declined by over 90%.
The nine-spotted ladybug — New York's state insect —
is now nearly impossible to find.

Here's how to tell them apart:
Native ladybug: Bright red. Consistent round spots.
Round body. No marks behind the head.
Asian lady beetle: Orange to red. Variable spots (can
be many, few, or none). M or W shaped mark on the
white area behind the head.

The native one stays in your garden and eats 5,000
aphids in her lifetime. She doesn't bite. She doesn't
smell. She doesn't swarm your house.

The Asian one bites, releases a foul yellow liquid
that stains surfaces, invades homes in thousands every
fall, and is systematically eliminating the species
that actually belongs here.

What to do:
Learn to ID them. The M/W behind the head is the
easiest tell.
Don't kill ANY ladybug-looking beetle in your garden
during summer — both species eat aphids and are
beneficial outdoors.
Seal cracks around windows and doors in September to
prevent fall invasions.
If Asian lady beetles are inside: vacuum them (don't
crush — the stain and smell are awful).
Support native ladybug conservation — citizen science
projects track them. Report sightings.

The real ladybug is disappearing.
The imposter is everywhere.

Learn the difference. It matters.

02/14/2026

The cryogenic miracle. 🐛❄️
The Woolly Bear caterpillar spends the winter frozen like an ice cube.
It produces a cryoprotectant chemical that prevents its cells from bursting.
It can freeze and thaw multiple times.
Indestructible.

01/15/2026

LOL! You said it, Julia!

01/15/2026

01/15/2026