-
A pronghorn antelope wandered onto the farm New Year's Eve 2005 and stayed around for several hours.
Garlic is an excellent "pesticide" and can be used in a variety of ways to keep your fields clean. The oil of garlic is actually used to deter insects and mammals from plants. It is normally diluted and spread around localized perimeters to keep pests away from those plants that are most susceptible. It's ironic that a product that is so beneficial to human health can be so offensive to animals and insects.
- There is nothing more tasty than fresh roasted peanuts right from the fields of North Star Farms. We allow our peanuts to grow through the season and after the first frost they are harvested, dried and roasted for family and friends. Few people believe peanuts grow in North Dakota but we enjoy them at every autumn.
- In colonial America, tobacco wasn't grown to be smoked but was used as a pesticide. Because the natural nicotine in tobacco is toxic to cutting insects, it was spread around plants to keep those insects away. It works as well today as it did in the Jamestown Colony in 1609 and the flowers smell so good!
- We grow one plant at North Star Farms that has two different names and two values. We grow cilantro to be used in salsa, but because it grows so rapidly, we allow it go to seed and we harvest the "coriander," which is a much sought after spice that typically sells for $16 a pound in health food retail stores.
- A 1999 research project at the University of Illinois has become a normal practice at North Star Farms. We allow some of our plants to go to seed and unlike genetically modified seeds that have to be purchased every year, we harvest and save our seeds for next year's planting season. We typically leave those crops standing in the field until December when they are theoretically "freeze dried." They are then harvested and stored until the next growing season.
- North Dakota has been a leader in potato production since the early 1930s. Idaho and Maine might have good marketing campaigns, but North Dakota clearly grows the best potatoes. in 1957 the Red Norland was introduced. It remains one of the most prolific potato varieties in production and competes well with the Red Pontiac. We grow Red Norland at North Star Farms every year but also grow Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Russet, as well as an experimental varieity.
|
Did You Know 
