Hydrangea Cityline Paris easily made our list of favorite plants at the farm with it's delightful, compact growth habit and intense rose-red blooms that last and last. Cityline Paris Hydrangea is a joy to grow with little to no pruning required and excellent mildew resistant foliage and another winning plant from Proven Winners Color Choice. Cityline Paris reaches a mature height and width of 3 feet making it a versatile garden plant well suited to even the smallest of gardens or container gardening. Do you have a shady patio or balcony that lacks color and texture, no problem with Cityline Paris Hydrangea; this tough, very hardy hydrangea will tuck nicely into a decorative pot and provide you with a season of lovely blooms that fade from rich rose-red to lime green as the season progresses. We are currently growing Cityline Paris in nursery 1 gallon containers using our tried and tested method of pesticide-free, sustainable growing methods.

As with all hydrangeas, HYDRANGEA CITYLINE PARIS prefers good, loamy soil. Most adaptable of all hydrangeas to different soil types, this hydrangea is the most urban tolerant of all hydrangeas and very difficult to kill. Fertilize in early spring by applying an organic fertilizer specialized for trees and shrubs.

For more hardy hydrangea plants, view our complete line of hydrangeas at our online store.

        

You asked and we listened! We've created exclusive Dahlia Collections from our most popular sellers at our farm in Oregon just for you. Our Dahlia Flower Collections are an easy way to create a summer garden full of color. Dahlias are easy to grow, tender perennials that are ideal for cut flowers in the home. Learn all about how to grow dahlias by reading our informative dahlia garden article or drop us an email if you have a specific question. 

Our new for 2009 Dahlia Flower Collections include:

           
Dinnerplate Cactus Dahlia Collection       Dinnerplate Cutflower Dahlia Collection         Petite Gallery Dahlia Collection

        

Spring weather at our farm Stargazer Perennials is always welcome, but definitely unpredictable in in the mountainous region of Eastern Oregon where we live. Spring gardening in a northern climate presents a number of weather related challenges with the most damaging being that of late frost. Every year it seems just as the vegetables and perennials begin to sprout new leaves our farm gets one or two nights of deep low temperatures that can decimate an early crop. To help prevent frost damage we use this ancient gardening technique:

When frost is expected thoroughly spray plants late in the evening with cold water making sure that you soak the soil around the base of the plants. This technique, know as "icing off" plants by spraying them with water will ensure that the water will freeze on the outside of the leaves rather than the moisture inside, which causes cells to rupture. In addition, the evaporation of the water will create heat, thus helping to prevent frost damage.

Caution: The next day, do not hose down plants in the morning after a frost. Plants should be allowed to unthaw naturally and gradually to avoid rupturing plant cells in the leaf tissue. If covering a plant with blankets, sheets or plastic, make sure the fabric does not come in direct contact with plant foliage. Rather, create a tent-like structure that covers the plant without resting on the foliage.

        

Baked Potato Skins, the Farm Fresh Way!

Forget those greasy fried potato skins; once you try this delectable baked potato skin recipe direct from our farm kitchen, you'll never go back. These are a favorite at our farm with friends and neighbors alike, especially when served with a great local beer from our local brew pub, Terminal Gravity Brewery located in Enterprise Oregon.

To make them the organic way use only certified organic potatoes and garlic that you have grown yourself or bought at a farmers' market.

Ingredients:

6 small to medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes (total 3 pounds)

Organic Virgin Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

6 strips of bacon

3 cloves of organic garlic chopped fine

2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary chopped fine

½ cup grated white cheddar cheese

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 red bell pepper chopped fine

1/2 cup sour cream

2 green onions, thinly sliced, including the greens of the onions

1 Avocado, peeled and sliced thin

Wash and scrub the potatoes clean. Poke the potatoes with a fork then rub generously with olive oil. Bake the potatoes in an oven at 400°F oven for about an hour or until the potatoes are cooked through and give a little when pressed.

While the potatoes are cooking, cook the bacon strips in a frying pan on medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Let cool. Crumble.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and let cool several minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice the potatoes in half length wise and scoop out the flesh of the potato leaving ¼ inch of potato in the skin. Mix garlic and rosemary in a small bowl with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and rub over both sides of the potato skins. Place potatoes on a broiler rack in the pre-heated oven skin side down. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until skins are crunchy.

Remove from oven and sprinkle each baked skin with sea salt and ground pepper, bacon, red bell pepper and white cheddar cheese. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and return to oven and bake until cheese is melted. Serve immediately with sour cream, chopped chives and avocado slices.

For more recipes from our farm, view our Farm Fresh Recipe Index here...

        

Grow your own vegetable garden this year for less! Farm Fresh Living offers FREE SHIPPING on all Certified Organic Vegetable Seeds. Browse our wide selection of heirloom seeds and popular varieties including a wide assortment of short season seed varieties that are ideal for cold climate and northern gardeners. All of our Certified Organic seeds are dated for freshness and most ship the next day.

Certified Organic Lettuce and Salad Green Seeds
Certified Organic Herb Seeds
Certified Organic Bean Seeds
Certified Organic Carrot Seeds
Certified Organic Pepper and Eggplant Seeds
Certified Organic Winter and Summer Squash Seeds
Certified organic Broccoli, Cauliflower and Cabbage Seeds
Certified Organic Tomato Seeds
Certified Organic Corn Seeds
Certified Organic Beet Seeds

        

Long before chemical sprays, gardeners had a wide range of time-tested kitchen-cupboard remedies for common plant diseases that actually worked! At our farm, Stargazer Perennials, we only grow our plants and vegetables using sustainable, pesticide-free, organic methods. This simple Baking Soda Fungicide Spray is a simple organic alternative to chemical products that you can use on plants such as roses, Bee Balm or Monarda, garden Phlox and herbs.

• Mix 2 tablespoon of baking soda in 4 pints of warm water. Mix and pour into a spray bottle. Spray infected plants thoroughly in the early morning or late evening at the first sign of fungus. Make sure that you get both sides of the leaves. Continue using until fungus is eliminated.

        

Introduced over seventy years ago, Thomas Edison Dahlia is still a top selling dinnerplate dahlia prized for the vivid deep purple flowers that grow to 8 inches in diameter perched a top stiff, sturdy stems. The deep royal purple flowers hold their color and petals for days in bouquets and arrangements. Plant several Thomas Edison Dahlias in your garden adjacent to roses or behind tall perennials and enjoy a burst of summer color. Thomas Edison Dahlia is one of our favorite dahlias at our farm, especially for cut flowers as this photo shows! Like all dinnerplate dahlias, Thomas Edison will require staking or florist grower netting to prevent the flower heads from flopping. If using staking be sure to insert the bamboo stakes in the ground at the same time that you plant your tubers to prevent damaging the tubers by inserting stakes later on when the plant is actively growing.

Cut dahlias early in the morning, after the monring dew has dried but before the heat of the day. Place cutflowers immediately in warm water. Just prior to placing in an arrangement, cut the stem again with florists shears or felco pruners to ensure a clean cut.

Dahlias are tender perennials that are very easy to grow; for information on how to grow dahlias, click here.  Browse our website to purchase Thomas Edison Dahlias or to view more dahlia photos and descriptions.

        

USDA Certified organic vegetable seeds and certified organic herb seeds are now available online at FarmFreshLiving.com. At the request of many of our farm customers, we are now offering online the same high quality, short season vegetable seeds that we use to grow our vegetable and herbs at our farm. Many of our certified organic seeds are also heirloom varieties and open -pollinators. For market farmers we are also offering certified organic seeds in bulk quantities. Only a few of our available bulk varieties are up on our website at this time, so if you do not see the variety that you are looking for on our website, just drop us an email and we'll get right back to you with pricing and availablity.

Why choose certified organic seeds? By selecting only USDA certified organic vegetable seeds you are assured that the seeds that you are using to grow your vegetables with were only harvested from crops that were grown using certified organic methods. For more about the benefits of growing organically, read our informative article on our main website here...

        

Own root roses are a joy to garden with regardless of where you live. Roses are the quintessential garden plant; from the fat heavy petaled David Austin English roses to the delicate open petal wild rose varieties. While roses can appear delicate, many are deceitfully tough and resilient.  Fortunately for those of us in colder gardening climates, my own farm is located in a USDA hardiness zone 5a, there is a wide palette of tough, hardy and floriferous roses that thrive down to USDA hardiness zone 3.

A few of my newest favorite roses are: Blanc Double de Coubert rose, Cinco de Mayo rose, Champlain rose and George Burns rose. While each of these rose are wildly different in color, fragrance and size all these rose share the same hardy characteristics that make them a joy to have in the garden: hardy to zone 3, first out of the gate to leaf and bloom in the spring, repeat blooming all season long, very disease resistant and produce showy blooms.


Blanc Double de Coubert rose is always one of the first to bloom in our garden! The very large, semi-double, pure-white, extremely fragrant blossoms appear in profusion in early summer and then continue blooming until frost. We plant this large 5' tall rose in the back of our perennial beds. This would be the perfect rose to include in an all white garden.





Cinco de Mayo rose is a favorite rose at our farm for its robust, fluffy blooms that are the most unique shade of smoky bronze mixed with rusty-red and pale lavender. Cinco de Mayo only grows to 3' tall, so it fits into almost any area of the garden. The moderate tea fragrance and strong stems for cutting only add to the overall appeal of this rose.





Champlain Explorer rose is beautiful, very floriferous shrub rose released from Agriculture Canada's Explorer Series. Deep velvet red blooms just explode all over this rose. This extremely hardy rose has the appearance of a delicate hybrid tea rose, yet it keeps performing all season long from late spring well into fall frosts





George Burns is a definite rose to add to your garden. We first spotted this rose when touring a commercial rose growers nursery grounds and were literally stopped dead in our tracks. This hardy, bullet-proof floribunda rose has deep green foliage, strong citrus fragrance and flirty, full ruffled multi-colored blooms. In our cooler temperatures, the yellow color becomes more pronounced as fall approaches.


NOTE: For best results, always grow your roses using only organic ethods. Growing roses organically helps to reduce pest problems, produces a strong, healthier plant and is good for the environment. To learn more about how easy it is to grow your roses organically, click here to read an informational article on our sister website...

        

Even if you live in a rural area you can significantly increase the income from your farm with a website. This statement sounds hard to believe, especially if you live in a small rural community where unemployment if high, but this statement is not only true but achievable.

Several years ago we decided to diversify our income sources by starting to sell our plants, herbs and other products that we grow not only at our farm but also online. With limited computer expertise we spent a lot of time, money and energy before we learned how to operate a successful online business. Three years later, our online stores now make up a significant percentage of our annual income and help to insulate our farm from any ups or downs that our local economy may experience. Our three websites are: Farm Fresh Living, Stargazer Perennials and The Fly Fishing Place. 

At the request of many emails, we tried to write down a simplified version of how we started our internet business. After experimenting with many website programs and online products such as Yahoo and others we finally selected a product line by High Mountain Domains. High Mountain Domains is what is known as a complete online website hosting company that literally offers you a one stop shopping for domain names, website programs, shopping carts, SSL certificates, merchant accounts, blogs and much more. We found that for us using an online website hosting company, such as High Mountain Domains provided many benefits including:

• It is very easy to use with step by step prompts that lead you through the process
• Very affordable
• No programming experience needed
• Helpful technical support 24/7 that's free!
• Our websites and shopping carts are maintained on their servers, so if anything every happens at our farm such as a fire, we are protected and can still access our websites from anywhere as long as we have an internet connection.

High Mountain Domains is just one of many internet hosting companies out there that you have to choose from. We've been really pleased with the products so we can't recommend them enough, but don't take our word for it and do your own research first. Whichever internet hosting company you eventually decide to use keep in mind that once you start entering product and content, changing website programs is difficult and time consuming. Once you have decided on which website product to use, here's what you will need:

1. Search for and purchase a domain name. Our domain name is Farm Fresh Living.com. TIP: Your name should let people know what your site is about and try to keep it short or memorable. Once you have your domain name you will want to put it on everything!

2. Set your website up. Our website is really two websites that are connected behind the scenes. One website contains all the articles while the other website is the secure shopping cart portion. Don't worry it not really complicated!

• We use High Mountain Domains Website Tonight (R) for the article portion and a separate shopping cart that is also available through High Mountain Domains. The Website Tonight product lets you select a template from over 800 easy to use professionally designed website templates. They keep adding new ones each month, so I am always checking for new ideas. Your Website Tonight works as your homepage and as the text pages of your website where you can write articles and describe your services to people who visit your site. Writing good, relevant text pages are important and are what will help your website get searched.
  

• Connect a shopping cart to your Website Tonight. Your shopping cart is where your customers can purchase products from you. Shopping carts are secure sites. You can always tell when you are in a secure site by the https: designation in front of the URL address. 

3. Purchase a SSL Certificate. A SSL Certificate is very important and necessary to sell online. SSL Certificates are purchased once a year. Once your SSL is approved, an icon will appear automatically at the bottom of your website.

4. You will need either a merchant number or use Paypal to start accepting payment online. If you already have a merchant account that you use for your farm or business, your bank can help you set it up online. If you don't have a merchant account you can either set one up or just sign up to use Paypal. Both ways are easy!

5. If you use High Mountain Domains they will provide you with free email accounts to use. Just set these up to help you communicate with your customers. 

6. Start your own blog! Blogging is the most important, economic and powerful tool for promoting your online presence today.  It's fun, it's easy, and it can be profitable!

When thinking about what to sell, just look around your farm or business. If you can ship it, you can probably sell it.  Think about what your current customer buy from you or do you have a hobby that could be a business, the ideas are endless. If you specific questions, drop us an email and we'll try to answer your question in greater detail.

Our farm, Stargazer Perennials, is a small family owned and operated sustainable farm and nursery located in the mountains of Eastern Oregon. We live in a town of approximately 120 people and our county has a total population of 25,000.

         

        

A hot new flowering shrub from the master plantsmen at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs, Sunshine Blue Caryopteris is a very hardy, totally deer resistant deciduous shrub with striking lemon-yellow foliage that does not burn, even in August! This delightful shrub brightens up every garden with sunny lemon-yellow foliage and electric blue-amethyst flowers that bloom in late summer into the fall. A mid-size shrub, Caryopteris Sunshine Blue matures to a height and width of 3' x 3'.

Use this compact blooming shrub in any perennial garden, planted in masses for a dramatic impact or as an accent shrub. Plant Caryopteris Sunshine Blue with purple and black foliage deer resistant shrubs such as Weigela 'Midnight Wine', Sambucus 'Black Lace' or Heuchera 'Dolce Licorice' for a knockout contrast in the garden. Reliably cold hardy to USDA hardiness zone 5, Caryopteris Sunshine Blue breaks dormancy later in spring around the same time as Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Russian Sage' or Itea 'Little Henry'.

You can order Caryopteris Sunshine Blue in 1 gallon or 2 gallon nursery containers grown pesticide-free, using only sustainable organic methods from Farm Fresh Living or Stargazer Perennials.

        

Living in a rural area of Eastern Oregon, the countryside is dotted with large groves of old walnut trees that were planted by many of the original settlers. This high concentration of Black Walnut trees in our area probably accounts for the numerous times that we are asked the same question at our farm, Stargazer Perennials "What can you grow under a Black Walnut tree?"  Well for all of you who have Black Walnut trees, here's the answer.
The roots of walnut trees and specifically black walnut trees produce the toxin juglone which can make gardening around them difficult. The toxin juglone resides in large amounts in the tree's roots and is known to inhibit respiration, resulting in stunted or deformed growth, and even death, in juglone-sensitive plants.

What can you do: First, avoid tree removal if at all possible! Cutting down your Black Walnut trees is not a good solution to your landscaping woes as long as your tree is healthy. Juglone is not very water soluble and will stay in the soil (and any tiny feeder roots not removed) for several years. Black Walnut trees provide wonderful shade, reduce CO2 while providing fresh oxygen, produce food and shelter for backyard wildlife and birds, and make an excellent windbreak due to the strength of their wood.

Second, just like gardening with deer, you have choices when it comes to gardening around Black Walnut trees. Here is a list that we have complied over time of plants that can be grown successfully under Black Walnut trees: pansies, violets, daylilies, hosta, sedum, squash, melons, beans, carrots, corn, snap peas, mints, forsythia, narcissus, astible, monarda and black raspberries. 

        

Gladiolus are the quintessential summer flowers that every country garden needs! Gladiolus are very easy to grow and work well in perennial borders or when grown in decorative rows for cut flowers. When selecting gladiolus corms, choose large corms that are 14+ cm whenever possible. The larger the corm size, the larger the bloom stalk you will have. Gladiolus come in a wide range of colors including the very popular bicolor varieties. A few of our favorite gladiolus that we grow and sell at our farm include:

   
Laurien Gladiolus                                               Summer Love Gladiolus                              Far West Gladiolus


Planting Layout for Gladiolus:
If you are growing gladiolus, or glads as they are commonly called, primarily for cut flowers you may want to plant them in rows, as you would vegetables. It is easier to prepare the area, stake and tend the plants, and harvest flower stalks when they grow in neat rows. For a prolonged bloom period, plant gladiolus 3 crops of gladiolus every 2 weeks.

Gladiolus can also be used to provide color and texture in annual beds and borders and in the perennials garden. When planting gladiolus in the garden, plant at least 6 of each variety in a clump for the maximum impact.

Gladiolus perform best in full sun and well-drained soil. If your soil is heavy or tends to be wet, create raised beds for your glads (and most other annuals, perennials, and bulbs). Whether or not you garden in raised beds, loosen the soil to a depth of ten or 12 inches. To provide nutrients to the Gladiolus during the bloom period, fertilize with a liquid kelp fertilizer, such as Maxicrop once a week.

When to Plant Gladiolus:
Start planting your glads in mid-May, then again every two weeks through mid-June. This schedule will keep the flowers coming form July through August.

Browse our collection of gladiolus at Farm Fresh Living or to read more about How to Grow Gladiolus, read our informative gladiolus gardening article.

        

Black Lace Sambucus is a delightful, lacy and tough new shrub from the plant masters at Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. This light and airy Elderberry is large in stature, growing to 6 feet by 6 feet, yet is versatile enough to be used in a variety of settings. The delicate cut leaf texture of this hardy shrub is very reminiscent of that of a Japanese maple, yet the black pearl color is much more distinctive. Sambucus ' Black Lace ' performs best in the full sun, but it will also thrive in a part sun exposure. In the spring you are treated to a show as large, baby pink blooms explode, later forming dark burgundy-red berries in the fall which can be harvested for making elderberry wine and jam, or left on the plant to attract birds and other wildlife.

Perhaps one of our favorite features of Black Lace Sambucus is its deer resistance, which at our farm in eastern Oregon is always a challenge! Black Lace Sambucus makes a wonderful addition to any garden. For a tough, hardy and deer resistant combo, pair Black Lace Sambucus with Sutherland Gold Elderberry. Sutherland Gold Sambucus exhibits the same lacy texture and hardiness as Black Lace Elderberry, but with foliage similar in color to matte gold, stunning!

        

Substituting olive oil for butter in recipes and general cooking is a delicious way to to get healthy and help lower your cholesterol. It seems like a simple change, but switching from saturated fats to monounsaturated fat to prepare your food can produce big benefits. Researchers have shown that the phytochemicals in olive oil can fight cholesterol and prevent heart disease. Long before it was "in", I began substituting olive oil in most of my recipes. Ten years or so of only using organic olive oil maybe be partly responsible for my very low cholesterol.

For general cooking application you can use a multipurpose fine virgin olive oil in almost any recipe. If possible, always choose a certified organic olive oil. Olive oil not only works as a susbsitute for butter in cooking recipes you can also use it in high-heat applications such as stir-fry, saute or pan frying.

Here's a simple conversion chart to use when substituting olive oil for butter in cooking:

Butter or Margarine           Olive Oil

1 teaspoon                         3/4 teaspoon
1 tablespoon                      2 1/4 teaspoons
2 tablespoons                   1 1/2 tablespoons
1/4 cup                                3 tablespoons
1/3 cup                                1/4 cup
1/2 cup                                1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
2/3 cup                                1/2 cup
3/4 cup                                1/2 + 1 tablespoons
1 cup                                   3/4 cup

For recipes from our farm kitchen visit Farm Fresh Living

        

One of the most common questions that we get asked at our rural nursery is "What can I plant that the deer won't eat?" Fortunately for gardeners with deer problems there are quite a few shrubs, ornamental grasses and perennials that are very deer resistant.  Proven Winners Itea Little Henry ( Sweetspire ) is not only a top selling flowering shrub at our sustainable nursery, it is one of our personal favorites. We have watched at our farm a 'gang' of deer walk right up to a mass planting of Itea Little Henry and move on without one nibble.

Much under utilized in the garden, Itea 'Little Henry Sweetspire' is a delightful versatile, attractive shrub with glossy green foliage that performs well in full sun or part sun. A dwarf variety of the popular Sweetspire 'Henry's Garnet', this compact 30 inch high shrub is a true all season performer. Little Henry Sweetspire starts out the summer with a beautiful display of fragrant, orange scented white flowers that blanket the shrub. As summer progresses shiny, disease-free foliage takes over until fall when the foliage turns a stunning garnet-red. This hardy shrub holds its garnet red foliage longer than the popular Burning Bush. Both the flowers and foliage of Itea Little Henry as useful in cur flower arrangements.

You can order Itea Little Henry from our online store or at our farm. As with all of our hardy flowering shrubs, we grow Itea Little Henry using on green, sustainable, pesticide-free methods.





The stunning garnet red fall foliage of Itea Little Henry puts on a show in the fall! We like the fall color better than that of the standard Burning Bush and the deer won't touch this plant.

        

The busy days of winter! Despite the snow which just keeps coming, farm life in the winter on our sustainable farm and nursery is as hectic if not more so than spring and summer when all the plants and herbs are bursting with new growth and color!

Our winters are spent propagating new plants in the greenhouses, working on our websites: Farm Fresh Living, Stargazer Perennials and The Fly Fishing Place, going through the hours of difficult decisions about which variety of heirloom tomato to grow or not to grow, which new plant to add to our growing palette, what new construction project needs to occur when the snow is gone and on and on... Don't get me wrong, we are not complaining, in fact we would not have it any other way!

This winter we have added the enjoyable, although time consuming task of getting agritourism started in our little corner of paradise in Eastern Oregon.  Agri-tourism is a perfect fit for our farm and in fact we have been an "agritourism" destination for several years. Our newest challenge is in trying to establish a larger base of farms in our area to participate in agritourism which in turn will help to promote and advertise the scenic wonders and recreational activities that our area has to offer.

Our first victory for creating agritourism in Union County, Oregon was won on December 22, 2008 when we succeeded in becoming the first "Farm Stand" to be legally recognized in Eastern Oregon; what a wonderful Christmas gift that was!

If you would like to learn more about agri-tourism, visit the Foundation for Rural Sustainability, a non profit organization that promotes small farm economic sustainability and agritourism.

        

Cactus dahlias, the versatile summer flowering plant that every garden can use are now available online at Farm Fresh Living.  If you want to plant dahlias in your garden this spring, now is the time to order. We start shipping our dahlias in late March depending on the USDA zone that they are going to and stop shipping by late May. If you have never grown dahlias before, you will be amazed how quickly they get up and start growing!

Cactus dahlias are easily recognizable by their dramatic spiky petals and vivid colors. Indispensable as cut flowers, dahlias are also useful in the summer perennial garden to add a "pop" of drama and color to any garden. Catcus dahlias are available in two bloom sizes: cactus dinnerplate dahila produce very large, dinnerplate sized blooms and standard cactus dahlias that produce adorable, golf ball size blooms in clusters on each stem.  Some of our top selling cactus dahlias are:

     

Hayley Jane Cactus Dahlia                Bridgeview Aloha Cactus Dahlia                           Shooting Star Cactus Dahlia

Browse our collection of Cactus Dahlias, Dinnerplate Dahlias, Gallery Series and Dwarf Dahlias, Shogun Dahlias

Dahlias are extremely easy to grow, but as a tender perennial they should be planted in the spring only after the last hard frost. As tender perennials, dahlias are only winter hardy to USDA hardiness zone 7. In garden zones below 7, dahlias will need to be dug and stored over the winter or can be treated, as we do at the farm, as wonderful annuals!

Dahlias prefer full sun and a rich, well-drained soil. Large-flowering dinner plate cactus dahlias should be spaced 3 to 4 feet apart; smaller cactus dahlias can be spaced 1-2 feet apart. To keep dahlias actively growing and flowering provide ample water and fertilization.  At the farm we fertilize our dahlias monthly with an organic fertilizer such as Down To Earth Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 at 5 lbs. per 100 square ft.  Pinch out the tips of the main stems three weeks after planting to produce strong, bushy plants. Harvest regularly for cut flowers or take off the faded blooms during the summer months to encourage continuous blooming. Tall dinner-plate cactus type dahlias will need staking with 6’ bamboo stakes, which should be driven a foot into the ground at planting time. Dahlias can also be added into container gardens with annuals and perennials for a knock-out display of summer color.

        

Our favorite gloves, West County Garden Gloves are now made from recycled materials!  Read our prior blog: Garden Glove Review: West County Garden Gloves, simply the best gloves I have tried.  

On our farm, Stargazer Perennials, we live in West County Garden Gloves 12 months a year! The comfortable and breathable work gloves are perfect during the summer and in the winter we wouldn't be without our insulated waterproof West County Gardener Gloves. Each work glove, landscape glove or gardening glove will now be made with a fabric that comes from recycled water bottles. The new recycled fabric is stronger, softer, and easier on the planet.

Limited natural resources create opportunities for innovation. It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. Nothing could be more true when describing the new recycled PET mesh fabric used in West County Gloves.  Nearly 2 years later, West County Gardener now has the first recycled content gloves in the United States.

Browse all West County Gardener Gloves:

• Womens West County Work Gloves
• Womens West County Classic Gloves
• Womens West County Waterproof Gloves
• Mens West County Work Gloves
• Mens West County Waterproof Gloves
• Rose Gauntlet Gloves

Turning Water Bottles into Fabric for West County Gardener Gloves:

1. To convert recycled plastic, first the bottles are gathered, sorted by color, crushed, and baled.
2. Next, they are shipped to a facility to be ground into 1/8” shards.
3. The shards are then cleaned and sanitized before melting and extruding and chopping into uniform PET pellets.
4. The pellets are then melted and put into a spinneret to produce a fine yarn that is blended with virgin poly and knit into West County fabric.

View our complete line of West County Gardener Gloves available in Men's Gloves and Women's Glove sizes.

        

Growing and eating fresh, just picked vegetables is one of the rewards of living on a farm! Even if you don't live on a farm you can still grow your own vegetables no matter how much space you have available. It is hard to beat the fresh flavor and high nutritional value of fresh organically grown food. Growing a vegetable garden is an ideal way to ensure that you are eating healthy fresh food and it's also a great family activity that allows kids to learn more about the cycle of food and the importance of sustainability.

The cold, short days of winter are the perfect time to plan out and to order organic seeds, certified organic seed potatoes, organic onion and certified organic garlic sets for your vegetable or herb garden. You will find that if you wait until the time to start planting your garden many of the favored varieties will already be sold out, so plan ahead and get the garden that you've been dreaming about. Browse our collection of certified organic vegetable seeds and our personally selected collection of heirloom tomatoes all grown pesticide-free.
 
If you are new at vegetable gardening it is best to start with a small garden that you can successfully manage and then expand each year until your garden reaches a point where it is still manageable with your daily life, yet provides you with the amount of fresh vegetables, greens and herbs that you desire. Below are some additional articles about how to plant a vegetable garden and herb garden and how to grow herbs and vegetables organically.

• Planning a vegetable garden
• Choosing the best site for your vegetable garden 
• Designing an herb garden
• Planting and caring for your vegetable garden
  

        

Once you have tasted a fresh, just picked Alpine Mignonette Strawberry you will know why they are so popular with gardeners around the globe. Don't let the fact that the petite Alpine Mignonette Strawberries are a French delicacy deter you from growing them yourself, Alpine Strawberries are amazingly tough and cold hardy!

Unlike traditional strawberry plants, Alpine Strawberry plants do not produce runners and are only able to be propagated from seed or from mature divisions. At the farm we used to only sell the non-GMO Alpine Strawberry seeds, but after repeated requests from fellow gardeners around the US who did not want to germinate their own Alpine Strawberry plants, we started selling these hardy perennials as fully rooted plants, some already producing fruit! We now only sell Alpine Mignonette Strawberries in either 6-pack containers or in 4" pots. Once you plant these attractive, soft green mounding plants in the ground you can expect flowers, then petite fruits to start appearing in a matter of months.

We have found that 6 -12 plants is sufficient for 2-3 people to have a nice supply of Alpine Strawberries to eat on breakfast cereal, as a dessert or to bake with once a week. Alpine Strawberries produce lower yields than typical strawberry plants and the fruit is about 1/4 of the size, but they do consistently produce fruit well into fall and start up first thing in the spring.

The nice compact growth habit of Alpine Strawberries makes them perfect to use in strawberry pots, hanging baskets, container plantings or as a front of the perennial border ground cover plant, which is what we do at the farm. If you have a greenhouse that stays above freezing in the winter, you will find that Alpine Strawberry plants will produce well into late December. For information about how to grow Alpine Strawberry Plants, read our complete gardening article at Farm Fresh Living.com.

You can purchase Alpine Strawberry Plants at our online store and as with all of our hardy plants, our Alpine Mignonette Strawberry plants are grown pesticide-free, using only sustainable, green and organic gardening methods.

        

Our sustainable farm and nursery (Stargazer Perennials), located in eastern Oregon has received its fair share of winter woes this year! Like most of the U.S., we have been getting pelted with high winds and snow for the past few weeks. Thankfully just in time for Christmas, we received a reprieve and had two days that were snow and wind free; we even received a little sun to boot! Here's a few pictures of our sustainable farm as we dig out from the storms this December.

      





Entrance to our farm looking towards the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon. Washington is on the back side of the Blue Mountains.



















Mill Creek; our scenic year around creek that bisects our farm and boasts a nice population of wild trout.




















Juncos eating the seed pods off of our perennials that are planted in raised beds for propagating.

        

Oriental lilies are wonderful often under utilized summer flowering perennials that will add color and fragrance to your garden year after year. Oriental lilies are best known for their large 4" - 6" colorful blooms that are intensely fragrant and their high value as cut flowers.  Oriental lilies, like other summer flowering bulbs including dahlias, garden peonies and gladiolus, can be planted in the spring. Lilies planted in early spring will produce showy blooms that same summer. 

Planting and caring for hardy oriental lilies is very easy. Lilies need well-drained soil in an area that receives sun or part shade. The ideal situation will place the lily flowers and leaves in sun while shading their roots. When planting oriental lilies, space them 6 to 10 inches apart and 6 inches deep. Planting lilies deep will allow them to form roots along their stems. Fertilize lilies lightly monthly with Down to Earth 4-8-4 organic fertilizer, starting when the shoots begin to emerge. Tall lilies should be staked and protected from high winds. Mulch well to keep lily roots cool. Remove blooms when they die to prevent seedpod formation. Cut stems off at ground level after they turn brown, but never cut them down while the leaves are still green.Some of our favorite oriental lilies are:

Casa Blanca Oriental Lily - one of the most fragrant lilies next to Stargazer lily with pure white, large blooms

Coral Queen Oriental Lily - very fragrant oriental lily with 5" coral pink and lemon yellow blooms

Dizzy Oriental Lily - an adorable oriental lily with red and white striped blooms and a pleasing fragrance. Dizzy makes a great cut flower.

Stargazer Oriental Lily - our personal favorite. This oriental lily was breed specifically for the cut flower industry. Highly fragrant, sturdy stems and knockout pink blooms!

        

NEW! Now when you find a new favorite fresh and healthy recipe on Farm Fresh Living you can also access an easy, printable version of the recipe already formatted for most printers. Our "printable version" links are displayed in the upper left hand corner of each recipe. To locate recipes on our website, click on the Recipe Index link along the left hand side in the navigation area.

Here are a few new recipes that we have just added:

Spicy Chili with Tri-Color Bell Peppers

Spicy Turkey Curry with Chilled Cranberry Relish

        

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If you are looking for that special gift for your favorite gardener, look no further! Farm Fresh Living is now offering a 10% discount on all Gift Certificates until Christmas. That means you can give a $100 gift for only $90, and your gift will be remembered fondly every time your favorite gardener walks through their garden. A Gift Certificate from Farm Fresh Living is the perfect way to give the gift of living plants in the middle of winter!  A great gift for a loved one, for employee appreciation, or for that gardening club friend. We will send the gift certificate either to you or the recipient based on your instructions, so hurry: There's still time to give the gift of living plants to that favorite gardener and remember our Gift Certificates never expire, are transferable and can be personalized with any message that you desire. To receive your 10% discount, just enter the code SAVENOW in the coupon code area during checkout.

        

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The Proven Winners rose program has done it again with another hardy addition to the Oso Easy rose line! Oso Easy Cherry Pie rose is a saucy, delightful low maintenance rose that follows in the footsteps of one of our new favorite roses, Oso Easy Paprika rose.

We adore this very hardy rose for the hot, candy apple red flowers and bright yellow stamens, that literally cover the extremely disease resistant glossy green foliage and for the non-stop blooms that start out early in the season and continue on well into late frosts. This is one tough rose! It's early December and our Oso Easy Cherry Pie roses are still fully leafed out and pushing new growth!

Roses have for too long gotten a bad rap about being 'fussy' and difficult, but the Oso Easy program is helping to change the way gardeners now look at roses. At the farm we have sucessfully planted Oso Easy Cherry Pie rose in with hardy perennials! The soft mounding habit of this petite rose at only 14" tall, works well in the front of the perennial border or even when mixed with annuals.  At only 14" tall, you can plant Oso Easy Cherry Pie rose in patio containers or whiskey barrels for an explosion of color!

You can purchase Oso Easy Cherry Pie rose at our online store in mature 1 gallon containers, and as with all of our hardy plants we only grow Oso Easy Cherry Pie rose using sustainable, organic pesticide-free methods. If you are interested in learning more about how to grow healthy roses organically, read our organic rose care article on our sister website, Stargazer Perennials .

        

Growing vegetables in the winter in a USDA hardiness zone 5 is a little challenging but very rewarding. Today, December 8th, we received our first measurable snowfall and our first harvest of radishes, spinach and salad greens from our greenhouse. While our method for growing vegetables is rather low tech, it is very effective.

Here's a quick rundown on our technique if you are interested or want to give it a try!  We installed several raised beds in one of our greenhouses that we use for plant propagation and filled the beds with organic potting soil. Next we drenched the soil with water several times, using warm water for the last soaking. We then direct seeded with organic seeds that we sell at our nursery,  into the beds.  Next we lightly misted the seeds,  then covered them with remnants of the clear plastic that we cover our greenhouses with. Once the seedling popped, we uncovered them and let them be. We found that with the humidity in the greenhouse no additional water was required. We inserted a soil thermometer in one of the beds to keep an eye on soil temps and used a separate thermostat to keep the house heated at night to 48 degrees with an overhead propane heating system. Several weeks later, we reaped the rewards of having fresh vegetables in the winter.

We still have a multitude of other vegetables growing that are not ready to harvest yet including beets, carrots and kale.  For a little nutrient kick, we water with Maxicrop kelp fertilizer every few weeks.

 






Our first crop of Cherry Belle Radishes on December 8th! Our radish and lettuce crop is doing so well this winter that we will be supplying one of the local middle schools in our area with fresh greens, radishes and carrots this winter.

        

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Increasing the income from your farm or small business is not difficult it only involves thinking outside of the box. 

We all know that we are supposed to diversify our investments to  diversify our risks, but how many of us apply that philosophy to our own businesses? When you diversify your customer base, your not only diversify the risk to your small business, but you create new markets which in turn will create additional revenue. If this basic business theory sounds simple, it is because it is. 

Take for instance my own farm, Stargazer Perennials, a small family operated farm located in eastern Oregon in Union County. Union County has a total population of approximately 30,000 people and the main employers in the area are Boise Cascade and recreational vehicle manufacturers, both of which are highly susceptible to outside economic influences. Our farm grows pesticide-free plants, herbs and produce on about 7 acres in a beautiful, pristine setting. When we started our farm we realized that we could not depend on our local market as our only avenue to market and distribute our products, so we decided to diversify our customer base with great success! Our sales this year are up over last year. Here are some easy ways you can diversify your customer base and increase revenue:

1. Rather than selling at your local farmers market, research adjacent markets, even if it means driving a little farther to see if it will increase your customer base.
2. Diversify your product line and cross promote. I.e. our main crop at our farm is horticultural plants, but we also grow fresh herbs, salad greens and vegetables that we sell to local customers, to restaurants and to schools.
3. Seek out new customers on a nationwide basis. While this sounds the most intimidating, it is actually the easiest of the three to accomplish and works for almost any type of business. If you own a boutique, what you sell in your your shop you can sell online. Does your business offer a unique service such as grant writing or business consulting, if so you can offer your services online. Have you always wanted to start a home based business making the best gourmet fudge ever, where you could make extra money while staying at home with your kids, if so there is a market for your product online! Your local customer base is restricted to the population that lives in your area and the buying power of that base is restricted based upon the local economic factors. By expanding your base nationwide, you diversify that risk and widen your base while increasing your revenue! For examples of how we market and sell our products nationwide visit our websites at:
   
   1. Farm Fresh Living
   2. The Fly Fishing Place
   3. Stargazer Perennials

Want to find out more? Read our other blog about our online businesses that we started with "zero" computer knowledge or go to High Mountain Domains, the online service that we use to create our websites and sell online and that literally costs less per month than pizza and a movie.  Still have questions, drop us an email we enjoy passing on our knowledge to other entrepreneurs.



         

        

Decorating for the holidays does not have to be expensive! If you live in a rural area or close to an open space where evergreens are available, you can make your own holiday wreaths for almost free. Just follow these 3 simple steps. NOTE: Making your own holiday wreaths is also a great family activity and kids love to do this satisfying craft project. Homemade holiday wreaths also make great gifts!

1.     First construct your wreath form or reuse and existing wreath form. Read our earlier blog on how to make your own wreath forms from common plants in your landscape.

2.     Select your greens and plant material to use to decorate your wreath. Cone bearing or needle evergreens that are commonly used in holiday decorations can be pruned from your home landscape or wooded area. When pruning cone bearing evergreens for wreaths, cut lower branches that are full leaving ample stem to work with. Some of the most suitable types of cone bearing evergreens are: Balsam fir, Douglas fir, False cypress, Austrian pine, Ponderosa Pine, White pine and Scots pine. Avoid using hemlock and spruce for indoor use since they drop their needles quickly. Broad-leaved evergreens are also attractive to add and include many of the common hardy plants found in most rural landscapes such as: Ilex (holly), Buxus (boxwood), Berberis (barberry) both the red and golden varieties, Mahonia (Oregon holly-grape), Pyracanthra (pyracanthra) and Rhododendron. Special care should be taken when harvesting this type of material not to damage the ornamental value of the plant. Ornamental grasses also offer texture and color to your wreaths and swags. Try trimming the plumes from Calamagrostis Karl Foerster also know as Feather Reed Grass, Avalanche or Overdam to add a wheat-colored accent to your designs. Gather berries from pyracanthra, elderberry, chokecherries or crabapple trees to add color and texture to your wreath. When gathering berries make sure that you leave enough stem at the end of each berry cluster to attach it to the wreath form.

3.     Cut all the greens before you begin in 4” – 6” lengths for a 15” wreath. For bulky needle types, remove 1” of the lower needles from the stem bases. Lay three or four sprigs along the frame with the tips facing backwards and the cut ends forward. Bind the cut ends with two or three turns of wire. Then position the next set of sprigs so that it overlaps the first like shingles on a roof, and fasten again. Be sure to pull the binding wire tight each time. Continue the procedure until the frame is completed covered with greens. Do not skimp on greens. To finish attaching the greens, hold back the first sprigs and bind the last bundle. This prevents binding down the tops of the first sprigs. To complete the wreath, add trimmings and accent decorations such as cones, berries, ornaments, bells, or ribbons. Attach wire to each decoration separately and then wire each one to the frame.
Outdoor wreaths can be attached to barns, fencing and gates with No. 22 wire or strong twine. Wreaths hung on entry doors can be secured with an over the door hook available at most large hardware stores. Over the door wreath hooks are a great way to display wreaths inside and out without damaging the door!

Fire Retardant and Preservative Sprays

Evergreen decorations can be a fire hazard. As a flame retardant, spray your decorations with a mixture of 4 tablespoons boric acid and 9 tablespoons borax dissolved in 2 quarts of water. An alternative mixture is 5 tablespoons borax and 4 tablespoons Epsom salts dissolved in 2 quarts of water. However, the best precaution is to remove or replace greens when they loose their freshness and always keep fresh wreaths away from fire or flame.

        

In the small rural community that we live we are known not only for the healthy plants and the succulent produce that we grow, but for the frequent FedEx trucks that come and go almost all year long from our farm. These Fedex trucks are picking up boxes and boxes of plants that will be shipped to gardeners all over the United States and boxes of fly fishing gear and hand tied flies for fly fishing enthusiasts. A frequent question that I get asked from people in our community is how do you sell and ship plants and fly fishing gear on the internet. Well I thought this winter might be the perfect time to share our story with other individuals who may want to start a business from their home.

Living in a rural area provides many attractive benefits; clean air, clean water, friendly people, small schools, beautiful scenery, access to outdoor activities and lower cost of living, but living rural also has its challenges, primarily how to make a good living. Several years ago when we moved from a larger population area to a smaller rural farming community we decided to give technology a chance to assist us in diversifying our income and it worked!

Our farm, Stargazer Perennials is a year around working sustainable farm and nursery that grows using only organic methods. On the farm we grow over 400 varieties of cold hardy perennials, hardy roses, over 30 varieties of hardy ornamental grasses, a wide selection of hardy shrubs, herbs, vegetables and much more. As we expanded our product line we also found the need to expand our distribution area to help diversify our revenue. Our expanded distribution channels now includes our online plant nursery and garden store, our retail location at our farm in Summerville, Oregon and our booths at the Walla Walla, Washington farmers' market. Now three years into our farm venture we are finding that our online store has doubled our income and greatly assists in leveling out the peaks and valleys in income that small farmers typically face each year.

While we are definitely plant people, computer people we are not. When we decided to start an online store we first went to numerous computer people, website designers and the like and found that well frankly we couldn't afford to start that way, so necessity being the mother of invention we plunged head first into designing and managing our our websites. Looking back that was one of the best decisions we ever made! While there is work involved, the program that we use through High Mountain Domains is very easy to use with templates and step by step prompts, the cost savings over having hired a firm to not only design our websites but to maintain them has been tens of thousands of dollars. Programs that didn't work for us and were a terrible waste of time included Yahoo website design, which really was a disaster, and a canned software package that we purchased. Not being techno-nerds we needed software that did not require us to write any XHTML or HTML code and that we could still get to work on our rural satellite connection. We also needed good technical support with people who could actually help us when we needed it and who didn't mind answering the most basic of questions. So after trail and error, we found High Mountain Domains and haven't left. Through this one online company we manage our 3 websites, our merchant account ( which allows us to accept credit cards online ), our email marketing software and our blogs for less per month than our satellite company (Hughes) charges us for our satellite connection. Stay tuned for future blog installments of how to start your own online business.

Here's some links to some of our websites if you want to take a look:

Stargazer Perennials
Farm Fresh Living
The Fly Fishing Place

        

When the weather turns cold nothing warms you up like a hot, steaming cup of tea. Making your own fresh tea is not only easy, it's healthier and much more economical. One of my favorite winter tea recipes that I developed is Fresh Ginger Mint tea with Honey:

8-10     fresh mint leaves or 2 tablespoons dried organic mint leaves.
1           tablespoon organic honey - if possible always use local honey.
2           tablespoons peeled and shaved fresh  ginger root.
2 1/2    cups water

Place a medium size saucepan on high and add water. Bring water to a boil and add the ginger. Boil the ginger under the liquid is reduced by half.  Strain ginger water, discarding shaved ginger root.

Chop up fresh mint leaves and place in a tea strainer ball. Pour honey in large mug then pour steaming ginger water over honey, stir to melt honey. Dunk tea ball with mint leaves in it into the mug and steep for several minutes before drinking.

I usually triple this recipe to make a pot of tea for those cold winter days. The fresh mint and ginger helps to open up your sinuses and airways. When making this tea I like to use either Orange Mint or Peppermint, but you can use whatever mint you have available.
  
Learn more about the health benefits of fresh ginger here..

        

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Most of us enjoy the fresh taste and spicy attributes that cooking with herbs has to offer, but herbs and spices have more to offer than just adding flavor to your food. To learn more about herbs and spices and their antioxidant properties, read the following article just out from the University of Georgia regarding herbs and spices and their positive impacts on our health. << MORE >>

Growing your own herbs in the winter is easy and rewarding. We have found in our hardiness zone 5, the best performing herbs in the winter to be oregano, sage, thyme, parsley and rosemary. The key to keeping your herb plants going during the cold, dark winter months is to ensure that they have adequate drainage, good fresh air circulation and day light. All herbs will perform better if they receive 8-10 hours of daylight. In the winter when days are short, place your potted herb plants by the window where they can receive fresh air and supplement light with grow lights if needed.

You can pot up mature herb plants or grown herbs from seeds. If growing from seed, always try to find organic herb seeds. When potting up herbs that will be grown indoors add additional perlite or pea gravel to ensure good drainage. This year at the farm we started growing our winter herbs in our warm greenhouse in raised beds. We planted Rosemary, which is one our favorite herbs, in a grid pattern and then seeded radishes around them to make use of the open soil areas.

        

At our farm we have always used only organic fertilizers and soil amendments to grow our healthy plants. Growing organically is easy since the basic premise is built upon feeding and nurturing the soil rather than the plant. A healthier plant is less susceptible to insect and pests and more tolerant of drought conditions. << MORE >>

We usually think of eating cranberries only around the holidays with turkey and stuffing, but cranberries are a great all year healthy food to add to your diet. Recent studies show that the tart, red berry is a unique good-for-you fruit that offers a wide variety of health benefits. Not only are cranberries a healthy, low-calorie snack, but they can also play a significant role in preventing urinary tract infections, reducing the risk of gum disease and much more.

Other cranberry health facts include: Cranberries and cranberry products contain significant amounts of antioxidants that may help protect against heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Cranberries may be beneficial in the prevention of ulcers, which are linked to stomach cancer and acid reflux disease. Cranberries contain hippuric acid, which has antibacterial effects on the body, as well as natural antibiotic ingredients.

At the farm we add cranberries to our diet all year long. If you don't have access to cranberries all year, now is the time to stock up on them. Cranberries freeze well for up to 4 months. Thaw completely before using.

Some of our favorite cranberry recipes at the farm are: Spicy Cranberry Ginger Relish and Cranberry Walnut Bread. Our Spicy Cranberry Ginger Relish is a farm fresh original that we use to top ham sandwiches, use as a side to spicy curry dishes or slather on fresh sourdough bread when eaten with a fresh salad.

        

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Make your own holiday wreaths forms this year for free! Rather than purchase wire or wicker wreath forms, you can make your own in just a few minutes. At the farm we make our wreath and swag frames all season long whenever we trim slender sift stemmed plants such as:  Salix Hakuro Nishiki,  privet, lilac, Red Twig Dogwood, Yellow Twig Dogwood, grape vines, or wisteria. If you are making wreaths forms in the fall, try using Red or Yellow Twig Dogwood branches. First find a form to shape your wreath frame around. To make a form you can use just about anything round, being a nursery we typically use a 3 or 5 gallon empty container as a form. Trim and gather branches and stems to be used. When trimming branches, cut a long enough stem to wrap at least 1 ½ times the inner diameter of your wreath form. For shorter pieces bind the ends together with No. 20 wire before wrapping around the form.

Continue to wrap around your form periodically binding the branches together with strong twine or No. 24 binding wire.

Once you have intertwined enough branches to form a wreath secure enough to hold the weight of the greens you will attach to it, hang in your barn or on a fence to dry. Note: A 10-15 inch diameter frame will make an average sized wreath. Before any branches are bound to the frame, attach binding wire to the frame at even intervals.

For more information about making your own holiday wreaths and swags, read our article at Farm Fresh Living.

        

This year we decided to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs and salad greens in our warm greenhouse during the winter when we crave fresh food! Growing your own vegetables is easy and then you absolutely know where your food comes from! We always grow all of our vegetables organically so we can eat straight from the garden.

Our farm is located in a USDA hardiness zone 5b in eastern Oregon where typically during the winter our low temperatures will drop to 10 degrees or lower. In addition we usually receive a healthy snow pack that lasts until mid March. We keep one greenhouse warm with propane heating and add artificial lighting during the winter to propagate cuttings and divisions for our sustainable plant nursery. 

This year we built raised beds in half the warm house and filled them with a quality organic potting mix for good drainage. We soaked the beds first before seeded straight into rows that we created in the beds, then covered them with a sheet of clear plastic to help in germination. We haven't watered again since the initial seeding. We keep a soil thermometer handy to check on the soil temperature.

So far we have planted with success: basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, salad greens, carrots, beets and radishes. TIP: When thinning radishes, use the thinned radish greens in salads for a spicy, peppery addition.

We'll keeping adding varieties to test what works and what does not this winter!

        

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While blueberry plants are primarily known for the tasty, healthy berries that they produce that rich in antioxidants, they are also superior ornamental plants that provide color and texture to the landscape.  Blueberry bushes are typically glossy green during the summer then turn scarlet red in the fall. Once they have defoliated, their bright red stems provide additional winter interest.

Blueberry bushes are easy to grow shrubs that vary in size from the dwarf varieties that reach only 2' tall to the high bushes that grow to 6' tall. Depending on your USDA hardiness zone, there is a blueberry bush that is right for you.

At the farm we successfully grow numerous varieties of hardy blueberries that perform in a USDA hardiness zone 5 including Rubel, Patriot, Bluecrop and Highcountry blueberries. When growing blueberries try incorporating more than one variety for increased pollination and berry yield.  To learn more about blueberries visit Farm Fresh Living.


To purchase sustainably grown, pesticide-free blueberry plants, visit our online country store.

        

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Attracting and keeping birds in your garden during the winter is fun and easy! One of the enjoyable benefits of living in a rural area is the wide variety of wildlife that is close at hand. Providing habitat and natural food sources for wildlife will attract birds, bees and other critters into your yard. ...<< MORE >>

Freezing Basil Basil is a tender herb that does not grow year around in USDA gardening zones 8 and below. Unlike many other fresh herbs, basil also does not do well if brought inside over the winter as it requires 8+ hours of daylight to thrive. Being basil lovers at Farm Fresh Living we have devised this easy way to enjoy fresh basil all season long! << MORE >>

November 4th on election day we got our first real snow of the season! Earlier than prior years, the steady snowfall blanketed the Blue Mountains that our farm nestles up against. << MORE >>

As a women farmer, which owns and operates a sustainable farm and nursery, and a gardener with small hands (but long fingers) my problem has always been finding well-made gloves that fit at a price that is affordable. The search for the best garden gloves accelerated last year when I decided to add a line of garden gloves to my online nursery and garden store Stargazer Perennials, ...<< MORE >>

Organic Raspberry Almond Torte is not a true torte, but rather a cross between a decadent dessert and a warm and cozy coffee cake. I bake this cake in the winter using fresh-frozen raspberries and in the summer using freshly picked raspberries. For tips on fresh-freezing berries, read below... Another tasty variation is to use fresh Alpine Strawberries in place of the raspberries. << MORE >>

Today was one of those perfect
sunny, cold (38 degrees) winter days where if I wasn't a woman farmer and entrepreneur, I
would be sitting on my porch soaking up the sun with a good book; instead I rose
a 5:00 am and I witnessed a meteorite streaking across the sky at 5:30 am (no
joke), as I logged several hours updating websites before I spent much of the
day, snow shovel in hand ...<< MORE >>