Posts Tagged ‘gardening’
6 Insects in Your Garden That Actually Help You
While insects found inside the house can be a pest, insects in your garden can prove to be quite beneficial. Certain insects are helpful to your garden and can protect your plants from true pests. Keeping a pesticide-free, organic garden will keep these little critters happy and your garden healthy. Here’s a list of six…
Read MoreTop 5 Garden Chores to Finish Before November Ends
We believe organic gardening is a year-round activity, with different things to accomplish every season. Here are five garden chores you might want to complete before Winter sets in, this year! 1. Transforming Leaves and Debris Leaves make for great compost to add back as organic matter to beds. Start a leaves compost pile for…
Read MoreThe Benefits of Backyard Beekeeping
Everyone knows that the bees have been in trouble lately. So why should you keep bees in your backyard? The professional farmers at Homefront explain why there are so many benefits to backyard beekeeping. Why Beekeeping is Beneficial to your Vegetable Garden Pollination Your garden will thank you. Honeybees are a highly efficient pollinator that…
Read MoreHow To Plant, Trellis, Prune and Harvest Tomatoes
Tomatoes are native to Mexico and the Andes and are one of the most coveted of garden crops! They are a warm weather plant that grows best at 75 degrees. Full sunlight is ideal for the best yields, but 6 hours of direct sunlight is the bare minimum. Large fruited varieties need more sunlight than…
Read MoreEnjoy Homegrown Veggies All Year
Come late winter, you may be longing for delicious harvests from your home garden. While nothing beats tomatoes straight from the vine or carrots right out of the soil, frozen produce can be a good substitute while your garden is dormant. You may be picturing bland food from the frozen section of the grocery store,…
Read MoreShort Rib Pot Pie
When the chill in the air creeps its way into your bones, rich, hearty dishes are the best way to warm up. This recipe takes a good chunk of an afternoon to prepare, but the flavor is worth it. A recipe by Kyle Martinez. Ingredients From the Garden: 2 carrots, peeled and diced 2 parsnips, peeled…
Read MoreResolving For a Healthier New Year? Design Your Own Organic Garden!
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight and become healthier. Unfortunately, for most people, diets fail in the long run. (1) Instead of severely restricting what you can eat, consider making healthier options more accessible. A great way to do this is with your own home garden. Fresh, organic food will…
Read MoreWhy Do Peppers Turn Red?
Though we don’t think about it as we tend to our tomatoes, eat a salad, or slice open a watermelon, our organic vegetable gardens are laboratories of fascinating organic chemistry processes. These processes explain many of the changes we see in plants as the long, warm days of summer give way to the crisp air…
Read MoreSpring Gardening Sneak Peak
A successful garden starts with a good plan. We spend the winter creating detailed designs showing where, when, and how the crops clients enjoy will fit into their garden space. In February, we begin seeding crops such as spinach, kale, and scallions in the greenhouse. After the snow melts and we’re unlikely to get much…
Read MoreGear Up for Gardening Season
While we undoubtedly have some winter weather ahead, spring isn’t so far away. As garden centers start to restock, the professional gardeners at Homefront Farmers thought we’d create a list of garden maintenance tools and accessories you’ll find helpful for the coming growing season. Trowel—Great for transplanting and other small digging jobs, a good trowel…
Read MoreHomefront Farmers New Greenhouse
Homefront Farmers is excited to announce the completion of the greenhouse at our new home base in Redding. This large space will allow us to grow quality organic seedlings, including hard-to-find varieties, for transplanting into our clients home gardens come spring. We won’t lie—the project was challenging. However, we think the effort was more…
Read MoreCarrot Cake and Beet-Dyed Frosting
A healthy and easy cake receipe. The raw carrot and shredded coconut give this cake a wonderful texture while the zesty cream cheese frosting colored with beets will knock your socks off! Ingredients From the Garden: 1 ⅓ cups carrots, boiled and pureed 3 cups carrots, raw, shredded 1” cube of red beet, boiled and…
Read MoreMess O’ Greens with Turnip-Parsnip Puree
Looking for a satisfying but lighter dish to cook between the Thanksgiving feast and the coming rich holiday meals? Try this vitamin-packed mess o’ greens on top of a velvety turnip-parsnip puree. Particularly great with homegrown organic vegetables, but wherever they’re sourced, be sure your ingredients are fresh. Ingredients From the Garden: 4…
Read MoreHow To Harvest and Store Sweet Potatoes
There’s something wonderful about harvesting root crops on a crisp fall afternoon. Pushing a spade into the loose ground to reveal hidden treasures connects us with our ancestors who stayed nourished through long New England winters thanks to the storability of crops such as potatoes and parsnips. A full root cellar assured the family would…
Read MoreHow To Avoid Getting Stung By Beneficial Bees
Do you have a child who is deathly afraid of bees? Do you yourself get a bit nervous when you hear that buzz next to your ear? Understanding the behavioral differences between wasps and bees can go a long way towards alleviating fears and allow for a relaxing time in the garden. Both bees and…
Read MoreWhy Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables?
Why Have an Organic Vegetable Garden? “Why buy a head of lettuce that’s been shipped 3000 miles when you can grow one just outside your door?” Homefront Farmer’s founder John Carlson Fresh Organic Vegetables Every Season Yard-to-table sustains families. Having a Homefront Farmers organic vegetable garden means you and your family have the freshest, most…
Read MoreBest Way to Prepare your Homegrown Organic Bounty
Sometimes the best way to prepare your homegrown organic bounty is to do very little. What is better than a freshly picked juicy tomato served with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a splash of vinegar and a pinch of freshly snipped basil? When your garden affords you the pick of the crop every…
Read MoreTips for Eating Organic Strawberries
Strawberry beds use straw for winter mulch. Now you know where this little red berry gets its name. Strawberries are loaded with Vitamin C (149% daily value) and are a good source of Folate, Potassium, Manganese and dietary fiber. It’s hard to find a more glorious fruit than a strawberry at the height of the…
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