Page 10 - Home & Garden

  In 1910, my great-uncle patented the Hinman Potato Planter, a device pulled behind a horse that supposedly made planting potatoes easier and faster. I never saw it in action, but I firmly believe the love of potatoes, and other root vegetables, has a genetic component for me, which is why they are a favorite of mine to grow. Even though they tend to be less expensive than some of the showier vegetables in the grocery store, you can’t beat the flavor, or the amazing varieties, of homegrown potatoes, carrots, onions, and beets. As the season wanes, it’s time to bring in this underground harvest to enjoy throughout the cooler months. The good news is most root vegetables are excellent candidates for long-term storage as long as they are cured and kept properly.   When to Dig Potatoes Potatoes are one of those lovely vegetab...

North 40 Outfitters is discussing the Remco Superior Complete Water Transfer System at the 2018 Mid-States show in Minneapolis, MN. Versatile, with a large capacity at 5.3 gallons, this Remco Water Transfer System can transfer water from any situation. It is a set-up that is easy to use for the backcountry camper needing water anywhere to the rancher that needs to transfer water for livestock. It can also be used with any standard watering hose too. Watch the video below to learn more.   Remco Industries has introduced a new product line called Water Transfer Solutions. We have several ... three sizes ... Ontario, Heron and Superior, Superior being the largest capacity product in the lineup. It's a five point three gallon. We have the Huron, which is a four gallon a minute product. All the products come with an in-line filter. The...

North 40 Outfitters are discussing the Mobile Warming men’s foreman jacket at the 2018 Mid-States show in Minneapolis, MN. Meant to keep you warm in any condition, the Mobile Warming Men’s Foreman Jacket is a 12V heated work jacket made of heavy-duty construction. Perfect for those cold Northwest temperatures, the Foreman jacket features a Bluetooth enabled integrated touch control button. Using Mobile Warming’s Connect app, you can name your jacket, change the temperature, and check the battery level.   Good afternoon, I'm John Cacopardo, Vice President of Sales for tech gear, or our brand, Mobile Warming. This here is the Foreman Jacket and Foreman Vest. This is a 12-volt product. This is meant to keep you warm in any condition. This has four major heating panels. As you can see, the size of the heating panels are bigger t...

As someone with a Hungarian background, garlic is part of the Holy Trinity (garlic, onions, and paprika) of cooking. We use it in dishes from breakfast to supper, along with eating it for its immune boosting qualities. Whether it’s the pungent hardnecked varieties or its versatile softneck sibling, garlic is one of those must-have ingredients in the kitchen. The good news is garlic is easy to grow pretty much anywhere in the country, and it’s one of those crops were putting a little time in the fall reaps the benefit next summer, making it one of those enjoyable autumn tasks. Plant Softneck Garlic to Last the Winter From mild to a hot there is a multitude of garlic varieties between the main subspecies with hardneck and softneck garlics being the most popular. The type you choose depends partly on your climate, as well as your taste ...

Our North 40 Outfitters team recently attended the Mid-States’ Fall Rendezvous tradeshow. The show, itself, is an opportunity for us to take a good look at products we think genuinely solve everyday problems in the work and play lives of our customers. The show also helps us to spot industry trends in products for the upcoming year ahead. During this year’s fall show, the trend was innovation. We saw apparel and sporting goods products that are not only great products, they also take-it-up-a-notch in features. For example, we saw a warming jacket that had an app. And, we saw a five-gallon bucket game washer that cleans your gamebirds in a matter of minutes. Overall, we saw products that had creative advances and new features that we think you should know about. You’ll want to take a look at these…   Mobile Warming Men’s Fo...

What do you Need? Starting Bees with North 40 This is one of the closest "full-service," starting bees resources you are going to find this year. From the best "bee" areas and brood boxes and supers to suits and smokers- this is it. Well- first you need a clean, well-lighted place to put your bees. Well-lighted is usually an indication of flowering plants necessary for bees who survive on pollen from those flowers. I guess well lighted is not a necessity- many plants and flowers grow in the shade. Your bees just need to have access to flowering plants the TYPES of flowering plants will affect your honey taste/color/bouquet, and that is awesome: fireweed honey, knapweed honey, clover honey- if you are a veteran beekeeper, what are your favorite honey types? Want to know how a bee actually makes honey? We've come across people who use G...

While it’s a whole lot of fun picking huckleberries during summer hiking trips with my family, I like to pick wild fruits close to home, too, especially when harvesting for the freezer. To facilitate just that, I make my backyard work double duty by incorporating several hardy, fruit-bearing species into my landscape. The following is a list of species and their attributes that may work well in your backyard. 1. Golden and Clove Currants for an Amazing Fragrance and Tasty Fruit When the weather warms in the spring, the air fills with the heavenly fragrance of golden currants. During my first spring in Great Falls, I remember walking the Rivers Edge Trail along the Missouri River trying to figure out what smelled so good. I walked around like an insane person attempting to identify the source. When I found it, I was in love. This nativ...

We had almost finished up with the Standlee Forage company after reviewing a number of new products at the 2018 spring Mid-States Rendezvous show in Minneapolis, MN when Denise Schneider, the website manager for North 40 spoke up, “Hey Sam did you see these?” Standlee has developed a new horse pill carrier made from alfalfa with a pocket in the middle to put your horse treat in. At the bottom of the carrier, there is a drop of cranberry gel to keep the pill stuck inside the pocket. It is a crunchy low carb treat for the horse and a much simpler way to get a horse to swallow a pill for the horse owner. Watch the video below to learn more or click here to check out at all of our Standlee and equine products.  Hi, this is Colleen with Standlee Premium Western Forage. We have another new product coming out later this year to show you...

When it comes to food safety, I take it to a whole ‘nother level. Never shall meats and vegetables touch the same surfaces during preparation, and after making chicken, the kitchen smells like a swimming pool with copious amount of the bleach I use in the clean up. So, when home fermentation started becoming popular many years ago, even with all of its nutritional benefits, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do have food soaking in brine on the counter for a week or more, possibly with white fuzz growing somewhere on the liquid, and actually eat it. Thankfully, speaking with Sandor Katz (a.k.a. Sandorkraut), author of Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation, alleviated my fears. His decades of research and international experience convinced me that I wasn’t going to kill my family, and in fact, fermenting food will act...

The lettuce and spinach are finally planted, but it’s still going to be weeks before they’re big enough to make a salad and, truthfully, I am ready for vegetables that haven’t traveled more than I have. To satisfy my taste for something fresh, I decided sprouts and microgreens are the perfect remedy for a quick, fresh treat any time of the year. Microgreens are fast growing and super nutritious. What is the difference between sprouts and greens? Sprouts and microgreens are the very early growth of seeds, whether those are Asian greens, alfalfa seeds, broccoli, or beans. The difference is how you grow them. Sprouts are a soilless method using a jar and some sort of screened lid to drain out the water. Microgreens are grown just like any new plant, but they are harvested as soon as the first true leaves emerge. Both pack a boatload o...

I am an Ohio born corn snob. A fair amount of the corn I’ve eaten in Montana reminded me of the field corn grown on my family’s farm, and it took a lot of butter and salt to make it palatable. Of course, one of my gardening goals has been to grow good tasting corn, and after all of these years in Big Sky Country, I’ve figured it out. Plant corn in a block of rows. Know when and what to plant Choosing the right variety of corn is key to a successful corn crop since we don’t have the warm nights, nor the extended season of the Midwest. Unfortunately, you’ll have to bypass varieties such as the long standing Silver Queen that takes 92 days to harvest. For our shorter season, Ambrosia and Bodacious are both super sweet types that mature in less than 80 days, making them good Western choices. The 68-day Kandy ...