North Star Farms

09/25/2025

There was a huge tree stump in the garden and although I worked around it last year, didn't want to plant garlic over the top of it. So neighbor Lowell Myers came by with his big John Deere and together after three hours and a huge hole in the ground, we got that stubborn stump out of the ground. Thank you Lowell, it's been a long time coming.

09/04/2025

This is 4 September. I've been commercial gardening 23 years and I've never picked peas beyond mid August. Today, Sept. 4, I picked a pound. Not much mind you, but some of the plants have blossoms.

08/12/2025

There's a story out there that my Grandpa John Ackerman fed me garlic when I was 3 years old. Of course, I don't remember that, but it could be why I like garlic so much and have been growing it for more than 209 years.

08/05/2025

The grandchildren are calling themselves North Star Farms Jr., for Saturday's children's farmers' market at North Prairie Farmers' Market in downtown Minot. They'll have fresh garlic; mild, hot and pickling garlic, asparagus, beets, peas, flowers and maybe some other items. This garlic is amazing. You have to see it; one of the best crops we've ever produced. Drop by to see North Star Farms Jr.

08/02/2025

Grandson Leo helped me knock out the rest of the garlic today. We picked 58 pounds of Georgia Fire and after growing garlic for the past 20 years, what really surprised me was the size of many of the bulbs. Numerous bulbs were a third of a pound. I'll take a closer look on Monday when I separate seed from sale and culinary bulbs.

08/01/2025

The first of the garlic was harvested today. Two varieties are shown here; Romanian Red in the small box and Georgia Crystal (best pickling garlic) in the large box. The two bulbs beside the Coke can and the two beside the onion, all weighed in between .30 and .35 pound. Georgia Fire gets picked on Friday.

01/26/2025

After careful consideration for the past two months, Ilene and I have decided to step down from commercial gardening. I want to thank all the customers who have supported us for the past 20 years at North Prairie Farmers' Market and in our CSA. And one of the saddest parts of this decision is leaving the team you see in the photo. Adeline, Ilene, Abigail, Tobi, Leo, Ann and myself have been the best team we could have possibly assembled. These people are incredible and I am going to miss them more than you know. It's been quite a ride for North Star Farms. We've been in business 21 years and we couldn't have done it without you. We expect to continue on a very limited scale. I'll leave you with this, something I said the second year, 2005, that we were in business. "My only regret is I wish we would have started this venture when we were younger."

01/12/2025

While the country music star is beloved for his musical talents, he also used his fame to fight for prison reform and Native American rights

01/12/2025

11/13/2024

11/13/2024

The leftover jack-o-lanterns came in handy for something. Nineteen jars of lightly salted pumpkin seeds came out of it.