Our Farm
About Elk Meadow Farm Nursery
Our picturesque, rural, for-profit, diversified small farm/nursery/food forest is a model of all things edible grown and sold locally in our climate in Deary, ID (Currently Zone 6B). We are stewards of the land and forest in unique ways (of course) not yet fully known or understood by our community which includes two nearby land grant universities.
Beds we water on Elk Meadow Farm
Bed No. Name of Bed Drip In We've spend a bunch of years hand watering. Sometimes it takes hours a day! We're going to attempt to put all of these beds into drip systems this year as it will save us bunches of time to do other projects. 1 Back to Eden Demo Plot 2...
Bloom Dates of Plants for Deary ID USA 83823
Honey bees have been in the news for a few years now. With the advent of Colony Collapse Disorder all sorts of kind people all over the world are trying to help. Here on our permaculture farm we are planting flowers, trees and herbs to increase the variety of habitat for the bees. We figured the more time they can spend collecting pollen and nectar and the less time they spend being fed by sugar water and man-made pollen patties the better so we are focusing more on the beginning and end of the season plants to feed the bees. Because of this, IN 2015 I kept a diary of all the bloom times of the plants on our farm (the start times, not the duration of bloom). Here’s what I came up with:
Community Bare Root Fruit Tree Sales
Community Bare Root Fruit Tree Pre-Orders Bare Root Tree pick up is the 2nd weekend in April- Please order and pre-pay now. Your trees will be gathered and bundled and will fit into a large car back seat, trunk or truck. A receipt will be in a Zip-lock baggie and...
Elk Meadow Farm and Nursery CSA Punch Cards
On sale now at the Elk Meadow Farm & Nursery booth at the Moscow Saturday Farmer’s Market. Get yours today!
Elk Meadow Farm and Nursery Plants Available
Plant availability list for Elk Meadow Farm & Nursery (Just until we get a website up for that business).
Elk Meadow Farm Nursery Mission
Mission for Elk Meadow Farm & Nursery Deary, ID U.S.A Established December 24, 2008, our picturesque, rural, diversified homestead/small farm/nursery/food forest is a model of all things edible grown locally in our climate. We are stewards of the land and forest...
Elk Meadow Farm Tour 2010
Well, it’s been a year since we planted our first crop of fence posts at our new home which we’ve named Elk Meadow Farm & Nursery here in Deary, ID. What a change! We’re pretty proud of what we’ve done in 18 months here with raw property.
FAQs for Workshops at Elk Meadow Farm Nursery
FAQs about day-long, weekend and week-long courses at Elk Meadow Farm and Nursery including what to bring, what to leave home, children, no pet policy, amenities, where to park, discounts, camping out, cancellations, accommodations, food, smoking, fires, closest airports, and learning more.
Fruit Tree Planting Tips and Tricks
One of the goals on our farm is to make our area food secure (without providing all the food ourselves!) Every couple of years our farm does what we call a Community Tree Order. We purchase bare-root fruit trees in bulk from a grower and sell them at our cost to interested people in our area.
List of Birds in Deary Idaho 83823
Permaculture Design Exercise: Birds Seen at Elk Meadow Farm in Deary, ID 83823
Black Bird, Red-Winged, Black Bird, Yellow –Headed, Black headed Grosbeak, Bluebirds, Cedar waxwings, lots more. . .
List of Grasses in Deary Idaho 83823
Permaculture Design Exercise: List of Grasses on Elk Meadow Farm in Deary, ID 83823 Common and scientific names.
List of Mammals in Deary Idaho 83823
List of Mammals in Deary Idaho 83823. Includes wild and domestic mammals and the fish in our local ponds.
List of Native Plants in Deary Idaho 83823
List of Native Plants in Deary Idaho 83823. Yeah. Extensive. Common and scientific names.
List of Trees that Grow in Deary Idaho 83823
List of Trees that Grow in Deary Idaho 83823.
Non-Native Plants that Grow in Deary Idaho USA
When we first moved to our farm in Deary, Idaho Dec. 24, 2008 we were so excited. “What grows here?” we’d ask the farmers and locals. Mostly when we told them what we wanted to plant they said, “Oh, that won’t grow here.” Hmm. Being a bit long in the tooth (stubborn) that didn’t sit so well with me. Now I’m all about making a difference in our world. I figured it would help others if I figured this out, so I ordered a couple thousand dollars worth of seed from about 20 different companies, placed ads for cuttings and plant donations, my clients donated money to the project at various times to purchase ‘mother plants’ and we went to work. Yep, this represents quite a bit of money, love and time. Michael (my husband) and I are not horticulturists. We don’t have a degree in this. We just like to grow things.
We hope you will benefit from our hard work and plant something to make our area ‘food secure’. More. . .
Noxious Weeds in Deary Idaho and What They Tell Us
Noxious Weeds in Deary Idaho and What They Tell Us: Artemisia: Indicates soils high in potassium Asters: Indicate alkaline soils, poor humus and poor drainage Bindweed (Convulvulus arvensis): shows up when the soil is worked before it dries out. It is a sign of low humus and moist, poorly-drained soils and more. . .
Permaculture Design Exercise
What’s New on the Website? My Permaculture Design Exercise pages I just posted many of my Permaculture Design Exercise documents onto the Elk Meadow Farm section of the website (a 2-winter project finally completed). I know it seems like there are a lot of gardening...
Permaculture Guilds
A Permaculture Plant Guild is a useful polyculture combination of functional plants that co-exist and produce synergistically with minimal input. It mimics groups of plants grown in natural ecosystems. When mature it is self-mulching, self-fertilizing, free of pests yet full of pollinators and it will produce more in this one little area than any individual monocrop. Remember the Permaculture principles. . .care of the earth, care of the self, share the rest. One classic example of a guild is The Three Sisters (Corn, Beans, Squash) but often the Indians would add in a forth sister, Cleome (a nitrogen fixer). more . . .
Weed Free Gardening-14 Tips and Tricks
Ask Dr. Moffat: Question: How on earth do you keep your walk ways so clear of weeds… Please help me! Answer: Well, this is not exactly a health question, but we get this question about weeds rather frequently from my clients who know that we try to grow most of our...
Workshop-Double Chamber Cob Oven
A cob oven is affordable, fireproof, inexpensive, beautiful and sustainable. You can build them yourself, incorporating unlimited creative hand-formed durable shapes. A popular backyard project made of earthen clay, sand and straw, these ovens can be built in a day or two. They burn scrap wood and can bake all day starting with pizza then moving to bread, roasts, stews and ending up with drying fruits/veggies and herbs or making a batch of yogurt. Erica says they make heavenly scones as well! We’re looking forward to trying that. This workshop course for our double camber cob oven will cover: •A lecture/demonstration on Fire Science
•Planning the cob oven •Designing the cob oven Constructing and installing a double chamber cob oven (the base will be in place before the workshop) •Building a sand mold for the double chamber cob oven
•Mixing and testing cob (monolithic adobe) and earthen plaster •Applying three layers of cob onto the sand mold