JUNE 2014
M A G A Z I N E featuring L O C A L
FOODS
In this issue
Bitterroot Valley farm stands How to buy meat 100 years of cooperative extension Eat local, get healthy!
Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 3
HISTORICAL PHOTO PROVIDED
1920 Burnt Fork Club 1920 Burnt Fork Club. For the past 100 years, the Extension Service has impacted agriculture, education and lives. The Ravalli County Extension Centennial Celebration will continue with exciting events all year. Their office located in the county building, 215 S. 4th Street, Suite G.
Page 4 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
in this issue Young shepherds....................................................... 5 Beef prices are going up........................................... 7 Buying locally raised meat...................................... 10 Ag research will continue........................................ 13 Duce’s Wild.............................................................. 15 Agriculture Heritage Notebook............................. 16 Community supported agriculture......................... 20 Farm fresh produce................................................. 22 Local producers guide............................................ 24
MAGAZINE How did you like this issue of Agriculture Magazine? Do you have any ideas you’d like to share with us for our next issue? Let us know. Sent comments to: 232 West Main, Hamilton, MT 59840 or editor@ravallirepublic.com Photos on this page by Wendy Beye, Rod Daniel and Stacie Duce Cover Photo by Perry Backus Agriculture Magazine is published by the Ravalli Republic & Missoulian Newspapers, divisions of Lee Enterprises Jim McGowan, Publisher Sherry Devlin, Editor Jim Coulter, General Manager Frannie Cummings, Kathy Kelleher, Jodi Lopez & Justine Morris, Advertising Sales Dara Saltzman, Production & Design Agriculture Magazine is copyright 2014, Ravalli Republic.
232 W Main, Hamilton, MT 59840 ravallirepublic.com
Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 5
Doug Smith feeding his sheep herd in his Corvallis pen near Eastside Highway that is used for lambing. His two teenage daughters managed most of the lambing for 75 ewes in March while he was traveling for work.
Young shepherds learn the ropes Story and photos by STACIE DUCE
CORVALLIS – The neighbor across the Eastside Highway had been watching for weeks as 16-yearold Zena Smith and her 13-year-old sister Denali managed the lambing of a herd of 75 ewes during deep snow in March. “He came over and was really nice,” said Zena. “He said, ’It is so nice to see your generation being able to do work like this.’ He thought there weren’t kids who knew how to do farm work anymore.” “Work like this” included checking on the ewes every morning and night, feeding, watering
and marking the new lambs after they dropped. Unfortunately, it also included keeping newborns warm in the freezing temperatures, pulling lambs from ewes in trouble during the birthing process and doing everything that was earthly possible to get a new mother to accept her lamb when things didn’t go right. “The hardest experience was when one on my ewes had trouble,” said Zena. “She was having her lambs prematurely and I had to help by pulling it out. I’d never done that before but I’d seen my dad do it. I got one out and could feel something else, so I called my 4H leader and he came over
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better.” Doug Smith couldn’t be prouder of his two girls. He grew up on his grandfather’s farm and dairy up Sutherland Road and can’t let go of his hobby farm even though his seasonal work takes him away for long periods during the winter and summer. He is an award-winning ski instructor at Big Sky Ski Resort south of Bozeman during the winter and does exploration work during the summer – taking soil samples, hiking backcountry trails and doing a variety of field work for clients in most of the western states. He recently befriended a Peruvian sheepherder hired to manage a flock that was lambing near Heber, Utah. “He works seven days, has to haul in his Zena and Denali water and lives essenonly had to bottle feed tially in a sheep wagon a few lambs for a short for $800 a month,” period of time and one Doug said. “It’s hard for an extended period, Doug giving attention to Bully, a former bottle-fed baby that has grown to be a huge factor – both in stat- work but it’s something but they value bottleure and temperament – in helping calm the herd you do no matter how fed lambs in their herd. “Bully” is a big, fat wether that Zena and Denali hard it is, when you love it.” Zena agrees: “Some of the sheep are mine so bottle-fed and could never send to market. He was large enough that for many years when Denali was I’m responsible to take care of them. But I love being around animals. Seeing a lamb get up for smaller, she would ride him like a pony as the girls the first time is beautiful. … I’m sure I’ll have horses did their chores. “He’s so friendly and just calms down the herd,” and a few ewes for the rest of my life. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it.” Zena said. “If we lead him somewhere the entire herd will follow. Keeping a bottle baby helps you have a nicer flock of sheep. They make everything and got the second one out. I had to skip school that morning, but if I hadn’t been there, she would have died.“ “We also had a young ewe having a baby for the first time. I saw her lying down like they do but for some reason she stood up and when the lamb hit her legs, she was startled and ran off. She never came back to it. We ran after her and caught her and tried to put them in a small space to see if she’d take the baby, but she never did. So we had to dry off the baby and give colostrum from a syringe. We wanted her to be a good mom, but more importantly, we didn’t want to have to buy milk replacement since the price is really high.”
Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 7
Shayne Morris works his cattle using his motorcycle and some help from his “hired hand” - daughter Casey - on the family ATV. He said he works quite a bit. “I like farming, it’s just a hard way to make a living in the valley,” said Morris.
Beef prices are going up Story and photos by michelle McCONNAHA of the Ravalli Republic
Your favorite flame-broiled burger is going to cost more. Beef prices are up and likely to stay up for years, said a Bitterroot Valley butcher and a cattleman. In fact, Marty Auch, owner of Hamilton Packing, said this is just the beginning of high prices. “Over the last couple of years, beef prices have been going up,” Auch said. “I think they will get higher yet even. The consumer will be the one that will be buying hamburger for steak prices. It makes it tougher - prices change weekly: 50 cents to a dollar a pound.” Hamilton Packing butchers, cuts and wraps local
beef, and Auch said the prices have suddenly skyrocketed. “Those have been high for the last couple of years,” he said. “But those have gone way up, and once they go up it’s hard to get them back down.” High beef prices do not help his market. “When a cattleman can get more for an animal he needs to cull, he will sell it rather than butcher it and share it with a neighbor and eat it. You double your money out of an old cow,” said Auch. “I’ve noticed that when prices get high at the sale, we don’t butcher as much. Whenever there is a shortage or price hike of one meat, consumers eat more of something else and everything else goes up.”
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Hamilton Packing has eight full-time employees and they are busiest in the fall when hunters use their services, but they rely on beef for their main customers. “We go through lots of patties this time of year - graduations, weddings and good old family barbecues,” said Auch. Shayne Morris, cattleman for the past 35 years, watches commodities and video auctions to check the prices. He said buyers are paying more for cattle than they have in years. “This is the first time I’ve seen $2 a pound or $200 per hundred,” said Morris. “It was bumping up there for a couple of weeks and now it’s over $200. $2 per pound basically for 600- to 700pound steers. Heifers are a little bit cheaper.” Morris said he believes the price increase is due to the beef shortage. “The reason cattle are so high is the numbers [of cattle] are low,” he said. “They have not been this low since the 1950s. I think a lot of people got out of the cattle business because it was bad
for quite a while. Older farmers and ranchers got out of business - they had to sell cattle to pay the bills.” Demand is high for beef. “Beef is selling strong and there’s a high international market right now,” said Morris. “So now that cattle are high, everyone wants them and that helps raise the price.” Morris has been ranching for a living for 35 years. He usually has around 400 head of cattle. He owns 320 acres along Eastside Highway, two pastures near Mint View and another north of Bailey Lane. He also leases pastures raising his total acreage to 400. His family has been raising cattle in the valley since the 1880s. “I’m a fifth-generation cattleman,” he said. “My great-great-grandpa came from Missouri - Wann was his name. He is buried up in the [Corvallis] cemetery. He had eight daughters. One of them was my great-grandmother who married a Morris. They ran both places. It’s has all stayed in the fam-
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ily since then.” Morris is not your usual cattleman. “I call myself a farmer/rancher, a farmer with cattle or a motorcycle cowboy,” said Morris. “Most guys have cow and calf operations - we are strictly feeder cattle.” He buys yearling calves in the fall (each weighing about 500 to 600 pounds), grows them up, feeds them all winter, pastures them in the summer and sells them in the fall (when they weigh about 900 pounds). “I like buying and selling,” he said. Buy low, sell high. “That’s what you try to do, buy them right and sell them right,” said Morris. “The cow/calf guy is in pretty good shape because he’s got the cows bought and paid for in most cases and they have calves that they sell in the fall – which I buy. It’s going to be expensive this fall. “This time last year a mom and baby were selling for $1,500 to $2,000 each. This year: $2,000 to $3,000 a piece for a mom and a baby.” There are a number of ways to sell cattle. Video auctions are happening all the time – television and Internet. Morris prefers a company that sells about every three weeks. He watches to check prices. He doesn’t usually buy - he’s just checking the prices for what his cattle should sell for. “Click to Bid, it is called,” said Morris. “If I click and no one else bid, I’d own them. I’d have to line up a truck and pay for the shipping. You’d have to know what that cost – that’s another variable.” In Montana, there are live auctions. Butte and the Missoula Livestock Exchange is where he buys most of his cattle - he doesn’t like to buy via video. “I’d rather be right there looking. I like to sit in the front row or second row. I like to see what I’m bidding on.” Morris said he is looking at the health of the animal. “If they look like they are going to grow, their body confirmation, color (breed), if they will feed-up and turn into a nice looking critter. Some have big bellies or humped back or three legged. I don’t want those. Angus is my preference. People like black cattle - the Black Angus
Association did a good job of marketing. “When I sell, 78 percent is mostly black.” Morris takes his cattle to auction occasionally, but he prefers private buyers. “I’m looking for a private contract. Where you basically do what they are doing but without the video. I just do it privately.” Morris watches commodities often. “People buy cattle in feed lots, look on-line and see what they are worth. They can hedge bet, hedge on it and get their money whether they sell it for that or not. They buy contracts for what they want to sell. The green is a plus the red is a minus. June was green.” Morris believes the beef shortage will continue and prices stay high. “It should last for quite a while - it will take a while to rebuild the cattle industry. With these prices a lot of kids will stay on the ranch.” There are many factors involved in cattle ranching. Public perceptions and worries like the ones caused by mad cow disease, domestic demand, foreign markets, gas prices, feed prices, equipment purchases ($100,000 for a new tractor), vet bills, butcher prices, transportation prices and expanded markets. “China has decided they want to eat beef and that’s good for the cattleman,” said Morris. “That’s the problem with high beef prices; it makes the other meats more attractive. People say, ‘If I can’t afford beef, I’ll eat chicken or pork’.” Prices are good and cattlemen are earning more for cows than they have been. Local beef is available from butchers like North American Foods, Hamilton Packing and private butchers. Morris goes to his pastures twice a day. He’s irrigating 170 acres of hay and he plans his first cutting the week of June 16. Morris irrigates his fields and raises 400 head mostly on his own. He has his family for support, especially when moving cattle to a different field. He said he works quite a bit. “I like farming, it’s just a hard way to make a living in the valley,” said Morris. But with beef prices up, this is a good year for cattlemen.
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Buying locally raised meat
By Kristine komar for the Ravalli Republic
So I’m the kind of girl that’s always saying to the project leader, “Put me in coach! I can do it!” But when I first moved to the Bitterroot and tried to figure out how to buy locally ranched meat, it was, well … a little daunting. There are several steps involved and lots of terminology that was unfamiliar to a person new to buying straight from the farm. The easiest way to buy locally raised meat is to patronize a grocery store that carries it. Not so easy to find, actually, not so regularly available, and not at the value you get by buying in bulk. Lolo Locker and Hamilton Packing Company do have meat counters full of local beef, pork, lamb, and bison already cut and ready for purchase. You may also purchase frozen meat by the cut. But when you buy directly from the producer and from the ranch or farm, you have the ability to inquire about the animal you are buying. How was it raised? Was it pastured/grass fed all its life? Or did it get finished with grain? What type of grain? Did it receive antibiotics and other medicines? And so on. Part of the reason you are buying meat locally is for health reasons, so don’t be afraid to ask. The first rancher you choose to deal with might need to take some time to educate you, but that is part of their business and they should see that as a small investment in a long-term customer. Once you select your animal and the amount - whole animal, half, some do quarters - you might need to wait until your animal is ready for slaughter. If you are buying a half or another portion, you might need to wait to be matched up with another or others. The rancher will have a set price for the animal and you pay them directly. Buying animals this way is called “on the hoof.” (I like saying that, makes me feel like I live in the West.) Here’s something that confused me: weight
of the animal on the hoof versus hanging. The hanging weight is how much the carcass weighs minus hide, innards, head and feet. The rancher usually takes your animal to the processing plant for slaughter, butchering, and wrapping. If you’re curious about the slaughter process, then ask. We all feel better when we know an animal has been treated humanely. The next step is butchering - done to your specifications. So be ready when the packer calls to inquire - in other words - know what you want. Sometimes the rancher will take the animal to the packing house without calling you first - that happened to me the first time and I was not prepared. Google a meat-cutting chart to gain a better understanding of your choices and ask the packer questions as well. Let them know it’s your first time through the process and that you will be needing a bit of extra help. Any cut can be ground, so if you like burger you can order lots. Be sure to specify the percentage of fat you prefer. And don’t forget the stew meat, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, and oxtail. You can Google recipes for all these bits - why not use the occasion of buying local meat to stimulate a few culinary adventures? You’ll want to consider asking the processor to turn some of your meat into sausages, you can do Polish, German, bratwurst, kielbasa, franks, or the standbys of breakfast sausage or sweet and hot Italian. Most will make sausages for you using their own special recipes. Of course, it costs extra to make sausages. Some processors even make jerky! Best to get the whole animal, don’t you think, so you can get some of each! And remember to ask for some suet for the birds - it doesn’t take much time to render and make homemade healthy treats for your backyard friends - and bones for the dogs. And soup. The packer will generally double wrap your
Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 11
cuts and label them with a marker so they’re easy to read. Then they’re frozen solid. The hide, bones, and offal are discarded or otherwise used by the packer. The packer will charge you a per-pound price (hanging weight) that includes the slaughter fee (or your portion of it) butchering, and wrapping. Packing houses include all in one per-pound price; some break out the slaughter fee. When your meat is ready for pickup, bring a few crates or boxes to haul your bounty home. The taste of local meat is a little different than what you are used to from the grocery store. You haven’t lived until you’ve had local bacon. Or fresh lamb. It’s amazingly good and it’s healthier for you (and our local economy) than what you buy packaged at the grocery. I could go on, but you get the point.
Jim Ellingson Old Darby Rd, 406-381-0295, jim@jimellingson.com Free range local lamb. Sunshine and grass, fresh air and pure water all combine to create Jim’s all natural, gently raised and humanely nurtured local lamb. Jim is fond of saying, “Give us green grass and we’ll make lamb out of it.” Indian Prairie Longhorns Victor, 406-369-0945,www.indianprairielonghorns.com Producing organically raised, grass-fed beef. Breeding stock and 4-H steers available. Contact for availability. Marty Knox & Richard Bailly 956 Bass Lane, Corvallis, 406-961-4729 Home raised, grass-fed beef; sold by 1/4, 1/2 or whole, and pork, 1/2 or whole. Available Oct - Jan., but will take orders earlier. Producing since 1988. Lifeline Farm Store 2427 Meridian Road, Victor, 406-642-9717, www.lifelinefarm.com Grass-fed beef, certified biodynamic and organic, beef, pork, and sausage. Grass-fed beef (Brown Swiss steers), grass finished
MEAT PRODUCERS Bauman Ranch 477 Bailey Lane, Corvallis, 406-961-4343 Beef, hay, and custom feeding. Year round. Call for direct sales. 15 years producing, 4th generation producers. Bitterroot Heritage Farms Member, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) Stevensville, 406-207-1745, Bitterroot_Buckeyes@cybernet1.com Meat lambs for sale. Biodesign Farm 1541 South Burnt Fork Road, Stevensville, 406-381-1554,wlpeterson5@yahoo.com Grass-fed, antibiotic-free butcher lambs. Phone for availability. Bugoni’s Sausages Missoula, 406-546-6970, MTCucina@bresnan.net 7 varieties of handmade (using only natural ingredients) quality Italian style sausages, meatballs and a variety of other delectable gourmet items. Available the Bitterroot Star in Stevensville. Cherry Apple Farm 250 Chads Road, Hamilton, 406-363-6139, gotpig@yahoo.com Naturally raised pork. Sold by the ¼, ½, or whole. Available year round. Call for direct sales. Don & Joan Contraman 968 Coal Pit Road, Corvallis, www.spinningfiber.net Homegrown lamb. Call for direct sales. Duus Ranch 717 Duus Lane, Hamilton, 406-363-4653 Beef on the hoof. Call for availability. Judy Edens 232 Hawker Lane, Corvallis 406-369-3280 Free range lamb, goats, pork, grass-fed beef, calves for sale, all humanely raised, no hormones, antibiotics, fed freshly ground local grain, eggs.
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Page 12 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
all months except November-March when given a small portion of grains to augment hay. Call for direct sales. Maki Farms 1065 Maki Ln, Corvallis 406-381-3908/381-0983 www. makifarms.com Horse hay, cattle. Call for direct sales. Producing since 1926, 4th generation ranchers. Misty Hollow Farms 298 Wilcox Lane, Corvallis, 406-370-9797 Grass-fed beef from “Lowline” Angus - whole, half, quarter orders available. Organic but not certified. Riverbottom Beef 807 Old Corvallis Road, Corvallis, 406-961-3894 Producing natural beef since 1973.Call for availability. Saddle Mountain Angus Ranch 7987 Hwy 93 South, Sula, 406-821-3433 Producing registered grass-fed Black Angus beef and breeding stock. Call for availability. On-hoof beef delivered to processing plant in Hamilton. Severson’s Flying E Ranch 760 South Burnt Fork Road, Stevensville, 406-777-3576 www. facebook.com/seversonfarms Natural, grass-fed angus beef available by the pound at Bitterroot Star. Check for availability. 1/4, 1/2 or whole. Contact the ranch. Wild Rose Emu Ranch 284 Rose Lane, Hamilton, 406-363-1710, www.wildroseemu.com Emu meat. Call for direct sales. Established in 1996. Yourganic Farm - Know your Farmer, Know your Food 1550 Chaffin Lane, Corvallis, 406-961-5452, www.yourganicfarm.com Grass-fed beef. Pastured pork raised with no antibiotics and no-
GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Call for direct sales. POULTRY Bitterroot Heritage Farms Member, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) Stevensville, 406-207-1745, Bitterroot_Buckeyes@cybernet1.com Providing quality, free-ranging heritage poultry stock & eggs. All stock are antibiotic-free and started on organic feed. Chicks and poults available Feb – May. Eggs available Jun –Dec. Homestead Organics 175 Skalkaho Road, Hamilton, 406-363-6627, www.homesteadorganicsfarm.com Goats, turkeys, and chickens. MEAT PROCESSING / PACKING COMPANIES State Inspected Processing Plants Hamilton Packing Company 692 Hwy 93 North, Hamilton, 406-961-3861 Lolo Locker 6220 Caras Lane, Lolo, 406-273-3876, www.lololocker.com Custom Exempt Processing Plants (no resale) Lost Horse Custom Cutting 213 Lost Horse Road, Hamilton, 406-363-3876/363-3859 North American Foods of Montana 333 Marcus Street, Hamilton, 406-363-1505 Richie’s Domestic & Wild Game Processing Company 344 Sharrot Hill Loop, Stevensville, 406-777-0051
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Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 13
Zach Miller, new superintendent at the Western Agricultural Research Center is just getting started. “This first summer, my main priority is to get to know the ag producers in the valley and understand their concerns and needs so we can direct our research going forward,” Miller said.
Ag research will continue Story and photo by michelle McCONNAHA of the Ravalli Republic
CORVALLIS - Research will continue at the Montana State University Western Agricultural Research Center northeast of Corvallis. The future of the center was in jeopardy after scientists Mal Westcott and Jim Storey retired. But an advisory board with representatives from each of the counties in southwest Montana spoke out about the station’s value and the contributions it has made since its creation in 1907,
and secured its future. The new superintendent in charge of the research center is Zachariah J. Miller, an assistant professor of horticulture and extension specialist. Miller comes from Bozeman, where he has been teaching and doing research the past five years at MSU’s main campus. In 2009, he received his doctorate from the University of Michigan and in 1998 his bachelor of science degree from Luther College. “I’m excited to come over here and get the
Page 14 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
station going again,” said Miller. “My position here is research and extension in specialty crops. It means fruits, vegetables and harvesting the highest value from small acreage. There’s a long history of that in the Bitterroot Valley.” His first day was May 15 and the greenhouses and plots are already full of growing plants – research is underway. “It’s an exciting time, I’m just getting started,” Miller said. “This first summer, my main priority is to get to know the ag producers in the valley and understand their concerns and needs so we can direct our research going forward. “First, we’ll be asking the simple questions about what varieties of fruits and vegetables can be grown here. We’ll be planting to see what grows. Next summer, we’ll get going with bigger and better research projects. We’ll be digging deeper to find what sorts of rotations work well, how to best manage pests, eradicate weeds, what are the most effective and profitable ways to run the whole farm.” One of the current projects was spurred on by the increase of homeowners raising chickens. “We are testing to see if we can raise chickens in the pasture and then plant vegetables there the following year – have the chicken make the compost instead of spreading the compost. We are going to play around with it [the research] and then dial it in. I think it will work. That’s why we do the experiment. If I knew it would work, we wouldn’t need to test.” One project that will continue at the research station is knapweed bugs, and Miller said he sees the center expanding. “Jim Story was the driving force behind all that, so we have production of those bio-control bugs for knapweed,” said Miller. “We’ve got a crew of summer help that is excellent. In a couple of summers, we hope to have enough research going to hire on all sorts of folks.” Miller said they will look at row crops, wheat and safflower.
“This is a unique area of the state, what works at other research stations isn’t necessarily going to work over here,” he said. The Western Agricultural Research Center was the first state-initiated research center in Montana. It was established by Montana State University in 1907 during the apple-planting boom in the Bitterroot Valley. Montana has seven research centers – each studying the agricultural needs for its unique area. The MSU Western Agricultural Research Center will celebrate its 108th anniversary on July 15 with a Field Day. “We’ll have a barbecue and let people know here and what we’re doing,” said Miller. “We will have a couple of speakers from Bozeman, including Toby Day, an extension horticultural specialist who will talk about different apple varieties grown over time in Montana. Emily Glunk from MSU’s Animal Science Department who specializes on how to grow food for animals will talk about forages (hay). She’ll be a great person to meet. We’ll give tours of what we’ve got in plots.” On a personal note, Miller said he loves to run. In high school, he ran cross country, then longer distances in college, then marathons, then 50 miles in one day. Now he runs 100 miles in about 17 hours. Miller, his wife and twin daughters will be settling in the Corvallis area. “I was born and raised in a small town in central Iowa and I’m eager to get back to rural. I’m excited. My family and I love Montana,” he said. Contact Zach Miller at the Western Ag Research Center, 580 Quast Lane, Corvallis (406) 961-3025 zachariah.miller@montana.edu. Learn more about MSU’s WARC at ag.montana.edu.
W
Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014 - Page 15
Duce’s Stacie Duce
ild
Raising a garden, raising kids
When I was young, my family spent every Saturday in the summer at my grandparents’ house helping with chores. Mom curled and fixed grandma’s hair for Sunday while dad worked in a large vegetable garden that stretched the width of their long, 3-acre property. I meandered on paths in between with assignments like weeding the never-ending flower gardens, picking prickly blackberries or sweeping the covered porch while my brother mowed the grass. For me, that usually translated into time smelling lilacs, cutting roses and black iris for grandma’s vases, exploring grandpa’s ancient tool shed and daring my brother to enter the cob-webbed door of the spooky root cellar. Grandpa had a heavily pruned peach tree in the corner of the front yard with a smooth branch that extended out before it stretched upward that provided the perfect place to hide and read. We were always there longer than we planned and grandma rewarded our efforts with grilled hamburgers and grape soda. By the end of the summer, we were eating corn on the cob for lunch and pouring cream over berries. My kids have similar experiences with their grandparents, who grow an impressive garden and raspberry patch in Hamilton. This spring, grandma injured her knee just in time for planting and we jumped at the chance to have the kids help us with chores. In a single morning, because of the sheer number of willing workers, we made amazing progress. In no time at all, the garden plot was weedfree, every row was measured and staked with string for guiding our troweled spots for seed. The berry patches were thinned and weeded,
flower seeds were strategically planted, water walls were placed around tomato starts and the watering system was improved with new sprinklers. Lucky for all of us, our Bitterroot weather provided perfect temperatures, sprinkles of rain and sunbursts of heat at the right intervals prompting sprouts of green to pop through healthy soil and validate that our efforts were not in vain. Summer chores that include gardening and playing productively in the dirt provide much more than busy work for adults and kids alike. Life lessons of patience, responsibility and the thrill of the harvest are especially valuable to growing minds and bodies. My only surprise from our recent gardening day was grandma’s willingness to try new techniques. I thought after 60 years of annual gardens that she would have her methods and habits deeply entrenched. But always a willing learner, she readily seeks the advice of local experts to make the most of her clean slate of tilled soil, even with all her years of experience. The part of the day I loved most was watching my children ask her advice on how to plant each variety of seed. We forced her to sit on a chair in the middle of the bustle to protect her knee but keep her close for direction. She’s never been used to the idea of sitting, but since we worked up to her standards, her smile was as broad as the beautiful view. By the end of the summer, the bounty that my grandparents always share will taste a bit more sweet, I’m sure, since we worked like a team and made memories like a family.
Page 16 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
Agriculture Heritage Notebook The Bitter Root Cultural Heritage Trust
interpretation and affirm cultural values.
works in partnership with families,
The Heritage Trust provides an article for
neighborhoods and communities to restore
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historic structures, bring back traditional
highlighting the Bitterroot Valley’s
events and celebrations, encourage
agricultural history and heritage.
Story and photos by WENDY BEYE
As my old ’67 Ford truck chatters down McIntyre Lane’s washboard into the Willoughby Creek gulch, I don’t know where my latest barn adventure will lead. I have just finished an interview with Tony Hudson, whose family is the current owner of the barn built by Ben Cook nearly a century ago.
Details are sketchy, and I’m not sure I’ll find enough information to write a story, but the barn is a beauty, the sun is shining, and it is a good day in the Bitterroot Valley. I park the truck and start with photographs of a leaning corn crib and the cool dark interior of the equipment shed that Tony said Ben Cook disassembled, moved down from the community of Rosemont, and re-assembled
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next to the barn. The first oddity I find is a huge wooden pulley, about eight feet in diameter, mounted on a straight peeled log shaft that stretches nearly the length of the shed. The shaft rests in three wooden cradles that were probably greased when the wheel was turned to lift – what? I puzzle about its purpose. It could obviously be used with ropes or cables to lift something very heavy off the ground 15 feet below it. The barn is in excellent condition, though Tony told me it leans about eighteen inches toward the west, and he has used cables and turnbuckles to gradually pull it back up to vertical. Its ridgeline is still straight, and a relatively new metal roof is protecting the beams and trusses inside. Inside I find a row of stalls built to accommodate pairs of very large draft horses. Ben Cook bred, raised, trained and sold teams around the valley for years. Judging from the gnawed boards that are higher than
my head, I imagine that the horses were massive. The wood in the stalls is worn smooth by contact with thousands of halter ropes and the hides of the gentle giants who rested in the barn. I climb the stairs to the cavernous hayloft above. A large double door in the middle of the east wall of the barn leads to a ramp that connects the loft to the road built on the bank beside the barn. Loaded hay wagons were driven right into the hayloft unburdened using a hay trolley with a trip hook. The trolley is still there, mounted along the ridge timber, and accessed by a precarious set of wooden ladders running up the west side of the loft. Trapdoors in the loft floor lead to the mangers in the stalls below, so hay could be pitched down to feed the horses. Another door in the west wall of the loft was used to toss hay to the corral below. No use climbing stairs if there is an easier way. I spend more than an hour wandering
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Page 18 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
The milking stanchion in the Cook barn.
through and around the barn, and finally decide I’d better get to work finding out more about Ben Cook. Tony has referred me to Yvonne Wax, who might know a bit more about the barn, and I find her out in her pasture pulling weeds in the hot noon sun. She tells me she used to play with her friends in the barn as a child, but doesn’t know too much about Ben Cook. She suggests I talk with Mark McFadgen, whose father knew Ben. I eventually reach him by phone. After I explain my project, he sighs and says, ”You’re about 10 years too late! All the oldtimers are gone.” Still, he proves to be a goldmine of information. I later supplement Mark’s information through conversations with Lynette Coller (another member of the childhood “gang of four” that headquartered at the Cook ranch in the 1950s along with Yvonne Wax and Jeanne
Solomon, daughter of Theodore Solomon, who bought the ranch from Ben Cook in 1952), and Ben Longbottom, Mark’s cousin whose father Reuben ran the ranch for Ben Cook for a time. Obituaries from the Ravalli County Museum newspaper archives filled in more blanks. Ben Cook was born in Stevensville in 1887; his wife-to-be, Nellie Higgins was born in the Bitterroot in 1888. She was the wellto-do daughter of J.M. Higgins, a director of First State Bank in Stevensville at the turn of the century. Ben and Nellie married in 1909, and purchased the ranch in 1912. The barn was under construction by the early 1920s. Ben had a way with draft horses and carriage horses, and began raising and training them for sale around the valley. He was also on call for delivering wagon loads of grain to the
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rail siding in Stevensville, grading roads with a team, and finally, constructing the second of three different dams holding back water for irrigation in Burnt Fork Lake. Whatever job he was working on, Nellie was right by his side. She even spent two summer seasons with Ben at Burnt Fork Lake, living in a tent and helping with the dam construction. The couple was childless, but every child who lived nearby was always welcomed at the ranch. The barn, with its huge horse watering trough overflowing with cold spring water piped in from Rosemont Creek, was a popular gathering place for the community. Ben and Nellie were outgoing, attended local dances, and frequently invited neighbors to dine with them in their log home just up the draw from the barn. Tragedy struck in September 1939. Nellie was mowing hay with a team on the ranch. Somehow, the sickle bar mower tipped over, One of the ladders leacding to the hay trolley used to unload the hay Nellie was thrown to the ground, wagons. and her hip snapped. She convalesced in bed for several weeks, contracted pneumonia, seemed to be winning the battle with the infection, then suddenly took a turn for the worse. Before a doctor could arrive to tend to her, she died. Not long after, Ben took a job on the FordHollister Ranch near Darby, leaving Reuben Longbottom in charge of the ranch. He never remarried, and sold the ranch in 1952. He died in October of 1954, no doubt still missing his sweetheart, Nellie. An equipment shed and the south wall of the Cook barn.
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Karen Hughes of Hamilton picks up her family’s weekly box of produce from Laura Garber at Homestead Organics Farm.
Come and get it!
Community Supported Agriculture brings the customer to the farm Story and photo by Rod Daniel for the Ravalli Republic
The growing popularity of farmers markets nationwide is making it easier for folks to access local food, but several Bitterroot Valley farms are taking it a step further by bringing their customers right to the farm. Homestead Organics Farm and Mill Crick Farm, both near Hamilton, and Yourganic Farm of Corvallis are each taking an innovative approach to marketing their fresh, organically grown produce by offering weekly boxes of produce to families in the Bitterroot and Missoula valleys. By selling Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, the farmers get money up front, early in the season. Their shareholders, in turn, receive fresh nutritious produce every week, all season long. For Laura Garber of Homestead Organics,
it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. Garber began offering CSA shares 10 years ago, after farming for five years south of Hamilton off Sleeping Child Road. “When I first learned about CSAs, I was drawn to the concept because it offered more communication with the customer,” Garber said. “I can educate them about what it is we grow, how we grow it, and how to eat it.” After a more than decade of building farmercustomer relationships in her community, Garber describes the CSA concept as “making a commitment to your farmer, to yourself and to your community, in advance, and enjoying the rewards of that commitment all season long.” The customer, she said, “gets first access to all the food we’re growing on our farm in a way that’s accessible and easy to use.” While the farmer “gets financial support early in the season
when we need it the most. We also get a guaranteed customer base and the pleasure of growing it for people.” This year Garber and her husband Henry Wuensche have teamed up with another farmer, Randi Mark of Mill Crick Farm, to increase the variety of produce in their CSA boxes throughout the season. Early in the season, she said, Mark supplies about 20 percent of the bounty. By midseason, about 60 to 80 percent of the produce will come from Mill Crick. “It’s a good way for us to increase the variety of produce,” she said. “That way, our customers will have more choices.” Customers pick their boxes at the Homestead farm stand every Tuesday. The 21-week season began in mid-May and will continue through September. Since they have a walk-in cooler, Garber said customers have a three day window to collect their booty. “After three days, it gets dispersed,” she said. “We encourage our shareholders, if they can’t pick up their box, to make arrangements for friends to collect it so more people can share in the great food.” Karen Hughes has been a Homestead CSA customer for three seasons. She said she likes the arrangement because it gives her family a steady supply of “good, healthy food that’s produced locally.” “We end up eating a more vegetable-rich diet, and that’s good for everyone,” Hughes said. “It’s often more than we can eat, so we make a lot of soups and lasagnas and freeze them.” Another plus, she said, is that her 8-year-old son Miles has learned to like vegetables that other kids may never have tried, and he knows how and where they’re grown. Two miles south of Corvallis, on the corner of Chaffin and Popham roads, Pam Watts and Leon Stangl have a similar marketing arrangement on their 10-acre diversified farm. Yourganics Farm produces a wide variety of produce, fruit, beef, pork and lamb, and the majority of their vegetables are sold through their CSA program.
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After farming for more than a dozen years, Watts said they started the CSA program eight years ago as a way to generate more money during the early part of the season. “We do all our marketing in the spring and early summer and concentrate on growing produce the rest of the year,” she said. “It’s worked out great for us.” Watts said the customers benefit from the arrangement both financially and through improved health. “It’s a great deal for them economically,” she said, “and people tell us it’s improved their diet. It forces people to eat a lot of vegetables.” Over the years, Watts and Stangl have worked on diversifying their crops and farming practices to meet the needs of their CSA customers. Last year they added strawberries to their food boxes and also worked on successive plantings of lettuce in order to have salad mix all season long. Yourganic Farm’s 18-week CSA season began on June 4th and continues through the first week of October, with the last several weeks featuring fall storage vegetables. Customers get boxes once a week, either on Wednesdays or Saturdays, but choose in advance which day they pick up their boxes. Stangl said he likes the CSA arrangement because he enjoys having his customers visit the farm. “People get to come to the farm and see what we do,” he said. “They see baby pigs, calves and lambs and it gives them a greater appreciation for where their food comes from. Some of them end up ordering pork or beef or lamb. I call it Farm Mart – you can get all your food here!” Both Homestead Organics Farm and Yourganic Farm are still taking on new CSA customers. You can find them at their stands at the Saturday Hamilton Farmers Market or call them. Laura and Henry at can be reached at 363-6627 or homesteadorganics@earthlink.net. Pam and Leon can be reached at 961-5452 or through their Web site: yourganicfarm.com.
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Farm fresh produce: Eating seasonally By Kristine Komar for the ravalli republic
Of course, you will want to shop at the farmers market, but it’s also a good idea to get familiar with farm stands. You can’t get closer to where the food comes from, produce is the freshest of the fresh and you have the opportunity to build a multi-dimensional relationship with your farmer. And it’s likely you will be invited to walk the farm to see all the growing and tending in action. But wait, there’s more. Lots more. At Homestead Organics Farm Stand, 175 Skalkaho Highway, Hamilton, open Tuesdays, 2-6 p.m., you are in for a full food experience. When I visited, I saw (just steps away from the farm stand) three breeds of just-hatched heritage turkey chicks. Some were still in the incubator where they stay for up to a day after hatching before being moved the next morning to a stock tank outfitted with straw and a heat lamp. I’d heard about the egg tooth - and I saw it. I learned that the chicks peck the shell with their egg tooth, rotating around the entire inside of the egg. And sure enough, the bucket full of discarded shells nearby, showed this to be true. (Discarded only for the moment, the shells are ground up and returned to the hens feed to replenish the calcium used to create eggs.) The egg tooth eventually falls away as chicks mature, so you have to catch them when they’re just hatched to see it. I learned that once the turkeys are old enough that they roam freely across the farm during the day; that they come inside for the night; that they get organic feed; and that I can buy a chick and take it home to raise or that I can come back to the farm to buy a fully grown turkey at Thanksgiving time. I learned that turkeys, unlike chickens, only produce young once a year. Who knew? And, of course, if I was still curious to learn more about turkeys, I was invited to roam around and check out the turkeys wherever they might be foraging on the farm.
Right now, Homestead Organics Farmers, Laura Garber and Henry Wuensche, are offering hearty greens (kale, chard) as well as farm fresh eggs. Each dozen is tricolored, blue, buff, and white— and gathered daily, sometimes by the 5-year-old son of a farm worker. (Make sure there are a dozen in the crate, sometimes he’s a little less that thorough at filling one crate before moving eagerly on to the next.) But soon there will be garlic scapes (they make such great pesto), salad mix, and zucchini. (From hoop houses that are not heated other than by the sun, extending the grower season on each end.) Then as summer comes on, there will be, simply put: abundance. Tomatoes, peppers (Steve Bull buys his roasting peppers here), cucumbers, zuchinni, beets, carrots, onions, garlic. I decide it would be fun to try going at meal preparation differently - first visiting the farm stand and then planning meals. How fun would it be to try and east locally and seasonally? In addition to what I learned about turkeys, Henry says that he and Laura are adding a few value-added products to their farm stand including an organic blue corn pancake mix grown and packaged by a friend in Livingston. And they usually have coffee beans roasted locally by Big Creek Coffee in Hamilton. Since there is a commercial kitchen on site, they are considering offering some fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, kimchi, (a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings) and kombucha (fermented black tea). They’re also considering adding soups to their offerings. Planning meals from the farm stand would be even more doable if these choices were available from time to time. So drop by the Homestead Organics Farm Stand and see what you bring away besides some local seasonal organics produce. You will also find Homestead Organics at the Hamilton Famers Market on Saturday mornings. Another favorite farm stand is Moeller’s Farm,
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946 Eastside Highway, Corvallis, 406 961-3389. This time of year Moeller’s is known to most as a nursery where we buy our annuals, herbs, perennials, and fruit trees. But come the end of June, the farm stand will open. Moeller’s is where I get my pumpkins and corn stalks for Halloween. And armloads of sweet corn in late summer. And pickling cukes and lots of other veggies, including tomatoes warm from the sun - I’ll admit it, some don’t make it all the way home - as well as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and pickling cukes. I usually lay in a 25-pound bag of russet potatoes for the winter. I love to eat potatoes that were nurtured in Bitterroot soil and grew fat on our clean water and abundant sunshine. I’m sure those things are equally as important as vitamins and minerals. But seriously, Moeller’s Farm Stand has a huge variety of vegetables and there’s always a handwritten list with price per pound of what’s available that day taped to the counter. And be forewarned, they will temp you. Wouldn’t you like some of this or that? they inquire sweetly, as they proudly pull a box of some lovely thing from the large refrigera-
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tors to show you. It’s a real treat to be there when the farm UTV pulls up with a load of freshly picked produce on board. How lucky are we to be so nourished by food and place? Take the few extra minutes to shop at farm stands. You will not only be feeding your body, but your spirit as well. Other farm stands in the Bitterroot include: McPherson Farms 457 Willoughby Road, Stevensville, 406-7771378 / 381-2773, mcphersonfarm@gmail.com Family grown sweet corn, potatoes and squash as well as other seasonal vegetables. Mill Crick Farm 153 Dutch Hill Road, Hamilton, 406-961-8861, millcrickfarm@gmail.com Mid-April- Early October, M-F, 10a.m. - 7p.m. Bedding plants, mixed greens, kale, peas, sometimes eggs and tomatoes from the hoop house. As the bounty of summer approaches, a wide range of vegetables and flowers come on.
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Bitterroot Valley producer guide BEVERAGES Big Creek Coffee Roasters 301 West Main, Hamilton, 406-3757508, www.bigcreekcoffeeroasters.com Offering exemplary coffees, roasted fresh and delivered free within the Bitterroot Valley. Internet orders taken. Bitterroot Brewery 101 Marcus Street, Hamilton, 406-3637468, www.bitterrootbrewing.com Locally brewed beer and hand-crafted ales. Available year round at brewery. Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:30am – 8pm. Producing since 1998. Blodgett Canyon Cellers Corvallis, 406-360-5680, www. blodgettcanyoncellars.com Syrah, Riverbend, Chardonnay, SMG... Hidden Legend Winery 1345 Hwy 93 N. Suite #5, Victor, 406363-6323, www.hiddenlegendwinery. com Hidden Legend Winery makes world class wines from all local, all natural ingredients. We specialize in making meads with both pure honey and wild berry flavors. We use wild elderberries, chokecherries and huckleberries, all from Montana to produce award winning wines that straddle the line between mead and wine. Our wines are a new sensation for the traditional wine drinker perfectly blending the taste of honey and fruit. Available year round at grocery and wine stores state wide. Call for direct sales. Making mead since 2001. Higher Ground Brewery 518 North First, Hamilton, 406-3755204, www.higherground.com Famous Beer, Famous Pizza, 11am8pm, Tuesday-Saturday; 1-8pm Sunday Hunter Bay Coffee 11300 Hwy 93 South, Lolo, 406-2735490, www.hunterbay.com Montana’s premium gourmet coffee roaster. Master Roasters hand-craft coffees using award-winning recipies & European small-batch techniques. Offering 12 premium coffee blends, quality single-origin coffees & Italian-style Espressos, all roasted fresh-to-order.
Certified organic coffee handler, offering a wide selection of 100% organic coffees. Montana Cider Words Sula, 406-360-5078, www.montanaciderworks.com Offering exceptional English-style ciders crafted from Bitterroot Valley apples and other local fruits. Available at Sula Country Store, Conner Grocery & Deli, Darby Wine & Spirits, Hamilton’s Market Place (IGA), Super 1 Foods, Wild Mare. Mountain View Orchards & Distillery 1775 Mountain View Orchard Road, Corvallis, 406-961-3434, mcintoshcider@gmail.com 20+ varieties of apples, mid-Aug to Jan. Fresh apple cider Sept - Oct. Direct sales during apple season MonSun 9am-5pm. Also at Missoula and Apple Days in Hamilton and local grocery stores. Producing since 1907. Call or email for types of distillery products. Harvest Legacy dessert cider currently available. Trapper Peak Winery Darby, MT 59829, 406-821-1964, www. trapperpeakwinery.com Products include: Cabernet Sauvignon made with Flathead cherries; Petite Sirah and Merlot made with grapes grown on the north slope of Mt. St. Helena, Rodeo Red - Cabernet Sauvignon, Muleshoe - Merlot, Roll in the Hay - Chardonnay, Sitting Bull - Petite Sirah. Call for availability. Producing since 2004. Zaxan Coffee Roasters 140 Cherry Street, Hamilton, 406-3634006, www.zaxancoffee.com Locally roasted, brewed and served since 2003.
Producing since 2001. Burnt Fork Bend Chocolate Stevensville, 406-370-8606, www.burntforkbend.com Handcrafted, high quality dark or milk chocolate bars available in 2oz or 2.5 oz. bars. There are no additional additives or preservatives used to make my chocolate. Purchase by emailing or phoning or from Bitterroot Star and Valley Drug in Stevensville. Old West Candy Mainstreet, Darby, 406-821-4076, www. oldwestgallery.com Producing homemade fudge and chocolate delicacies, souvenirs and gifts. Open 7 days a week 10a-5pm. Will ship anywhere. The Montana Chocolate Company (Formerly Charbonneaus Chocolate Co.) 755 Main Street, Stevensville 406777-0808 www.mtchocolatecompany. com Fine hand-made, hand-dipped chocolates, truffles, creams, brittles, nuts, chews. High quality ingredients, no preservatives, waxes, mixes or fillers. Montana novelties. Producing since 2002.
CANDY Big Sky Candy 319 West Main Street, Hamilton, 406-363-0580, 1-866-432-8282, www. bigskycandy.com Local, handmade chocolates, truffles, creams, toffees, cinnamon-glazed almonds, and more.
FRUIT Blue Moon Orchard Stevensville, 406-777-3326, bluemoonorchard@gmail.com Apples, pie cherries, plums, pears, apricots, raspberries. Mid-June through Oct. Call for availability. Email us to be put on our availability list.
DAIRY Lifeline Creamery and Farm Store 2427 Meridian Road, Victor, 406-6429717, www.lifelinefarm.com Certified organic, biodynamic dairy (cheese, butter & milk), beef, pork, sausage (see listing under Meat). Available year round. Sold at Rainbow’s End, Hamilton Marketplace, Super On. Farm visitors by appointment only. Producing since 1978.
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Cider’s Orchard 227 Surrey Lane, Florence, 406-2733134 Organic Macintosh & Spartan apples. 40 lb. boxes. Available late-September - mid-October. Call for direct sales. Call early in September to place order. Delivery in the Bitterroot Valley from Hamilton north. Farm visitors by appointment. Producing since 1992. Fenced-Out Mule Deer Vineyards 822 Promise Lane, Corvallis, 406-9613285/381-6480, putman.alan80@gmail. com Tree fruits, berries, and vegetables. Call for availability. Producing since 2005. Frost Top Orchard 634 Quast Lane, Corvallis, 406-9611509 Apples (Macintosh, Spartan, Honey Crisp, and others), onions, squash and other late season vegetables. Utilizing integrated pest management (IPM) growing methods. Apples available beginning in October. Available direct and at Hamilton Farmer’s Market. Unpasteurized cider available at Orchard only. Producing since 1998. Healthy Harvest Fruits 579 Porter Hill Road, Stevensville 406-777-3783/546-4851 hhfruits@ gmail.com Organic Apples (Macintosh and other varieties), pears, plums, sweet cherries, mixed vegetables (see listing under Vegetables & Herbs). No pesticides. Available July – September at Stevensville Farmer’s Market. Call for direct sales. Producing since 1989 Home Acres Orchard 839 Groff Lane, Stevensville, 406-7772831 Apples & pears. Available August – December. Sold at the Good Food Store, Clark Fork market, and direct from the farm. Call for direct sales. Member of Montana Sustainable Grower’s Union. Producing since 1990. Mountain View Orchards & Distillery 1775 Mountain View Orchard Road, Corvallis, 406-961-3434, mcintoshcider@gmail.com 20+ varieties of apples, mid-Aug to Jan. Fresh apple cider Sept - Oct.
Integrated Pest Management growing methods. Direct sales during apple season Monday-Sunday, 9am-5pm. Also at Missoula Farmers Market and Apple Days in Hamilton and local grocery stores. Producing since 1907. Call or email for types of distillery products. Harvest Legacy dessert cider currently available. HONEY Apiaries of Montana 403 Grantsdale Road, Hamilton, 406381-7179, honey@montana.com Raw honey, flavored honey, pollen, pollination, beeswax, manufacturing hives. Available year round. Also sell 8 and 10 frame beehives, frames, lids and bottoms. Call or stop by for direct sales. 2nd generation, producing since 1968. Bee Happy Honey Farm 743 Sheafman Creek, Hamilton, 406-360-1393/360-5435, bugoff95@ dishmail.net Raw natural honey, flavored honey. We are vendors at the Hamilton Farmers Market and at the Darby Farmers Market and several bazars. Call for availability in the winter. Keeping honey bees since 2002. Morris Honey Co. 270 Golden Pond Drive, Hamilton, 406370-3677, marilyn@morrishoney.com Locally produced honey – selling 55 gallon barrels only. Prairie Sunshine Honey 250 Silverbow Drive, Victor, 406-6423535, www.prairiesunshinehoney.com Available year round at Super One (Hamilton & Stevensville), Rainbow’s End, IGA (Hamilton & Stevensville), Darby People’s Market, Victor Merc. Producing since 1989. 3rd generation honey producers. VEGETABLES & HERBS Biodesign Farm 1541 South Burnt Fork Road, Stevensville, 406-381-1554, wlpeterson5@ yahoo.com Organic vegetables & fruit. Native bedding plants for restoration and waterwise gardens. Available at Missoula Farmer’s Market or wholesale orders only. Please phone for availability. (Also
see listing under Meat for butcher lambs) Bitterroot Organics 345 Indian Prairie Loop, Victor, 406642-3653 Vegetables grown sustainably and without the use of petrochemicals. mid-May thru Nov. Sold at Hamilton and Missoula Farmer’s Markets. Farm visitors by appointment only. Producing in Ravalli County since 1997. Diamond Bar D Ranch 851 Middle Burnt Fork, Stevensville, 406-544-3763, bevclagett@yahoo.com Organic produce and jams. Available at Hamilton Farmer’s Market or call or email for availability. Member of Homegrown. Producing since 1980. Garden City Nursery Hamilton, 406-363-0773 Homegrown mixed vegetables and herbs. Bedding plants (see listing under Garden Nurseries & Supplies). Available at the end of April – September. Call for direct sales. Also available at Hamilton Farmer’s Market and Clark Fork River Market. Producing since 1984. Healthy Harvest Fruits 579 Porter Hill Road Stevensville, 406777-3783/546-4851, hhfruits@gmail. com Mixed vegetables, apples (Macintosh and other varieties), pears, plums, sweet cherries. Available July – September. No pesticides. Also see listing under Fruit. Available at Stevensville Farmer’s Market or call for direct sales. Producing since 1989. Heirloom Apothecary 406-239-5272, heirloomapothecary@ yahoo.com We offer Community Supported Herbalism (CSH) shares, based on the CSA model. Our CSH shares allow you to have direct access to high quality, herbal preparations produced by local herbalists from locally grown and wildcrafted plants. When you purchase a share, you receive 5 monthly deliveries of herbal products of your choice. (June - October). Homestead Organics 175 Skalkaho Road, Hamilton, 406-3636627, www.homesteadorganicsfarm.
Page 26 - Agriculture Magazine, JUNE 2014
com Certified organic mixed vegetables. Specializing in greens. Produce available mid-May – November. Sold direct through Community Supported Agriculture program, farm stand open Tuesday 2-7pm. Hamilton Farmers’ Market. Farm tours by appointment and on farm commercial kitchen available for your event or we can cater it for you. Producing since 1999. Jill’s Garden 329 McVey Road, Victor, 406-642-3601, rivercare@blackfoot.net Organic garden vegetables and strawberries, not certified, sold to email list by weekly order, also locally adapted heirloom seeds. Kangaroo House Garden 131 Deer haven Drive, Hamilton, 406375-0331, wombat@cybernet1.com or Facebook Small producers of pesticide-free fruits and mixed vegetables, dahlias. Available at Farmers Market, visitors welcome by appointment. Lifeline Farm Produce 2363 Chief Victor Camp Road, Victor, 406-642-3943 Garden vegetables, bedding plants, and organic lamb and beef (see listing under Meat). Available June – October. Call for direct sales. Also available at Super One (Stevensville) and Missoula Farmer’s Market. Farm visitors welcome but please call first. Over 35 years producing. Longview Farm 2961 Hunters Lane, Stevensville, 406777-3371/396-0618, www.lvfarm.com Wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Hay and registered Hampshires for breeding, markets, 4H. Call or visit website. We also sell an all natural “horse cookie” treat made fresh at Longview Farm. Available online at www.bbhorsetreats.com or at local farm stores. McPherson Farm 457 Willoughby Road, Stevensville, 406-777-1378/381-2773, mcphersonfarm@gmail.com, Facebook - McPherson Produce Large producer of sweet corn, po-
tatoes and squash as well as other seasonal vegetables. Visit farm stand on Willoughby or find at Hamilton Farmers’ Markets. We also have hay and pork for sale. Misty Hollow Farms Corvallis, 406-370-9797 Produce stand on Eastside Hwy, just north of Corvallis. Open June - Sept.; vegetables, fruits, melons. Organic but not certified. Also, Grass-fed beef from “Lowline” Angus - whole, half, quarter orders available. Moeller’s Nursery 946 Eastside Hwy, Corvallis, 406-9613389 Home grown produce available in season (April – November). Specializing in super sweet corn, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, and squash. Also see listing under Garden Nurseries & Supplies. Call for direct sales, nursery hours Montana Gourmet Garlic 2711 Snyder Road, Stevensville, 406777-1566, www.montanagourmetgarlic. com Gourmet hardneck garlic. Call, email, or visit website for availability. Producing since 2002. Rod’s Organic Produce 1464 Summerdale Road, Corvallis, 406961-4055, rodnjamie@q.com Full variety of fresh, organic vegetables and eggs. Also heirloom carrot seeds and redworms for composting. Available June – November. Sold at Hamilton Farmer’s Market and direct from farm by appointment only. Visitors welcome by appointment only. Producing since 1992. Sleeping Child Farms 1639 Sleeping Child Road, Hamilton, 406-360-6326/375-2408, www.sleepingchildfarms.com Growing sustainably produced berries, flowers, herbs, and vegetables; free range eggs, baked goods, jams/jellies and pastries. Find us at Hamilton Farmer’s Market. Peace Gardens Hamilton, 406-363-8068 Vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers. Available at Hamilton Farmers Market. Producing since 2005.
West Naturals Farm Pinesdale, 406-961-4286 Spring flower baskets, mixed vegetables, specialty tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, green peppers, hot peppers, and cut flowers. Available May through October at Hamilton, Stevensville, Missoula, Polson, and Butte Farmer’s Markets. 15 years producing. Woodside Farm Winter Garden 876 Hwy 93, 406-360-0770/360-0056, thewinterfarm@gmail.com, Facebook Organically grown greens from our innovative (Solviva) greenhouse offered in winter. Contact us to be placed on email list, order from email list of available produce that we send out, pickup Friday from noon - 5pm. We also sell eggs. Woolly Locust Farm & Garden 673 Ridge Road, Stevensville, 406-5468554, wlfarmandgarden@cybernet1. com Organically grown lettuce, mizuna, broccoli, peas, Swiss chard, radicchio, green beans, pickling cucumbers, yard long green beans, eggplant, beets, hot peppers (large variety) amaranth (for canaries, finches, flower arrangements etc.) squash ( zucchini, yellow summer, acorn, patty pan, lakota, spaghetti etc.) tomatoes (various types and colors) painted mountain corn, sweet corn, teddy bear sunflowers. Homemade soaps, mustards, hot pepper jelly, green tomato relish. We are at the Stevi and Missoula Farmers Market. Visits by appointment only. Offering a limited number of CSAs. Yourganic Farm - Know your Farmer, Know your Food 1550 Chaffin Lane, Hamilton, 406-9615452, yourganicfarm.wordpress.com Mixed vegetables, available May – October. CSA: fresh, in-season vegetables available once/week; drop off spot in Missoula. Call for direct sales. Farm visitors by appointment only. 15 years producing. Also grass-fed beef, pasture pork and lamb for direct sale - see Meat section.
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Western Montana
NEW HOLLAND
7719 Thornton Drive • Missoula, MT
Office: 406.728.1996 877.728.1996
Wayne Miller, Manager 406-369-0348 • Ron Gibson, Sales 406-370-6719 • Joel Unruh, Sales 406-499-0396