Photo by addie Slanger
Max Smith, 31, stands for a portrait overlooking his farm, Missoula Grain and Vegetable. The crop production science major founded the operation in 2013 after he graduated from Montana State University. Passionate about soil science, Smith aims to specialize in winter farming — growing crops year-round rather than in the usual May-October window.
Sustaining life: Winter farming at Missoula Grain and Vegetable Addie Slanger Ravalli Republic
Some years ago, Max Smith took a break from farming to work as a remover for a funeral home. Each day, he was in charge of moving bodies from houses and retirement facilities and hospice centers to his place of work, to be prepped for their funeral service.
The job made the now-farm owner intimately familiar with the cycles of life and death. “You see a lot of death that way. It actually really prepared me for all the things we experience out here too. It’s not humans, but it’s life,” Smith said. “I’m just at peace with the fact that this is all very temporary. I can shrug stuff off a little bit easier. And I realize how much work goes into keeping things alive.”
