Wheat and Weeds

In Big Sandy, MT Bob Quinn lives and raises grain and vegetables. We visited him last week and were introduced to a world where imagination, research, intelligence, and farm work come together to grow ancient varieties of wheat (his Kamut has done well), dry land vegetables (yup...he doesn't water his corn, squash, potatoes...and we're in arid Montana), and various types of green manure to build healthy soil.

Really cool stuff. Most of his acreage is organic, and many of his grains are more nutritious than those that you find on the average grocery store shelf (which are bred for high yields to keep immediate costs down, not bred for high nutrition to keep the real costs down). Get your hands on some kamut or durum. It's out there!

Back in Missoula, we got to hop into the garlic patch to harvest and bring it to cure in the barn for the next 2-3 weeks. After that, they'll be good to store for 4-6 months!




Yum!



The kids visiting the farm this week for camp challenged us to a weeding battle (what a fantastic idea...they were so excited!). We fought tooth and nail (with the corn and quack grass and soil that is). The kids came out on top by two pounds and won the popsicles.





We'll get them next time!

Growing

A couple of weeks ago we visited Foothill Farm, where Julie and her family grow vegetables, hay, and meat. With a beautiful location at...you guessed it...the foothills of the Mission Mountains, they have a good deal of garlic and tomatoes growing for the cooperative and plenty of other produce for market. Up until this year, Julie used her work horses to tend the fields. Her passion for using animal power as opposed to petroleum was clear, but as her husband works 45 minutes away and her daughter is still quite young, the constant practice the horses needed proved too much. She has an amazing deal going, though. Her parents have recently retired and joined her to work part-time in the fields and a young sharecropper lends her hands as well.



We also recently brought Mabel up to the PEAS farm to have some free-roaming leashless time (over 9 acres of it!). She did quite well. Turns out she has some secret running skills and is still trying to figure out what to do with cats.

Deliciously Edible

A few months ago I had the pleasure of visiting several people in and around the Twin Cities involved with the food system. From a dahlia and tomato grower, to an educator, to a bike-powered veggie delivery service, each person had their niche in bringing good food from dirt to home.

Short articles (in the 'notable edible' section) about each entrepreneur appear in the latest edition of Edible Twin Cities.

Online, you can find the one about what Lisa over at Two Pony Gardens is doing to bring food and flowers to people who desire them, to educate urban youth about nature and the source of their food, and to host harvest dinners at her farm in partnership with filmmaker/chef Daniel Klein of Perennial Plate.







In the magazine (which you can find at your local co-op, brew supply store, farmers market, or vineyard), you'll find out more about Velo Veggies and the FriendChip Farm Program.

They're doing great things! So are you!

Ten Spoons of Wine Makes the Wine Go Down

This is the first time I've ventured on a field trip with my PEAS Farm compatriots and already been to the place and tasted the fruits of labor poured out there.

About a mile and a third up the Rattlesnake (the big creek that runs North-South into downtown and the namesake of our northerly neighborhood...we can hear it in our living room) from our home and a wee bit west is the farm I work at every morning. About two miles up the Rattlesnake and a wee bit east is Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery. John and I checked it out a couple of weeks ago. It has a great view of the surrounding mountains and very affordable sample flights. Friday and Saturday nights they host live music.



Andy, who owns the business with his partner, shared with us a bit about how they came upon the place and the idea of a winery/vineyard. The organic vegetable market was already flooded in town, and their value-added tomato-chip idea was too expensive and didn't have a big market. But wine! Missoulans love their beer and breweries. They love their wine, so it was clear they needed someone to grow and process grapes within city limits. A gorgeous 5 acres of hybrid French-American varieties flourish during the short growing season and produce a fine house wine. Other grapes are sourced from the Pacific Northwest (as are the glass bottles that they purchase and reuse) and fermented on site. It's a dangerous place to have just up the road, but I don't think the occasional tandem bike ride up the mountain for a sample will do us much harm.

It's been one of the first sunny weeks on the farm for us (and of course, there was plenty of rain, too), but it allowed us to get a HUGE amount of much needed weeding done and it's looking great!

FURRY FRIEND!!!

OOOOOOHHHH!!!

We have a new family member!

We brought Mabel home from the shelter about a week and a half ago. It was carefully described to us by the staff there that she is "special" and a "project dog."


Found living below a trailer and caring for her young puppies, neighbors made sure she was fed. The whole lot of them was eventually brought into the shelter. Although the adorable little ones were soon adopted, her extremely fearful behavior (she cowers to the ground in reaction to most new noises, places, and people) kept her in the care of the humane society for longer than they would like. We knew we could give her the patience and love she needed. She's come a very long way (wagging her tail and licking us to pieces) already. She's really smart and although we have plenty of basic training to do, she is a good walker, listener, and may secretly already know "sit." What else might she already secretly know? I'm not sure, but we're excited to find out!




Update: She's sneaky and very much like any other dog when we're away. Exhibit A: the half loaf of bread on the counter wrapped in plastic is missing. Exhibit B: the tears in John's sandal straps weren't there this morning. Exhibit C: Both plastic bag with crumbs and sandal were found in or near her guilty paws within the last two days.

SHE'S A REAL DOG AND IT'S WONDERFUL! Thankfully she only hates scoldy Grace until it's time for another belly rub.

Diversification

Homestead Organics was the site of one of our recent trips. In Hamilton, we met Laura Garber. On a farm she's been tending for the last 5-6 years, much is now in flux. Much of what she and her now ex-husband put together is changing. Her soon-to-be husband is building a barn and with his experience in the Berlin Zoo, is bringing more animals onto the land. This closes the loop a bit, and as they live, eat, and poop in various areas around their farm, nutrient-rich fertilizer enters the soils. A fantastic plan saving resources and money, the pig, duck, goose, turkey, and chicken pens are moved once they've mowed down the cover crop and left behind some great products of their digestive systems. Flowers line the path down to the greenhouses (several of them), and an above ground river (new and not entirely expected) leads down to a small pond at the end of their land, perfect for waterfowl.



Laura is lowering the number of CSA shares they produce, while upping the ante on the store they sell their food through the market stand on the first level of the commercial kitchen/bunk house near the road. They also visit a few local farmer's markets and advertise the availability of their live chickens, which they are often kind enough to "butcher as a favor" for their friends/customers. A little store or restaurant on the horizon? Maybe. Laura has a plethora of ideas and the right team to make them happen. The diversification and closed systemness of it all is refreshing and exciting. As is the slightly drier, warmer weather for all of us up on the PEAS farm.