Montana's Producers are Leaders in Water Conservation Innovation “We farm in a place that’s too dry for cows,” laughed Anna Jones-Crabtree, with a wry smile. Anna and her husband, Doug Crabtree, own Vilicus Farms, a large-scale, dryland, organic farming operation...
On June 15th, 2024, Tinworks Art, a non-profit art space in Bozeman, Montana, launched its 2024 Season exhibition, The Lay of the Land. Inspired by Tinworks' Director Jenny Moore's personal experience and struggle in developing a connection to place during her first...
Each year we include seasonal food recipes in the Local Food Guide, so you know how to put all your great local food to good use! For the 2024 Local Food Guide, we asked the Abundant Montana community to submit their own recipes to be featured in the Guide. Lemony...
“We care a lot about our customers, and a lot about our animals, and about our land. The meat people will buy from us is really healthy,” says Amber Nordahl, owner of T Bar J Ranch. “What we say it is is what you’re getting.” And there are no false claims there. T Bar...
AERO 2023 Jane Kile Memorial Scholarship Awarded to Helena Community Gardens “Housing has gotten so expensive that some people have had to move out of their homes, where they had their garden, and into an apartment,” described Helena Community Gardens Executive...
One thing we love about Old Salt Festival is the opportunities it creates to connect with the people who are growing and raising our food, and to build relationship with the land that it’s grown on. The 2nd Annual Old Salt Festival, taking place on the Mannix Family...
Abundant Montana’s annual Local Food Guide is a free, full color, magazine-style publication highlighting Montana’s expansive local food offerings. It includes farms, ranches, restaurants, retailers, farmers markets, breweries, wineries, cideries, distilleries, and...
Grow Montana, National Center for Appropriate Technology, and Montana Cooperative Development Center are excited to share about a new project called, "Understanding through Listening: Connecting with Indigenous Foodways in Montana". The goals of this project are to:...
Old Salt Festival is bringing three chef teams, seventeen musicians, and a lineup of artists, makers, and educators to Helmville, MT this June. HELMVILLE, MT - (4/2/2024) — Old Salt Co-op presents the 2nd annual Old Salt Festival to be held June 21-23 on the Mannix...
In the Garden Many varieties of corn are considered long season crops. For this reason, some growers can struggle to produce a successful crop in our shorter Montana season. However, there are some work-arounds that still allow Montana’s growers to enjoy fresh corn....
What if you were told that, globally, 1.3 billion tons of gold is thrown out and buried deep in the earth each year, never to be recovered? You might think, "Why is that happening? Why would we allow such a valuable resource to be wasted? What can we do to ensure it...
Courtesy of Cultivating Connections Montana | Hamilton Bob Thaden, owner of Tongue River Winery in Miles City, Montana, guides a woman as she uses bright orange clippers to cut robust bunches of grapes from vines strung up on wire fences. The woman isn’t an employee...
Missoula Nonprofit Facilitates Space to Grow in a New Country Athena Photography | Meadow Hill Garden | Missoula As the sun dips below the mountains, a woman slips off her shoes and kneels barefoot in the dirt. Despite having spent her day caring for others, she now...
Ivan & Chia Thrane Awarded Jane Kile Memorial Scholarship In late February, Red Lodge, MT was under two feet of snow and experiencing yet another wave of sub-zero temperatures. Chia and Ivan Thrane, the owners of Healthy Meadows, a family ranch in the hills above...
Buying local filets gives Flathead Lake’s native fish a fighting chance. Salish Kootenai tribal members netting non-native Lake Trout & processing them. | Lynn Donaldson | Native Fish Keepers | Polson, MT Cold water dripped back into Montana’s largest natural lake...
Stomachs filled with local food, lungs filled with fresh country air, eyes filled with the peaks of the Mission Mountain Range; Participants in the 2023 Mission Mountain Pedal to Plate will get to experience all this and more – some of the best Montana has to offer....
Grow Montana is the statewide coalition that works on food policy and related issues at the state legislature, as well as advocates for food access programs, farmers markets, and small & mid-scale producers. Formed in 2005, the coalition has mostly focused on...
The Montana berry industry is thriving. With the demand for locally grown fruit steadily increasing, growers struggle to produce enough supply. Montana Berry Growers Association (MTBGA) aims to connect, support, and assist berry growers throughout the state as they...
Founded in 2019, the grower and member led organization is committed to developing the emerging Montana berry industry. Although still in its infancy, the industry demand is greater than the supply, so the potential for its growth is significant. “As a state that is...
“The farm, once the work of parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, and the dream of so many who came before, is itself like an old, immortal relative. . . It has, and it will endure beyond the time of its current steward or their successors,” opens Megan...
Agritourism Page 16 Source 1: In 1950, about 70% of the food Montanans ate was grown in Montana. By 2006 that number was down to 10%; today, it is 3%. Composting Page 19 Source 2: Nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted. Native Fish Keepers Page 23...
In the rolling hills above Red Lodge Creek, their family of five raise a rambunctious herd of approximately 250 goats which they use to manage noxious weeds in their community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hifPrOGiYF0 In Montana, landowners are responsible for...
Along the lush river bottom and among the sagebrush hills south of Big Timber, they ranch naturally raised grass fed beef and pasture raised pork. Producing high quality meat, for both Jaimie’s family and her community, is a lifestyle that brings her joy with each...
Tucked in the fertile bottomland at the edge of Wilsall, among towering cottonwoods and meadows of lush summer grass, their farm grows a variety of vegetables, raises fruit trees, and specializes in cultivating mushrooms. Between storms, we walked bent over in rows...
The virtual format of Abundant Connections allowed Montana producers and buyers to foster new relationships, which would lead to sales opportunities, support our Montana food economy, and get more Montana-produced food served throughout the state. Prior to the event,...
Along the lush riverbottom west of Martinsdale, their farm produces fresh eggs and nutrient dense vegetables far from the larger markets in the state. On their rural operation, they employ a mix of hoop houses, outdoor beds, and indoor setups to provide a variety of...
https://youtu.be/poD6-RiXD2Y During one of the hottest weeks of summer, we visited Katie and Larry Nesky of Awesome Herbs at their home in the Flathead Valley. On a bountiful spread of sloping pasture and lush gardens in St. Ignatius, their farm produces herbal teas...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc_X-KczqIM Back in July, we visited Justin and Kavita Bay, of Rivulet Apiaries & Hindu Hillbilly Farms, at their home along the Clark Fork River. On a rare bit of flat ground between the forested hills, west of Missoula, and the...
Winter squash is indigenous to North and South America, and was a valued food source long before the first Europeans ever set foot on the land. Popular varieties of winter squash include butternut, honey nut, Hubbard, acorn, spaghetti, and kabocha. In the Garden In...
Policy is the backbone of our entire food system. From soil health and sustainable farming practices to nutrition and food security, food and agricultural policy significantly impacts what ends up on our plates. While the Farm Bill governs an array of federal programs...
Crunchy, sweet, and delicious, apples are easy to love. And, with 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the US, there are so many different kinds to try. In the Garden Apple trees are a long-term investment and can take multiple years to produce fruit after planting....
There’s a reason our parents told us to eat our broccoli. And we agree, this powerhouse cruciferous vegetable rarely gets the spotlight it deserves. In the Garden October means broccoli season! Broccoli belongs to the brassica family along with cauliflower,...
Grow Montana Works to Improve Our Citizens’ Access to Healthy Montana Foods In 1950, 70% of the food Montanans ate was grown in Montana. Today the percentage of local food that Montanans consume is just a fraction of what it once was (3%). With shifts to large scale...
Helping Make Your Food Business's Dreams Come True The journey our food takes, from a tiny seed to the hearty meal on the tines of your fork, is no easy task. Every stop on the road to food business success is wrought with challenges. There are many that don’t make...
According to Mark Twain, “cauliflower is just cabbage with a college education”. Twain may have been onto something as they are close relatives in the brassica family. While we also love cabbage, cauliflower has been in the spotlight these past few years due to its...
When it comes to local tomatoes versus grocery store tomatoes, there's no competition. Locally-grown tomatoes are plump, flavorful, and sweet. There’s a reason they are often referred to as nature's candy. In the Garden Because the growing season is short in Montana,...
Montana is known for vast skies, diverse wildlife, and huckleberry everything. A huckleberry is a common name for small berries that look like blueberries and domesticating them has eluded researchers for decades. For that reason, you can only harvest them in the...
Local food just tastes better. Whether you are a local or visiting town, these 9 restaurants are serving up some of Montana’s best eats. 1. Little Star Diner 548 E Babcock St, Bozeman, MT The menu at this modern, farm-to-table diner highlights the peak flavors of each...
Summer squash season is here, and you know what that means–zucchini galore! Along with cucumbers, melons, and winter squash, zucchini is a member of the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family. With its soft texture and mild flavor, zucchini is a highly versatile vegetable that...
This sweet legume is a favorite among people of all ages. As nitrogen fixing plants, sugar snap peas have many nutritional benefits, for both the soil and personal health. Not to be confused with snow peas, English garden, or shelling peas (all great in their own...
Rhubarb is a tell-tale sign of spring. You may recognize the plant by its large, green triangular leaves. The leaves of the plant contain toxic substances including oxalic acid and are inedible. However, the plant’s vibrant green, pink, or red stalks are rich in...
Radishes are one of the first spring crops available at your local market. Despite their vibrant pink, red, and purple hues, radishes tend to fly under the radar. Whether enjoyed raw, pickled, or roasted, this modest crop deserves a more prominent place on our plates....
We love our spring greens and asparagus is no exception. It’s crisp, subtle in flavor, and simple to prepare. In Montana, you can find green, white, purple, and even wild varieties. In the Garden Did you know that a well-managed asparagus bed can remain productive for...
In the Garden There are many varieties of spinach but flat-leaf, savoy, and semi-savoy are the most popular. Spinach is a fast-growing, cool-weather crop. Because hot temperatures and long days can cause spinach to bolt, spinach grows best in Montana during early...
RegenMarket is a membership-based local food retailer founded by two families grounded in their community in Big Sky, Montana. Their slogan is “The Best Food on Earth!” How can they make such a bold statement? Because they only sell food grown by Montana farmers and...
When visiting Amaltheia Organic Dairy on a sunny September day, the efficient energy of the farm is palpable– two employees bustle away at the onion processing machine in a greenhouse, while goats bleat before their evening milking. Meanwhile, a hundred feet away, a...
Growing Mushrooms, Trees, and Vegetables in Relationship With Land at Shields River Farm and Nursery Jessica and Tyson Stillman founded Shields River Farm and Nursery in Wilsall, MT in the summer of 2020, with the intent of creating a business that returns...
Community Adaptability and a Good Sense of Humor Thayne Mackey, from Hi-Line Kitchen Processing and Garden Center in Malta, MT, has known first hand the importance of community-grown food for a long time. “In the Hi-Line if we don’t have our own consumable...
Four Farmers Taking a Stand It’s a rainy Saturday morning in Whitefish and The Farmers’ Stand (TFS), the new 100% farmer-owned market in town, is bustling with activity. The two goals of TFS are 1. to provide their community with fresh and nutritious food, while 2....
A Full-Circle Dairy Erica Capp walks through a pasture at Lifeline Farm one September afternoon, talking in a low voice to her cows. She’s the head herdsman at Lifeline Farm, where she manages the farm’s operations. The animals are at ease in her presence. One even...
Here in Montana we are moving toward winter, a time of cold and darkness when fewer locally grown foods are available. Montana-grown honey is a great product to enjoy after the abundant summer months are over. And while the sweet sunshine and flowers we usually...
Where Human, Animal, and Soil Health are Interwoven Jaimie Stoltzfus and her husband Austin are behind Cowgirl Meat Company, a regenerative cattle and pork ranch just outside McLeod, MT along the West Boulder river. Since 2014, the couple have been raising meat for...
From grain to grist to bread Making bread is a careful, reverent undertaking at Grist Milling and Bakery. Bakers prioritize tradition, nutrition, and flavor. “Other than using electricity, we make bread the same way people did 2,000 years ago,” Dan says. “We’re...
Each year, I look at pumpkins at every farm stand, at every grocery store, and in every field. I love to collect different varieties of these joyful gourds. They find their way into recipes and onto my doorstep, and spark so much joy. So what should we know about the...
Hardy and easy-to-store cabbage is abundant even in late winter. It will keep in cool, moist storage for 3-4 months! Part of the Brassica genus, which includes broccoli, kale and cauliflower, this crunchy veggies comes in a variety of shapes, sizes...
Janie Locker, the new owner of Lower Valley Farm, smiles and waves to me as I pull into the driveway, and then immediately disappears into a high tunnel. I walk through the maze of farm equipment and poke my head into the door I think she has slipped into.“HI!...
Closing the Loop in Local Food Waste On a smoky July day, with temperatures hanging just below 100° F, I visit with Adrienne Huckabone and Ryan Green, the husband and wife duo behind Happy Trash Can, in Bozeman. Around a bend at the Bozeman...
Beets deserve the spotlight for their funky exterior and sweet flavor alone, but add to that their super-food level nutrition, versatility in the kitchen and hearty growing characteristics and it’s easy to see that they’re a truly incredible vegetable. Past enjoying...
A family business rooted in land stewardship Some days, Logan Mannix rides a motorbike through his family’s land in the pristine Blackfoot Valley, moving cows from pasture to pasture or setting up irrigation. Other days he’s working with a big crew of family and ranch...
Northwest Montana is known for its cherry production. The unique, warm climate around Flathead Lake allows sweet cherries to thrive. Mid-July to Mid-August is peak cherry season, so now is the time to find and enjoy these delicious fruits. You can find cherries at...
Snap peas are a legume which means they are in the family of incredible plants that can “fix” nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a usable form in the soil for other plants to access. Similar to snow peas (edible pod, flat) and English garden/shelling peas (inedible...
The Art of Farming Mushrooms We all understand the general idea of fruit and vegetable farming: you take a seed, you plant it into the ground, a plant grows from that seed and produces something edible. But how do you grow mushrooms, which produce microscopic spores...
Spunky Goats Nourish the Local Food System “Food is better when it’s loved and respected in its life.” Joe, the emotionally sensitive guard donkey who watches over the goat herd at Farm 51, receives a spritz of insect repellent to the legs while his owner...
Creating a network of hyper-local food access sites Imagine a city where every person who experiences food insecurity is within walking distance of a site stocked with prepared meals and food ingredients. That’s Missoula Community Free Fridge’s vision. “There’s...
Trellising Tomatoes On a sunny June day Dylan Brady was in Clark Fork Organic’s humid hoop house in Missoula, trellising young tomato plants. He carefully chose the most promising stalks of each plant, chopped off the others, and attached the remaining spindly stems...
Vermicomposting for Healthier Soil in the Gallatin Valley “Worms stitch everything together.” Karl Johnson, the founder and owner of YES Compost, gently pulls his fingers through the top layer of a compost bin at his Belgrade facility, inspecting the...
Regenerative Agriculture in NW Montana I received a text on the Sunday morning I was scheduled to visit Blarney Heights Farm. It had rained all night and was supposed to rain all day, and Brian wanted to make sure I was still up for the trip out there. I pulled...
A farm crew shares their favorite sounds What you notice first on the fifty-seven acres that compose Gallatin Valley Botanical at Rocky Creek Farm is the sheer diversity of crops, and with it, colors, sounds, and smells. Matt and Jacy Rothschiller have been...
Following a tradition of land stewardship and community building Every weekend of the 2020 summer season the same senior couple drove along the Flathead River to the Glacier Tilth farm store. The pair would look at the fresh produce and pick out a week’s worth of...
The Necessity of Flowers for the Soul Phyllary Farm is a non-certified organic flower farm located in Kalispell that aims to steward the land and connect the community through positivity. This year is Phyllary Farm’s first year in production, but Althea Hogle,...
Feast Raw Bar & Bistro opened in 2015 with a desire to bring fine cuisine with a focus on fresh, sustainably sourced seafood to Bozeman. Nearly all of Feast’s delicious menu supports produce, meat and fish farmed or harvested in a sustainable manner. They...
Montana Ale Works, based in Bozeman, is an award-winning community gathering place that has been dedicated to local, sustainable food and beverage sourcing since 2000. You might be familiar with them since they’ve won “Best of Bozeman” in four major categories for the...
Golden Yolk Griddle, which started as a popular breakfast sandwich booth at the Clark Fork Market 10 years ago, is now a community powered take-out restaurant, dedicated to offering delicious, locally sourced food, nurturing community relationships, and supporting...
Jess Maisel started Green Source Missoula in 2014 as a Green Smoothie Delivery Service. After two years and a lot of encouragement from customers, she opened her shop on the Hip Strip in Missoula in September 2016. From the beginning, her interest and...
In 2017, Dish-Ability was born with the mission of providing on-the-job culinary training and employment opportunities to folks with disabilities. In addition to increasing community awareness of the value their employees bring to the community, Dish-Ability...
Are you hungry for change? Sarah Manuel, owner and chef of the Streatery and Farmer Meets Foodie, believes in challenging the way society has taught us to eat. She describes Streatery Food Truck as a humble beginning in her efforts to contribute to the...
Nourish, based out of Great Falls, offers catering, events, cooking and wellness classes, and runs a food truck! Nourish is all about bringing the community together to facilitate learning, exploration, and exposing people to great Montana-based food. Nourish...
Mustang Fresh Food, located in historic downtown Livingston, was founded in 1997 by Carole Sullivan to offer the Livingston and Bozeman area a casual yet elegant setting for gourmet comfort food. Their ever changing menus highlight Montana’s plethora of natural...
2nd Street Bistro opened its doors in the Historic Murray Hotel in the heart of downtown Livingston in the spring of 2004. The Bistro is rooted simply in the belief that great food and wine make life more pleasurable. They are committed to providing locally...
Farm to Fork, located in Bigfork, provides fresh, local, plant-based take & bake meals and grab & go foods! Farm To Fork’s mission statement is: To make every effort to do business with local farmers, vendors & to use organic, local & seasonal produce...
The Wich Haus, located in the heart of Whitefish, is a cozy, farm-to-table sandwich shop featuring local, seasonal ingredients in sandwiches, salads, prepared foods, haus-made bread, and frozen custard. Ellie and Orion Heyman bought the restaurant almost two years ago...
Fork & Spoon, located in Bozeman, is Montana’s only pay-what-you-can restaurant, started by Human Resource Development Council of District IX to share a hot meal with people that didn’t have means to prepare a food box from the Food Bank and to lend a...
Little Star Diner, based in Bozeman, is a modern diner featuring truly unique dishes from talented husband & wife team Lauren, farmer, and Charlie, chef, with ingredients from their own Star Pudding Farm and other local farms. They opened in 2017 with...
Red Tractor Pizza serves New York style brick-oven pizzas with a Bozeman spin! They use the freshest, most locally-sourced ingredients to bring you hand-tossed artisan pizzas in a comfortable, family-friendly environment. We highly recommend ordering your pizza...
Six Bozeman Restaurateurs authored an Opinion piece in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in the fall of 2020 in response to a national survey that predicted as many as 80% of restaurants could close due to the pandemic. The Bozeman community’s call to action was simple:...
