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!...
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...
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...