Memberships
What does "farm membership" mean?
Farm members are a special type of customer, a more intimate part of the farm than casual market visitors or wholesale buyers. By the end of the season we are likely to know some of your favorite foods (and what you don't love so much), and you get to really see us, the farmers, in our natural habitat. Members provide about 20-30% of our income, and often the most stable and reliable part of our farm budget. Because they commit to a membership early in the season (long before the first markets), members are crucial to our yearly budget, providing much-needed investments to get each year's season started. 2021 will mark our seventh year of farm memberships, and we love that some of our members have been with us since the very first pick-up. We continually strive to make our memberships work well for both the farm and the eaters, and welcome member involvement and input. 2021 farm membership signups will be offered first to returning members, then opened to new signups in early March.
How does membership payment work?
The farm incurs most of its yearly costs in the winter and very early spring—months before any market sales. This includes costs of soil inputs, nursery heating, and the first few months of pay for our employees. Therefore, it is best if members pay their fee in full when they sign up. If you are not able to do that, the membership fee can be spread into three payments over a 4-month period.
What if I will be out of town for a week? Can I do an extra fill at the end of the season to make up a week that I missed?
If you are out of town for the week you can send a friend, neighbor, or family member to pick up your produce. Many members use their weekly fill as a thank-you to friends who are house-sitting or watching their pets when they leave town. You can also let us know beforehand and we will donate your bag fill to someone who can use it. There are many families in need in our valley and it's one reason we've setup our Eatership program. If you want to “make up” a missed week, please talk to us first; our quantities and sales projections can get thrown out of whack if many members try to do this at once. Growing plans allocate a certain amount of everything for each week, and the spinach you missed in May is not around in November! Also, please realize that we price the memberships assuming that everyone misses a week or two here and there through the season—if you hit every single one, you’ve gotten a bonus.
Can eggs or coffee go in my feedbag?
Coffee, flower, mushrooms, and eggs are available for purchase, but are not eligible for including in your weekly feed bag, which you can fill with all of the veggies, fruits, and herbs.
What if I forget to pick up my share?
One of the most popular and unique features of our farm membership is its flexibility. It's not really possible to miss your pickup, because you can do it any day of the week. The self-serve farm store on the front of our barn acts as the member pickup area and is always open, 24/7. Tuesday afternoons are the time when we are likely to have the highest diversity of offerings, and it's your best chance to hear straight from us about exciting news, great recipe ideas, and what we're excited about that week, but members are welcome to pick up ANY day and time. At midnight on a Sunday we might be out of a particular item you were hoping to find like snap peas, but there will still be plenty of options; we keep the store well-stocked so that with a little flexibility, you'll find plenty to eat.
Is it possible to join the farm for a single season, such as spring or fall?
For a number of years, we split the growing season into separate membership terms for spring, summer, and fall. However, communication of start and end dates with that structure was challenging, and most members decided they wanted a full season membership anyway. We decided that the long-season structure was easiest for us to manage, and rewarded folks who made the big full-season commitment to the farm. If that doesn’t work for you, and you are most interested in fall or spring (perhaps to supplement your own summer garden), we welcome you to the farmstore and market.
Winter is the exception—we did start a winter membership in 2020, and plan to offer it again in 20201-22. The winter membership structure is different, with pre-packed shares, as we have to know exactly how many carrots to set aside for that December 19th pickup! Signups for winter memberships will happen in late summer or early fall.
How many people does a feedbag feed?
This is a hard question, because it depends a lot on your appetite, tastes, and how many vegetables your household eats per week. In general we recommend one feedbag for every 1-2 people, but people vary a lot. A few very healthy individuals actually use two feedbags for a single person, but most commonly 1 feedbag is great for a single person who eats well, or two people who like veggies but may be busy (not cooking every single meal at home), or don’t have huge appetites. Many families who have a small to moderate sized garden typically find that one feedbag works well for their household as a supplement to what they grow. For families of 3 or more, we strongly recommend at least 2 feedbags, or planning to purchase additional produce most weeks, using the 10% member discount. For families right on the border between 1 and 2 bags, remember that it’s always an option to do one feedbag fill-up per week and plan an additional weekly shopping at the market or farmstore using your 10% member discount, too.
I'm out of town quite a bit but I want to support the farm. Can I still get a membership?
If you are away more weeks than you are home, a membership is not the best value for you. But there are still plenty of ways to support the farm even if you can't be a member! You can shop at the market or the farmstore when you are in town; you can tell your friends and neighbors about our farm, the farm store, and our programs. We try to keep our offerings updated on our Facebook page. More details and directions are here. A great way to support our farm is to also support our Eatership program.
Practices
Are you organic?
Ever since we began farming (we've been on this patch of soil since 2014), we've farmed using organic practices. Our farmland was fallow or grazed for about 10 years prior to our purchase, and we were happy to find plentiful weeds that indicated no chemical sprays (we also contacted the relatives of the previous owners to confirm the history), and we tested soils and our well water around our impacted areas for a variety of contaminants. We have been certified by Montana Homegrown since 2014, a process in which other local farmers inspect our operation to ensure compliance with the standards of the Montana Sustainable Growers Union. Whenever we are in doubt about a practice or material, we call the state organic office to check, and we get good mentoring and advising from many organic farms in the area, both certified and non-certified. We are applying for USDA Organic status this spring, mainly at the request of some of our wholesale accounts, but do not yet have that certification. We are completely open with our practices, and we welcome anyone to visit the farm and verify for themselves what we do. We are happy to answer detailed questions about our practices and choices, especially if you can carry on a conversation while hand-squashing potato beetles or weeding carrots. Generally, the best time to visit about our practices or ask questions in general, is during our hosted farmstore hours, Tuesdays 3:30-6:00. This year, these farmstore visiting hours start the first week the farm memberships start — so, at the farm, that’s Tuesday, May 4, 2021.
What inputs do you use?
We use no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and never have. Our sources of straw and hay (for animal bedding, animal forage in the shoulder seasons, and for mulch) are all non-GMO and comply with organic standards. We were delighted when Randi and Lindsay (Mill Crick/ Fourth Wave Farms) started growing organic alfalfa on their Corvallis property, as we try to purchase inputs from as close by as possible. We use several tons of their hay for chicken feed and for mulching growing beds over the winter to feed and protect the soil. We generate a good deal of compost on farm from our field cleanup and our mobile chicken barns, but we also purchased compost from Huls Dairy to amend our soil until they retired in 2020 (we miss their product, but have improved our own compost quality and quantities to help make up the gap!).
Seedlings start their lives in PeaCo organic potting soil produced in Big Arm, Montana, inoculated with a slow-release organic fertilizer that includes beneficial microbes. When soil tests indicate deficiencies, we amend with certified organic options including alfalfa meal, composted chicken manure, and azomite, but we are striving to minimize inputs by increasing our cover cropping, pastured poultry, and crop rotations.
What about labor? Do you have internships, jobs, or volunteer positions available?
After building up the farm for years with just the two of us, we have gradually built up to a larger team. We hire two full-time employees who live on the farm for the busiest six months of the year, keep one farm employee through the winter, and are adding two part-time positions to help with market, harvest days, and tending the farm on weekends while we are at market.
We occasionally have fun, single day volunteer work parties for large projects, and announce these in our newsletter and social media; follow us or sign up for the newsletter if you want to join in. If you are interested in volunteering regularly outside of those work-party days, please email us to discuss options. We have opportunities for volunteers only if they can commit to a predictable weekly schedule, and work within the flow of our weeks. Farmwork can be relaxing and enjoyable, but our week runs on an extremely tight schedule so we simply cannot stop our day to orient un-planned volunteers to a task. Even if there is a ton of work to do, we have found we usually do not come out ahead if people can only put in an occasional day here and there.
If you are interested in applying to be part of our team, or wonder how we describe our farm to prospective farmers, get a glimpse here.
Do you grow everything yourselves?
Yes! All the produce, fruit, flowers, seeds, starts, eggs, and meat we sell through any of our venues, we grow at our farm in Hamilton. It's not always the prettiest, but it's our own. We want you to know, without having to ask, that anything we offer was grown, made, or roasted right here on our place and meets the standards you expect from us. We do not buy-and-sell from other farms (no matter how great they are or how good our friendship) even though this would sometime give us a better selection or a more rounded offering for members. This does mean that sometimes we won't have eggplant, or hot peppers, or some other item. But we like the clarity and accountability of this policy, and it helps keep the pressure on us to improve our skills and get better at growing in order to meet demand. And what's that about roasted here? The coffee we sell we purchase as green beans directly from organic farmers in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea we have a working relationship with from Noah's conservation work in Asia. We roast this coffee on farm weekly for both the farmers market, our farmstore.
What kind of dog is that?
This is probably the actual most-frequently-asked question on our farm, so let’s elaborate. Malaya, our self-appointed farm greeter, is most likely some sort of Malamute and/or husky mix. We suspect a small amount of her lineage to be some sort of magical beast (5% unicorn, or perhaps care-bear?), as she exists on a plane of cheerful, contagious affection beyond any normal animal. She loves just about everyone, especially small children, and we often find her belly-up amidst a crowd of kids on member day. She does insist on being the top dog, however, and will defend her two pet cats from any canine visitors, so we request that you keep your dogs in your vehicles, even if they are friendly. We have had her since December 31, 2012, and estimate she was around a year and a half then. Despite being generally good at math, we ignore the fact that those dates indicate she is no longer around age 5 or 6. She came to us scrawny, runny-nosed, recovering from life as a stray with 6 puppies on the mean streets of Kalispell and just about every disease a dog can catch. She no longer kills chickens or chases sheep, but remains a passionate digger. Her hobbies include napping, greeting farmstore visitors, stealing tomatoes and peas, moseying around, riding in her minivan, skiing in the winter, and moving shoes to new locations on the farm in order to nap on them. The only things she fears are moose, brooms, and storm drains. She is strong-willed and stubborn, and it took a lot of work to get her to the point where she is today. The same could be said of the two of us, which must be part of why we love her so much.
eaterships
How do you decide who receives eatership funds?
So far, we have been able to fund all families requesting help, though we can’t guarantee that in every year. We keep track of the order of applications, and disperse funds in the order in which applications were received. We do not ask for any personal financial information, and do not judge or rank applicants by level of need. If you tell us you need some help we will believe you, and we will do the best we can to make it happen.