Community Garden's Deer Fence
by Catherine Haug
The St. Patrick’s Community Garden in Ferndale is in need of your compost. We recently moved the compost bin inside the deer fence, to keep deer and bear out of the bin.
The fence is not locked and you’ll still be able to dump your compostables. Just remember to close the gate when you leave.
Please do not dump your compost on the pile of wood chips outside the fence. These chips are for mulching paths inside the garden, in the spring. (more…)
by Catherine Haug
A small but loyal group met Wednesday evening for a pot luck dinner and discussion. I didn’t take notes on all the different food offerings, but here’s what I remember – quite a feast!:
Lentil soup, tossed salad, fresh apple slices and caramel-nut dipping sauce, pickled beets and eggs, bear sausage on crackers, with various homemade pickles, lemon and carrot salad, eggplant parmigiana, homemade pumpernickel and white breads, banana bread, and applesauce cake.
After dinner, Sally introduced the discussion topics: How are we doing, are we reaching the goals of our Mission?, and How can we reach people who would be interested? (more…)
by Catherine Haug
Small Ranch in Bigfork
Could a global conversion to the centuries-old methods of organic and biodynamic farming/ranching really pay off, not only by providing nourishing food, but also by reducing our reliance on the petroleum industry, and sequestering carbon dioxide?
The place to start is right here in the Flathead and Mission valleys. Lets start a discussion on how we could go about an Organic Revolution at the grassroots level. (more…)
by Catherine Haug
Ice Cutting on the Swan
The Daily Interlake had a very interesting feature article in the October 25, 2009 Montana Life section, titled “Block Parties,” a history of local ice harvests and ice houses in Whitefish.
Elmer Sprunger had a great photo of an ice harvest on the Swan River near Bigfork, shown left. This photo features Elmer, George Wells, and George’s brother.
There may come a time in a not too distant future, when we will need to resume this activity to keep foods cool – when there’s no longer enough electricity to run our refrigerators.
At one time, ice houses and ice cutting parties were very common in the Flathead. We ‘grew’ very good quality ice here on our mountain lakes and slow-moving rivers like the upper Swan. Just about every community had it’s own ice house, managed by an enterprising entrepreneur. Bigfork’s ice house was located between the Garden Bar and the old Wild Mile Deli building, and was still in use when I was a small child. It was both an ice house and a meat locker.
See The Essentialist: Refrigeration without Electricity (96 KB) for more information.
Pressing ground apples
by Catherine Haug
Saturday October 17, ESP joined Tamarack Time! festivities with a cider press on the deck of La Provence (next to the Chocolate Desserts table). (more…)
by Catherine Haug
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to grow fresh fruits and veggies year-round, right here in Bigfork? It’s about to happen! with a new multi-family cooperative community endeavor.
Paul Renner, a member of our ESP community, is working on a project called “Peaceful Gardens.” This is a “community oriented, year round, food self-sufficiency program specializing in growing organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.” (more…)