Archive for the ‘Home & Ranch’ Category

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Montana Coop at the Dragon Boat Race

Wednesday, September 10th, 2014

By Catherine Haug, Sept 9, 2014

The Montana Co-op is a virtual farmers market that currently encompasses food producers in western Montana, but will eventually include the entire state. Currently there are two food hubs: Ronan and Polson; work will start on establishing a Bigfork hub in the near future.

For more information about the co-op, you can see earlier posts on this topic at Postings about Montana Co-op; see also the Gathering Notice: Montana Co-op, a virtual farmers market from July 2012 for links to handouts from Jason’s presentation in Bigfork, and my post: Montana Co-op: Open to new Memberships, for lots more information. View the Co-op’s website: www.montanacoop.com.

The Coop is preparing for the Dragon Boat race in Bigfork, with a Kid’s Coop team. Two separate events are listed below:

  • Montana Coop, Kid’s Coop dragon boat team meetings and practice
  • Two Montana Coop Booths at the Dragon Boat Race

(more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Community, Events: Other, Home & Ranch, Local Food System, Shop Local | Comments Closed

Bigfork/Ferndale Community Garden 2014 Update

Monday, September 8th, 2014

by Catherine Haug, Sept 8, 2014 (photo, below, by Sally Finneran/ Bigfork Eagle, used with permission)

Bigfork/Ferndale Community Garden, 2014

Bigfork/Ferndale Community Garden, 2014

The garden is located next to St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, near the corner of Hwy 209 and South Ferndale Road in Ferndale. ESP helped start the garden in 2007, and a member of our core team – Mona Rae Tuhy – is the Master Gardener. This project has come a long way since its humble beginnings, with seventy-two 4X4 Square Foot Gardening plots actively maintained (2).

Participating in the community has several benefits; you can:

  • Grow your own food or flowers;
  • Grow food for the Bigfork Food Pantry (see below for more);
  • Participate in the  gardening community that forms naturally between the members, making new friends;
  • Help less experienced gardeners or get help from more experienced gardeners.

If you are interested in buying a plot for next year, contact Garden Chairperson Michelle Patterson (406-837-0982) or Master Gardener MonaRae Tuhy (406-837-9979). Plots cost $15 for the season if purchased before June 1, 2015; after that date, the price is $20.

See also related article in the Bigfork Eagle, by Sally Finneran: Community garden thrives in Ferndale (1) (more…)

Posted in Community, Community Garden, Gardening | Comments Closed

Sharing your garden’s bounty with local food pantry

Sunday, September 7th, 2014

 

Cat's First Garden: Lettuce, Spinach, Garlic and Onion

Cat’s First Garden: Lettuce, Spinach, Garlic and Onion

By Catherine Haug, September 7, 2014 (photo, right, of Cat’s first garden, by Cat)

Many of us in the Flathead valley have gardens (or participate in a community garden). At the same time, many are going hungry. There’s a great program that connects these two groups in the same community: Ample Harvest.

Mercola featured this in an article this week (1), that includes an hour-long YouTube video about Ample Harvest, with Gary Oppenheimer (2). Mercola’s emphasis in his article is two fold:

  • the ‘feel good’ aspect of helping to feed the hungry; and
  • solving food waste.

If you’re like me, you grow more food than your family can eat. What do you do with the excess? I give to neighbors and friends, but there is still food left over which inevitably ends up in my compost pile to nurture next year’s garden. While this is better than throwing it in the garbage, there is a better use for your leftover bounty.

Read on for a program to minimize food waste and hunger in your community, and about the partnership between the Bigfork/Ferndale Community Garden and the Bigfork Food Pantry. (more…)

Posted in Community, Food-Nutrition-Health, Home & Ranch, Local Food System | Comments Closed

Major grocery manufacturers pledge to clean up their act – but not totally

Saturday, August 23rd, 2014
Chicken Factory

Chicken Factory

By Catherine Haug, August 23, 2014 (photo, right, from Factory Farming.com (3))

Take Part news blog reports that three major grocery manufacturers pledge to force positive changes in their supply chain, affecting animal cruelty and climate change. But they have so far refused to force another needed change; can you guess what that is? (more…)

Posted in GMO, Home & Ranch | Comments Closed

Avoiding, treating mosquito bites

Saturday, August 16th, 2014
From Wikimedia commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aedes_aegypti_E-A-Goeldi_1905.jpg

Mosquito

by Catherine Haug, August 16, 2014 (Image, right, form Wikimedia Commons)

Those dreaded bugs of summer – mosquitos – can drive you crazy and almost make you long for winter. Not only do their bites itch incessantly, but they can also spread disease like encephalitis, yellow fever, malaria, West Nile virus, and dengue. What can you do? (more…)

Posted in Health, Kitchen Hints, Remedies | Comments Closed

Butter vs margarine

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

Stick of Butter (Western Pack)

By Catherine Haug, August 12, 2014 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

I recently wrote a post: Butter (and other saturated fats) is a health food!, something which I have firmly believed for over 40 years, and now that belief is finally accepted by the medical and scientific communities. Yet people still encourage using margarine instead of butter, in a belief that animal fats are bad for human consumption. These people just don’t realize how really really bad margarine is.

Now the Alliance for Natural Health has put together a great flow chart to outline the chemical process by which margarine is made; and I put together another flow chart to outline the process by which butter is made. After reviewing these, do you still think margarine is better for your family’s health? (more…)

Posted in Cat's Fats, Food-Nutrition-Health, Home & Ranch | Comments Closed

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