Agriculture Magazine March 2017

March 2017

M A G A Z I N E In this issue

Local produce program Blueweed Mulching with hay and more!

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in this issue Loyal to local..............................................5 CSA shares support local farms................8 Blueweed..................................................10 Steam canning.........................................11 Duce’s Wild: 4H families..........................12 Statewide climate monitoring................13 Springtime preparation...........................17 Agriculture Heritage Notebook.............18 Dirty Fingernails: Mulching with hay......21

MAGAZINE How did you like this issue of Agriculture Magazine?

Do you have any ideas you’d like to share with us for our next issue?

Let us know. Sent comments to: Ravalli Republic, 232 West Main, Hamilton, MT 59840 or editor@ravallirepublic.com Photos on this page provided by Perry Backus & Wendy Beye Cover Photo by Perry Backus Agriculture Magazine is published by the Ravalli Republic & Missoulian Newspapers, divisions of Lee Enterprises Mike Gulledge, Publisher Perry Backus, Associate Editor Kathy Kelleher, Lauren Ford & Jodi Lopez, Sales Dara Saltzman, Production & Design Agriculture Magazine is copyright 2017, Ravalli Republic.

232 W Main, Hamilton, MT 59840 ravallirepublic.com

Page 4 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

ravalli county museum and historical society photo archives

Sugar beet farming in the Bitterroot Valley in 1955.

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 5

PERRY BACKUS / RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Loyal to Local Cooperative: Collaborating to bring local food to the Bitterroot community

by Amy hutton Western Ag Research Center

The legacy of industrialized food production is felt deeply throughout Montana in the farms and farmers who have gone missing from our communities.

While the last great state used to produce most of what we consumed, these days nearly 90 percent of what we eat is grown out of state.

In Ravalli County alone, we once had 720,000 apple trees, over 800 acres in active vegetable

production, and 600 acres dedicated to potatoes. And we haven’t lost just farms, but have also forfeited the infrastructure to process their raw agricultural products.

A century ago, Montana was home to 250 processing plants, 80 flour mills, and dozens of canneries. The Cheese Factory in Corvallis was once the highest producing creamery in the entire nation.

But despite the dramatic loss of Montana food production and a century of setbacks to

Page 6 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

the small family farmer, local growers and entrepreneurs are once again staking their claim in the food economy. Western Montana fruit, vegetable, dairy, and meat producers are steadily growing in number and in market share, and they have been met with increasing demand as consumers seek healthier, higher quality, and more sustainable options.

By collaborating as a community of dedicated farmers, committed consumers, and conscientious business owners, we have begun to combat the harsh realities of economies of scale and corporate consolidations.

Farmer-built, Bitterroot-based Loyal to Local Community Agriculture Cooperative was created in 2015 to facilitate that powerful collaboration.

Cooperatives have been an American tradition since Benjamin Franklin established the first

mutual fire insurance co-op in 1752 (still operating). For centuries, co-ops have leveled the playing field for individuals and small business owners and have proven exceptionally adaptable and resilient.

Co-ops are democratically owned and controlled exclusively by their members. In Loyal to Local, all participating farmers are member-owners, while buyers can choose whether to join as a member or to simply support the Co-op through their patronage.

In May of 2016, the Loyal to Local Co-op brought on project coordinator Amy Hutton with the assistance of MSU’s Western Agriculture Research Center and a USDA specialty crops grant.

Guided by the founding farmers including Laura Garber of Homestead Organics and Randall Mark of Mill Crick, Amy’s first order of

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business was market research to assess the key hurdles obstructing local food sales. The Co-op adapted that research into a business plan tailored to overcome those persistent barriers, primarily by offering logistical support for aggregation and delivery, creating a web-based communication tool to connect farms and buyers, and providing some marketing firepower.

Loyal to Local’s ultimate goal is to expand access to and demand for local food throughout the Bitterroot Valley, in order to support existing agricultural businesses and to foster new food entrepreneurs in the community.

The Co-op is committed to growing small local businesses like Montana’s farms, dairies, and bakeries, which create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. Furthermore, money spent on these locally-made products generates up to 3.5 times more economic benefit for our community than does food imported from other states and countries.

Though existing farmers markets, natural food stores, and farm stands are already a vibrant market here in the Bitterroot, many thousands of families still have limited access to fresh, local foods. By collaborating with groceries, restaurants, schools, and other institutions, Loyal to Local is working to expand access to farm-fresh food for all sectors of our community, while promoting healthier eating choices through education and marketing.

The Co-op’s brand new website (bitterroot. localfoodmarketplace.com) will allow customers to conveniently shop at many farms at once, with weekly deliveries to four locations in Hamilton, Corvallis, and Stevensville.

In addition to fresh seasonal produce, keep an eye out at the Co-op for authentic German breads and pretzels from Silvia in Stevensville, who bakes with all Montana-grown grains.

Shop for organically-cultivated culinary and

medicinal mushrooms from Matt and Meredith in Hamilton. Browse for buttery potatoes, tender asparagus, and vibrant bouquets grown by Randi down at Mill Crick Farm. Find out what the youth interns are harvesting each week at Homestead Organics. Or dive in and purchase a weekly produce, cheese, or meat CSA share to support eight hardworking farmers and ranchers throughout the season.

Sign up is free on the Loyal to Local website, and shopping is now open for 2017 CSA shares.

If you’re interested in contributing your skills and support to this young and aspiring organization, please join as a member!

Contact the Co-op coordinator at amy@loyal2localbitterroot.com, or 406-544-7074, or stop by at the Western Agriculture Research Center in Corvallis.

Page 8 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

PROVIDED PHOTO

An example of the bounty of fresh vegetables that people will find in their CSA boxes this year.

Community Supported Agriculture Shares: Supporting local farms through shared risks and rewards

By Amy Hutton Western Ag Research Center

Unlike locally-grown options, the average commercially-produced tomato left its vine 20 days before consumption. The typical head of romaine these days may be four weeks old, compromising both flavor and nutrition.

Despite these disadvantages, there’s no arguing with the advantages of economies of scale.

Locally grown can rarely beat the price and convenience of industrial alternatives, and it certainly can’t match the marketing budget.

One innovative solution that has been uniting farmers and consumers around flavorful toma-

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 9

toes and crisp lettuce since the 1980s is the CSA model.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a unique economic model for distributing locally grown food where a network of consumers commits their support to local farms by purchasing a share of the farm’s harvest before the growing season begins. CSA members, sometimes called subscribers, pay a lump sum in the spring time to receive weekly boxes of farm-fresh products throughout the growing season.

CSA programs help farmers by giving them funds when they need it the most - to purchase seeds, pay for planting, and generally cover the bills when farm revenues are at their lowest. In return for their support, CSA members usually get the best of the harvest as it comes in, taking precedence over other market outlets. Members generally also enjoy a significant discount off retail prices.

Willingness to share in the farm’s risk is an essential element of the CSA model. In most CSAs, members pay up front for the entire season’s worth of produce (generally about 20 weeks), and the farmers do their best to provide a good value to their supporters through an abundant weekly box of food.

If a hail storm, flood, or pest infestation damages the harvest, everyone is disappointed together, and when conditions are favorable, everybody celebrates the bounty. This idea of shared risk creates a sense of responsibility, mutual trust, and gratitude between farmers and eaters.

The CSA model has gained quite the toehold in the fresh produce market since its debut 30 years ago in New England. Americans now support over 13,000 CSA farm programs throughout the country, and farmers have been getting creative with improvements and variations on the classic model.

For example, Sweet Root Farm in Hamilton

offers not only a weekly subscription that closely resembles the typical CSA model, but also an innovative “feed bag membership” allowing farm supporters to fill a tote bag with their choice of fruits and vegetables from the farm’s weekly harvest.

Missoula Grain and Vegetable Co. in Stevensville also offers some flexible alternatives, including a pay-as-you-go option and a farmers market share which gives members a discount at the farmers market and streamlined purchasing through pre-paid credits.

The Loyal to Local Community Agriculture Cooperative is providing its unique Multi-Farm Shares for the third year in a row in 2017, offering a fruit and vegetable share from four local farmers as well as optional add-on shares including meats, fermented foods, microgreens, sheep cheese, grains, and flowers from an additional four farms. You can reserve shares today on the Co-op’s new website (bitterroot.localfoodmarketplace.com) and select from four pick up locations in Hamilton, Corvallis, and Stevensville.

Consider subscribing to a CSA program this year to support your favorite farmers, connect with other local food advocates, and to enjoy the best seasonal food Montana has to offer.

Page 10 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

Beware when handling Blueweed

By Christy Schram Ravalli County Weed District

Blueweed is also known as “viper’s bugloss”, “bluethistle”, “blue devils”, “snake-flower”, and “bluestem.” Thriving in sunny, aridareas and does not tolerate shade.

In Ravalli County the blueweed thrives in the gravel bars along the Bitterroot River and in irrigated pastures.

The leaves are covered in hairs and have a dimpled appearance with a bright blue, pink and purple flowers. The stems are grayishgreen color, are covered with hairs, and black dots. The plant can be anywhere from five inches to three feet in height. Blue weed is most easily identified by its bell shaped flowers. The flowers bloom a few at a time in a way that resembles a scorpion’s tail.

Handling blueweed is comparable to handling fiberglass; the stiff hairs are painful to touch, so be sure to wear gloves and long-sleeved shirts when handling this plant.

According to folklore, due to the shape of the seed, it was mistakenly believed to be a cure for snakebite, thus the origin of its name viper’s bugloss.

Blueweed is also known as “viper’s bugloss”, “bluethistle”, “blue devils”, “snake-flower”, and “bluestem.” Thriving in sunny, arid-areas and does not tolerate shade.

Currently, there are three ways to treat for blueweed: herbicide, pulling, and cultivation.

The pulling method is great to use for small infestations, but remember to wear protective gloves. The best method to dispose of the weeds is to place them in the plastic garbage bag and take them to your landfill.

The cultivation method is to create a disrup-

tion in the soil, by tilling, plowing, and using other type of equipment. This method is preferred in cropland and pasture situations.

If you are considering herbicides to treat the blueweed, or have any questions about blueweed and other noxious weeds please contact the Ravalli County Weed District at 777-5842.

Blueweed is native to southern Europe. The first record of the plant in Montana was in 1916, when a specimen of blueweed was found but no specific location was recorded. It was then discovered in the Ravalli County PROVIDED PHOTO in 1925.

Since then it has been found in eight counties in Montana, including Ravalli County. The blueweed was placed on our county noxious weed list in 2005. It was listed as a category 2 noxious weed on our state list in March of 2008.

As of 2013 the blueweed is on the state list as a Priority 2A. Blueweed is toxic to livestock. The hairs that cover the plant may also act as a skin irritant for humans. This plant can become quite large and greatly reduce the productivity of grazeable lands due to it being unpalatable. It has the ability to destroy wildlife habitat and native plant biodiversity.

Most seeds fall to the ground passively near the parent plant resulting in a patchy distribution of plants. The seeds are contained in a nutlet and can drift short distance on the wind.

Nutlet float and are transported by floodwaters and rain-wash. Detached nutlets can also be transported in animal fur and by ants. Vehicles and equipment can also move seeds long distances. Each plant can produce between 500 and 2,000 seeds.

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 11

Steam canner can safely preserve specific types of food

By Katelyn Andersen MSU Extension Agent for Ravalli County

Dreaming of the gardening and canning season is one way to pass the winter months in Montana. Hopefully winter is coming to a close and the summer months come quickly so gardens can be started and food can be preserved for next year.

Until now, the Montana State University Extension has not recommended the use of a steam canner because there was not enough research to indicate the safe use of them with scientifically tested recipes created through the use of a boiling water bath canner. New research from the University of Wisconsin indicates that an atmospheric steam canner, or steam canner, can be used to preserve some specific types of food.

According to the research, Dr. Barbara Ingham with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, states that steam canners may be used for preserving naturally acidic foods, such as peaches, pears and apples or acidified-foods such as salsa or pickles, as long as the following criteria are met: • Foods must be high in acid, with a pH of 4.6 or below. Either a boiling water canner or an atmospheric steam canner can be used to safely preserve foods high in acid.

• A research tested recipe developed for a boiling water canner must be used in conjunction with the atmospheric steam canner. Approved recipes are available from sources such as the National Center for Home Food Processing and Preservation: nchfp.uga.edu Standard canning jars with two-piece metal lids must be used. The booklet accompanying an atmospheric steam canner cannot be relied on to provide safe canning instructions.

• Jars must be processed in pure steam at 212oF. The canner must be vented prior to starting the processing time until a full column of steam appears. A full column of steam (6-8 inches) should be observed venting from the

hole(s) in the side of the canner during the entire timed process. Ideally, temperature should be monitored with a thermometer placed in the vent port, but the placement of jars in the canner may make this difficult. Some appliances come with a built-in temperature sensor in the dome lid and these appear to be accurate.

• Jars must be heated prior to filling, and filled with hot liquid (raw or hot pack). An Atmospheric Steam Canner can be used with recipes approved for half-pint, pint, or quart jars.

• Processing time must be modified for elevation as required by a tested recipe. Elevation for any address can be checked here: http://www. daftlogic.com/sandbox-google-maps-find-altitude.htm • Processing time must be limited to 45 minutes or less, including any modification for elevation. The processing time is limited by the amount of water in the canner base. When processing food, the canner should not be opened to add water. Regulate heat so that the canner maintains a temperature of 212oF. A canner that is boiling too vigorously can boil dry within 20 minutes. If a canner boils dry, the food is considered under-processed and therefore potentially unsafe.

• Cooling of jars must occur in still, ambient air. Cooling is important for safety. Jars should be cooled on a rack or towel away from drafts. Jars should not force-cooled.

If you have any questions regarding the criteria listed above, please contact your MSU Extension Office in Ravalli County.

Katelyn Andersen, M.S., is an Associate Professor for Montana State University. She serves as the 4-H/Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent for Ravalli County. Contact: 375-6611 or 215 S. 4th Street Ste G, Hamilton.

Page 12 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

Duces’ Stacie Duce

W

ild

4H families have a lot in common On a recent trip to Nevada, I interviewed a 4H family who raise their show animals in a harsh desert landscape as opposed to our mountain valley, however, the family values and routines remain the same.

“There’s no other way to learn the lessons they learn,” Wendy Wheeler said – mom of five energetic children ages 12 down to 3. “Growing up with livestock is invaluable for kids. They learn a strong work ethic and responsibility. It requires them to make money decisions and or be in situations where they’re representing 4H and have to look their best. They have all kinds of great experiences that they don’t get any other way.”

She said the best part about her children’s motivation during these life lessons is that it doesn’t originate from motherly nagging.

“I don’t have to remind them to do their morning chores or make sure they have their homework done before their 4H meeting,” she said. “The animals and the structure demand all those things for me.”

In an area where golf carts outnumber any other all-terrain vehicle, the Wheeler brothers drive a hand-me-down golf cart between their four-acre homesite and another nearby property where the family keeps their horses and cows.

“I guess that’s another benefit, is that they learn to drive at a young age too,” she said laughing. “I’m just glad it’s in a golf cart and not a tractor or something more dangerous for them.”

They belong to a large 4H group that meets weekly at the fairgrounds with their show animals to practice in the ring and socialize.

“We spend every Monday night at the fairgrounds,” 12-year-old Sam said. “We practice with our steers and talk to our friends. I really like it.”

Living an hour from Las Vegas, the Wheelers and their neighbors embrace their rural lifestyle so close to the lights and commotion of urban sprawl.

“I guess it doesn’t really matter how close we are to the big city,” Wendy said. “As long as we’re protecting our rural lifestyle and giving our kids a chance to be raised with these opportunities. It doesn’t always make it easy on me, but it’s worth it to see the kids work hard and succeed.”

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 13

PROVIDED PHOTO

Climate stations have been established across Montana to provide people in agriculture with up-to-date readings on a variety of climatic conditions.

New statewide system benefits agriculture, land managers with hourly climate reports Ravalli Republic

Montana landowners across the state now have access to hourly reports of soil moisture, temperature, soil quality, rainfall and more.

The Montana Climate Office launched the Montana Mesonet information network this past summer, installing wireless weather stations at 13 sites across Big Sky Country, including one in Corvallis.

Based at the University of Montana, the climate office embraces a cooperative approach that addresses a diverse set of information needs. The expansion of Montana Mesonet will benefit landowners, watershed groups, agencies, nonprofits, commercial interests and others.

“No one entity can ensure sustained operation and success of a statewide climate and soil moisture information network,” said climate office Director Kelsey Jencso. “This statewide network is being advanced by Montanans for Montanans.”

The network data collecting stations will help landowners learn about drought, estimate when to irrigate crops, help schedule crop planting and harvesting, predict long-term stability of croplands and watersheds, predict changes in rangeland and forest productivity in relation to changes in soil moisture and temperature, predict pest and disease outbreaks, and predict changes in runoff that could lead to flooding.

Quantifying even small changes in water availability is significant for Montanans who make

Page 14 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

decisions that balance risks and costs. In 2014, 27,800 farm operations on about 60 million acres of land in Montana earned $4.2 billion in revenue. Agriculture is such a large Montana industry that any increase in efficiency from more accurate weather and soil moisture information can translate into millions of dollars in statewide savings each year.

The monitoring stations are solar powered and transmit data to the Montana Climate Office server via secure cellular communication. The data collected at each station includes wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, air temperature, rainfall, solar radiation, vegetation greenness and soil moisture and temperature at 4-inch, 8-inch, 20-inch and 36-inch soil depths.

The climate office stores and analyzes the data at UM, but users can access, monitor and download information at any time online at http://climate.umt.edu/mesonet. Data is shown in graphs and maps and can be summarized and viewed by county, watershed or ownership

unit.

The office also recently assumed leadership of the Montana Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). Since Jan. 1, 143 volunteers have reported rain and snowfall amounts across the state. These citizenscientists provide essential data about precipitation between National Weather Service sites and other weather networks.

Several of the stations were installed in collaboration with Montana State University’s Agricultural Experiment Stations, and 16 new stations will be installed this summer in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

This soil-climate network, the first in the state, was funded in part by the Montana Research and Economic Development Initiative and continues to be supported by the Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station, a statefunded research agency at UM’s W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.

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PROVIDED PHOTO

Eleven-year-old McKinley Murray of Corvallis with last year’s 4H project pig.

Springtime preparation needed to raise pigs

By Stacie Duce For the Ravalli Republic

McKinley Murray of Corvallis is only a few weeks away from picking up her piglet for this year’s 4-H project. The 11-year-old sixth grader confessed her anticipation swings from squealworthy excitement to worrisome dread.

“When they’re little, the pigs are so cute,” she said. “But it is a lot of work. On one hand it will be fun, but on the other hand, it’s a really big commitment. I just keep remembering that I can

make some money with this pig. So I go back and forth a lot.”

McKinley is the third Murray sibling to raise and show pigs at the Ravalli County Fair.

“So it’s something our family always does,” she said. “When I was little, I wouldn’t really help that much, just walk with my brother and sister when they walked their pigs and I’d get in their way. But for the last couple years, I’ve had my own pig.”

McKinley said raising pigs isn’t just for farm

Page 16 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

kids.

“Pigs can be raised by anybody. If you have a little land and some shelter, that’s all you need,” she said. “When they’re babies, we just fill a container with shavings and put them in our shed. Once they’re bigger and it’s warmer outside, we move them to our center corral where they have a shed and space to run around.

“When they get older, we move them by our pond so they swim when it’s hot and play around,” she said. “We have a little shelter to protect them from the sun. Once it’s show time, we move them back up near the house, where we have a special water hose that they open with their mouths to get a drink. That’s what they have at the fairgrounds and we want them to get used to it.

“We’re pretty particular about the brand of feed we give them,” she said. “We start them out with a starter feed and then we go back to a regular pig food while they grow. Then we move on to a finishing feed at the end of the summer.

“If we have scraps, we’ll give them a few scraps,” she said. “One year, they weren’t that fat so we had to give them some Gatorade and whole cow’s milk which we got from our neighbors. But that only happened one year.”

Show pigs should weigh between 230 and 300 pounds at fair time. McKinley said the ideal weight is around 280.

McKinley said she learned most of what she knows about raising pigs from her sister, Madison.

“I‘ve probably learned the most about raising pigs from watching my sister,” she said. “I’d always watch her when people came to look at her pigs in the pen at the fair. People walk around the barn and you’ll talk about what’s good about your pig, so I’ve listened to her do that that since I was little.

“If you want to know what we look for in a pig, we want him to be long and stocky. He should be wide in the shoulders and wide down by the hips because then they’ll have more muscle and

meat” she said. “But you don’t want to raise a girl, mostly because by the time it’s show time, a gilt gets really aggressive or really lazy and she just wants to lie down.”

McKinley raises Yorkshire Hampshire crosses because of the body confirmation but also because of the coloring.

“If you have place where your pig will be outside a lot, you would most likely want to get a black pig or some with more black, so they don’t get sunburned,” she said. “Light pink pigs can sunburn easily and it really hurts them especially when you touch them. You can always put sunscreen on them and that helps. But if they’re mostly inside, you can choose any color.”

Last year, McKinley made it to the final round of showmanship at the Ravalli County Fair and was proud of her improvements.

“The year before that, I made it to the top round for showmanship, but mostly because another pig came under my legs and I rode the pig to the fence, so the lady just let me stay in for another round,” she said. “The guy picked me up off the pig and off the fence. I didn’t get dirty, I just took a ride and then went back to showing my pig.”

“That’s why I really like them when they’re small because they’re really cute,” she said.

“They’re not that big and if they run on top of you, you’re not going to break a bone.”

The Murrays buy their pigs from local breeder Jeff Hale of Kootenai Creek Show Pigs in Florence.

“Jeff will bring some of his pigs to the fairgrounds,” McKinley said. “Jeff has a really nice personality and you don’t ever see him without a smile on his face. He can give you a lot of really good advice and his pigs are strong and healthy.”

Jeff and his family have been breeding pigs for the last six years and raising show-worthy animals for a lot longer than that.

“We were traveling so far to get quality pigs – sometimes as far as Twin Falls, Idaho, seven

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 17

hours each way,” he said. “So finally we realized so that they can’t go out of the barn unless we we could do it ourselves. We got quality aniwant them too. It is a lot of work, but they really mals, built a barn and here we are.” cute, so it will be worth it.

Hale ends up with anywhere from 30 to 50 She said she usually names her pig after a Yorkshire Hampshire cross piglets every spring food – motivated in part by the pig’s characterin time for 4H kids to pick their project pig. istics and also because of her themed thank you “It’s the best of both worlds,” he said. “The baskets to buyers.

Yorkshire is the “Last year, my pig ‘mother breed’ with was named ‘Cupcake’ the best mothering so I took some cupcharacteristics and the cakes in the thank Hampshire is more of you basket. The year the muscle breed and before that, it was puts the right amount Oreos. And of course, of muscle on them for we give them barbeshowing. cue sauce too – for “It’s hard to find a the pig. That part is pig, that’s the main kind of sad. I try to reason we did it,” he not get too attached; said. “We want better otherwise, it gets quality pigs close to really sad after the home for our 4H kids.” sale when they have Hale will host his to leave. One year, my annual pig sale on sister got really close April 8 at the Ravalli to her pig and was County Fairgrounds. so sad, so I try not to “Right now we do that. Not get too have 29 to sell this attached.” year,” he said. “We’re McKinley said she’s PROVIDED PHOTO still a few weeks out had good buyers over McKinley showing her pig at the Ravalli County Fair last year.

She said raising pigs isn’t just for farm kids and said all you need and we are always the years, “Ravalli is a little bit of land and some shelter and you can raise pigs to prepared for health Electric Co-op bought show. issues. Inevitably, one mine one year and will come up lame right before the sale. Pigs Bill Capko always does add-ons. It’s so nice. It’s are very fragile – not as tough or resilient as a a good experience and I’m glad I’m doing it cow. There seems to be more things that can go another year.” wrong with them. That’s another benefit of raising them close to home. We want to give the For more information on Jeff Hale’s pig sale, kids the best start possible.” go to www.kootenaicreekshowpigs.com or see McKinley said in about a week, she’ll go with his Facebook page her parents to buy shavings and starter feed in preparation to bring her piglet home.

“I need to get the food and watering troughs ready,” she said. “I need to connect this gate

Page 18 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

Agriculture Heritage Notebook The Bitter Root Cultural Heritage Trust

interpretation and affirm cultural values.

works in partnership with families,

The Heritage Trust provides an article for

neighborhoods and communities to restore

each edition of Agricultural Magazine,

historic structures, bring back traditional

highlighting the Bitterroot Valley’s

events and celebrations, encourage

agricultural history and heritage.

Story and photos by WENDY BEYE

When I began my barn story journey eight years ago with an aerial survey of Bitterroot Valley, I was intrigued by the pristine white barn and imposing brick home facing each other across South Burnt Fork Road.

Even from 800 feet above them, I could tell they were lovingly cared for. On a visit to the Bitterroot Valley in August 2016, I finally had the opportunity to explore and photograph the barn up close.

A search of public records revealed the

well-known Severson family to be the owners of the property. I arranged to stop by after Dan, recently retired from his Stevensville pharmacy business, gave me permission to roam through the building even if he was still out in the hayfield putting up bales.

After taking a few wrong turns on my way to the Flying E Ranch, I see a weathered gray barn on my right. Thinking, “This can’t be the same building I photographed from the air!”

I nearly drove on by. Then I note the stately

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 19

A birds eye view of the Burnt Fork Severson barn.

brick home across the road, and know I have found the right property.

I pull into the barnyard, grab my camera and begin my exploration. As I walk closer to the west side of the barn, I can see a drift of white paint chips all along the base of the wall. Evidently a weather event has scoured the barn and transformed it into what was probably its original natural state.

I note that the metal roof is in good condition, doing its job of protecting the solid bones of the building. The hand-laid river rock foundation has been repaired in a few places with concrete. The north wall is still white, telling me that an intense storm hit from the southwest, stripping paint from the west and south walls.

I step into the cool interior, and find a milking parlor with several rough-poured concrete ramps resembling the mineral mounds of

Yellowstone Park hot springs. Steps molded into the mounds gave cows secure footing as they made their way to stanchions that have since been replaced with a washing rack for Severson champion 4-H beeves.

Around the corner from the milking parlor there are wooden grain sorting chutes and a flexible belt with small grain scoops attached that once raised grain to the barn loft storage bins. It is reminiscent of the equipment I found at the Bass Brothers barn north of Stevensville. I wonder if it was built by the same inventor, but wasn’t able to confirm that suspicion.

I cautiously climb up the narrow steep stairs to the loft, narrowly avoiding hitting my head on the beam that crosses above my route.

There is no hay stored there, as the ranch has moved on to large round bales. The hay elevator lies on the loft floor piled with evi-

Page 20 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

The brick house on the Severson property.

The stone house on the Severson property.

The walls in the barn are made of rough cut lumber.

dence of what must have been a very large family of raccoons that spent a great deal of time in the loft.

All four corners of the loft have also been used as latrines during the occupation. The desiccated state of the piles indicates the animals had apparently been encouraged to pack their bags and move out years earlier.

The loft beams are in excellent condition, and I can see from the pegs used to join the mortised joints that the barn was built more than 100 years ago.

All the heavy planks used on the floor and on the stall walls below are rough-cut leaving the saw kerfs behind.

I hear an inquiring shout from below, so I clamber back down the stairs, and find Dan Severson standing in the sunshine, leaning his elbows on the window sill on the south side of the barn. We chat awhile about his children’s beef projects, and he gives me a few family names to pursue later at the county courthouse. He confirms that a fierce hailstorm earlier in the summer peeled most of the paint off the outside of the barn. Haying and other chores had prevented him from undertaking the monumental task of repainting the thousands of square feet of wall.

Later research confirmed that the ranch had been in the Severson family since 1908, when great grandpa Burchett Logan settled in the area after moving from North Carolina. Logan purchased from the original homesteaders, John and Eva Robertson who had paid Uncle Sam for their parcel in 1876. Logan purchased the 160 acre piece for $14,000, which probably included the barn and home since the price was too steep for bare ground.

After I annoyed the small Severson watchdog by snapping a photo of the main house and a stone cottage, I left the headquarters of the now much larger Flying E Ranch in my rearview mirror. I stopped at a ranch just down the road to mourn the loss of another historic barn that Dan told me had burned to the ground after being struck by lightning earlier in the summer. All that remained was a patch of blackened ground - yet another reason to capture more stories of historic barns in the Bitterroot.

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 21

Dirty Fingernails: Mulching with hay

By Molly Hackett For the Ravalli Republic

Q: I have a small stack of spoiled hay bales. I would like to use the hay as mulch, but it shows no sign of deteriorating. What can I do to move the process along?

A: Your desire to make mulch out of old hay puts you squarely in the mainstream (or main furrow?) of gardening.

It would not be possible to find any gardening article that offered anything but praise for mulch. There may be regional differences in the preferred mulching material--salt marsh hay on the Atlantic coast, cocoa hulls in Hershey, Pennsylvania--but all gardeners praise mulch as the greatest invention since the seed packet.

Actually, the use of mulch long precedes packets of seeds, which were invented only in the nineteenth century. The English word

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“mulch” is 200 years older, and English gardeners may not have been the first to discover the value of covering bare soil.

Mulch slows down the evaporation of soil moisture. Mulch decreases the temperature variation in the top few inches of soil. By doing so, it keeps plant roots happy, not too hot in the afternoon and too cold at night. Mulch covers the weed seeds which blow into a garden, thus preventing them from sprouting. Weeds are tough plants, hard to attack. But their Achilles’ heel is that their seeds need light to germinate.

If kept in the dark, weed seeds will never sprout.

There are probably more good materials for mulch than either of us will ever think of. But imagination is not the only limit. A good mulch must be easy to obtain, easy to spread, and not too expensive. Designer mulches are easy to purchase, locally or online, but some make

Page 22 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2017

PERRY BACKUS / RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Even with the best of care, sometimes hay spoils. Dirty Fingernails columnist Molly Hackett offers some tips on what to do with that spoiled hay.

no economic sense. The Mulch of the Month is likely to cost far more than the garden value it provides.

Since none of these warnings apply to your stack of spoiled hay, you have several choices for turning it into rich soil. All of them will benefit the garden. You can’t lose, no matter how you choose to decompose the old hay.

Do you want to get rid of the stack with as little effort as possible? You could turn those bales into a weed barrier. Choose any garden edge where weeds are constantly creeping in from untended land nearby. Lay the bales in a neat row, like a low wall, along the edge. No weeds will grow under the bales, of course; even quackgrass will have to work hard to send its rhizomes down, under, and back up into the

garden.

Use the top of the wall of bales as convenient seating. What a practical place to sit and shell the peas! Or, for a decorative touch, grow flowers in containers on the tops of bales. The wall of bales should stand a few years before it begins to rot away. When it does, the decomposed grass is a ready-to-spread mulch.

Have you been tempted to try straw bale gardening? Hay bales will work equally well. Again, set bales in rows on the ground, but this time in a configuration for raised beds. Set the bales with cut ends up so that water can penetrate them. Cut out small planting holes wherever you want to grow a tomato, a cucumber, or any other vegetable. Drop the seedling plant into the hole and fill around it with rich soil. As

Agriculture Magazine, March 2017 - Page 22

the plant grows, its roots will spread into the bale like exploring fingers. The plants will need watering as frequently as any container plant, but the constant moisture will break down the grass stems around the planting hole, continually enlarging the container. To start plants from seed, use the same technique. Excavate a small hole and fill it with seed-starting soil; plant a few seeds in each hole and cover with a scrap of row cover until they germinate. When it becomes clear which seedling is the strongest, clip off the others to leave only one plant per hole.

Would you like to rot the hay completely, making it into mulching material before spreading it around? Choose a spot for your mulch factory where the hay will get regular irrigation. Tip the bales into a single layer, cut sides up. Then pull off all the baler twine. The hay stems are positioned to absorb and hold water. A season’s irrigating followed by a winter’s snow will hasten the breakdown of cell walls, allowing natural bacteria to feast on their contents. If you have time this summer, wander through the bales, kicking apart any lumps which are not decaying fast enough.

Would you like to use the hay as an earthfriendly alternative to black plastic? Break the bales and spread the hay on garden beds, about two inches thick. This is a case where less may be better than more. The layer must be thick enough to prevent weeds from growing, but not deep enough to stop good air circulation to plant roots. When warm weather finally gets here, set out vegetable plants by pushing aside just enough hay for a planting hole; then arrange the hay back around the stems. The layer of hay will prevent weed seeds from germinating by keeping them dark, just as black plastic would. It will slow the evaporation of soil moisture, just as plastic would. The hay mulch will decay from the bottom up, contributing its nutrients to the garden soil as it breaks down ,

and improving the soil texture. Black plastic can never do that.

The one thing that a plastic mulch does better than an organic one is to warm the soil quickly.

Organic mulches minimize the fluctuations in soil temperature. Although mulched roots will not chill overnight as the air temperature drops, neither will they warm quickly if planted in cold soil. Wait for soil temperatures to warm in spring before spreading hay or any other plant-based mulch.

In this dry climate, it is well periodically to check the moisture under a hay mulch. Until the stems have crumbled away, they will shed water like a roof. As long as irrigating water runs down between the stems to the underlying soil, all is well. If dry spots show up, uniform moisture distribution could be assured by the same kind of drip irrigation that is used under black plastic.

Are there any precautions to consider before using old hay as mulch? Be sure that the soil is moist before covering it. Dry soil under mulch is slow to change its moisture level. There may be weed seeds in the hay; there may not. Are you sure that the hay does not contain long-lasting herbicides? If that is an unknown, test first. Cut some of the hay into one-inch pieces, mix it with an equal quantity of potting soil, and plant a few bean seeds. Since they are very sensitive to herbicides, you will know within a few days whether they are healthy. If herbicides are present in the hay, spread it only on grass, which will not be injured.

To use hay mulch on trees or other permanent plantings, it is a good plan to push it away from the trunk each fall, leaving a doughnut of bare soil. That will stop voles from eating the bark during the winter. Incidentally there actually has been a study which found that fruit trees mulched with hay or straw produced heavier crops than those growing in bare soil.

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