FERNDALE – Loon Lake Pottery and Garden is tucked away down a long gravel road in the middle of the woods, but still it has managed to blossom.
“We used to measure how good a garden day we had by how few wheelbarrows of rock,” says Gayle Prunhuber. More than 20 years ago Prunhuber and her husband, Dan Doak, moved to Ferndale and started a garden that has become their full-time job.
The garden, including the fruit trees, covers about an acre and a half of land and it’s constantly in rotation. Loon Lake Garden produces vegetables, flowers and herbs from frost to frost, encompassing three seasons: spring, summer, and fall. The couple sells salad mixes and fresh vegetables to individuals and restaurants across the valley.
 |
|
Gayle Prunhuber replaces a fabric cover after picking a selection of mixed greens. The mixed greens, including arugula and mustard greens, are used by ShowThyme restaurant in Bigfork. |
“Gayle and Dan love gardening,” says Rose Funk of Showthyme in Bigfork. “They love what they grow, and they started to grow more than they need, and now it’s sort of grown out of control.” Showthyme has been a customer since Loon Lake Garden’s first spring, 1985, and carries the Organic Loon Lake Green Salad as a special when it’s available.
“Blu and Rose are very supportive of selling local, fresh food,” says Prunhaber, whose salad mixes include a variety of lettuces, kale, cress, chard, arugula and mustard greens.
When Josh Auerhammer started Culinary Designs Studio last February he also turned to Loon Lake Garden. He serves private dinners, hold tastings and caters and makes sure to tell customers where his food came from.
“They’re totally into it,” says Auerhammer, “They look at it and they’re like ‘I can’t believe this is grown just a little ways away.”
Prunhaber and Doak first moved to their Ferndale property in December of 1984. Before their house was built, they fenced in a space, hauled out rock, hauled in manure and started their garden. They found hoop houses and cold frames to be very effective in extending the short Montana growing season. The cold frames protect tomatoes and peppers in the spring, and herbs like basil in the hotter summer months.
 |
|
Gayle Prunhuber picks Swiss chard for a customer’s order at Loon Lake Pottery and Garden in Ferndale. The garden currently grows three kinds of Swiss chard: rhubarb, pink passion and bright lights. |
While Prunhuber and Doak practice organic farming, they are not “certified organic.”
“I believe certification is a great thing when you’re selling to people you don’t know,” says Prunhuber. But her customers generally come out to the garden and meet the gardeners before they take home the produce. Prunhuber notes being a small, localized operation gives her customers the opportunity to see for themselves how their garden grows.
To deal with their biggest pests, flea beetles and slugs, Prunhuber pays her 16-year-old son to pick slugs and uses row covers over greens. They use one spray, BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) – which specifically targets caterpillars before they become cabbage moths and attack the broccoli and cauliflower. They also use hay to keep down the weeds, keep the water in the plants and raise the squash up off the ground. Once or twice a week Prunhuber and Doak hire a high school student to come help weed. Other than that, they do all the work.
 |
|
A snow pea hangs from a vine at Loon Lake Pottery and Garden. |
At 7 a.m., Prunhuber is out the door to milk the goats. She bottle-feeds the babies so they can use the goats milk for cheese. The couple takes a break during the heat of the day, between 11 and 1, and water the garden and themselves. Ferndale’s Loon Lake is just down the road, and they’ll cool off with a swim before getting back to work. Prunhuber says she tries to get in by 10:15 p.m. to catch the weather report on the nightly news, but often misses it.
As Prunhuber gives a tour of her garden, she stops to pull some sunflower leaves, allowing more sun to filter down to the flowers growing below. She checks on the edible peas to see if they’re ready and looks over the sweet peas as their flowers bloom. She points out the bee balm – a favorite, which flowers bright red and can be used for tea and also attracts hummingbirds in – and discovers some new blooms.
“That’s one thing that’s so exciting about the garden,” she says, “there’s something new every day.”
Prunhuber and Doak make their salad mixes and pick flowers and vegetables per order. Call 837-4734 for more information.