Page 55 - Flathead Beacon // 3.4.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM SPORTS LURCHING FROM ONE
MARCH 4, 2015 | 55
HAPPY. HEALTHY. HOMEGROWN.
Community Supported Agriculture for the Flathead Valley.
NEAR DISASTER TO ANOTHER... Warren Miller Job Creation
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ABOUT 50 MILES SOUTH OF the Bozeman, a gondola will take you to the top of Big Sky and it opens up more than 5,000 vertical feet of uninterrupted skiing.
In the early 1950s this was part of the Huntley Ranch. Chet traded the then potential ski resort for Chrysler Mo- tor Company stock. They, in turn, im- mediately installed a few chairlifts that only went up to where the mountain got steep, built a bunch of condominiums and named it Big Sky. It would be many years before the gondola to the summit was installed and the entire mountain could be enjoyed.
In 1997, Pioneer Peak to the south and its surrounding 14,000 acres began to be developed as the world’s only pri- vate ski and golf resort when it installed five chairlifts and began selling vacant lots to fund the development of the Yel- lowstone Club. Adjacent to Big Sky on the north side, Moonlight Basin, became yet another ski resort with several chair- lifts, a great lodge and condominiums and private homes.
At the Yellowstone Club hundreds of trucks enter the club property every day to service the construction industry at this resort. There are 750 employees to manage the facility. It takes a lot of people working hard to give a skier free- dom on the side of a hill. It takes a crew of about 60 to run the 15 chairlifts and 36 ski patrolmen to keep you safe on the 14,000 acres of ski runs no matter what the snow conditions are.
Big Sky has 22 chairlifts, accom- modations for thousands of people in many condominiums and hotel rooms. Restaurants have a large payroll of hun- dreds of employees. The number of men and women involved is substantial and is an economic boost to where most of them live, down in the Bozeman area.
At Moonlight Basin, which has five chairlifts, there are accommoda- tions for many more in condominiums and private homes.
One thing that Montana does not
have is lots of people and congested highways. Barely 1 million live in the state. The marketing and advertising budget for this entire ski complex is probably somewhat less than a single Colorado resort.
When I first discovered this part of the ski world there was almost no one here. The Yellowstone Club was a startup ski resort and during the first five years I skied here, a crowded day would be less than a half- dozen peo- ple riding the chairlifts. What’s not to like about that?
After turning right and left for 73 years, I broke my back three or four years ago and had to quit skiing altogether. Now I spend my time writing about how many permanent jobs can be created by simply building a road to a mountain and opening up for ski resort development.
I have not yet factored into this job creation story the number of people who have settled down in the Big Sky Mead- ow and the large number of retail stores that have been built. For example there is a K-12 school, a 350-seat performing arts center with full of state-of-the-art equipment, a motion picture theater, numerous restaurants and accommoda- tions for 1,700 employees.
A brand-new hospital with an emer- gency ward is under construction and all of the equipment that a large city hospital has with an emergency heli- copter service to Bozeman or anywhere else. There are now three markets and, according to the Big Sky property own- er’s association, there are dozens of commercial structures in the Big Sky Meadow. It’s hard for me to remind my- self that when I came here in ‘97 for the first time and moved here in 1999 that all of this job creation that is going on today, has occurred since then and it is all based on the undeniable fact that the best freedom of all can be found on the side of a hill covered with snow with a chairlift to get you back to the top.
Let’s hear it for job creation of a simple kind.
What is CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new business model that creates a direct relationship between farmers and their customers. CSA members, or shareholders, purchase a share of one farm’s annual harvest prior to the beginning of the growing season. As the season progresses, members pick up their shares each week, either at the farm or another designated location.
Becoming a Member:
Our CSA runs for 20 weeks, from June to mid-October. Members will generally receive the equivalent of two grocery bags of produce. The amount will be slightly smaller at the beginning of the season, but will increase to the equivalent of nearly three bags full during peak production.
Annual membership for full shares costs $500, which amounts to $25 per share per week. Half-shares are available for $265. Ap- plication for membership opens January 1. The deadline for application is April 1.
For more important details about CSA mem- bership and payment policies, please visit our website, dannikgardens.blogspot.com.
(406) 871-2094
840 Wapiti Meadows Road Columbia Falls, MT 59912
[email protected] • dannikgardens.blogspot.com
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Who We Are:
Dannik Gardens is a small, family farm located near the base of the Swan Mountains in Columbia Falls, MT. Originally established in 1994, Dannik Gardens is run by Dan and Nicole Fisher, with abundant help from their six children.
After years of selling our produce at the local farmers’ markets, we recently transitioned to the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business model. Although we continue to sell at the mar- kets, our first obligation is to our shareholders.
About Our Gardens:
Dannik Gardens has over two acres of land dedicated to producing seasonal vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Our standard crops usually in- clude the following, weather permitting:
• Spring: Low volume - cool season greens: Romaine, red leaf, and bibb lettuces; spinach, Swiss chard, mesclun mix, radishes, and vari- ous herbs.
• Late spring: Carrots, snow peas (edible pod), shelling peas, beets, green onions, herbs, strawberries, and gooseberries, in addition to all of the spring produce listed above.
• Summer: High volume - tomatoes, pep- pers, green beans, yellow wax beans, slicing cucumbers, summer squash, leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, early cabbage, carrots, beets, herbs, raspberries, and greens. • Late summer/fall: Corn, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, toma-
toes, peppers, greens.