Page 101 - Flathead Living Fall 2014

WeLL
“We’re really experiencing our lives, instead of working to live.”
But Tracy and Margaret aren’t isolated; they are part of a growing community of organic farmers, and stay connected through various organizations, such as the Western Montana Growers Cooperative and the Montana Sustainable Growers Union.
They grow the produce they intend to sell on about an acre of the leased land, which churned out more than 10,000 pounds of veggies last year. Goats must be milked each morning, with some of that milk ending up as chevre or feta cheese, and the herd got big enough for Tracy to learn how to slaughter and preserve the animals as well.
Organic farming presents unique chal- lenges, like figuring out how fertilize or wage war on the bugs and moths in the crops with- out synthetic herbicides, insecticides, fungi- cides, or fertilizers. County Rail uses a roam- ing chicken coop that allows the fowl to peck and pluck tasty insects all over the farm, and they use other bugs to attack the invading insect armies.
There’s a steep learning curve that comes with starting a farm, both said, and not just with the agricultural aspects.
“It’s not just that we’ve learned to be farm- ers,” Margaret said. “It’s that we also learned to be business owners.”
This includes understanding their own limitations. The County Rail CSA program, which allowed people to sign up for weekly deliveries of fresh produce, was popular for the first three years of the farm, but it put a strain on the farm, so Tracy and Margaret decided to axe it.
“It’s not an income decision,” Tracy said. “It was a time and energy decision.”
Now, County Rail offers a market-share program, which has people sign up and pay a bulk price in January and February, and then they have that amount as credit when the spring and summer farmers markets roll around.
It’s a win-win relationship, the farmers said, because it helps them purchase seed and
- Tracy Potter-Fins
equipment in the financially dry season, and the participants can pick out the kinds of pro- duce they want instead of receiving a mystery box each week.
Along with understanding the business side of farming, they’ve also had to become botanists, woodworkers, mechanics, butchers, artists and more.
“We have to do it all,” Margaret said.
Moving onto already-established farm- land helped the duo start, and they’ve turned a profit each year they’ve been in business. But clearly, County Rail Farm is about more than money. Farming is a way of life that is harsh and beautiful, trying and rewarding, and everything and nothing Tracy and Margaret expected it to be.
“It’s great being your own boss, being close to your food, and feeding friends and fam- ily,” Tracy said. “We’re really experiencing our lives, instead of working to live.”
For more information, visit www. countyrailfarm.com. FL
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FALL 2014 | FLATHEAD LIVING 99