We are excited to announce that we have a full time farm manager joining us spring of 2022! Heidi Harris, although unrelated, shares the same great last name as Eric and Katie. Heidi joins us from Massachusetts, where she has spent the last few years working at Five College Farms. She has a degree in International Agriculture and Development from Andrews University.
We will let her tell you a little more about herself:
“I am passionate about sharing my love for plants. I love to see the excitement as kids watch the plants grow and progress every day. I also think that it is a great way to get them interested in health and responsibility.
I grew up on a farm and had the chance to work with a variety of crops. This started my interest in agriculture. I have experience with many different farms, each with different practices, climates, cultures, crops, goals and resources. The chance to work in multiple settings has giving me experience in creative problem solving and given me the chance to learn many new things. I am excited to be at Bear Canyon Farm, I am looking forward to growing food for Bozeman!”
The agriculture industry has not been immune to the rapid changes that have taken place since the coronavirus, and subsequent chain of events have taken hold in our country and globally. From an ag perspective, we see things on the news like dairy dumping, animal euthanization, entire fields of lettuce being rolled over rather than harvested, and food rationing at the store for certain items that are still in abundant supply. Then, we had a run on vegetable seeds and all things related to growing a garden, the list could really go on and on. I was thankful I stocked up on seeds months before that happened and that our seed supplier was only selling to commercial growers for a period of time so we could get the rest of our supplies before things were sold out. Nonetheless, there has been a serious disruption to our food system, folks. I think we all realize that. I’ll be honest, until the last few years I was not a huge “buy local” proponent; I was more of a “what is the best deal” person. Let’s be real, the best value usually comes from China, Mexico, or some other country that has much lower wages. If this pandemic has showed me anything it is how unsustainable, how easily disrupted, our current food system is. “Local” and “sustainable” has a much deeper meaning to me now on so many levels, and I hope it does to you, too. I hope this crazy time has helped us all realize more than ever how much we need to be supporting our neighbors and community members, our local farmers and small business owners. It is these supporters that have helped Bear Canyon Farm to establish and operate, and we are thankful for each and every person that has worked with us, bought from us, or one way or another been a part of making this farm happen. I am thankful there were people who valued “local” long before I did, and have been willing to support and encourage this step of faith we took three years ago to establish this farm.
Because of these people—you know who you are!—we are able to be a small part of providing sustainability and stability to our local food market. For example, Town and Country relies heavily on local garlic producers for their supply. After that supply has been exhausted, they have to order from China. When COVID-19 disrupted that supply chain, their store when several weeks without garlic to offer their customers. Being a small piece of that local supply for them is huge, but is realized even more when systems are disrupted like we have been experiencing most recently. This year will be selling a variety of produce through CSAs, at the farmer’s market, and through Town and Country as well as other local small businesses. If you want an awesome rhubarb pie, Elle’s Belles will now be making theirs with rhubarb from Bear Canyon Farm! Aside from working on marketing our products, we have plants transplanted, seeds seeded, trees blooming and even the honeyberries made it through a harsh fall and some of the little plants have some beautiful little blooms on them! The garlic looks awesome, the asparagus and rhubarb is being harvested and hopefully we have had the last of the spring snow fall for Bozeman! Our season is getting busy and we want you all to know how much we appreciate your support. Buy local. Support your neighbors. If you are in the area, sign up for our CSA this season! bearcanyonfarm.com/csa
Spring is finally here and we are ever so thankful to see green grass appearing in place of the snow! This week we raced the coming wind and rainstorms to cover and complete the 3rd hoop house we now have up. The weather has to be just right to pull and secure a large piece of greenhouse plastic without the wind taking it away. We had a narrow window of opportunity Wednesday morning to get the job done, and secured it just in time before the wind started picking up. With the exception of a little left to do on one end wall, the hoop house is ready for the prep work on the inside in order to house all our seedlings patiently awaiting transplanting. In this hoop house we will primarily grow cucumbers that will be going to Town and Country and used in our CSA. We have been working on a lot of planning and it is so nice to finally get out and begin implementing those plans!
Lots of spring cleanup has been underway: pruning raspberries, preparing the soil for planting, cleaning up the asparagus and rhubarb plots and all the other preparations for this season. We are so grateful for the help we had this week from Russel. He helped on the hoop house as well as with a lot of raspberry pruning. It is exciting to see the rhubarb coming up so fast, new raspberry plants pushing themselves out of the ground, and tiny buds appearing on the honeyberry (haskap) plants. The garlic is shooting up as well and before we know it the strawberries will be flowering! It is so remarkable to see the life that “springs” out of our cold, snowy Montana winters.
We have been planning and fabricating in preparation for the snow to melt! We have been discussing with a local restaurant, grocery store and food preservation company the potentials of providing various produce items for them when the season begins. We have also began our garden planting plan, completed our orders for all seeds, plants and trees as well as some much-needed tools. In the case where some tools are expensive, yet simple to make, Eric has been making them himself. The greens spinner was recently completed as well as a broad fork. Next on the list is a gridder set and rolling bed flamer for our torch set up. We will save roughly $1,000 by making these items out of scrap metal versus buying them. In the case of making the broad fork, it also incidentally turned into a plasma cutting class for some of the auto shop students. Not only did they get a short course on how to use a plasma cutter, they were able to take part in cutting out some of the pieces for the tool as well as practice cutting their names into metal pieces. I think the students enjoyed the unique experience and it hopefully built their confidence in using (and making) a new tool.
Eric Harris, a 2003 graduate of Mount Ellis Academy (Bozeman, Mont.) and a board member since 2013, had a lot of time to think while sitting on his couch recovering from crushing his foot between a fully loaded trailer and a hitch. Researching water rights for his own property, he became curious about the academy’s water rights. He found that Mount Ellis Academy (MEA) had great water rights to irrigate all of the property. Harris began envisioning a large-scale commercial farming enterprise to financially help MEA.
Credit: Lizbeth Geary Photography
Around that time Merlin Knowles, former Montana Conference president and Mount Ellis Academy board chairman, challenged his board members to read Ellen White’s counsel. While reading White’s words and her vision for agriculture in Adventist schools, Harris’ conviction grew stronger. White wrote, “It is God’s plan that agriculture shall be connected with the work in our sanitariums and schools. Our youth need the education to be gained from this line of work” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 228). Harris was certain MEA needed an agricultural program.
Having recently graduated from Walla Walla University, Harris and his wife, Katie, were living in Fairfield, Mont., making a go at farming and nursing, respectively. Living on Katie’s earnings from nursing, they purchased land from Eric’s family and reinvested all profits back into the farm until they were operating loan-free — a rare occurrence for beginning farmers. They were considering expanding their operation, but God had other plans in mind.
That was around the time of the accident.
As Katie explains, “Eric was consumed with the idea. Abnormally consumed.” Unable to sleep or waking in the night, he couldn’t get the idea of an agricultural program at MEA out of his mind. He believed he could help the school along the path to commercial farming. After crunching the numbers, a lot of prayer and Katie’s encouragement, he proposed a plan to the school board. As he remembers, he was “shot down immediately.”
The Harrises were not deterred. “We knew that if God wanted agriculture, He would make it possible.” To Katie, it was out of character for Eric to think about something daily for months on end. “It was so clear to me that God really wanted him to act on the thoughts that were consuming him,” she says.
It was important to Katie and Eric that the garden endeavor be linked to Mount Ellis Academy and Mount Ellis Elementary. After further research, Katie learned time spent in a garden helps improve academic performance. Eric learned the importance of small-scale, high-intensity crops to give more students hands-on experience with agriculture — in essence, to obtain the “education to be gained by this line of work” that White was talking about. They brought their new plan back to the school board and came away with a five-year, five-acre lease. Their work had just begun.
Their original thinking was to volunteer for two to three years, setting everything up — the farm, greenhouses, a farmhouse, planting, working with the school — and then find a “qualified” farm manager to take over once the farm was generating sufficient income to support one. But if that farm manager doesn’t materialize, they are prepared to stay longer: “It’s not that we don’t want to be here; it just wasn’t a part of our original plan. We know God wants us here now. We’re here until He brings someone better suited to replace us, in His time.”
Students working on the farm have built fences, planted and harvested crops, and even helped sell some produce. But that is only part of the vision. Eric and Katie don’t just want students working on the farm; they want them learning on the farm. Last year, Seth Ellis, MEA math teacher, brought his students to the garden, where they calculated the plastic needed to cover the end walls of the newly erected hoophouses. According to Ellis, because the field wasn’t level, it quickly became a “real-world problem, more challenging and messy than a book problem.” This fall, the home economics class learned about food preservation, Brix tests and garden planning.
If you visit Bear Canyon Farm on any given day, you will find Katie, Eric and their two children, Elika and Colter, planting, pruning, weeding and harvesting the fruits of their labors. When they are not working on the market garden, they are “home” in Fairfield, managing their ranch and the production of hay and cattle. And when they are busy in Bozeman, Eric’s parents, Keith (a 1968 MEA graduate) and Gayle, help make the dream possible by taking care of the cattle in Fairfield.
Eric and Katie’s dedication to MEA and their vision is palpable. They are certain God wanted an agriculture endeavor at MEA, and they know without a doubt this is God’s leading. Eric explains, “God calls us to be unselfish. He prompts us to move forward in faith, despite what we may want, even if He is calling us out of our comfort zone. When I understood that, I felt confident that God was calling us to create a farm at Mount Ellis Academy. After all, God planted the first garden, and I believe He wants us to enjoy a piece of that experience.”
The Bear Canyon Farm at Mount Ellis Academy (MEA) in Bozeman, Mont., is a ready source for practical mathematical problem solving. It’s evident when you speak with farm managers Katie and Eric Harris that they are as passionate about growing young minds as they are fruits and vegetables.
In geometry class we have been studying the properties of quadrilaterals, so when Katie told me they have a greenhouse plot to lay out, I knew it was a perfect application for math class. I supplied the class with metric rulers, and Eric Harris gave them the needed dimensions in feet.
Jace Wyatt explains, “Converting the metric units to feet was interesting and a challenge.” At one point, the students recognized their conversion was giving them an incorrect measurement. This miscalculation may not have been noticeable in a homework assignment, but when applied to a greenhouse plot it became obvious.
This is the power of the real application of problem solving. Of course, when it is a lovely fall day in Montana, it doesn’t get any better than learning outside. By the end of class, the students had marked out the rectangular plot with 90-degree corners and made it parallel with the fence line. We look forward to partnering with Katie and Eric on the farm more often.
My eyes may have watered a tiny bit as the students began streaming in last Thursday—a staggered but consistent stream. The garlic had cured and it was well past the time to take it down, clean it up, sort it and box it. Before last week, we weren’t exactly sure how we would sell every pound of garlic we harvested last July, but God has His ways of making things happen. We had gotten rid of roughly 25% of it, but we still had a couple hundred pounds to sell. This was when Ruth Degraaff, one of our regular volunteers and CSA members, spoke with the produce manager at the local grocery store, Town and Country. When following up with her contact, they were very excited to take all the garlic we could sell them—as well as all of our bell peppers and the Anaheim peppers grown from plants started by last year’s biology class.
We were excited to have it sold, but hours of work lay ahead to get it ready for market. Also, this was right when we were madly harvesting the last of the produce before a hard frost would soon arrive. After a plea for any extra student workers available, we were excited when Mr. Stuart and one of his students unexpectedly arrived to help us complete the harvest the last day before the frost! This idea of lending us their own student workers inspired Mrs. Mathis, who not only sent all of her workers over that Thursday, but spread the word to other faculty and staff; that’s when they started streaming in. One after another. First we had two, then five and at one point I believe there were eight. Some could only stay for 30 minutes, but some for 1.5 hrs. I remember one student even stating, “this is fun!” I was not only excited and relieved at the same time, but also touched by what I felt was a rally around the farm to get the through the last long days of the garlic harvest.
But this isn’t the end of the story. The following day, many students were spending time doing various community service activities and Mr. Lawrence had arranged for us to have a few student volunteers in the afternoon. Again they were lined up on benches, quickly burning through the boxes of garlic that would have taken us days to complete on our own. By the end of Friday we had all but one large box of garlic cleaned and sorted! It gets even better: Sunday afternoon we had three students come help as they needed extra work hours. They not only finished the last box, but we were able to break up nearly half the bulbs needed to get the garlic planting done this week, before yet another snowfall arrived! I’m excited to share that we currently have half of the garlic delivered and being sold at Town and Country, with the rest scheduled to be delivered within the next week. We also completed planting the garlic while weather was still good- 1.5 times the garlic we planted last year and in half the time! What a RELIEF!
I cannot express how grateful I am to the students and staff at MEA, for their help and support during a very busy time, and responding to our request for help above and beyond my wildest expectations! Thank you for being a part of Bear Canyon Farm.
As some of you may know, this past winter we re-applied for the Growth Through Agriculture Grant, which is a $50,000 1-to-1 matching grant. Unfortunately, we did not receive any grant funding on our second and final attempt. Although this was disappointing, we know God is still leading in this project and will continue to provide as we move forward—according to His will and in His time. In fact, after getting notice from the GTA board that we did not receive funding, we had been praying for God’s direction when we were contacted by a former Montana pastor who is now located in Canada. An Adventist school in BC has been expanding a honey berry (aka Haskaps) orchard and he wanted to tell MEA about the potential of such a crop. We spoke to the principal of the school and after further research and prayer, it seemed the phone call was providential in both timing and direction. We are excited that we will be establishing a small honey berry orchard this summer. Since we are focusing on growing fruits, this crop will fit right in—especially with its cold hardy characteristics.
Hoophouses
The two 30x100ft hoop house frames were erected last fall. They were reinforced before winter and stood the snow load well with occasional clearing until early March. As Eric was making his way through the endless deep blanket of snow with MEA’s snowblower, one of the hoop houses began to collapse as things began to warm up on that sunny March day. The supports down the center busted and nearly half of the bows were bent on one side. Only hours sooner and the whole thing could have been saved! However discouraging this event has been, we know God is still in control. The devil tries all kinds of ways to get us down and has been working mighty hard to inhibit progress for the project. He has used illness, destruction and disappointments to name just a few, but we remember each day that God is bigger and will see us all through anything that comes along in our lives!
What’s growing this season?
This spring we are starting the season by expanding the orchard with a variety of cold hardy fruit trees, approximately 125, as well as 90 other trees and hazelburt bushes for an orchard windbreak. We will also expand the raspberry and rhubarb patches. The honeyberry orchard will be our big project this year. The 750 plants will arrive in June, be babied through the summer and transplanted in September. The patch will cover approximately half an acre. We also planted 50 lbs of garlic last fall and it is exciting to see it starting to sprout as the snow is slowly melting away this spring!
Class involvement
We had a great time last summer with a visit from a group of MEE students for their summer school program. We gave them a tour of the farm and talked about some basic gardening topics. In the fall, the pre-K/K class had a ball harvesting onions and picking one out to take home. They have been our best helpers by far, harvesting a 150 ft bed of onions in 20 minutes flat! Their energy and enthusiasm was fun to watch.
Various MEA math and science classes joined us in the garden last fall, as well. The biology class looked at a couple plant deficiency problems, a math class helped pull plastic over one hoop house and the geometry class measured a hoop house for volume calculations and plastic covering needs. We eagerly anticipate providing more classroom application opportunities in the future.
This spring we have planted a variety of fruits and vegetables including raspberries, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, grapes and over 200 fruit trees. This totals over 2,600 plants in all and covers approximately 2 acres. We also have a variety of seedlings waiting to be planted outside. We are finishing our irrigation set up and laying the last of the weed barrier.
What’s next forBear Canyon Farm?
This summer we will be setting up two 30x100ft hoop house frames that were donated last fall. They have been dismantled and are waiting to be re-erected and re-covered. We will also be building a trellis and will re-apply for the GTA grant this fall.
Next spring, we will plant two additional acres of fruit trees. Once everything is planted, Bear Canyon Farm will be operating five acres in total. When we reach full production, farm activities will include providing produce for the MEA cafeteria, selling at local farmer’s markets, and selling through a CSA (community supported agriculture) program.
How can I help?
Support We appreciate your prayers as we continue to establish Bear Canyon Farm.
Volunteers We could use help with various building projects this summer. If this falls under your expertise, or you are willing to lend a helping hand, we would greatly appreciate the help!
Donations If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please make checks out to:
How are donation funds used? 100% of your donations are used for operating expenses such as seeds, plants, irrigation equipment, fuel and student labor.
