Baby Horses!

I have an announcement to make…we officially own two baby horses! These horses have been something that we have been planning to buy for quite some time. We prepared the corrals for them and got everything ready for these fillies months before buying them. They are our two new babies and there names are Haze and Rebel. Rebel has a very fitting name because she has quite the personality. She is a little skiddish around us and can be quite mean, but she means well. Haze is the complete opposite. She is very sweet and lets you pet her and is easy to halter and get to do what you want her to do. These two together make the perfect blend of personalities for our farm. We are excited to train these fillies, ride them and eventually breed them. This is all very exciting news for us on the farm and we can’t wait to share with you the progress of these two animals.

Our other two horses have adapted to the newcomers quite well. They are being very nice to the young fillies and showing great maturity in their old age. It will be interesting to see how things go between these two horses this summer when we let them graze in our fields. We are planning on training them with food and a cowbell to call them back in this summer and are eager to try this method out and see if it works. Stay tuned for updates on these two new additions to our family and farm!

Incoming Pheasant!

So I have had a long day today… A couple of days ago my check engine light came on and I was planning on bringing my car in to get checked today. As I was driving into town, I saw two pheasants starting to take off in the grass to the right of the road. I kept thinking the birds were going to get out of the way, but as I got closer I realized I was going to hit the second pheasant. I tapped on the brakes and immediately hit the bird. There was a loud shunt heard throughout the car. My window was completely shattered. I couldn’t see anything. I slowed down and put my flashers on to let the cars behind me past. I was devastated. How could everything go wrong all at once? I was just going to get my check engine light checked. Below is a picture of the windshield.

Shattered Windshield

There was even glass inside the car. I’m lucky the windshield didn’t completely break and crash into me. But it’s not all bad. I was able to get my car to the windshield place and was able to run a diagnostic on my check engine light and found out it’s only a minor part failure and should be a cheap fix. So the day is turning around, I just keep replaying that moment in my head and what I could have done differently. If I could do anything over again, I would have slowed down the second I saw the two pheasants instead of just assuming they would get out of the way. Next time I will do that. Just another day driving in Montana!

Tips for growing in Montana

Montana is a beautiful state with a lot to offer, but unfortunately for those who like to grow a garden, we have a relatively short growing season. This means you must prepare during the spring and maximize your growing season during the fall. Here are a few tips to help you grow a better garden this summer in Montana.

1. Grow your seedlings indoors to start. One of the key things to maximize your growing season is to start your seedlings indoors before the last freeze. Timing is everything when growing your seedlings. If you plant them too early and the last freeze runs into June, you are risking stunting the plants growth and causing death. If you plant the seedlings too late you limit the amount of growth you can get from each plant. My recommendation is to use a chart of when to plant each seed in relative to the last frost day. Use these times to count backwards from when your predicted last frost is and begin growing then.

2. Use heating pads. The use of heat pads will greatly impact your germination rates. If you find yourself getting a less than predicted germination rate for a specific plant, you might need to use heating pads underneath the seedlings to improve germination rates. We use heating pads and have seen our seedlings germinate faster and at a greater percentage.

3. Grow a variety of different plants and vegetables. Diversity is key to survival in the gardening world. Mistakes happen and you don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket when growing your garden. Try to limit the amount of seedlings per type of species. This way if disease, or other tragedies occur you are hedging your garden and protecting your other crops.

So there you have it, 3 tips for growing a better garden this summer in Montana. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section and happy gardening! For more tips follow our blog for more tips on how to grow in Montana!

Is it Spring yet?

James Gibbon - The weather is starting to change around here and Spring is on the way. March has been off to a magnificent start with great weather. This has been bad for skiing, but great for getting outside and enjoying the day. Our chickens have really enjoyed the nice weather and the melting snow. They are now able to move freely around the outside of the coop without running into inches of snow pack. The chickens hate the snow.

As for our horses they are ready for spring and the grass to start growing. Having been cooped up during our February cold blitz, they are finally getting some much needed time out in the field. It has been fun to see them enjoy this time so much. I’m excited for when we have fields full of green grass for them to graze in.

Our dogs have been enjoying the new warmer weather as well. During the cold blitz they were hardly able to walk in the snow without their paws getting too cold. These warmer temperatures are a welcome surprise for them.

I have also been able to do activities that I haven’t been able to do in months - like ride my bike. I recently road down some roads nearby and really enjoyed it. Plus the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

I know these days won’t last forever, but I also know that we are getting much closer to spring and even summer. I love how the seasons change here in Montana and am enjoying every last minute of winter as we enter spring.

Winter Has Arrived.

In my last post on Montana Farm Life, I spoke about how winter was holding off for the time being and we were still mountain biking in the valley. That is no longer the case. Winter has arrived and it has come with vengeance. Our local ski mountain, Bridger Bowl has received 50” of snow in the last 5 days. This snow as desperately needed both on the ski mountain and on the farm. The Gallatin Valley has never recorded a drought, and I was getting worried that this year might be a drought for us. The snow fall is so important for the health of the rivers, creeks, and land in the mountains and in the valley. We need the snow fall for our hay crop that we harvest every year. Without the snowfall, we lack the moisture needed to produce a fertile crop of hay. Not only does our livestock depend on this hay all winter long, but we sell a large portion of the hay to local ranches to support their livestock. I am so thankful that we are starting to get significant snowfall.

One thing I am not thankful for is the extreme low temperatures that we are experiencing. Much like most of the midwest and northern plains, we are getting very low temperatures. This is due to the polar vortex dipping down into North America. This polar vortex usually stays up in the arctic, but due to low winds the polar vortex is creeping down into lower regions this year. It is amazing how quickly the weather can change in Montana. It feels like one day you are driving with your windows down, and the next day you are wearing all of the clothes that you own!

It has been fun going through this cold weather and getting all of this snow. Temperatures are likely to dip below -20 degrees Fahrenheit we are planning on bringing our four chickens indoors. They might be able to withstand this cold, but we do not want to take the risk of losing them.

I will keep you posted on how things turn out after this weather passes. I’m having fun with it thus far, but am looking forward to when temperatures return back to normal.

Waiting on Winter...

James Gibbon - Typically, winters in Montana are long and harsh, but this year has been a completely different type of winter. It is now January 5th, 2021 and we still barely have any snow on the ground. This has been great news for our chickens, but it has sadly put a real damper on the ski and snow sports. The chickens have really enjoyed the lack of snow and have spent more than their normal amount of time outdoors and out of the coop. It has been fun to see them enjoy this warm winter and get outside more than usual. Our horses have been enjoying this weather as well as they have been able to easily find grass in our pastures. Typically we have at least a foot of snow on the ground, and this prevents them from being able to easily graze in the pastures. However, this lack of snow has really negatively impacted the outdoor recreation activities we usually participate in during the winter. These include: snowshoeing, skiing, sledding, and playing with the dogs in the snow. We barely had a white Christmas this year and it just did not feel the same as our usual Christmas’. My wish is that we start to receive more snow so we can enjoy the fun parts that winter has to offer. I miss seeing the sparkles in the snow scattered throughout our fields as the sun shines on the blankets of snow. Hopefully we start to get some snow soon and I can update the blog on how much snow we have gotten. Until then, we will have to wait and see what mother nature has in store for us.

Thanksgiving - Frying a Turkey

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Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays here in Montana. Starting last year we added a new tradition to our Thanksgiving festivities - frying a turkey. There are many ways to fry a turkey, but one of the safest and easiest ways to fry a turkey is with an electric fryer. We specifically use the Butterball XL Electric Fryer which is a great electric fryer. It is capable of frying up to a 20 pound turkey and you can use any type of oil you want to fry with. We chose to use canola oil to fry our turkey. This is because canola oil has a high smoke point of 400 degrees Fahrenheit and it is a healthier oil than peanut oil. If we were strictly going for taste, peanut oil would have probably been the better option.

The Butterball XL Electric Fryer is incredibly easy to use. You simply pour 11 Quarts of oil into the fryer and plug the fryer in. Then turn the heat up to max and wait for the green ready light to turn on. Once the green ready light is on, this means the oil is heated up to the correct temperature and you are ready to fry your turkey. Make sure to wipe down the turkey completely and eliminate any moisture left on the bird. Also be sure to fully thaw the turkey before frying. Once your turkey is ready, insert it in the basket and start to lower the turkey into the oil. Once fully lowered into the oil, leave in the oil for 4 minutes per pound of turkey. Our turkey was 16.5 lbs so we fried it for 66 minutes.

Once the turkey is done cooking check the turkey’s temperature and make sure it is fully cooked. You want the internal temperature to be at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the turkey stand for 5 to 10 minutes and then start carving it up. If you do everything right, you should have the best turkey you have ever had.

Below are some pictures of me frying the turkey and the finished product.

James Gibbon - Growing Outdoor Tomatoes in Montana

As many of you already know, we like to grow tomatoes. This year we had two different setups for our tomatoes. We had a group of tomatoes in our greenhouse, which were our main producers, and we had a group of outdoor tomatoes. The outdoor tomatoes were a bit of an experiment for us, as we have never tried to grow outdoor tomatoes at our place in Montana. The weather up here usually only allows for certain types of tomatoes to grow outside. The preferred method of growing tomatoes in Montana is with a greenhouse.

As the season went on, our greenhouse tomatoes ripened and were picked; however, our outdoor tomatoes never seemed to ripen up. The tomatoes remained green all the way until October - at which point our growing season was coming to an end. So what were we supposed to do with all these green tomatoes? Well we decided to pick them off of the vine and put them in brown paper bags to speed up the ripening process. Several days later this is what we ended up with:

These gorgeous heirloom tomatoes were all under ripe and green when picked off their plants. Each tomato was equally delicious as they looked, and it was really cool to have tomatoes all the way up until November! Now, as we enjoy our last few days of warm weather, we wait for winter to arrive. The days of growing tomatoes might be over for the farm, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get the maximum out of our crop this year. I look forward to growing more outdoor tomatoes next season and experimenting with different varieties to see which types grow best in our climate. I’m curious to learn which types of tomatoes have you had the most success with growing outdoors in your growing zone? Enter your comments and answers in the comments below : )

-JG

Update: The Life of a Chicken Keeper

Over a year ago, we purchased six chickens off craigslist. They have been blessings to our lives ever since. Unfortunately we are down to four chickens due to illness and death. This is a sad reality of owning chickens or any animals. The loss of both of these chickens was really tough for our family. Especially the death of our dear and beloved Little Blackie. Little Blackie got her name from being a smaller, black chicken who had a ton of attitude, sass, and personality. She was very vocal and brought a smile to my face every time I went to feed the chickens, or give them a treat. When she got sick, I never would have imagined her dying. She was so full of life and was a true gift to our world. Sadly, the illness took over her and crippled her body. After a visit to the veterinarian, she was dead by the time we drove her back home. It was very sad.

However, Little Blackie was just one of our chickens. We still have four more chickens and they are thriving. Although their egg production has slowed down substantially due to their age, their personalities are as big as ever. These four are the highlights to my day and I can’t wait to let them out of their coop in the morning and let them in at night. Perhaps my favorite of these three chickens is Roberta. Although Roberta can be a bully from time to time, she is the last remaining Barred Rock Chicken we have. She stands alone within the flock and I admire her perseverance and dedication to the flock.

In my free time I like to give the chickens treats. Sometimes we have leftover lettuce and tomatoes from our garden, and sometimes I just give them store bought Mealworms. I think the mealworms are their favorite…

If you are considering purchasing chickens I highly recommend it. They demand a lot of attention, and can be time consuming, but if you have the time to truly love and care for them, they are worth it 100%.

Stay tuned for more chicken updates.

-JG

Climate Change Cows - Regenerative Grazing

We’re getting into the cattle business!!  Well, sort of…  If you’re an advocate of climate change, then you have probably heard of regenerative grazing.  If you haven’t heard of regenerative grazing, it is the method of grazing cattle in a humane way that promotes the distribution of carbon into the ground.  There is a really cool documentary on regenerative grazing on Netflix you should check out if you haven’t already. This is very helpful for the environment and rebuts the argument that cows are bad for our climate.  Cows are not bad for the environment, but rather the way in which you graze the cattle determines whether the cattle have a positive or negative effect on climate change. 

So we want to be apart of this positive change.  We are in the process of building our fencing for our cows and creating a network that allows us to move the cows from pasture to pasture in a regenerative fashion.  So far, the fencing is just in its preliminary stages, but we do have a couple H-post in place.

Our goal is to raise five or so cows in these regenerative grazing pastures.  We can then have humanely grown, pasture raised, grass fed beef.  Knowing where your food comes from is a huge part of living the Montana Farm Life, and we are excited about this new venture for our farm.  We are not just grazing cattle, but we are growing grass.  The new regeneration is here – climate change cows are joining the fight.

Bridger Foothills Wildfire | Bozeman

Just a few days ago, Northeast of Bozeman near the “M” trail, a wildfire broke out. At first the fire was small, but it quickly grew and started spreading up the mountain. Many firefighters, smokejumpers, planes, and helicopters were deployed to help put out the fire, but the fire continued to grow. Many of us started to fear the worst as the fire approached Bridger Canyon - a popular development with many expensive houses. A day later we learned that many of those homes had burned to the ground with nothing left but a foundation. This quickly turned from a small wildfire to a community tragedy.

All of Bozeman came together to help those fighting the wildfire, those who lost their homes, and those searching for help to relocate their livestock. The later of which I was amazed to see how the community came together. A Facebook group was started to help connect those who needed help to those willing to help. As I scrolled through the post, I saw many people searching for homes for their horses and other livestock. We offered to take in a couple horses, but at this point many people had found homes for their animals. Eaglemount in particular took in a large amount of horses and many people volunteered with their trailers to help haul the animals to their new locations. It was so wonderful to see the community come together in such a special way.

This fire has been a reminder that nothing is promised to us. One day you might have it all, but the next it can all be taken from you. I’m grateful to have a roof over my head and willing to do whatever I can to help those who lost their homes due to this tragedy. I know Bozeman will pull through this together and we will be stronger because of it.

The joy of the garden - James Gibbon

Having a garden is one of the most fulfilling things you can do. The hard work and time put into the garden during the spring, combined with the constant watering and weeding is finally paying its dividends. As I discussed in my last post, we started to get our first cuttings of lettuce and other vegetables. Now we are starting to be overwhelmed with vegetables from our garden. The radishes, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes are in full swing and we are getting vegetables everyday from the garden. We even have a cucumber and should have more on the way! How exciting!

Summer will be over before we know it and I am doing my best to take advantage of every day out here on the farm. Whether it’s spending time in the garden, managing the chickens, or taking care of the horses - there is always something to do to keep me busy. I’m excited to see what more the garden produces and am already coming up with ideas for next year. Stay tuned for more updates!

Planting the Cucumbers

Cucumbers or pickles? I’ll take both! This is one of the reasons I was so excited to transplant our cucumbers into the garden the other day. Let me walk you through the process:

1. Prepare the soil for planting. I got some Organic Compost to place on top of the top soil to enrich the soil and provide a better ecosystem for the cucumbers. I layed out 1 full bag of compost and it allowed for about 2-3 inches of compost layer above the ground.

2. Take cucumbers out of tray with spoon and begin planting. I used a spoon and spooned them out of the tray they were seeded in. I then dug out some holes with the Korean Hand Plow in the compost and covered them up.

3. Water the cucumbers. Water the fresh transplants and ensure a safe and secure transplant.’

Below are some pictures of the entire process!

The Garden is Coming Together

Spring has sprung in Bozeman, Montana and lots of work has to be done to get our garden going. Fortunately we have gotten a lot done so far, although it looks like we are just getting started. Our first problem in the garden was lots of weeds. The soil that was not covered over the winter, had begun to grow many weeds and the only way to get the weeds out without disturbing the soil too much was by hand. Pulling these weeds is a arduous task, but with time and dedication we were able to get the first few rows weeded and ready for planting.

Pictured above you can see our finished rows. Our rows consist of added organic compost and then our seeds are spaced as suggested throughout the row. Our first row is Onions, then followed by Kale and Spinach. Then we have Radishes and Carrots 🥕. Near the blue tarp on the other side, we have a row of Butter Lettuce and a row of Arugula.

The cool thing about our garden is that this is just the beginning! We still have cucumbers 🥒, Corn 🌽, and much much more! Stay tuned for updates on the garden and our progress as the growing season continues!

Update: James Gibbon's Raised Garden Beds

For those of you who are loyal followers of Montana Farm Life, you might remember the raised garden beds that I built over the winter in our barn. If you don’t remember or you are a new follower of Montana Farm Life, below is a picture of what I produced for our garden.

Raised Garden Bed

I built 3 of these to add to our existing one for our outdoor garden. Now that it is springtime in Bozeman, Montana we decided it was time to fill our garden beds with soil and prepare them for planting. If any of you have filled garden beds before, you know how expensive it can be to fill them up with the perfect blend of compost and soil. To help reduce the cost, but still adding to the value of the bed, we decided to break our blend into 3 parts. 1 part being straw hay, 1 part being organic compost, and one part raised garden bed soil. This provides the nutrients our plants will need, but reduces the cost of filling the bottom third with straw hay. Below are some pictures of our final product and please comment with your favorite blends for organic raised bed gardening.

Farm Makeover | Tree Implants

Some people do plastic surgery, others prefer something a little more natural. That’s why we decided to get tree 🌲implants for the property to add some cosmetic design to our land in Bozeman, Montana. We recently ordered 3 large 25 ft spruce trees and had them shipped to our door. The process for ordering and installing the new trees was really cool and I hope you think so too. First, the truck loaded the tree and drove it to our property.

I should mention that before this happened, the truck used it’s giant spades to dig out a large hole where we wanted to put the tree. 🌲 Once the tree had a hole to be planted in, the truck utilized it’s hydraulic mechanisms to angle the tree and place it exactly where it needed to go. This was a really cool part of the process and we all pitched in to help guide the tree to the right angle in the hole. At this point the tree was then lowered into the hole and planted in the hole. The large spades let go of the tree and just like that, we had a 25 foot tree 🌲 planted near our house 🏠. How cool is that!

James Gibbon - Coronavirus

We are truly in unprecedented times. The global economy is partially shut down, NYC is on lock down, and millions of people are at home isolating themselves to prevent the spread of the virus. How did this all happen? Where did it come from? When will it end? …these are the questions we are all asking ourselves as we push through these unknown and pressing times.

In the meantime, I still have animals to feed, plants to grow, and a life to live. I am very fortunate to be living on a farm where I have been social distancing for quite some time now. Not much has changed for us besides making fewer trips into town for groceries and stocking up on coffee and toilet paper. The times I have driven into Bozeman, the town has been desolate. It’s like the whole town is gone on vacation except they’re not, they are in their homes isolating.

During these times, I can’t help but feel for the small and local businesses in our city of Bozeman, Montana. As we approach Spring and Summer, tourism is a large percentage of our town’s economy. With people canceling their Fly Fishing trips and postponing their AirBnB’s, our economy suffers. It is vital that our government does something to help these businesses survive these unprecedented times. The bill passed today is a great step in the right direction and I hope these actions continue. I remain optimistic that we will come out of this epidemic stronger than we went into it. I know we will pull through this together.

I wish everyone a very safe and healthy epidemic and until next time…

-JG

The Beginnings of Our Garden

Growing a garden is complicated. Especially when you live in Montana or anywhere else with a short growing season. Although our soils are rich, our seasons are short and it is vital to time our planting perfectly in order to ensure a successful garden. We do this by starting our seeds indoors in the late winter months and then transplanting them outdoors in the late spring/early summer. This ensures the tomatoes and other plants have ample time to grow and can hit the ground growing when our season starts.

Some of our tomato plants…

Choosing what to grow can be tough. We still haven’t completely planned out our entire garden and with limited indoor space, we had to make some tough choices. For us, an obvious plant to start early indoors was our tomato plants. 🌱 Tomatoes are delicious and when grown correctly, produce an enormous amount of produce. For our tomato 🍅 plants 🌱 we chose:

1. Purple Cherokee

2. Black Krim

3. Heirloom from our own seeds

Assorted flowers.

We also chose to grow a number of varieties of flowers. 💐 🌸 🌺 These will really add a lot of character to our garden this year and we hope to use some of them for decoration around our house 🏠. Below is a list of the different types of flowers we chose to grow (All are perennials):

1. Salvia

2. Columbine

3. Hyssop

4. Coneflower

5. Delphiniums

6. Verbena

We are really excited about what we have planted and are ready for summer! Please comment below on what your favorite kind of flowers/plants are to grow and we wish you a very happy spring :)

James Gibbon - Winter Winner Chicken Dinner!

James Gibbon is officially 1 of 5 Winter Winner Chicken Dinner giveaway winners!! I seriously won, but let’s go back to where it all began. In August, we decided to get chickens for the first time. On top of this, I started “Montana Farm Life” the blog and the Instagram profile. When visiting our local animal nutrition store - https://bridgeranimalnutrition.com/ - Scratch and Peck was recommended for organic feed and supplementation - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/ .

James Gibbon

Due to this recommendation, we started supplementing our chickens with Scratch and Peck supplements, which I contribute our winter egg laying and healthy flock to. So how did I end up winning all of this stuff for my flock? Through Instagram! I follow Scratch and Peck on Instagram and they posted about a Winter Winner Giveaway. I was interested, but doubted I would win and entered the contest by liking the picture and commenting. I commented that “I had a good feeling about this one ☝️” and I sure did! A few days later they posted my picture on their instagram as the winner of the giveaway and about a week after that I received this package of goodies in the mail!

James Gibbon

My flock and I couldn’t be happier! My birds absolutely love Scratch and Peck’s products and if you’re curious what all was included in the package I received, here is a list!

1. Oyster Shell - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/oyster-shell-subscription/

2. Layer Grit - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/layer-grit-subscription/

3. Organic Layer - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/naturally-free-organic-layer-18/

4. Grubs - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/cluckin-good-grubs/

5. Organic Nesting - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/organic-nesting-medley-subscription/

6. Organic Herbs - https://www.scratchandpeck.com/shop/cluckin-good-herbs/

All together these supplements and feed make for one happy flock!

James Gibbon

James Gibbon - Compassion with Horses

When I first moved back to our family farm, I was not a fan of horses. They were big, unpredictable, and didn’t seem to like me, therefore, I didn’t like them. However, all of this has changed. Now, I have a newfound appreciation for the animals. I find them very endearing and well intentioned animals. Our two horses have become my friends. Their personalities and constant fixation on food has made them wonderful companions. Every morning I feed the horses and our chickens. Starting out, I resented having to go feed the horses whereas I enjoyed feeding and watering our chickens. Now, I love feeding the horses and it has become the highlight of my mornings. I can honestly say I love horses now. What a change from how I used to think about horses.

James Gibbon

James Gibbon

James Gibbon