Mark C

Counties of interest

Flathead, Lake, Sanders

Planned Operation

Large Animal (cattle, sheep, goats), Small Animal (pigs, rabbits, poultry), Dairy, Vegetable, Fruit/Orchard, Other

Check all experience and education that apply to you and your farming partners

Farm/Crop management (over 3 years), General college degree, General farming (over 3 years), Other experience/license/agriculture or business training

Other experience/license/agriculture or business training:

Neversink Market Farm Course, Permaculture Design Certification, Owning a Small Market Farm & Homestead, Owning a boutique motel/farm, Owning a business that provides property designs and garden consultations/installations, Grange President and Co- founder/Manager of Hot Springs Farmers Market

Land Tenure

Buy/Sell, Cropshare, Lease, Partnership, Open to other arrangements

Briefly describe your current occupation(s) and responsibilities and list previous agricultural employment and experiences. If you are currently farming or ranching, please state the size, type(s), and location of the operation.

We currently own a small organic permaculture farm on three acres in Hot Springs Montana, where we grow vegetables for market, have a tree nursery for selling fruit trees and shrubs, have dairy goats for selling Milik and goat products, and chickens for egg production. We also have a business, Flathead Permaculture, where we offer garden consultations, designs and installations. In addition to that we are Co-founders and Managers of the Hot Springs Farmers Market, which is in its third year. We began our agriculture journey a decade ago volunteering on various farms around the world. After some years of doing this we started our first project- buying and renovating a 10-unit motel on four acres and turning it into a boutique motel with a micro farm. As much as we enjoyed this project, the mountains called us home and we made our way back to NW Montana where Makia grew up.

Acreage

1-5, 6-10, 11-40, 41-100

Farming Practices

Organic, Other

Please elaborate on the type(s) of agricultural operation you plan on running.

We believe to be successful in agricultural pursuits this day in age it is important to be creative and flexible, adapting to the land and opportunity at hand. Another thing we have found to be more successful as a small farm is having multiple income revenues and diversifying.
We currently have a tree nursery and a young orchard on our property now, but would love to expand that operation. This as well as expanding our produce production.
We are also very passionate about education & are hoping to move in the direction of hosting/teaching Permaculture Design Courses (a 70 hour certification) as well as other classes/workshops/retreats related to gardening/permaculture/fruit trees ect.
Another possibility we've explored is getting into raising some larger animals using regenerative practices, either just for personal use of the partners or on a small commercial scale.
The direction we choose to go within a partnership would depend on the land as well as the passions and shared interests of the partners.

Elaborate on the farming practices you plan on using.

Holistic/ organic/ regenerative/ minimal tillage

If you are interested in another type of business arrangement, please explain

We are looking for a partnership with someone(s) who we can create and share a vision with and bring the vision into fruition.

Onsite Housing

Yes