Chloe R

Counties of interest

Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater, Butte-Silver Bow, Carbon, Carter, Cascade, Chouteau, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Fallon, Fergus, Flathead, Gallatin, Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Lake, Lewis & Clark, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, McCone, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Musselshell, Park Livingston, Petroleum, Phillips, Pondera, Powder River, Powell, Prairie, Ravalli, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sanders, Sheridan, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Teton, Toole, Treasure, Valley, Wheatland, Wibaux, Yellowstone

Planned Operation

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

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

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

Other experience/license/agriculture or business training:

I have worked extensively in agriculture, gardening, food justice and small business operation for the last decade. I have studied permaculture, organic, regenerative and biodynamic practices extensively. My partner and I have been running our farm, Flower Sipper Farm, for the last 4 years

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.

Currently my partner and I operate a 2 acre market & medicial herb farm. We specialize in diversified veggies, cut flowers & medicinal herbs (which we sell in bulk as well as use to make tinctures, teas, salves, etc). We sell our products at farmers markets as well as operate a 25 member CSA. We are not certified organic due to our size/finances however we believe in beyond organic practices and strive to cultivate healthy soil first and foremost through regenerative practices. We generally use hand scale methods and believe in mostly no-till however we are experienced with driving tractors and have one of our own. The only things we spray are our own homemade, homegrown ferments/teas that we use to feed our plants. I (Chloe) have been working on farms in various capacities for 10 years. I've managed farms, crop plans, CSAs, nursery space, markets, etc, all on organic, permaculture, or biodynamic farms. Kevin has been farming in Colorado the last 8 years and is experienced with tool maintenance, tractors, hemp, regenerative agriculture, soil health and more.

Acreage

1-5, 6-10, 11-40

Farming Practices

Organic, Other

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

We plan on running a similar operation to what we run now (regenerative, beyond organic, soil health focused, mostly hand scale). We are currently limited by available acreage and extremely expensive/limited water and are seeking a space for our farm to fully blossom. We intend to continue growing and expand our diversified veggie operation (for farmers markets, CSAs, and wholesale) and cut flowers. As well as expand our medicinal herb production. With more space and water we would also be interested in the potential of raising goats and sheep (We traditionally tan hides and have a small side business selling churro sheep skins) . We also make organic nixtamal corn tortillas and tamales and grow (in collaboration with our other farmer friends) the corn for these products

Elaborate on the farming practices you plan on using.

We often describe ourselves as beyond organic or regenerative farmers. We believe farming can be a practice that actually feeds and tends the land vs. draining it. We want to bring life back to the land we work, not take it away. We use a mix of KNF (korean natural farming), john kempf, john jeavons and permaculture practices. I have worked on a number of hand scale intensive market gardens so know how to grow a lot of food in a little bit of space, with very minimal tillage. We do not believe in spraying for weeds. We stay on top of weed management through hand pulling, weed wacking, cover cropping and diversity of plant life. We ferment all the weeds we pull into compost teas and feed them back to the garden. Due to our extremely arid climate we rely heavily on mulching everything with straw. Although we operate mostly no-till, we do have a tractor and would be interested in using it to get fields set up.

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

We are interested in lease, lease to own, buy, or crop share options .

Onsite Housing

Yes

Please elaborate on the kind of additional training/information that would help you:

Depending on the size of the acreage we may need minor mentorship in the irrigation system. Although we don't require onsite housing we have a yurt that we would love to be able to live in at the farm site if there weren't a structure already available.