Join food activists, farmers, and students for five days of in-depth conversation and community outreach to realize a more food secure community in the Flathead Valley.  Alternative Spring Break is a chance for  university students from across Montana to converge and learn about the challenges and  ongoing solutions facing the Flathead  foodshed. Students will spend the week participating on a working farm for at least four hours each day, punctuated by field trips to local farms, community outreach projects and evening group discussions. Activities are designed to be place-based and solutions oriented, with the focus on creating a more vibrant food system within the communities of the Flathead Valley.

Alternative Spring Break is a hands-on opportunity for students to engage with issues like:

•How-to’s about farming in short seasons

•Food justice

•Agricultural policy

• Economic factors influencing local food production

• Infrastructure and facilities required for value-added food processing

• Community-led initiatives to increase food access to underserved communities

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is designed to give participants insight into the food and farming issues facing the host community. All activities are highly participatory in nature and are designed to stimulate discussion and facilitate collaboration between ASB participants and community members.

The Flathead Valley is a unique venue for Alternative Spring Break 2011. The valley supports the towns of Columbia Falls, Kalispell, and Whitefish, each with their own challenges and opportunities for developing a secure food system. ASB participants spend each day getting handson experience on a working farm, while afternoons and/or evenings entail in-depth conversations, tours with local food-related organizations from the three neighboring towns, and a capstone community outreach event.

Participating organizations include 1000 New Gardens, Alternative Energy Resources Organization, Bozeman Youth Initiative, First Best Place, Nourish the Flathead, and University of Montana Farm to College program.

See http://purplefroggardens.org/?page_id=212  for details

Nov 17th 2011.

Looking at the weather gave us pause.  We’ve been down to single digit temperatures already but we decided it was time for PFG to harvest our winter stock.   Most of this winter kale will be used for drying and outright freezing for us on the farm.

Winterbor is a 2 month kale. It is one of the most winter hardy kales.  It has finely curled thick-blue-green leaves.  It is very vigorous and can grow up to 2 feet, developing an abundance of ruffled, fancy leaves for salad mixes or straight up eating.  

It is a magnificent early spring and late fall kale, and great for market growers, too. It turned really sweet and juicy after frosts.

Winterbor is a first generation hybrid variety.   F1 Hybrid means the offspring of  different parental types produce a new, uniform variety with specific characteristics from either or both parents.

We grow a couple hybrids like Lacinato Rainbow, and a few heirlooms varieties of kale like Dino or Lacinato, and Red Russian.   But we use no GMO seeds.   Some may tell you that only F1 or F2 varieties are worth growing. They are good producers but an open pollinated variety can still stand strong.   And new plants are still being produced from open pollinated selections.

But if you want to save seeds, you can only go heirloom.

   -Winterbor Kale with Row Cover Freeze  Protection Removed

 - Crated, Ready for Drying and Freezing

 Purple Frog is expanding our berry lineup and adding  strawberries onto the 2012 market table.    This is in  addition to currents, raspberries, and gooseberries.   We  planted a hundred twenty five feet of strawberries in the  new high-tower hoophouse today.  This November  planting will hopefully produce and early crop come next  June.

50 Seascape and 50 Sequoia varieties were planted in  weed fabric.   The fabric will help keep quack grass at bay.

Seascape is productive day neutral variety with tons of tasty fruit.  It has a long season and good producer.  Day neutral strawberries produce fruit throughout the growing season with just a few runners.

Sequoia is a common ever bearing variety with gardeners.  It produces a medium-plump berry with good flavor, and lot of them.

Ever bearing strawberries produce three periods of fruit during the spring, summer and fall.  But do not produce many runners.

Bare root plants were planted and mulched in for the season.     Hope for a bumper crop.

The last farmers market of the year will be indoors at the downtown Montana Coffee Traders on November 22nd from 4 to 6 PM.

Hope to see you in downtown Whitefish on Tuesday.

Salad BarN is now open every Friday evening from  4-6 PM.   Get some local produce for the weekend.   Tour the farm @ 5:30 PM.   Bring a beverage if you want to hang out a bit and chat about local food or the 2012 Farm Bill.   Hope to see you soon in between the hops.