July 17th – 30th , Paradise Gardens

July 17th – 30th, 2017

Paradise Gardens

Paradise, Montana

 

We finally made it to our first wwooffing farm in Paradise, Montana and it is gorgeous! Laura and I are excited to stay in one place for two weeks and not have to constantly be wondering where we will be sleeping or how much longer until we have to buy more food. There is also something very satisfying about being able to put in a hard day of work and falling into a routine for awhile. We arrived on a Sunday so we could get settled in and be ready for our first day of work. Honestly, as our first time working on a farm we didn’t know what to expect. Paula greeted us with a warm smile and quickly explained the rules to us which were fairly straightforward for cohabitating peacefully with other people.

There is a well-stocked kitchen space with a nice propane stove and everything you need to prepare a delicious meal. All of the food was fresh and organic. After eating mostly canned food we were excited for the chance to have some fresh, organic produce, along with the other wonderful eats that come along with the miracle of modern refrigeration. Mostly meat and cheese. What a bunch of Wisconsin stereotypes. With wwooffing we’re basically working for a place to stay and food, it’s also a learning experience.  Here is the about section on WWOOF’s website http://wwoof.net/#wwoof

 

Our first day of work Paula gave us some instruction on how to grow lavender, what kinds of soil it likes, how long it takes to establish good plants for harvesting. She explained what she does with the lavender and how it’s worth more dried in bouquets than sold to be pressed into oil. She used a lavender scythe to cut back each plant to the previous year’s growth and then explained how big the bundles we wrap up should be and that we would hang it to dry. Paula is a woman who has been farming for 20 years and she has really honed in on how to build a profitable business out of it.

 

The whole farm had been working on the lavender harvest for the previous two weeks so there was a lot to do around the farm once the last of it was harvested. We learned quickly how labor is the most important part of any successful organic farm. There is a lot that has to be done by hand like weeding and planting rows and rows of flowers and veggies. We tied up rows of tomato and picked buckets of zucchini.

We had the opportunity to plant lots of flowers.  I think we counted 1,200 flowers planted in a day.  Yeah, we know we are awesome.  Just Kidding! We had help from Joel, one of Paula’s staff, who is one of the hardest working people we have ever met.  We also got to plant several types of basil and celery.

After a long day of work, we would head down to the river to cool off.  The famous Flathead River and Clark-Fork River are both nearby.  Staying with locals, means they know where the best spots for swimming are.

Next door to the farm is a cherry orchard.  Apparently, because the last winter was so harsh the cherry harvest was not good.  So the orchard owners decided, instead of picking the cherries they were just gonna let them sit and claim the loss on their insurance.  That means since we were just next door, we could pick as many cherries as we wanted!  We filled the fridge with cherries!!!

We had a blast working at Paradise Gardens.  We worked hard, learned a lot, and got to spend time with some amazing people.  Paula, her family, and her staff were all so kind and knowledgeable!  We ate delicious food, stayed up late waiting for the stars to come out, and had a wonderful time getting to know one another.  Here are a bunch of photos to show off their home and the fun we had.

 

 

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