154. Sustainable Living, Organic Baby Food and Small Family Farming | Moxie Farms | Columbia Falls, MT | Naomi Morrison
Moxie Farms
I was coming home the other day and stopped at the Farmer’s Market, because I am always looking for guests and I have never needed guests so bad so if you know of anyone who would make a great guest please don’t hesitate to let me know. So I met Naomi from Moxie farms, because you like me are busy! You said you have a full time job and were at the market after work and you said today you have to take your son to practice so you have a family! Where are you from?
Tell us a little about yourself.
Naomi from Connecticut moved to Montana in 2001, moved here to 2005. We’re raising 2 children about 3 miles from center of town… We started when we first moved here behind the post office off of Nucleus Ave, we bought our house so we could garden, it was a corner lot with a beautiful apple tree
put in over the course of 10 years, and we built a 2200 sq. foot garden, open the front door
beautiful place
- raspberry bushes
- blueberry bushes
- nurtured that old standing apple tree
fortunate to find this piece of property here, right outside of time, it’s 4 acres, and we are slowly cultivating that!
….
Favorite Tool at Moxie Farms
A favorite internet resource?
You know I would say, that 100 days of real food has been an incredible resource for me. In my early 20s I was tested for food allergies, that was pre-everyone having allergies and intolerances. So that’s how I learned how to truly eat healthy and going organic
always ate out of the garden
high school that’s when you get the peer pressure lets eat the chips and junk food. When I went to college was when I starting having the problems with preservatives and yeast and all the other things
all these tips on cooking
100 days of real food has get me on target with foods that are healthy!
ways to make pop tarts
pastry dough
jam
It’s basically a pastry dough that you put jam, I was using the local flour to make the dough and I would make jam
my jam
low sugar jam
1/2 cup for a whole batch which
have those
ways to cook things
recipes get old
my recipe muffin that I’ve used for years,
I just go on there and get recipes, so just going on 100 days of real food pledge
I have to give a shout out to her, her sponsors are things like planet box for school lunches, reusable
still have the same ones that I purchased 2 years ago
using plastic lunch boxes
would break after 3-4 uses. You spend the extra money up front and you have a quality lunch box for your kids
She’s done amazing things, she basically took what I did 20 years ago and made a forum for it!
Perfect timing because it’s back to school!
She has a resource of quality healthy snacks
what to look out for, when you might think something is unhealthy and they are, so she has an ingredient list
weekly on things
connected with the Food Babe you mentioned early
the kind of play off each other and support one another. She is just a great resource
so many things…
List of websites that I send out on a regular basis, and she’s number one…
I might have to recommend that to my second grade parents, maybe we’ll even do a food study?
A favorite reading material-book, mag, blog/website etc you can recommend?
You asked me earlier what my favorite tip was,
What is the best gardening advice you have ever received?
I guess the reason
most of the stuff that my husband and I learned was from Mother Earth News Magazine
they have upped their ante and it’s become interesting to us again, it’s become more experienced
more advanced articles
in that magazine now
great first person learning
My husband his literary bible
Ed’s O
Amazon
Food Growing Bible
basically an Encyclopedia of growing food, anything you need to learn about pests, what it takes to grow, the life cycle from seed to maturity is for plants, how you want to fertilize organically, its all about organic produce. Those would be my two favorite print resources.
And then I would jump back to my baby food book, it’s a purple book…
The Mother Earth News is a great beginning start.
I should say with Mother Earth News they are out of Kansas so a lot of their articles are the southern style, it’s a different environment then they talk about , if you want to start a
hobby farm
windmills
sustainable practices
it’s a great piece to get, if you get your subscription with your credit card on file, it’s only $10 a year.
If you have a business to you have any advice for our listeners about how to sell extra produce or get started in the industry?
This farm is my fourth start up. My husband owns a roofing business, I have a marketing business on the side, we started this farm, all still in existence and successful. It’s very challenging to start you own business.
Call your secretary of state. Make sure you fill it out correctly because they charge
starting a non-[profit, find someone who is knowledgeable in starting a non-profit, it’s really important to get that paper work correctly, both of the 2 I sent came back first time approved within a month of submitting paperwork…
know that
you have to add a percentage of the things that are unforeseen into your budgets because there is so much that you may not thinking about till your in the thick of things
You’re gonna have a busy season and during that time you’re not gonna have time to think about anything but what your focused on
over-prepare
even if you are hiring employees
who is doing the work when
because in the end it’s still probably underprepared for your busy season!
I was cooking for a golf course! I swear my manager how much she did, balanced with college kids, and people want a day off here, but everybody wants a day off, and then dealing with the customers, and the bosses. and all our schedules and did it with elegance and grace, I couldn’t say enough about her!
It is the middle of summer, so some people might not hear it until December! So you’ve just been dropping amazing golden seeds all along and just wonderful.
Final question- if there was one change you would like to see to create a greener world what would it be? For example is there a charity or organization your passionate about or a project you would like to see put into action. What do you feel is the most crucial issue facing our planet in regards to the environment either in your local area or on a national or global scale?
I think that globally the biggest thing is our oil needs, and gas needs, Idk how to fix that, I pay attention to it, I drive an SUV, so I’m part of the problem as well. We all rely on oil consumption
any mining for oil for minerals for anything is so hurtful to our environment
IDK what the solution is that is probably the one thing that I would like to change…
finding a way to get
I agree, and we have some of the answers, it’s the car companies, who know how to build more efficient cars, Mike took a job delivering the paper while I wasn’t teaching and it was 6k miles a month that’s an oil change every 3 weeks, We burned through the gas…
Cows, use a ton of petrochemicals, using gas to irrigate! or to transport their food in the winter, or all sorts of extra effects.
Do u have an inspiration tip or quote to help motivate our listeners to reach into that dirt and start their own garden?
I really believe that our children, I know many of us do, are going to be taking care of us in the future, I think if we focus on helping them succeed, establishing mentor programs, getting home EC back in schools. so boys have to take it and they know how to cook as well, it, having farm classes
The biggest thing I get at the farmer’s market is, “you’re gonna charge this for that produce?!”
I think do you understand the blood sweat and tears to bring this vegetable to your plate
food is so undercharged
- we devalue food at every expense
- because of those factory farms
- because it can come so cheaply that way
it takes a lot of resources
to grow those vegetables
we do it to love to
i’ll eat it then if you can’t value your food that comes to your table
I value
I know there are thousands of others that do. So pleas thank your farmer
it really is blood seat and tears
We named our farm Moxie farm
we were raft guides in Maine, and we worked for Moxie outdoor
we loved the name
Ability to face difficulty with spirit, nerve and guts! That’s what it takes to farm, you have to be prepared for the unexpected. You cry, you argue a lot
it’s stressful
it’s the most rewarding thing to do next to raising children. I hope that you take that with you today… and your listeners take that with them… I’m sure your listeners I’m preaching to the choir
spread that
understand the value of food
making it healthy and organics
That makes it more important.
I think that’s part of the beauty of my show, is that you and I might know that but the majority of people I k
I started teaching on the blackfeet… he told the people
Jump Up!
Try Hard!
And Don’t Give Up!
reminds me of your moxie, definition
be prepared with the unexpected….
go with your heart
I be been trying to come up with a name for my listeners, I kind of think it’s something like
green future growers, because your’e growing a greener future for us!
How do we connect with you?
You can like us on Facebook at Moxie Farms! You can also call me at 406-871-6607 or reach us at MoxieFarmMT@gmail.com…
Full Show notes coming soon!
How do we connect with you?
You can like us on Facebook at Moxie Farms! You can also call me at 406-871-6607 or reach us at MoxieFarmMT@gmail.com…
Thank you very much for letting me reach out to your listeners!
The Organic Gardener Podcast is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Also if you know anyone from any of these states I am always looking for guests!
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
To learn more please visit our website at the organicgardenerpodcast.com
and remember we’d love if you’d join Organic Gardener Podcast Facebook Community!
If you like what you heard on the Organic Gardener Podcast we’d love it if you’d give us review and hopefully a 5 star rating on iTunes so other gardeners can find us and listen to. Just click on the link here.