Market Day Foods

Anyone who has known me for more than 24 hours knows that I don’t drink a lot of beer. To be more precise, I never drink beer. I tried it once in High School and never wanted to put such vile liquid in my mouth again. So I never did. Not once. I attended the University of Wisconsin without once placing a red solo cup of beer to my lips. Some may never believe such a statement, but if you know me at all you will know that it is the truth. This all changed when I got the chance to sit down with Mariann Van Den Elzen, “for a beer.”

Photo taken by Rab Cummings

We had met at the Farm Olympics a few weeks ago in Wilsall and I worked with her one Tuesday morning as we assembled the weekly CSA shares. I asked her if I could meet with her and hear more about Market Day Foods, the company she co-owns and founded. She agreed and suggested we meet at a local bar in Bozeman to chat. Her schedule is hectic during the week but she fit me into her life and a great conversation ensued.

I met her at 5:00pm on Thursday at The Bozeman Brewery. I asked the bartender if they had any ciders on tap and she replied, “No. And I don’t think we ever will.” This wasn’t going well. She explained that the bar only serves six beers, all of which are brewed next door. I deeply gulped and swallowed my fear; I knew what I had to do. Mariann arrived and we each ordered a beer. I played it cool, I bet she doesn’t even know that I don’t drink beer until she reads this article.

Getting to know individuals who are making a living in the vast realm of sustainability is one of the main reasons I am on this yearlong farming adventure. I want to get an understanding of how people are turning their interests in sustainability into a career. Mariann has done this by creating a company that connects farmers to their communities in southwest Montana. She built relationships with farmers during her career as the farmer of Field Day Farms, which she ran and operated until this year, when she decided to focus full-time on Market Day Foods. 

Market Day Foods is an online food distributor. Retail and wholesale customers have the ability to purchase fresh, Montana-produced, fairly price food from the comforts of their home or mobile device. A hungry customers simply logs onto the website and sees a wide selection of produce that is available for sale. They select what items they would like, pay online and pick up their groceries at the closest distribution site. For an additional fee, they are able to have it delivered to their front door. Market Day Foods’ customers represent families, individuals, restaurants, and companies from Bozeman and surrounding southwestern Montana communities.

Mariann has the formidable role of balancing the supply of each farm with the demand of each customer. Each farm grows a diverse variety of vegetables and each farmer must know how much they will be able to harvest for Market Day Foods customers. Mariann aggregates the expected harvests that the farmers have communicated to her and translates this into the online market. Once the list of available produce is posted on the website and customers have placed their orders, the real fun begins. Farmers now know exactly how much produce they must harvest for their Market Day Foods customers and they know it is a guaranteed sale. Unlike selling at a Farmer’s Market, where a farmer harvests as much as she thinks will sell, selling with Market Day Foods means that a farmer is only harvesting produce which is already purchased. Certainty is rare in organic farming, but Market Day Foods makes a portion of a farmer’s weekly sales absolute.

Once the orders are in, farmers deliver the harvested produce to Mariann’s refrigerated warehouse in Bozeman. Mariann and her team now organize the chaos and deliver the produce to designated locations throughout the surrounding communities for pick-up.

Market Day Foods epitomizes the idea of supporting a regional economy. They are connecting farmers to eaters, a relationship that has been increasingly disconnected since the growth of industrial food production. The food they are providing goes from field to plate within 12 – 24 hours; it is grown chemically-free, and encourages local farming families to keep growing food. Montana citizens are increasingly supporting their regional economy. Since being founded in 2010, Market Day Foods has tripled their sales each year. They currently have over 1,000 customers who have created an online account and purchased produce at least one time. In August they averaged 130 orders per week between their retail and wholesale customers. When blueberry season reached it’s peak this year, people went into a fruit frenzy. Market Day Foods sold 250 gallons of blueberries in six hours.

For all of the success that Market Day Foods has already had, they have dreams of expanding further. Mariann envisions the growth of a non-profit side of the business, which would educate new farmer’s about the importance of farm management and building efficiencies. She sees the waste in our current partiality of Grade A produce and would like to have an on-site processing facility that could turn those bruised tomatoes into sauces, which would mean Market Day Foods could purchase a wider variety of produce from farmers. Mariann sees the wholesale side of the business growing exponentially, if she is able to expand into local hospitals, Yellowstone National Park, and school districts. She would love to one day have an Everyday Farmer’s Market store, which would be located in busy downtown Bozeman and always be supplied with local, seasonal produce. And if that wasn’t enough for a lifetime, Mariann also wants to start running a Veggie Truck through the growing suburbs of Bozeman, tempting children and parents with the idea of purchasing fresh, local vegetables.

A major part of a sustainable company is profitability. I believe that for a company to be sustainable, it must be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. Market Day Foods aims for a profit margin of 22.5% when selling the produce of local farmers. This compares to the average 30-35% profit margin of commercial distributors. Mariann will never reach the profit margins of commercial distributors because she is not working with the same type of farmer. Commercial farmers tend to grow one major crop on hundreds or thousands of acres. Organic farmers tend to grow 20-50 varieties of crops on less than ten acres. The volume that commercial farmers reach allows for economies of scale, which lowers the cost of growing. Since organic growers do not rely on pesticides or fertilizers to reduce risk, they must diversify their crops. Diversifying their crops means they do not reach the same volume as commercial growers. I would prefer to know that my farmer is growing in a biologically diverse, sustainable manner, which is healthy for me and for the land. 

I left our meeting feeling one step closer to finding a career in sustainability, even if it means drinking a few beers once in a while. 

Happiness

My hands are dry; the skin is cracking and hardening. Multiple layers of soil live beneath my fingernails. The muscles in my back ache from bending down each day, reaching to the Earth for weeds and produce. The skin on my arms and legs has never looked this brown.I am probably perpetually dehydrated from the sweltering, Montana sun. Yet, I have never been happier.

I wake up each morning and watch the sun rise over the mountains as I begin my work. I no longer watch the sun rise and fall from inside a tall, glass building. This time, I get to participate in the nature of the day. I feel the sun begin to warm up the air as I am finishing up the morning chicken chores. I take off a layer of clothing before I begin to weed a row of lettuce. By mid-morning, the sun is scorching. It’s time to put on my dorky, green farming hat, which may not win any fashion awards, but does protect me from the sun’s dangerous rays. The winds blow steadily in Montana and I thank God for them at this time each day. Sometimes, I am lucky and the wind blows clouds across the sun. Such seemingly small moments are only appreciated when you are outside, working in the elements. In my previous, cubicle-living, work environment I never even noticed the clouds or the wind. I only cursed the sun when it created a glare on my computer screen and slowed my work pace. 

Not a day passes when I am not thankful for the life changing decision I made to step off the rungs of the corporate ladder and climb into the rich soil of farming. Working outdoors gives me energy like I have never known. I am constantly weeding, harvesting, hoeing, or chasing chickens, but at the end of the day I still feel alive. I spend my evenings reading books, writing, cooking, or laughing with friends. I think this is what people would call a balanced lifestyle. And this is exactly why I changed careers. I used to come home at the end of the day and feel like a zombie, like my brain had used every last bit of juice focusing during meetings and working on spreadsheets. It was all I could do to muster up the energy to prepare and eat dinner. I never want to return to such a state of living, because it wasn’t living, it was simply existing. My life had no balance because my life did not revolve around me. My life revolved around my clients, employees and superiors. I was living to make them happy. I am now focusing on living to make myself happy. Thus far, it is working. I have never been happier.  

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." - Hans Christian Andersen

Happy Dana 

Crazy View Farm - Ranch Rodeo in Wilsall, MT

The Wild West has won our hearts again. Have you ever been to a rodeo? Okay, yes, if you have been out West, you probably performed your tourist duty and went to a rodeo. But, have you ever been to a ranch rodeo? You won’t see any bucking bronco riding at a ranch rodeo; this type of rodeo is not just about the show. A ranch rodeo focuses on the skills that ranchers use on a daily basis to manage their herds of cattle. Our last weekend in Montana fell on the same weekend as the annual Willsal Ranch Rodeo. The event brought folks in from all around the countryside and each person had a connection to one of the teams competing. The stakes were high and the competition fierce as the winning team in each event went home with over $2,000. Ten teams, made up of four individuals competed in six events. The fourth individual was required to be either a woman or a boy under the age of 15. Proud day for my gender. Luckily, each team decided that a woman was a better teammate than a child.

The rules for the day’s events were complex and specific. Each event had separate rules and judges carefully scored each team’s performance. With all of the seriousness of the judging, they even had rules for the clothing of the teams. All teams were required to dress in Western attire, which I have now learned means a cowboy hat, jeans, belt buckle, and button-up shirt – pretty standard dress for Montana cowboys and girls. The day’s events began with the Ranch Horse Class, which required the rider to catch a cow and rope him around the neck and drive him into a pen. The second event timed each team as they attempted to brand four calves in less than eight minutes. Team Penning was the most strategic event of the day. The judge would give the participating team a number as they entered the arena. The team would then ride through the herd of cattle and round up all of the cattle bearing their designated number. This had to be done as quickly as possible and they could only allow the correct numbered cows to cross the middle of the arena. If any cows crossed the middle bearing an incorrect number, your team had to make sure they were herded back across the line before time was called.

An important duty on any ranch is administering medicine to sick cows. The fourth event timed each team’s ability to head and heel a cow in order to get it to the ground and administer any necessary doctoring. The roping skills that this event required clearly demonstrated the upbringing of the participants. All around the arena, young boys and girls were practicing their roping skills. I was even lucky enough to learn the basics. Jared taught me the lingo and lessons of roping with the ease of a seasoned cowboy. After a couple failed attempts, I finally succeeded to lasso my first cow. Jared says that if I make it to the farm and fleet store, I could pick up my own 31-foot Cactus rope in order to continue practicing on my own.

Wild cow milking solidified my love for the ranch rodeo – although, I don’t think my love was ever in doubt. They let a wild cow, who had never been milked in her life, loose into the arena. One team member then had to rope her around the head, while the other two tried to slow her down enough to somehow milk her. Each team ended up squeezing a drop or two of milk into the bottle and then racing it into the judges hand for the final pour. Wild cow milking quickly turned into wild cow wrestling for some unruly cows and sent one team member to the hospital due to injury. The final event was herd counting. Teams worked together to lead a herd of cattle between two barrels. Each cow was counted as they ran through the barrels and teams had to give the judge the final number of the herd. While teams counted as quickly as the cows ran, the audience also tried to keep track of the tally. I ended up only counting the correct number one time, whereas the seven-year-old girl directly behind me counted correctly every single time. I guess there are some skills that a Minnesota girl just didn’t learn growing up with more fish than cattle in her backyard. 

Crazy View Farm Olympics

It's the eye of the tiger

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Now that you are in the mood for some competition, let me walk you through the weekend's debauchery that took place at Cloud Nine Farm during the second annual Farm Olympics. We had been practicing for what seemed like forever - when in fact it was really only one week. The training was brutal, but it was nothing compared to the battle that awaited us at each event during the Farm Olympics. Six farms, each full of competitive spirit, participated in six events, which combined agility, strength and precision. The events consisted of straw bale tossing, thistle root pulling, row covering, icy fingers bag tying, precision weighing, and chicken catching. The teams presented two worthy opponents for each event and the stage was set for a bloody battle - filled with laughter and encouragement. 

Proud of our homemade Crazy View patches

Ulrikke and Val started off strong with a straw bale toss that would have made any competitor weak with fear. Alas, a couple of teams must have taken advantage of such fear and ended up tossing the bale over 20 feet. We were not discouraged, thistle pulling was up next and I happen to be a little obsessed with pulling thistle out of the ground. The clock began and we had two minutes to pull as much thistle as we could, but there was a catch, there were no gloves allowed. It was agonizing, but Chase and I gave it our all and pulled through the pain. The goal was to pull the longest, intact root. This may sound simple to you, but this will only prove that you have not picked thistle in quite some time and you may want to start weeding your garden. The roots can easily extend up to a foot into the ground; with one wrong pull you will yank off the tip and disqualify your thistle contestant. Experience proved to win over excitement in this event. Neither Chase nor I placed in the event, but we did have plenty of thorns in our fingers to prove our effort.

Measuring our roots with the other contestants

The third event was the row cover competition. If you are unfamiliar with row cover, it is simply a spun-bonded polypropylene fabric which is sunlight, rain and air-permeable. It captures warmth and protects plants from damaging winds, resulting in healthier plant growth and higher yields. Needless to say, in the rugged landscape of Montana they are a necessary part of sustainable agriculture. The competition was to cover a 25-foot row of crops and secure it with rocks. The winning team completed the task in a mere 37.0 seconds.

Now, that we were all warmed up, it was time to cool off. Farmer’s markets and CSAs are a large part of a farmer’s livelihood and both require that produce is clean and packaged. Produce is cleaned in freshly pumped well water, which means it is icy cold. After removing all of the dirt, it needs to be placed in plastic bags and tied in knots that are tight enough to hold but not so tight that the little old ladies’ arthritic hands have trouble opening the produce. The event had Ulrikke and Caitlen place their hands in ice water for two minutes and then tie a perfect knot in a bag of produce before any of the competitors. Crazy View Farm finally had a winner! Ulrikke managed to tie a knot with her numb, clumsy fingers before any other contender.

A farmer must know how much to charge for the produce that they are packaging and this is based off of the market price and the weight. The next event had Luke testing his skills at estimating an amount of produce and then getting as close to a quarter of a pound as possible. It turned out to be a difficult task and a long-time farmer ended up winning with a perfect 0.250 on the scale. The final event was catching wild chickens. The beautiful bantams had been running loose for the past few weeks and needed to be rounded up. I fancy myself a bit of a chicken connoisseur and thought that I would be able to win the event. However, my confidence could not conquer the chickens. I ran until my lungs burned. I chased the chickens through sagebrush and tractors with no success. Each one eluded my outreached arms. Luke faired much better than I and managed to wrangle up three chickens before the time ran out.

Storms clouds moved in from the North just as we were finishing up the day’s events. We had been jokingly warned not to win the Farm Olympics because the winning farm is crowned the host for next year’s competition. We came to the conclusion that this thought in the back of our minds must have been the reason we failed to win the gold – it was either that or accept defeat. Our evening continued with a wonderful potluck, warm company and two bonfires. I say from now on all weeding has to be done without gloves, in order to train our hands for next year’s Olympics. I will start tomorrow. 

If anyone would like to see the other photos taken at this event or get a copy of those included in this blog, I have created a Dropbox folder specific to the Farm Olympics. If you just send me an email, I will invite you to view the shared folder and you will be able to use any of the photos - all photos were taken by the talented Mr. Chase Vreeland.  

Participating Farms

The CSA Model on Crazy View Farm

Monday is our early day on the farm. We get the day started at 7:00am and we do not stop until all of the work is done. The day is busy because we harvest for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Bozeman Farmer’s Market and MDF (Market Day Foods). Crazy View Farm works with three other farms to grow, pick, package and distribute produce to 78 CSA shareholders each week for 16 weeks (June – October). 

The CSA Model is an agreement between the farmer and customer that provides capital to the farmer during the planning and planting season to pay for seeds, growing materials, equipment, and labor. In return, the farmer provides CSA members with a weekly box of produce throughout the growing season. CSA members are invested in the farm for the entire season. They share in the harvest, when it is bountiful, but also share in the inherent risks and challenges of growing food – drought, frost, wind, hail, to name a few.  Shareholders, or families, pay $360 at the beginning of the growing season and receive a weekly share of the produce. That breaks down to only $22.50 per share, per week. Health insurance companies have learned that families and individuals who participate in CSA programs have lower heath care costs. Ask your health insurance provider if they offer rebates for their customers that are a part of a CSA. When offered, health insurance companies typically offer $100 rebates for individuals and $200 rebates for families. Even if your health insurance provider says no, it is always good to be pushing them to look for new ways of lowering the cost of healthy foods for you and lowering the health care costs to the insurance company. CSAs become a win-win scenario for both families and health insurance providers.

Cleaning lettuce heads and bundling up the carrots

Crazy View puts a concentrated effort into growing a majority of the greens that make up the weekly CSA share. Today we harvested basil, heads of lettuce, zucchini and eggs for the shareholders. All four farms work together to provide a diverse variety of produce to their shareholders each week. The other farms contributed fennel, tomatoes, squash, cucumber and onion to the share. If you think receiving fresh vegetables, picked at the peak of perfection and in your hands within 24 hours sounds ideal, then you should consider become a CSA member. It will not only feed your body organic, wholesome goodness but it will also teach you and your children about the vegetables that grow well in your area and when they are in season. If you are unsure how to find a farm in your area that operates a CSA, contact me and I will help you or attend the next farmer’s market in your town. Ask the farmers if they are operating a CSA program and how you can become a member.

Aside from the healthy vegetables and learnin’ that you will receive by becoming a member, you will also be supporting your local farming community. Think about it – you are purchasing your share in the springtime, the exact time of year when farmers need capital the most and you are removing the middleman. Rather than driving to the grocery store for every edible desire, you are going straight to the Farmer. By making this choice you are delivering the true value of the product to the Farmer. When you purchase your produce at a grocery store, the Farmer’s price decreases by every person that it takes to get the product from the Farm and to your plate. A portion of the value gets paid to the farmer, truck drivers, warehouse, marketer and grocer. I do know that it is convenient and efficient to get your produce from a grocery store, but I do hope that you consider purchasing a portion of the food you eat directly from the human whose sweat, blood and tears went into growing your dinner. 

The list of produce to harvest for the day

Washing, weighing and packaging