For Apprentices, Interns & Farm Stay Guests
The Herb Farm
We are located in NW Montana in the Flathead Valley. While our growing season is short, mother nature makes up for it with more hours of daylight. Our garden goal is to develop a diverse and expanded seasonal organic food source, that has hard to find valuable heirlooms, health boosting foods and near extinct medicinal herbs. All this with a flavor of functional rustic homesteading that embraces an eye for balance, beauty and whimsy. We offer an opportunity for learning skills needed for homesteading, agricultural projects, and building health using materials that are available or can easily and inexpensively be found or recycled - embracing the value of “Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without.”
Our ten acre property is surrounded on two sides by forest land and is about midway between the village of Whitefish and downtown Kalispell, Montana. Glacier National Park is 30 minutes away. The Outdoor Recreational and Cultural Opportunities here are awesome!
The Emerging Gardens & Farm Stay
Our agricultural venture began in 2012. Trees were cleared in January 2014, opening additional land to cultivation and terracing. In the 2015 season, several terraces with raspberries, goji berries, garlic, shallots, fruit trees, and 1000 strawberry plants were planted. In 2015 we also created a 63 foot herbal mandala garden, installed a 20'x100' high tunnel, chicken coop, grape arbor, and established the herb nursery. In 2016, we built a Bunkhouse for Farm Stay guests and farm-based wellness retreats. 2017 produced a viewing platform to look into the gardens and a chicken hotel using plans from the 1880 archives of the North Dakota Dept. of Agriculture to optimize light and ventilation at this northern latitude. In 2018 we expanded our campground to ten sites, including a lean-to for campers, and built our Farm Store Apothecary.
2019 brought major magic into our High Tunnel. You have to see it to experience it.
We offer sufficient living spaces for those we accept to live here, work the land, and for month-long wellness immersion farm stays.
We build a community where the individual work load allows for ample personal time for self-directed research into herbs, farming, and health building while providing time to enjoy this most beautiful part of the world, the Crown Jewel of North America, Glacier National Park. Those present and their work ethic will determine what the balance can look like.
Opportunities
Dear Prospective SpiritWorks Farmer and Wellness Seeker,
We are happy to offer individualized learning experiences for interested interns, apprentices, and students and look to create a meaningful stay for all who come here. If you are a student, we will coordinate your apprenticeship practicum or internship program with your school to help you to get credit for your learning here. Our location and activities offer valuable farm-based learning and life experiences.
On this website you will find details about our farm and our intentions.
OUR PREMISE: Nature is the leader and task master regarding the focus of what needs to get done and the timing of various activities.
OUR FOCUS: To create an educational immersion with farming experience that honors individual needs and stamina. In order to balance individual experience with farm needs:
I ask each person to take responsibility for clarifying their individual needs and for pacing themselves.
OUR FARMING PRACTICES embrace the philosophies of organic farming, crop diversity, companion planting, permaculture concepts, soil health, sustainability, wildcrafting, learning from research and observation, listening to nature and to each other.
OUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT is based upon clearly identified individual learning goals supported by a self-directed learning with a community integrated approach that is evident in how we approach our daily tasks, visits to other farms, individually research, and share our insights with each other and our community.
We will expand our knowledge and practices regarding the cultivation, harvest and use of medicinal foods and herbs both by research and observation, exploring how to incorporate herbs into our menus for taste and therapeutic benefits, and share these learnings with each other and our community.
