Watch the story in Conservation for the Future: Reid and Ellie Flashman, Dutton, MT

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Across the state of Montana, landowners are embracing local food movements and looking to grow their own food. However, producers in the state have weather and climate conditions that limit their growing season.  

NRCS Supervisory District Conservationist Paula Gunderson confirms, “It is a challenge to get things to grow here with fewer growing degree days, low humidity, and wind. High tunnels allow for a longer growing season with protection from frost.”

The Fleshman family homesteaded their Teton County land in 1913, growing primarily barley and winter wheat. A hundred years later, Reid Fleshman and his brother took over the reins, but Reid’s wife Ellie is new to this way of life.

“I didn’t grow up farming,” states Ellie. “We lived in farm country but didn’t have farmland. I wasn’t super familiar with the farming lifestyle.”

With grocery store options limited by an hour’s drive and 2020 concerns over the opening of the local farmers’ market, this young farming couple decided to make good use of some of their land to grow their own food.

Ellie continues, “My husband has been working with Paula through CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program) and she mentioned the high tunnel to him a few times as something we could be interested in. We decided to go for it.”

After researching the various options, the couple applied for and received financial assistance through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and settled on a high tunnel and an accompanying pollinator field.

A high tunnel system is commonly called a hoop house and can range in size and scope. The system helps growers extend the growing season, improve plant and soil quality, reduce nutrient and pesticide transportation, improve air quality through reduced transportation inputs, and reduce energy use by providing consumers a local source of fresh produce.

Local NRCS offices help with education, planning, and financial assistance. There are various programs in place for beginning farmers and ranchers, those who have farmed less than ten years. Beginning farmers may qualify for higher payment rates and have the option for advance payment.

“NRCS in general is promoting young producers and beginning farmers,” states NRCS Paula Gunderson. “We can provide cost share for high tunnels and also provide planning and financial assistance for the irrigation systems in high tunnels.”

“The financial help was huge,” says Ellie. “We are young and just starting out. We have the energy to grow our own food and do the research on how to plant. We wouldn’t have done this without the help.”

The couple installed their high tunnel May 1 of 2020. “A high tunnel is different from a greenhouse because you grow the plants directly in the ground and it provides protection. In a greenhouse, plants are mostly grown in pots,” states Gunderson.

“High tunnels are flexible. We could do the size that worked for us. It did have to be put on an established garden spot. We had a garden and fruit trees here before,” Ellie says, speaking from inside her high tunnel. “In here, the soil warms quicker. Should be able to plant a month to a month and a half earlier, then extend the season by four weeks.”

The couple is well under way with asparagus, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, basil, cilantro, zucchini, onions, and other herbs along with an apple and a pear tree. Ellie is already seeing amazing results with her tomatoes and corn, “I have some comparison corn outside in a garden plot. It’s about half the size of this and it was planted the same day.”

Water is her biggest concern. Currently the couple is using a PVC pipe irrigation system laid along plant rows with holes drilled along the pipe. Ellie is disappointed the irrigation system doesn’t water the plants as directly as she expected. “It turns out to be more of a flood irrigation system. It would be nice to have more water- conserving irrigation practices,” states Ellie. NRCS is currently designing a drip irrigation system for their high tunnel.

Ellie is enthusiastic about future possibilities with the high tunnel and has ideas for planting vertically to make the best use of space and maximize production, “I’m excited to see how early I can plant. We won’t lose them to freeze. Halfway through the summer, I’ll start cabbage, kale, and other fall crops outside and transplant them to the high tunnel to see just how late we can extend the growing season.”

Ellie is also experimenting with her fruit trees, “I have an apple and a pear tree in here to see if they will get a good head start. Then I will take them outside and see how they do. That is my vision.” She is also considering growing some seasonal produce that might be in demand at local farmers’ markets.

“I love the possibilities of the amount of produce we can get in this high tunnel; how much we can get out of such a small space,” states Ellie.

Pollinators make the difference.

The amount of yield the Fleshmans see will depend on good pollination. Part of this EQIP project included a pollinator field with plantings of grasses, shrubs, and forbs that bloom all season. The only requirement is that the field of pollinator habitat be within one mile of an apiary. “The producer can choose to do trees, a field border, or a whole field,” states Gunderson. “The Fleshmans chose a field border. NRCS provided cost share for the seeds.” NRCS helped the couple put together a seed mix that would work well for both the location and the honeybee habitat.

“This used to be a wheat field then my uncle planted it to grass,” states Reid Fleshman. “We decided to do this pollinator strip. It will be good for the bees and for the land and pretty to look at. We could graze it in the fall and the cattle would help reseed the plot.”

He continues, “The apiary is about one hundred yards away and it has local bees. They like the sainfoin and other crops and Ellie’s extensive gardens. Her gardens get pollinated and the bees are fun to have around. We also get a share of the honey,” he smiles. As part of the EQIP contract, follow-up monitoring is required. Ellie will evaluate which plants the honeybees liked the most.

As the average age of farmers continues to rise, it is important to support young farmers as they continue agricultural operations, consider conservation practices, their personal health and the local food movement. High tunnels are one way NRCS is helping them to do that. “High tunnels can take land that is not highly productive, increase its effectiveness and make it more productive,” concludes Gunderson.

“Sustainability is a buzzword and it is important to every farmer that I know. We’ve been doing this since 1913 and we’re still doing it,” concludes Reid. “Nobody values the land more than the people that are making a living off of it. We try to take very good care of our ground.”