Montana’s history of agriculture goes back as far as when humans on this corner of the Earth first began cultivating the land’s bounty to feed themselves, growing food in the rich soil and planning for the future. And that history of locally grown food continues to beckon, even now. The local-food movement, known as farm to table, is catching on in more communities with the idea that people are best served by the food grown closest to them.
Growing that food is one part of the equation, while finding access to it is another. And Farm Hands: Nourish the Flathead, a local nonprofit, hopes to do just that. The organization’s goal is to address food access issues through local agriculture, program coordinator Rose Heider said. The group, started 10 years ago and run by a coordinated group of volunteers until Heider became the first paid employee, runs multiple programs to assist with residents’ food needs, including farm-to-school projects and backpack programs that send children home from school with food.