March is going out like a lion, or at least a blizzard/flood in a lot of the heartland, but here in the Valley of the Flowers it’s merely snowing, and not even all that hard. A neighbor did see a lion track outside his barn one morning, much earlier in the winter, but it must have moved on, as the mule deer are back (and occasionally even elk, as below). There’s quite a few up on the mountain, and the rest are enjoying some leftover barley on the Rockpile Ranch; the shortest of the short, too short to cut, at least in rocks.

In further ironies, though, maybe this pre-sized our barley, eliminating the thins, plus we enjoyed just the right amount of late summer showers that allowed the rest to fill nicely, without sprouting or other quirks that malting barley is prone to. All the same, I was tickled when the Montana State Grain Lab concurred that this was indeed beer barley, none too shabby.
Except, it’s a slightly oddball variety (Conlon, a 2-row) that I only planted because seed availability was extemely tight last spring, and then it kept snowing, and snowing and so maybe we better plant something short season. On my second try I came up with your basic bin run barley, except known to be this pure variety and perfectly clean except for a few odd corn kernels, courtesy the Ag Depot.
The Beer Barons only want trainloads of the current faves though (Harrington and Metcalf), so it looks like I’ll have to investigate the smaller options, and hey, if any smaller brewers out there are looking for a deal on some good quality malt barley, organically produced, drop me a line.
I don’t take offense if people get a glazed expression right away when I start going on about farming. At the moment, in my opinion, it remains pretty dang interesting but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Unless of course… <banished, by the Bad Joke Editor!>
Fortunately seed availability is greatly improved this spring, (depressions be damned!), and I am immensely pleased to have procured among other things decent deals on golden flax seed, lentils, some wheat seed best suited to isolated mountain valleys where there’s no sawfly, and let’s see… red clover and am also picking up some other oddballs for my oilpress partner, who happens to be sitting on perhaps the only certified organic camelina seed out there, not to mention sundry “pulse” crops and mercy…!
It’s just not dull at all.
So even though the Eagles sometimes start going through my head when I get north of Great Falls, (“been up and down this highway…”) I’m looking forward to a trip up to Napi’s Country the end of this week. Besides seed, this includes an auction or two, although one is in our old neighborhood up there, under complicated (and very unfortunate/tragic) circumstances so I think I’ll pass on that one, but the other might be all kinds of fun, vastly better in my view than a Caribbean cruise or some other sorts of spring breaks.
Plus things continue to change on a near-daily basis with our oilseed marketing ventures. In fact I’m quite encouraged from even a day or two ago, when we were turned down for a grant (dismissively, but I’m told it’s one of the tougher around), and it really is a small world so further fortuitous connections have coalesced, among other things meaning spring “brandings” may take on a whole new meaning around here. Our labeling, graphics, and far more than that are about to finally get the professional treatment, long overdue no doubt!
A bureaucratic obstacle or two haven’t exactly resolved, although we have excellent advice on how to proceed in-bounds, and you gotta have faith, right?

Except I’m finally starting on my taxes tomorrow, so reserve rights (to change opinion, among other things)! You’re supposed to embrace change, right?!
I think generally speaking, we do…