A Dream Turned Reality
When Lukas and I moved to Montana, we knew we wanted to start our own homestead – a place that could sustain us through all four seasons, even with harsh winters and short summers. Now, with our first full growing season ahead of us, we’re attempting to dive into the world of growing our own food and medicine with a mix of indoor and outdoor gardening strategies.
We were blessed to buy our first home at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains in December. We early on recognized the potential we had on our property to make it something special. It was a blank canvas with lots of opportunity to make it exactly what we wanted. A little over a quarter acre, what could we do with all this new space? I’ve always loved gardening, and had a newly found obsession with the relationship between food and health. We hope to capitalize on exactly that.
In 2024 I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome), a hormonal condition that affects metabolism, insulin resistance and inflammation in the body. Managing PCOS is deeply connected to the food we eat, as diet plays a huge role in reducing inflammation and balancing hormones. Since my diagnosis, I’ve become even more intentional about what we eat – focusing on nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods like leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables and herbs with medicinal properties.
While still in Bend, I tried Western medicine first to try and mitigate symptoms, but I didn’t want to be taking medication every day with miserable side effects. I sought care from a Naturopath that really understood my condition and helped me get on track managing it. In addition to supplements – prioritizing food, sunshine, grounding and sleep became pillars in helping me live better. With implementing her regimen, I lost 25 pounds and my hormones started normalizing. Herbs like turmeric, ginger and spearmint became staples in our household, which can pinch your pockets when it comes to constantly buying these items in the store. Living and eating intentionally has become so important to us – maybe we could try grow it all ourselves. Food truly is medicine and by cultivating our own organic produce, I will be able to know exactly what is going into our bodies.
Want to start your garden like we did? Click the red texts or check out the links below:
Starting Indoors
In January, I suffered a pretty serious back injury at work that has left me with cabin fever during the dark winter months. I started planning for the spring with everything I wanted to grow and whittled it down to what was reasonable and most beneficial. I spent days researching how to grow in our new climate and tips and tricks to help our success on a bigger scale. Our first purchase was an indoor grow light station with six racks to start seedlings and hopefully grow some herbs for the kitchen year-round. We purchased 8 raised beds that stayed in their boxes until the temperature rose above 20 degrees. I started the first round of seedlings in basic Jiffy Seedling Trays in the middle of February, week by week started adding more trays. Currently we have 5 going, holding 50-72 seedlings.
We opted for 50 and 72 slot Ferry Morse Jiffy Seed Starting Greenhouse Tray Kits
The Planning Continues
I used an online platform called Garden Savvy to customize our space and plan exact dimensions and layout with the crops I picked. Originally I thought 4’x4′ boxes would be a good idea, but quickly realized how many boxes it would take and decided to go with 4’x8’x1′ Raised Beds to maximize the space and to co-grow plants that like each other.
I have big plans for our backyard space. Eventually having majority of the area designated to growing and connecting with the Earth. I took to Canva to create an idea of what we want it to eventually look like. This may be a long way down the road, but it helps to have a vision of the end-goal.
Next on the shopping list was a greenhouse. Living in 5b-6a climate, extending your growing season is integral to maximizing the 4 seasons and helps to battle unexpected weather changes. We opted for the 6’x8′ Outsunny Polycarbonate Greehouse to not break the budget but also have ample spacing. With it built, the seedlings I started in February are about 3 inches tall now and are slowly transitioning outside, allowing for new seedlings to be started under the grow lights until the weather is more predictable. In these past few weeks, the list of plants has grown, and I started a goal to keep a strict journal of successes and fails to have a better head start for next year. I have grow tables, a potting bench, bigger seedling cups, and grow bags coming for the greenhouse in the next few weeks.
For now, our foundation for our garden has started. There is a lot of work to do in the meantime. I won’t sugarcoat it, the upfront cost is expensive, but we hope that starting the process this year will allow us to be set for the years to come. Updates to come as the winter continues to thaw and the sun begins to shine.
If you have any tips or tricks, please comment below! I’d love any feedback I can get! I look forward to sharing this journey with y’all and continuing this ever growing process of happy and healthy living.
