All of County Rail Farm’s produce is certified organic by the Montana Dept of Agriculture and certified Real Organic by the Real Organic Project. Our flowers are mostly certified organic, with the exception of our tulips and lisianthus in particular, which are organically-grown. Most importantly, we believe that good farming means healthy soil and healthy soil means healthy vegetables and safe flowers. Our farming practices cater to the longevity and sustainability of the land, and that’s what matters (not our certification). A little more about our methods:

When plants grow in the ground and then are removed (for eating! smelling! looking at!), they take with them nutrients that they used to grow big and delicious out of the soil. County Rail Farm cultivates the land so that those nutrients are returned to the soil for the next crop and in ways that protect and nurture the other plants, animals, and microorganisms that surround and reside on our farm. We use only natural materials, such as chicken manure compost, to put nutrients back in our soil. We seed clover in strips between some of our beds to supply extra nitrogen and organic matter to our crops. And we don’t use the land to its full capacity every year. Instead, we let the soil rest every few years with tarps and cover crop to help regenerate organic matter and nutrients. This ensures that we don’t remove too many nutrients or work the soil too hard – we want all of those little bugs and worms and spiders and rhizomes to be as happy as they can be.

We use methods of pest and weed management that are certified organic and all of our pest and weed management is sustainable and chemical free.

Flown in flowers in particular bring a whole host of chemicals into our communities. In order to keep blooms fresh and long lasting to survive long plane rides and weeks of transportation stress, they are pumped full of preservatives. Local flowers are fresh, safe, and long lasting (because they were just harvested!) and sustainable. Flown flowers are huge consumers of fossil fuels. For Valentines Day alone, those three weeks of flower delivery flights burn approximately 114 million liters of fuel, emitting approximately 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

We do use propane to heat our greenhouse for our early season tulip program and our vegetable and floral seedling production. We believe our carbon footprint is acceptable considering the jobs we provide for ourselves and our employees, the way we produce our blooms and food, the alternatives available, and the local economic impact when Montana customers support Montana small businesses.

If you have questions about the way we farm, what we plant, how we manage our land, or anything else, please let us know! We’d love to show you the farm and how we do what we do.

Here’s where it all begins. Our favorite seed companies:
High Mowing Seeds – Wolcott, VT
Triple Divide Seed Coop – Ronan MT
Turtle Tree Seed (biodynamic) – Copake, NY
Fedco Seeds – Waterville, ME
Johnny’s Selected Seeds – Winslow, ME