Orion Farmstead

06/09/2026

06/08/2026

Orion Farmstead is looking for someone to help out for the 2026 season!

We live near Ovando, MT, right on Monture Creek.

Three to four people live on the farm, along with one dog and a cat. 🐈

We’re dedicated to reawakening in our visitors a sense of broader community — humankind’s relationship with the rest of the natural world and the origins of our food.

By offering stays on our regenerative farm and farm-to-table experiences, we celebrate a local agricultural tradition built on neighborliness and resilience, and we work to foster healthy, holistic lifestyles along the way.

This is a big, hands-on season.

We have 1,081 grafted heritage apple trees — scionwood off 100+ year-old local trees — heading to market this summer, plus around 1,050 specialty seedlings (apricot, pear, apple, hazelnut, and black walnut) coming along behind them.

We grow garlic, potatoes, and culinary and medicinal herbs, cultivate gourmet mushrooms (mostly oyster and wine cap), and keep about 50 dual-purpose chickens in a mobile coop.

Our honor-system farm store opens in mid-June, and the calendar is full of events, including a biochar workshop and the Montana Herbal Festival here at the farm in late June.

We’re building a greenhouse and a wood-fired bread oven this season, so handy folks are a gift — but even if you’re not handy (Alexis isn’t!), we can use the help.

Housing is a 14-ft canvas bell tent with electricity, a comfy mattress, an electric blanket, and clean linens, plus a table and odds and ends to make it your own. Laundry is available, and our kitchen lives in a converted enclosed trailer.

We provide all the staples plus coffee and tea, and Alexis loves to cook — we aim to put out a couple of prepared meals a day and leave the rest to you.

There’s a wood-fired hot tub, sauna, and cold plunge on site, about a mile of river, and plenty of nearby spots for outdoor adventures.

We have availability now through the end of September.

There’s a lot going on here, and a lot to be part of — come learn with us.

If you are interested in working with Orion this season, the link is in the Bio!

05/30/2026

We have been doing BIG things, the summer season is kicking off early and JUNE is packed with fun events.

•Biochar retreat
•Farmstand grand opening
•Montana Herbal Festival

Just to name a few!

Before we give you all the juicy details for these upcoming events- we want to take a minute to slow down and appreciate all the little things.

This Farmstead is beautiful not only for its landscape and well curated Farm Stay spaces, but for all the little things sprinkled in.

We hope you are finding joy in the little things today and as we move into the busy summer season!

We have a lot to share with you in the coming weeks and as always, we hope to see you soon.

05/18/2026

Recently we bud grafted 7 kinds of apple trees!

We took first year growth buds (scions) from the trees we want to replicate apples from and grafted it onto a rootstock from - called Siberian 118. A cold hardy rootstock made for those sometimes cold MT winters.

Although our graft buds came from 1st year growth trees, the orchard has been around for more than 100 years on a MT family farm!

This means our graft trees will be cold hardy and conditioned to grow well in MT.

Grafting can be a fun and experimental process- this 101 post lightly touches on what it is and how we did it!

If you already have one of these trees, ITS TIME TO PRUNE!

See post for instructions and let us know your experience.

05/05/2026

We adopted a highway!
I bet you could guess where…
That’s right- Right along the Orion Farmstead corridor!

It extends about a mile in each direction from the Farmstead’s entrance on BOTH sides of MT-200.

We believe that stewarding the land isn’t just what we grow and harvest from it but how we show up and tend to its needs in various states.

There’s always more to say- for now, we just want to do our part in keeping our highway and lands free from trash 🗑️

05/01/2026

Our Farm Stay Experience is open TODAY!

It’s the time of year where we pack our bags and head out- spring is sprung and that means our two custom built tiny homes are awaiting your arrival!

These unique and rustic-modern spaces overlook the Orion water basin and Blackfoot River. Spend your afternoons basking in the sun, cooking your favorite meals, exploring the surrounding recreational areas, or fly fish in your very own stretch of the Blackfoot.

Whatever your interest, there’s something for you here!

The Experience wouldn’t be complete without out the Farm- although our stays are situated in areas where privacy and a peaceful experience is a priority. You are in the midst of a regenerative permaculture farmstead.

There are plenty or areas to get curious about and opportunities to learn!

OH, did we mention the wood-fired hot tub, quaint log cabin sauna, and cold plunge options?!

If this sounds like an adventure you want to be apart of- our BOOKING LINK is in our Bio.

See you soon!

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day • from our patch to yours 🌿

We are grateful for this land and all that it provides. Today and everyday we reflect on the actions that support our long-term relationship with the natural world, regenerative systems, and community.

Thanks for being apart of our journey as we celebrate the local agricultural tradition, built on neighborliness and resilience, therefore fostering healthy, holistic lifestyles.

04/15/2026

We are seeing new faces and followers on here and wanted to reintroduce Orion Farmstead and our Founders!

We love what we do and we are so happy you’re here- this beautiful video was created by a local Missoula artist Ben Ziemet.

It captures introductions to our founders, a beautiful view into the work we have done on the Farmstead, and our philosophies around land and what we are working toward.

Thank you for being apart of the Orion Farmstead community- see you all soon.

04/08/2026

What does Mushrooms and Permaculture have to do with one another? EVERYTHING!

For us, Permaculture is a holistic approach to how we view the world- “more than just a system of agriculture, it’s reshaping our life style in order to work in, holistic systems.” -Ashton (co-founder, .podcast- episode 1)

Much like mycelial networks- they can connect plant roots, enable nutrient sharing, resource distribution, remediate toxins, protect against pathogens, and provide food. If this isn’t a match made in heaven, I don’t know what is!

Last week we inoculated 7 strains of mushrooms- all requiring unique environments- using Sawdust Spawn from !

We got:
•Winecaps- expected fruiting June or July!
•Pink Oyster
•Nameko
•Blewitt
•Almond Agaricus
•Lions Mane
•Chestnut

Here at Orion we are always finding ways to utilize what is already here. We collected downed branches for substrate, use pre-built structures for temp. and sun control. Even created a humidity control system out of some old window panes!

🍄 Want to see what we got going on? Let us know!!

In the end, mushrooms bring us to the table. Some of our sweetest memories are sitting around a table, eating seasonal mushroom dishes, with friends!

Joy is regenerative and so are Mushrooms- stay tuned to see what we have to offer in Orion’s future Farmstand!

03/12/2026