Hi-Line Living: McIntosh two-acre farm

The two acres on Bullhook Drive where Stu and Carol McIntosh live is not so much a yard as it is a cornucopia bursting with vibrant produce.

One need not look far to see the fruits of their labor. A dozen or so feet to the right of the couple's modern ranch house, is a thick patch of corn, with some stalks more than 6 feet tall.

“When you are inside, they are so thick you can hardly get through,” said Carol, pushing aside waves of the gangly crop as she gingerly walked through it, with dried husks breaking beneath her feet.

Over the past couple of years, the amount of corn grown by these avid gardeners has increased from a small plot to now absorbing three-fourths of their overall property. Stu has been the force behind expanding their shared corn crop.

Even their snow white Samoyed, Sunshine, is drawn to the corn, picking up stray ears of it with her teeth and peeling away the husks with gusto to chomp away at the prize cocooned inside.

As a result of their corn crop expansion, the share of their property dedicated to growing other crops has shrunk. Although it is by far their most abundant crop, corn is not all the McIntoshes grow.

Behind the greenhouse, which was installed four years ago and where each plant is cared for in its early stages before being sown into the warm, fecund earth, is another garden plot. Among the network of large green leafs and tangle of sprawling vines are a series of crops. Aside from the corn, squash is their most bountiful crop.

This year the couple is growing two types of squash: buttercup and Hubbard. The bulbous Hubbard are truly a sight to see, with at least one weighing in at about 17 pounds. So far this year, the couple estimates they have picked 250 butternut squash.

The Macintoshes also boast a strong crop of tomatoes caged in wire cones to keep them from collapsing under their own weight. Tomatoes were what the McIntosh’s planted the most when they began gardening in 2004. One year they planted 78 tomato starts.

“I could have fed the whole town of Havre.” Carol recalls with a smile.

These agricultural feats are all the more impressive when you consider their ages, especially Stu who will be 87 later this month. He said the intense and constant outdoor labor makes him feel young again.

Stu is well acquainted with the land. He says that, in all, he has 82 years of experience harvesting fields. He was raised on a farm, the youngest of eight siblings in Simpson, 25 miles north of Havre and close to the Wild Horse Port of Entry.

When he was 14, he moved to Havre to attend school. Throughout much of the year he supported himself working as a butcher during the 1940s, and returned during the summers to help out on the farm.

He later worked three weeks as an employee for the railroad which he says is the only job he had that he ever hated.

In 1952, he began working on a farm full-time with the owner eventually renting the land out to him. In 1956, he bought the farm located in Simpson and went on to harvest wheat, barley, peas and lentil as well as raising cattle.

Stu also owned a seed company. In 1998 he moved into the house where he and his second wife, Carol, live. The two met and were married after each endured the loss of their previous spouse. Even after moving, Stu still worked on his farm for a time.

Despite his extensive experience in tending to the land and growing crops, gardening was a new venture for Stu. He was more accustomed to growing food but on much more than two acres.

“I kept having to have him go smaller,” said Carol.

Judging by the amount of corn they are now growing though, one could argue Stu has won that battle.

In recent years, Steve, the youngest of Stu's two sons and Steve's wife, Wanda, now operate the old farm in Simpson, while his younger son, Alec, and his wife farm nearby.

One of the reasons Stu says he has always been drawn to farming is the narrative arc of it.

“You see the work you do and you see it grow,” said Stu. “And then harvest comes and that puts the top on it, and you see what you got.”

So what is the secret to the success for the McIntosh garden?

They say there isn't much to it. A water drip system they have installed that runs through the gardens and uses well water provides crops with water as needed, and they try to get started planting each year as soon as the ground has thawed enough, usually around early April.

But farming is not as easy as it looks. It is much more than simply planting a seed in the earth and adding water periodically. There are many variables involved: “Did I use too much water or too little? Did the plants get too much shade or too much sun? Would a given crop do better in one place or another?

There are also challenges, ranging from deer running through the garden and eating produce, to pesticides from city trucks meant to kills mosquitos scaring off bees needed for pollination. Then there are the weather conditions in the form of recent drought conditions or damage inflicted on the crops from this past July's hailstorm that took its toll on crops throughout the Hi-Line including those of the McIntoshes.

Throughout it all, though, the two of them love the gardening and have no plans to slow down and no regrets.

“It's been a great life,” said Stu. “I wouldn't give it up for nothing.