Winter

Karen Dunham • Mar 02, 2019

The calm after the storm... and apparently before the next one too

Greetings from Northwest Montana , where we’ve had an entire winter’s worth of snow and frigid in just 4 weeks. I’ve included a photo so that you can get a visual - see that bump in the yard? That’s a picnic table! See how the snow is about up to the table? Eeek! The first half of our winter was pretty mild - we had a White Christmas, but just barely. Our temps hovered between the high 20’s - 40’s for most of November - January. I know that sounds super cold, but it’s not. To give you some perspective, we were in San Diego one fall about 5 years ago for a delivery. Remember when we used to deliver? We miss those days - not the total chaos that our lives were, but we truly miss seeing you all face-to-face! So, that fall, it was 40 degrees in SD for a few days and we froze our tails (and other parts) off. Of course, it was negative 18 here in Kalispell during that time, and so we were thankful to be “freezing”, figuratively, in CA rather than freezing, literally, in MT! All that to say, 40 degrees in Southern CA, because of the moisture in the air, is not the same as 40 degrees in MT…..YOUR 40 degrees is COLD…our 40 degrees is picnic weather (well….not quite, but you get the picture). So, the first half of winter meant picnic weather and clear roads (hallelujah!), and I was thankful. But then, January 23rd showed up and we got a whopping 16” overnight….and the snow just keeps coming. Last night, there wasn’t snow in the forecast and then it started snowing and they declared a severe winter storm warning with an “emergency travel only” declaration. What the heck? We are all done….but, alas, we are not apparently. All I know is that I’m thankful this didn’t happen in December, because I would have been in the depths of despair imagining what the next few months would have been like. As it stands currently, though, we have no idea WHERE we will put the rest of the snow being forecasted for the next couple of weeks, we do know that winter won’t be here forever and that spring is just around the proverbial, albeit somewhat long and winding, corner. We take heart in knowing that all this snow will aid in producing our amazing nutrient dense grass, exclusive to the Eastern Front of Montana, which is instrumental in raising the nation’s happiest and healthiest animals for your table. I know where you think happy cows come from…..that was a nice ad campaign, but I beg to differ!

Knowing that spring will indeed arrive…. we will start taking orders on 10th for our spring harvest.

Until then, we have some items remaining, and if you are needing some beautiful grass fed, grass finished, free range, clean bison, beef, or lamb before we start shipping again in June - now’s the time to order.

On a really cheerful note, did you know that 2 of our country’s worst blizzards occurred on March 11 - 12?? Yeah, I’m trying to ignore that too.

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Wonderful Things about Raw Honey

By Karen Dunham • 03 May, 2024

Raw Honey is one truly amazing substance. We all know that it tastes fantastic, but did you know that it also provides a myriad of health benefits for us both internally and externally? First, let’s talk about what defines Raw Honey as opposed to conventional honey. Raw honey is not filtered, but instead is strained, often gravitationally, in order to remove bits of beeswax, bee parts, dead bees, and other impurities that are in the hives and honey frames. To be considered raw, honey isn't heat extracted from the hives or ever heated above the temperature that bees keep their hives (around 95-105 degrees) in order to strain or pour it. This careful process allows the honey to keep all of the beneficial nutrients that are naturally present in the hive, including pollen and propolis. According to Dr. Josh Axe, raw Honey is a “functional food” containing 22 amino acids, 27 minerals, 5000 enzymes, and at least 16 known antioxidants. Raw Honey is also anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. These properties make Raw Honey perfect for applying to wounds and killing infections as well taking internally for digestive and gut issues. Personally, we have used raw honey to heal a staph infection, and it also worked wonders for me when I had a case of food poisoning. This fabulous substance is full of phytonutrients, phytochemicals, and polyphenols that act as antioxidants, hunting down free radicals within the body, boosting our immune systems and unlocking neuroprotective functions that aid in brain performance. Raw Honey does all of the above, and it even tastes fantastic too! Isn’t that crazy? I mean, we all know how great liver is for you, but it definitely does NOT taste anything like honey. There are some other very interesting aspects about Raw Honey as well. For instance, Raw Honey never goes bad. It can freeze with no change in properties, and if you happen to stash a container in your storage room and find it years later (that'd be me!), it will still be perfectly fine - just hardened or crystallized. And speaking of crystallizing and hardening, honey does one or the other depending on the climate, water content, and conditions during the year in which it was made. Personally, I LOVE hardened honey, but most years, honey tends to crystallize rather than harden. Honey is harvested once a year, and so over the course of that year, it crystallizes (or hardens); some years it crystallizes quickly and other years more slowly. Our bee keeper says that honey is alive and can change in color and texture from year to year, even within the same hives that are in the exact location. It is a truly miraculous product. We LOVE our Raw Honey. We’ve never tasted anything like it. I never particularly liked honey, and I NEVER would have licked the honey spoon, until I tried the honey we sell at Glacier Grown. That super dark stuff that the grocery stores call honey is a far inferior product. I’ve even had some honeys that are called raw, but are pretty terrible. You don’t have to sacrifice taste for quality and nutritional benefit - you can have both!! If you haven’t tried our honey yet, do yourself a favor and give it a shot . We have some in stock now, from last fall’s harvest, but with the summer farm stand season starting in May, I’m expecting that we will sell it all prior to the 2024 honey being ready at the end of September. Running out of Glacier Grown Raw Honey is never a good thing.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and just HELLO!

By Karen Dunham • 21 Jan, 2022

It's been a while since we've been in touch. The last 6 months have been a wild and woolly ride over at the Dunham household, but we've finally come up for air. We hope that you and yours enjoyed a lovely holiday season and that you have headed into the New Year full of hope and enthusiasm. Those of you who have been with us for years, undoubtedly, see a different group of people in the above photo than when we made deliveries to Southern California in the past. All of those previously little people have grown up - the baby started college this past year, and the oldest has a baby of his own. All in the blink of an eye. We wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you - we appreciate you and your continued support. It is a privilege to provide the very best 100% grass fed, grass finished, pasture raised, chemical-free, humanely raised meats that our northwest corner has to offer. If you are looking to stock your freezer for the next few months, before spring deliveries begin (we will start taking orders in March and deliveries will start in late May/early June), we still have some items remaining from the Fall Harvest ready to ship.