Time for another installment of our Employee Spotlight series!  We hope that these interviews will help acquaint you with the folks on the farm who are largely responsible for keeping the delicious JBG vegetables rolling out, week after week.

This episode features the immensely hard-working and loyal Montana Stovall, who took a minute out his busy week to meet with us. He joined JBG in 2013 as our Tomato Cooler Inventory Manager, and has taken on many different roles and responsibilities throughout the short three years he has been a part of the team. We love Montana, not only for his long red hair, but also for his tractor prowess and mechanical mindedness. Dedicated and quick-to-learn, he has become an integral player at the farm, and we are grateful for his tireless work. Farm community - meet Montana!

Where did you grow up? I grew up around Amarillo, TX. My family runs a 2900 acre grain farm. I grew up around that, but I moved to Dallas when I was three or four.

What brought you to JBG? I was selling vegetables for the farm I was managing at the time at the HOPE Farmers Market on a Sunday. I’m talkin’ up my CSA, and had some beautiful produce, but nothing like what JBG had down at the end. So, this guy [Brenton] is checkin’ me out, and his kids are like, ‘Dad, come on! Let’s go!’ but he sticks around for a minute to give me his card. He tells me he wants me to come out to his farm, and I said I wasn’t interested, but good to meet you, etc…

So, I head back to our farm, do the books, and realize we have just enough money to make it through the end of July. That’s when farming is really tough for Texans. I mean, it’s just really hard to farm in August. At JBG, our fall is phenomenal usually, but right now, especially. Most other farmers take off in August. They do their CSA in the spring, for four or five months, do a little bit of wholesale, and then take off in August. They will regroup around right now, second or third week in September, do a little bit of over-winter stuff and get an early jump on next year. That’s kind of the standard Central Texas rotation, and what really differentiates JBG from the rest, and ultimately that’s why I’m here. We have everything, 70 different crops at market, if not more, and you get to farm year-round!

But, back to the story… two or three weeks after he approached me at the market, I was working for him (after I finished my commitments with the other farm). That was back in 2013.

Back in 2013. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

What is your current role at JBG? I am the Direct Seed Lead. Historically, I’ve been Angel’s helper, doing bed prep and fertility. [Angel is the JBG tillage lead/manager. Angel + Montana work very closely, and their whole work day is pretty much planned together.] Then, I would always watch and help Brenton do the direct seeding. All the direct seeding used to happen via Brenton on Saturdays, but Brenton started trusting us, and giving it to Angel and I to do. So, Angel would drive, and I would walk behind him... or be out in the middle of the field with a clipboard, checking the bed, checking the seeds, or adding more seeds if I needed to. Since we often find ourselves understaffed, here and there, or seasonally, I just decided to free up Angel so he could do something else, and that way we could get more done. That’s just how it happened! So, I’m the main direct seed guy for about a year and a half/two years now. I get the seeds, go out, and do my thing.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

What have you learned from your role? I’ve always been about trial and error, and trying new things. That really helps my job, because the conditions are never the same. We’re constantly adapting to new ways to plant - we’ve done some crazy stuff when the conditions just aren’t right, or the soil just won’t dry to get stuff into the ground.

We have this spacing system in the computer for seeds, but it’s not really up to par. Because everything is ALWAYS changing, you have different conditions, different times of year, different ways of growing, if markets want bunch vegetables, or a bulk crop… we’ve had issues and it’s not always super easy, but it’s super interesting. At the end of the day, you just have to trust it and be super attentive. A small mistake could turn into a big mistake... The only thing I really worry about is that if I mess up, it might be two more weeks until the crop hits the market stand… the diversity that we have at the farm always makes me feel better though, because we will always have 14 or 15 really quality items in full abundance for the CSA and markets.

What does your life look like off the farm? Full of kids (5 kiddos!), garden dirt, and cars and trucks (FUN FACT: Montana worked as a mechanic in Pennsylvania before he became a full-time farmer, and has 6 ASE certifications!). I find myself always having a project or two or three laying around. I like to grow tomatoes a lot in the spring, or really whenever I can… I’ve got a big tomato garden. Right now, I have a big pepper garden, since my fall tomatoes died.

Besides that, it’s a full schedule - we balance the kids and all of our responsibilities. In the morning, all the kids are up at 5:30, we streamline breakfast, and then they’re on the school bus at 6:20. My kids are 5, 5, 7, almost 9, and I have a newborn. It’s fun.

Montana and his family (minus the newborn!)

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Do you cook a lot? What’s cookin’ in your kitchen? I LOVE to cook. Right now, I’m into smoking with pecan wood. I grow Numex Chilies, the green kind, but right now it’s the season for red ones. I smoke the red Numex Chilies, and make pots of beans. That’s just the best flavor in the world. I’ll have to send you some of my next batch. Besides that, I’m into kale. I’m a huge kale fanatic. I eat kale all the time, and almost every day when it’s in season. I picked a small bunch yesterday - the first of the season!

Since you’re such a big kale aficionado, what else do you like to do with kale? Kale with peppers and onions… just on the skillet, medium to high heat, a dash of olive oil… on the heat and off the heat, one or two minutes and that’s it. With the really sweet, over-wintered kale, I like to make kale chips. When it’s really in abundance, we eat pan after pan of kale chips - it’s awesome.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

What might people be surprised to learn about you? Well, I was a DJ… played lots of electronic music from ‘02 - ‘09 (a different side of me than the Grateful Dead + bluegrass lovin’ guy that people know).

What’s your favorite and least favorite crops to grow? Least favorite: Rutabaga, because I don’t like to eat it.

Favorite: Tomatoes, that’s my favorite… or carrots, or cilantro, or watermelons. I love a big, juicy, red watermelon. I’ve got a lot of favorites.

What’s your favorite season? Spring. March is my favorite month... my birthday is March 14 which coincides with our last frost date. So, Montana’s birthday rolls around, and it’s time to plant our first batch of tomatoes!

If you were stuck on a desert island, and could only have three things, what would they be?

1. My family
2. My vegetable seed box that I have been collecting and saving over the years… that has all kinds of weird, random seeds that I grow at home (stuff that we don’t usually grow at JBG - I like having different varieties in my home garden).
3. My JBG hat

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Staff Survey - If Montana were a veggie, what would he be, and why?

Ada: Shishito. One of my favorite peppers and a classic JBG crop.. just like Montana. Classically JBG and an old-school favorite. Mostly pretty mild, but 1/10 times you better watch out because you might get some spice.

Charlotte: Montana would be a shishito pepper; usually mild but sometimes reeeeal spicy.

Krishna + Brenton: We second Ada and Charlotte.

Matthew Pelkey: A smoked Numex (Hatch) Chile, best taste, and just the right amount of smoke.

 

Thank you to everyone who came out to the CSA Happy Hour last night. Missed this gathering? No worries, we hope to do another!