In the summer of 2021 the Miller Family purchased and began operating the historic Deschamps Ranch. The ranch currently encompasses 1000 acres of fertile soil just south of the Missoula International Airport. The ranch currently produces sod, hay, beef, pork and honey. All of which are grown regeneratively. The ranch also boasts a microbiological soil lab on site. The health of our soil is our number one concern. We have a composting barn on the ranch that we use to produce BioComplete, Fungal and Predator dominant compost extracts and teas.
About Cory Miller: https://grassvalleyfarmsmt.com:
I grew up in the city of Missoula with a small garden where I helped my mother grow flowers. My interest in gardening waned, as I discovered sports. In high school, I volunteered to build a garden for a group home that housed disabled adults. One of the greatest moments in my life was being invited back that fall for a dinner prepared from everything we planted. I went to college to study business and simultaneously started a commercial cleaning company. I spent a lot of my time making natural cleaning products, that I could use in the business and developed an interest in chemistry and biology. Later on, I focused my efforts into Pure Air Solutions, a mold remediation company that focused on removing mold and other microbials. As I studied molds and their affect on indoor air quality, I started to see that there were far more beneficial fungi than bad fungi and that fungi held a lot of the keys to soil health and improvement. I studied with Dr. Elaine Ingham and read Dr. David Johnson. I immersed myself in learning everything that I could about soil health and how to implement these theories. I quickly learned that there was not a lot of information or tools available to someone wanting to scale 1000 acres quickly to regenerative agriculture. I made soil health our focus, developing tools to help us effectively add biology to our soil, as often as possible. Every decision we make on the farm has to answer this question, “Does this improve the overall quality quality of our soil.” If it does we keep it, if it doesn’t then we move on.
Cory’s soil sample mentor: http://www.soilscopelabs.com
About Kevin Lackey:
Kevin lives by the words “Become the most interesting person you have ever met.”A trained biologist and career conservation. Who packed in his land based conservation to set out to sea on a research vessel. He’s meant to have retired but he is on to his next adventure; the microbe and cattle operations manager at Grass Valley Farm. As an extra twist, Kevin is Cory’s father in law.
