Krause Basin Farm and Farm to Fork MT

My friend, Anna, who lives nearby, had a traditional catering business for many years. She was much sought after for weddings and other big events here in the valley. A few years ago, she decided to change her business model to focus on plant-based foods. (DD#1’s wedding last October was the last traditional wedding she catered.) The pandemic, ironically, gave her the perfect opportunity to implement her plan. The transition wasn’t fast or easy, of course, and it took some time to get the word out and build up a new client base, but I’ve enjoyed watching her success. Her company, Farm to Fork MT, provides plant-based food options in the form of take-and-bake meals, sold weekly by order and through the Bigfork Farmer’s Market and Max’s Market organic grocery store. She also prepares meals for clients who come for a week or two during the summer and want to have plant-based meals delivered to their homes.

Anna is also committed to using locally-sourced ingredients whenever possible. She has connections with all the large organic farms here, but she’ll buy produce wherever she can find quality ingredients. Last summer, I provided her with bunches and bunches of cilantro for her Mexican-inspired meals. Last month, because we were swimming in cucumbers, she bought some of mine for her summer vegetable rolls.

Anna posts a menu each week on social media that details that week’s offerings, as well as the names of the farms providing the ingredients. The menu items vary depending upon what kind of produce is available. I was reading the menu the week that the summer rolls were on it, and I noticed that she said the cucumbers came from Krause Basin Farm. And then I realized that she had just christened us with the perfect name.

She stopped by yesterday morning to get some Cherokee Purple and Dirty Girl tomatoes for this week’s menu, and I finally remembered to ask her if she came up with the name Krause Basin Farm for us. “Yes,” she said. “I had to call you something. I hope that was okay.” I told her I thought it was perfect, so Krause Basin Farm (or Krause Basin Farmette if you are DD#2), is now the name of our farm.

I am sure you’re now wondering “Why Krause Basin?”—that is the name of the area across the road from from our house. “Basin” is a geological term for “a bounded area where the rock within the boundaries dips inward toward the center.” If you’ve ever gone up to the Strawberry Lake trailhead, you’ve driven up Krause Basin Road and through Krause Basin. The Krauses were a family who lived in this area.

I hope you locals will try some of Anna’s offerings. She posts a weekly menu like this on Facebook and Instagram under her Farm To Fork MT page.

You can order by calling 406-261-9440 or e-mailing Anna at FarmToForkMT at gmail dot com. She offers menu items as single meals or bulk meals for multiple people. Usually at least one menu item every week is gluten free. She does take a break in the middle of winter to rest—and because produce is obviously harder to find then—but she’ll continue to come up with delicious meals through the fall for as long as she can get the ingredients. And because the husband and I have been lucky enough to be Anna’s test kitchen for many of her menu items, we can vouch for how delicious her cooking is!

Does this not look yummy? Her enchiladas are one of my favorite menu items. Some of my tomatoes are in there.

And part of my garden planning for next year will be to grow more produce for Anna to choose from.