Ranch owner praises the value of organic lifestyle

Lyn Hendrix has always loved nature and farming.

And in a world where the two have become increasingly disassociated, she and her husband, Bill, connect with nature each day by remaining faithful to the practice of sustainable, organic farming.

The Hendrixes own the Walking Bear Ranch in Whitefish, which they describe on their website as “a community dedicated to living harmoniously with nature.” They came to Whitefish nearly 10 years ago to recapture a lifestyle they felt had been slipping away in the area that surrounded their previous farm in Manteca, Calif.

“We have become so deeply convinced that this is the way we should live,” says Lyn Hendrix, adding that the values associated with sustainable farming are far more important to her than profit. “It’s a matter of being part of the community.”

Hendrix, who strongly values self-sufficiency, says she is troubled by the “lack of personal responsibility” she has witnessed by many, explaining, “their dependency on food is their dependency on being able to get to a supermarket.”

Independently providing one’s own food ensure protection in cases of floods, freezes, and other weather-related incidents that may temporarily shut down a city or town, says Hendrix. And she believes that during a time of economic uncertainty, being self-sufficient is even more important.

And to address the concerns of those who may feel that owning an organic farm or buying organic products is not worth the relative cost when compared to the bargain and convenience of purchasing commercially produced food, Hendrix recalls a saying she once heard:

“Pay me now, or pay your doctor later.”

Hendrix says she believes the majority of the country’s need for health care is due to the diet-related conditions that result from consumption of the food available on today’s average supermarket shelf. 

And the latest Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which reports that 63.1 percent of adults in the U.S. were overweight or obese in 2009, may be tied to Hendrix’s belief. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that heart disease, for which obesity is a major risk factor, is currently the country’s leading cause of death, and diabetes is currently ranked the country’s seventh most common cause of death (the obesity-related type 2 diabetes affects 90 to 95 percent of the total U.S. diabetes population). 

Hendrix adds that she feels the lack of nutritional value in processed foods is to blame for Americans’ tendency to overeat.

“People eat because they’re hungry,” she says. “Not because they’re pigs.”

However, she adds, “I can walk out into any part of the garden and eat a couple of leaves of something, and I’m satisfied, simply because it’s packed with the nutrition that my body needs.”

Hendrix also says she believes the pesticides added to commercially grown fruits and the hormones added to meat and dairy products may also contribute to health problems.

“I believe that the pesticides add a poisonous quality to our food, even in minute amounts,” she says. “I don’t see the need for it.”

“We will lose some things to pests,” she acknowledges, “but that’s nature.”

Hendrix says the raised-bed gardening technique used on the Walking Bear Ranch eliminates the need for tilling the soil with a tractor and using fossil fuels. Weed control involves laying recycled cardboard with sawdust upon the ground, earthworms “the size of small snakes” thrive in the soil, and cover crops, rather than chemical fertilizers, are used to replenish nitrogen in other crops.

And the plants are not the only living beings treated well.

“We’re very close to our animals,” says Hendrix. “They have names, and know their names.”

And while the farm’s occasional slaughtering of a chicken, cow, ram or pig for meat may raise a few eyebrows among some animal rights activists, Hendrix explains that she believes there is such thing as humane animal slaughter.

“There is a food chain,” she says. “You see it all through nature.”

“I think that if an animal is slaughtered, it has to be done with kindness. It’s done quickly, and the animal does not suffer fear or pain,” she says, pointing out the pain, fear, and stress that the common factory farmed animal may experience throughout its life can manifest itself in the form of released adrenaline, which she says can be harmful for consumption. 

“Look at the lives that those guys are living right now,” she adds, pointing to the cows lazily grazing in one of the Walking Bear Ranch pastures. “It’s idyllic.”

Hendrix says she sees hope for the future of sustainable farming, and hopes that its growing popularity in Montana will contribute to a more widespread comeback.

“I see very positive things for the future,” she says. “This area seems to be drawing people from all over with a very similar concept, so I find that quite exciting.”

The Walking Bear Ranch offers a work-exchange food program as well as a delivery service. 

For more information, call 863-9425, visit www.walkingbear.net, or visit the Walking Bear Ranch at 4674 U.S. 93 West, located between mile markers 136 and 137.