Benson’s Farm
by jhwygirl
Benson’s Farm is finally finally open!
They promised us fans, weeks ago, that their veggie store would be open “mid-August”. For many of us, I think we believe that was last week – as I stopped by every day after work, hopefully pulling into the parking lot, just wishing that they would open.
“Wasn’t the mid-August the 2nd full week in August?” I said to myself.
And then, when it wasn’t Sunday or Monday, I started to think “Could it be Friday? The 15th? Yes, it has to be – the 15th is the middle of the month!”
And, finally, when it wasn’t Friday the 15th, I told myself that I was going to steal away, in the night, an ear of their beautiful white-and-yellow corn (or 2) and pay them a buck a piece when they finally opened.
I never did….but today (birds singing, angels flying, rainbows in the background) the store was open. A child and mother, hand-in-hand, walking up the road, a bag filled with veggies. Cars pulling in, cars pulling out. Yippee!!
As I paid for my 2 ears of corn (I never did raid the fields, promise) two couples walked in, both oohin’ and ahhin’ walking straight for the golden stuff.
But don’t pass that broccoli either – nothing compares to fresh broccoli.
They’ve got their regionally famous corn (yellow and white, and yellow), along with a lovely assortment – today – of eggplant, zucchini, broccoli (which looked fabulous), red cabbage, and a pretty large assortment of green and yellow peppers. Green tomatoes, fresh herbs – oh, and an assortment of various squashes.
Stuff can’t be fresher – they pick it and drop it in the bins while you are there
Anyways folks – come get your veggies, corner of 7th and Reserve. A piece of Missoula. A fantastic piece of Missoula.
Recent Comments
Miles on A New Shelter for Vets or an E… success rate for In… on Thirty years ago ARCO killed A… Warrior for the Lord on The Dark Side of Colorado Linda Kelley-Miller on The Dark Side of Colorado Dan on A New Shelter for Vets or an E… Former Prosecutor Se… on Former Chief Deputy County Att… JediPeaceFrog on Montana AG Tim Fox and US Rep.…
4&20 blackbirds 
August 18, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I stand excited about this story.
I’m with you here, I too enjoyed what was for me, a much-awaited opening. I take stands for back yards, and I take a huge stand for this kind of thing, and admit to taking a little more joy than normal in the first-time “shopping” experience. Wouldn’t it be great if we replaced the mall with something like that?
Just tonight, I saw City Council on TV talking about cutting funding for neighborhood council programs. But a bunch of backyarders chimed-in to say those programs are totally awesome for backyards, and will really help local organic coops and small-scale commercial activity.
Let’s hope City Council remembers how stupendous these kinds of things are for Missoula’s back yards!
That’s right!
Gardens belong in our back yards.
August 19, 2008 at 8:48 am
This is indeed good news, jhwygirl. Thanks.
August 19, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Hehe–beat cha, jhwygirl,
I was headed out of town last thursday afternoon (in between vacations), going down Reserve, and pulled into Benson’s on a lark. Just had to be some corn awaiting.
And lo and behold, they were open with bins full of bicolor! I bought a dozen that had just been picked, and headed out for Swan Lake and a family reunion. Grabbed some fresh chilis for roasting over the fire stuffed with cream cheese, too.
Along the way, I saw a sign saying that they had fresh Dixon melons in Ravalli, so I pulled over, and grabbed a perfect 14 lb. Black Diamond watermelon–fresh picked!
Then as I wove along highway 35 admiring the beautiful Flathead lake scenery, I saw one last cherry stand open with fresh cherries! Of course, I had to pull over and grab a few pounds.
Needless to say, my family at Swan and I had a great dinner full of Montana goodness, fresh from the vine, cob and twig.
And then to top it off, after I got my tent set up in the Swan Lake campground, I found huge clumps of perfectly ripe service (sarvice?) berries hanging off of trees all around us. You guessed it–service berry pancakes in the morning!
It just doesn’t get any better than this. Except that now I’m getting ready to embark on the third leg of my summer vacations (having spent the first 4 days at Holland Lke), and will set off for the Bay area and some beach time and big city culture.
Aaahhhh…!!!
August 19, 2008 at 6:05 pm
So you caught them open last Thursday? Damned if I didn’t miss that…by bygones and bygones..and business was brisk, again, tonight.
I talked with the guy at the counter, and he said that last week got kinda ridiculous – at one point, they counted up to 200 cars and quit…I think he was referring to before they opened – to people checking if they were open.
August 21, 2008 at 4:09 pm
So this is for the vagitarians?
August 21, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Mr. Clemons, Benson’s is a fine agricultural resource located in the city of Missoula. they grow excellent vegetables, bedding plants and even some very fine fruit trees. i highly recommend it.
August 25, 2008 at 11:46 am
J-Girl and R-Clemens: This carni-loving omnivore thanks 4and20 for the tip on Benson’s.
I simply must have my sweet corn with the char-grilled burgers each autumn. Benson’s made my week. Loaded up three grocery bags of food, including zukes and cukes for $5 !!!
Ruthlmm
August 25, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Benson’s has cukes now!?
Hopefully they planted some of those little pickling cukes this year!