Harvest with the Hutterites

Anyone who has taken the time to make the 15 mile journey just southwest of Wolf Point to meet the members of the Prairie Elk Hutterite Colony knows their hospitality is second to none. Upon your arrival everyone greets you like an old friend, offering up slices of watermelon and sacks of freshly picked corn to take home to the family. And of course you’ll be offered a seat at one of a number of long, white cafeteria styled tables for lunch.

While seated and waiting for your opportunity to line up for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich following Grace, many Colony members are already enjoying a hot cup of clam chowder. Across the table, two-year old Tierra is swirling her spoon in her mouth enjoying homemade yogurt made of beets. Her hair, customarily braided and pinned at the sides is covered by a shawl. Her long homemade dress, a mixture of brown and gold shades is captivating to anyone unfamiliar with their traditional style of dress. She is shy, yet fascinated by the newcomer sitting across the table, peeking up at every opportunity. Rose Anna, 29, a Colony member apologetically explains that while normally members sit according to age and that the children always eat before the adults, today is an abnormal day. It’s a rare glimpse into a world where kindness, simplicity and communal living take precedence over the fast pace of a more modern and at times, seemingly warp-speed existence.

Prior to lunch, we take a ride in a truck referred to as the garden pickup; a newer modeled dirt covered truck with Julie, a colony member behind the wheel. Pointing to mounds of dirt and round bales of straw she offers an informative look at the lay of the land. In the back seat are Rose Anna and a young Colony member no more than four or five years of age. Heading toward the Missouri River, through narrow back roads and then up and around the vast property outskirts it becomes apparent their farming and gardening methods are nothing short of spectacular; growing an edible garden some five acres in size with everything from carrots, peas, parsnips and green beans to watermelons and cantaloupes weighing as much as 10 pounds.

This year’s garden harvest was viewed by many of the Colony members as being one for the record books. “Good. Great. Awesome. We had no flood, no hail, no drought and only a few grasshoppers,” said Barbara Walter, a Colony member.

The garden is situated in a low lying field just north of their outbuildings and single wide trailer homes. With corn to the far west and straw to the far east, everything in between grew tall and plentiful. Patches of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, jalapenos, squash and bell peppers now lay stripped with only the lesser quality vegetation still dangling from stems and vines.

Picking corn for five straight weeks, the women agree this is one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening. Of course, once everything has been harvested from the garden, the real work begins. Canning hundreds of jars of fruits and vegetables to fill a large refrigerated cooler is just part of the work in store for the women in the weeks that follow. They also begin mass producing baked pies and breads while traveling locally to farmer's markets where they sell their produce and delectable homemade goodies. “We practically raise and grow everything we eat except miniature marshmallows and maybe we could do that too if we try hard enough,” Barbara said.

Today happens to be the day they are making pies; One hundred apple and another 100 juneberry. Collectively the tasks of peeling and cutting apples and separating the dough into perfectly portioned round globs takes place just before lunch and will be completed just before dinner. Friendly chatter echoes through the large industrial type kitchen as the preparation progresses with everyone performing a job. It’s a bit like watching an assembly line in a factory, systematic and efficient. One minute apple cores and peelings litter the tables and floor and in the next, everything has been cleaned up and they are on to the next task.

These pies will go to market to help sustain the Colony financially. This year’s produce and baked goods were sold in Williston, Wolf Point and Circle.

In the two previous years the Colony’s garden endured hail in 2010 and nearly four feet of water during the severe spring flooding of 2011. In an effort to save what they had already planted that year, everyone dug out the seeds and replanted them. “We dug out 5000 onion seeds, 500 broccoli and 500 cauliflower I remember. Those that couldn’t be saved we just had to wave good-bye to,” said Julie Walter.

Like every chore and task that must be completed at the Colony, the garden is a collective effort of many, with the men tilling and fertilizing the garden in the spring while the women and children tend to the garden all summer, pulling weeds and watering. Married Colony members, Annie and Jo, are responsible each year for the seeding of the garden. While all of the women assist with maintaining the garden during the growing season, they credit Annie for doing the majority of the planting. “Annie starts to get edgy when it’s time to get everything in the ground for the growing season,” Barbara jokes.

You won’t find Colony members at any local juice bar or convenience store grabbing a fruit smoothie either. They make their own. One of their specialties is a spinach smoothie consisting of orange juice, spinach and whatever other sweet fruits they have on hand to add. They often use blueberries, strawberries and pears. Of course, to offer everyone in the Colony a glass, it takes up to half an hour to prepare four gallons of the green slush. “When we first served it to the men and children they weren’t very excited about it. But now, in the spring time they request it,” said Barbara.

Hutterites are a faith group stemming from the Radical Reformation of the 16th Century and are baptized in adulthood. They live communally and share practically everything.

There are two branches of Hutterites who live on the prairies of Montana. They are the Dariusleut and the Lehrerleut. The Prairie Elk Colony is a member of the Dariusleut branch and bears the last name Walter. While the doctrine of the two is identical, differences between them are mostly geographic and traditional. “I think people are under the impression that we are bored out here, as if we have nothing to do. But we aren’t. This is our way of life and it is anything but boring,” said Rose Anna, a Colony member.