Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w. d i s t i n c t ly m o n ta n a . c o m 47 A staple of world cuisines since the dawn of agriculture, pulse crops such as beans, lentils, and chickpeas, are high in heart-healthy proteins and have a low glycemic spike. Not only does a half-cup serving provide 45% of daily recom- mended folate, a third of our daily recommended intake of fiber, and half the potassium of a ba- nana, lentils also contain 56% more antioxidant capacity than blueberries! But what we also learn from the farmers at Timeless Food, pulse crops were the original form of fertilizers, replenishing the nitrogen used by staple grains like wheat and corn. if we go back to ancient civilizations we can trace how these civilizations like the egyptians and the Mayans, paired pulses with grains, carbohydrates with proteins, connecting the dots between our own health and that of the planet. Timeless Food was created in the late 1980's when a group of farmers from Montana's Golden Triangle — David Oien, Bud Barta, Jim Barngrover, and Tom Hastings — said "no" to agri-business and came together to grow a self-reseeding legu- minous cover crop developed by Montana State University's Dr. Jim Sims. persistent as they were, the Timeless group, who were also among the first organic farmers in Montana, remained committed to the ancient way of using pulse crops, crop rotation, and natural fertilizers as a way of alter- native agriculture, eliminating the toxic chemical fertilizers used by others. today, Montana ranks as the #1 producer of organic and non-organic lentils, and the renegade farmers from Timeless Food are re- sponsible for growing a large percentage of the organic pulses and ancient grains in the state. More farmers have joined the original group using biologically diverse farm systems. This "lentil underground" has grown into a million dollar enterprise that sells to hundreds of in- dependent food stores and a host of renowned restaurants. On February 22, 2015, Montana-born author, Dr. Liz Carlisle, a protégé of Michael pollan and fellow at the Center of Diversified Farming Systems at UC-Berkeley, debuted the remark- able story of these four unheralded farmers who defied corporate agribusiness and launched a sustainable food movement in her book, Lentil Underground. ClaudIa'S MESa-food MEEtS CulturE www.ClaudIaSMESa.CoM THE lENTil uNDErgrOuND by ClauDia galOFrE KrEvaT www.mustardseedweb.com

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