Since 2015, the OHara Commons & Sustainability Center in the Bitterroot Valley has been working to strengthen the web of relationships between local farms, ranches, gardens, and the families who want to buy from them — a decade-long effort to make locally grown food more than a farmers market transaction.
The Bitterroot Valley runs roughly 100 miles south of Helena and has a dense concentration of small-scale agricultural producers, from vegetable growers to livestock ranchers. The OHara Commons has positioned itself as connective tissue in that system, supporting producers and helping customers find sources for locally grown food across Ravalli County and beyond.
The work sits at the intersection of food access, agricultural sustainability, and community economic development — issues that resonate well beyond the Bitterroot. For Helena families looking to source food regionally, organizations like OHara Commons are part of a growing infrastructure that links urban consumers to the producers working the land a few hours south.