About our orchard

Badger Hill Orchard is a privately owned Permaculture Orchard southwest of Lewistown Montana. Rosanna Mecklenburg and Shaun Griffith (the McGriff Family) planned the orchard, ordered the trees and in the fall of 2019 with the help of their family members, Izzy, Miles, Finn, Jo, Bert, Somer, Cody, and Wyatt, planted in the spring of 2020.

Before planting the orchard, Rosanna sent a soil sample through the county extension office in Lewistown and it was determined that the soil was good for planting. After that the McGriffs hired JG Company to build a half acre, 9 foot tall fence to keep the big critters out. Next, Shaun built a shallow well from a spring on the property and brought water to the orchard.

Badger Hill Orchard was planted from the model that Stefan Sobkowiak established at miracle farms in Ontario Canada. After learning about permaculture, Rosanna became very interested in the subject and spent many hours researching soil building, gardening, organic farming, orcharding, and landscaping in zone 3-4 growing zones. The definition of permaculture is a nature-inspired, holistic design philosophy for creating sustainable ways of living by mimicking natural ecosystems and their patterns to meet human needs with minimal waste and environmental impact. It combines the words "permanent" and "agriculture" and can be applied to various systems, including households, gardens, businesses, and communities.

Having been raised on a family-built nursery in Bozeman Montana, Rosanna’s curiosity was mixed with her prior knowledge of horticulture in Montana. Shaun had his own background in farming along with bachelors degree in Wildlife Biology, and a strong interest in agriculture. Permaculture was something exciting, practical and hopeful. When she learned about the thriving orchard in Canada with a similar growing zone as Lewistown, Rosanna pitched the idea to Shaun.

Along with the Canadian orchard, Rosanna became interested in The Hugelkultur concept. Hugelkultur is a German Permaculture technique of building raised garden beds by layering rotting wood with soil, compost, and other organic matter to create a nutrient-rich, self-sustaining system that mimics natural forest ecosystems. This method utilizes decomposing wood to retain moisture and release nutrients over time, resulting in fertile, drought-tolerant beds that improve with age.

One of the reasons that the couple decided to plant the orchard was their belief in permaculture and also their accessibility to heavy equipment. Rosanna and Shaun had founded an excavating business in 2015 so they had access to heavy equipment and operators. So the week before the trees were scheduled to arrive, Shaun and his brother-in-law Cody VanLith dug 4 foot tall trenches in the 15 rows inside the orchard, dropped 16 feet tall logs into the trenches, and covered the trenches in cow manure that had been donated 2 years prior by ranching friends Todd and Kelly Davis. After that, Shaun spent a couple days digging and forming a berm and a swale on the west side of the orchard for water retention in the winter, as well as wind protection.

Meanwhile, Rosanna designed a plan for her 90 bare root trees that she had ordered from Krings nursery out of Lewistown MT. Using the NAP system, the orchard was planned to have a progression of bloom time (South to North) with 15 rows of trees planted 5 feet apart, and set 10 feet back every other row. The trees were planted in trios, Nitrogen, Apple, Pear or Nitrogen, Apple, Plum. The fruit trees were only one layer in the permaculture system, the other layers planted were root crops, Groundcover, Vines, Perennials, Shrubs, and Canopy trees.

The orchard is on its sixth year, and many more trees have been introduced since initial planting. The orchard has lost a few trees every couple of years due to winter winds mostly. Currently the orchard has Apples, Pears, Plums, Apricots, Cherries and Honey locust trees. The fruit crop depends on the weather pattern each fall and spring, but when the flowers are pollinated the orchard is full of fruit. 2025 was the first year that the orchard has been given no water. It is thriving!