BONNERS FERRY — There’s nowhere they would rather be — and nothing else that the Newcomb family would rather be doing than operating Cloud Eleven Mountain Farm. 

The family — Edward and Julie Newcomb and son Seamus, own and operate the Moyie Springs area farm and sell their products at the Bonners Ferry Farmers Market. They are the only full-season produce vendor at the market, Edward Newcomb said. 

Their ten-acre farm sits next to the Purcell Mountains, so close that Edward Newcomb said, "you can almost touch them.” 

The Newcomb family moved to Boundary County in 2015 after Edward Newcomb worked for 30 years in the milling industry. 

“It got to the point where my son was graduating from eighth grade and I was working 84 to 125 hours a week, six or seven months out of the year,” Newcomb said. “The four years I got to spend with my kid after moving to Idaho, you can’t put a price tag on it. One of the few smart things I’ve ever done in my life.” 

The Newcomb family started building their farm in 2016, a process that took significant work before they began selling produce at the farmers market in 2017. 

“We had to clear cut a lot of land and pull the rocks and stumps out,” Newcomb said. “We started with basically dirt. It took a lot of work to turn it into soil.” 

They did not have formal farming schooling or much prior farming knowledge.  

“You can pay to go to college or you go to the school of hard knocks,” Newcomb said. “Either way you pay.” 

Seamus now works on the farm alongside them. 

“My son just graduated a few years ago from the University of Idaho in Moscow,” Newcomb said. “I figured he was just going to go back down south, but he said, ‘No, I’m coming home.’ He’s transitioning to take the farm on.” 

“He’s smarter than me,” Newcomb said. “He’s a quick study and he can work hard. Hopefully he can make a living.” 

Newcomb said it is difficult and expensive for farmers to be successful today. 

“It’s so expensive to get into it,” Newcomb said. “Even since 2015, land prices have gone up tenfold.”

In 2025, there were 15,000 fewer farms in the United States than the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Newcomb credited the farm’s longevity to his family’s work ethic.

“Both Julie and I are used to working excessive hours,” Newcomb said. “You don’t decide to run a marathon tomorrow. You have to work your way up to it. If you’re not used to working seven days a week, 12 to 16 hours a day, that’s pretty hard for people to suddenly start doing.” 

They sell at the Bonners Ferry Farmers Market, held on Saturdays, as well as the Sandpoint Farmers Market which is open Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

“Troy wants us to come out on Fridays,” Newcomb said. “But even three markets is a stretch.” 

Cloud Eleven is still expanding its operations. 

“We’re still building,” Newcomb said. “I’m putting up a new high tunnel right now. That’ll be our fourth tunnel.” 

Newcomb appreciates the small-town energy in the county. 

“I live in Boundary County,” Newcomb said. “A lot of people get their start here and then they go south.” 

“I like seeing my neighbors,” Newcomb said. “It’s a pretty tight community. I like talking to people.” 

He said his favorite part of the job is the freedom. 

“You’re your own boss, besides Julie telling me what to do,” Newcomb said. “That’s pretty cool. You come up with your own ideas and you try them, and they either work or they don’t. If they work, it’s pretty satisfying. I look around at what we’ve done in a little more than 10 years and I just shake my head.”