Carnegie libraries in Montana

Growing your own food

Senior farmers and ranchers keep at it
The Iris Lady
A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better
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June 2014 2
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Bookshelf .................................................Page 3
Opinion ....................................................Page 4
Savvy Senior ............................................Page 5
On the Menu ............................................Page 19
Volunteering .............................................Page 20
Calendar ...................................................Page 21
Strange But True ......................................Page 22
INSIDE
News Lite
Michigan zoo sells exotic animal doo
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) A zoo in southern Michigan
is selling a composted mixture of manure produced by exotic ani-
mals.
Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek hosted a Zoo Doo event
May 29 and will host another June 5.
Horticulturist Frank Cummins told the Battle Creek Enquirer
that the zoo has compost available from herbivores that sells at
$25 a load to zoo members and $30 for nonmembers. Cummins
says that the price is a deal, since cow manure can sell for around
$2 or $3 a bag.
The Kalamazoo Gazette says zebra, antelope, giraffe and other
animals are contributing to the gardening aid.
Binder Park Zoo says its a fun and creative way to raise
money and dispose of waste. It also uses the compost as fertilizer
at its facilities.
Half-sisters meet for the
first time, after 85 years
JENKS, Okla. (AP) A woman in her 80s met her 94-year-
old half-sister over the Memorial Day weekend the first time
the siblings had ever set eyes on each other.
KOTV reports that 85-year-old Zelda Gates didnt even know
she had a half-sister until she read her fathers will.
On Monday, Gates finally met Reta Knight, her older half-sis-
ter, in Jenks, about 12 miles south of Tulsa.
Knight says her father left her and her mother and she always
wondered why. She says her mother was evasive when she asked,
so she didnt push the subject.
Family members used old pictures and online genealogy
resources to make sure of the connection.
Gates says meeting her sister for the first time was wonderful.
She noted that the two look alike, too.
By Montana Best Times Staff
We baby boomers like to put off think-
ing about retirement at least the part
that involves planning ahead for finances,
health care, housing and things like that.
And dont count on us to do it way
ahead of time. But five years ahead of
retirement is more realistic.
And thats the message of The Five
Years Before You Retire, by Emily Guy
Birken.
Five years from retirement seems real-
istic to me because thats the point at
which it really hits home to most people
that theyre actually going to retire in the
foreseeable future, writes Birken in the
introduction to her new book.
However, even though half of all Ameri-
cans have put money aside for retirement,
many still dont have enough in their sav-
ings to retire at the age theyd like, says a
news release on The Five Years Before
You Retire.
Birken shows those who have been sav-
ing since their first job and those just start-
ing to plan how to maximize their current
investments and finally enjoy the future
they deserve.
The most critical years in retirement
planning is the last five years that is
when people determine whether they can
truly afford to retire during that time,
according to Forbes, the release said.
Birkens tips provide a safe path for retir-
ees to figure out what they need to do now
to ensure
they live
comfortably
for years to
come.
Covering
every aspect of
retirement plan-
ning, The Five
Years Before
You Retire helps
those near to
retirement create
a realistic plan for
their future, using
checklists, quizzes,
and charts on everything from expendi-
tures to taxes, inflation, and health care
costs, the release said.
The books table of contents give a good
overview of the excellent information on
retirement planning:
Part One: The Nitty-Gritty of Retire-
ment Finances
Chapter 1: How Far Away Are You?
Chapter 2: Saving and Budgeting for
the Next Five Years
Chapter 3: Income in Retirement
Chapter 4: Find the Right Financial
Planner
Part Two: The Government Giveth (and
Taketh Away)
Chapter 5: What to Expect from Social
Security
Chapter 6: Taxes and Your Retirement
Income
Chapter 7: What to Expect from Medi-
care
Chapter 8: Planning for Health-Care
Expenses in Retirement
Part Three: Home, Family, and Other
Considerations
Chapter 9: Housing in Retirement
Chapter 10: The Family Fortunes
Chapter 11: Creating a Budget on a
Retirement Income
Chapter 13: If You Dont Have Enough
Saved
Emily Guy Birken is a finance writer
who writes the Live Like a Mensch col-
umn for The Dollar Stretcher. She is also a
contributor to Wise Bread, PT Money,
Money Crashers, Yahoo! Finance and
Business Insider, and many other personal
finance sites. She edits and writes the blog
for FinCon blog, an annual conference for
financial bloggers. You can visit her at
sahmnambulist.blogspot.com.
Bookshelf
June 2014 3
The 5 Years Before You Retire:
Retirement Planning When You Need
it the Most
By Emily Guy Birken
Adams Media 2014 Paperback
239 pages 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
$17.99 ISBN-13: 978-1-4405-6972-2
What to do in those
important years
before the big day
June 2014 4
Opinion
Why they do what they do
A Monthly Publication for Folks 50 and Better
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Dwight Harriman, Editor Tom Parisella, Designer
P.O. Box 2000, 401 S. Main St., Livingston MT 59047
Tel. (406) 222-2000 or toll-free (800) 345-8412 Fax: (406) 222-8580
E-mail: montanabesttimes@livent.net Subscription rate: $25/yr.
Published monthly by Yellowstone Newspapers, Livingston, Montana
A story in this issue on senior farmers and ranchers part of a
series of three articles weve organized under the theme of Grow-
ing Montana talks about how those producers just wont quit
the life they love, despite their age.
I dont know what else wed be doing. We enjoy this more than
anything, Montana Best Times writer Deb Hill quotes Joyce Dahl-
hausen, 75, of Moccasin, who with her husband Frank, 77, raise cat-
tle on their ranch.
We were never money chasers, says David Shipman, who, even
at 76, still runs cattle north of Lewistown. And Im not in a hurry
to buy a new outfit and go off to some place else. I enjoy what I do.
Thats why Ive never worked a day in my life.
Then theres Jim Lewis, a farmer who at 81 81! is still on
the job in the small community of Ware.
Theres nothing better than being outside at about 5 a.m. and lis-
tening to the birds and animals, seeing the fields, watching the sun
come up, he says in Hills story. Its hard for me to imagine doing
something else I just like what I do here too much to quit.
I have an inkling of what they feel like.
One of the times I felt most satisfied with a job, maybe even when I
felt most alive, was when as a teenager I worked for a dairy farmer in
Iowa. I worked hard all day baling hay, cultivating fields, carrying
newborn calves into the barn and bottle feeding them, shoveling
manure and spreading it on the fields, pitchforking sweet, fermenting
silage from tall silos out to bawling cows, and coming home smelling
of sweat and the products I worked with manure, chopped-up corn
stalks, calf milk and hay.
And it felt good. No, it felt great. I was tired to the bone at the
end of every day, but I felt like I had actually done something
something needed, worthwhile and totally satisfying.
Im not a farmer today, but some days after a long day of staring
at pixels on a computer screen
There you go. Thats why the Dahlhausens and Lewis and
81-year-old Jim Lewis keep doing what theyre doing. Its a great
life. Who would want to quit?
We salute them and the other gardeners and growers depicted in
this issue of Montana Best Times. Keep at it.
Dwight Harriman
Montana Best Times Editor
Dear Savvy Senior,
At age 63, I will be retiring in a few months and need to find
some health insurance coverage for my wife and me until
Medicare kicks in. Is Obamacare my only option?
About to Retire

DearAbout,
Thereareactuallyseveralplacesearly(pre-Medicare)retirees
cangotofindhealthinsurancecoverageObamacareisntthe
onlygameintown.Hereareyouroptionsdependingonyour
incomeandhealthcareneeds.

Government marketplaces
Ifyouryearlyincomefallsbelowthe400percentpovertylevel,
theObamacareinsurancemarketplaceisprobablyyourbest
optionforgettinghealthcoveragebecauseofthefederaltaxcred-
itstheyoffer,whichwillreducetheamountyoullhavetopayfor
apolicy.
Toqualifyforthetaxcredits,yourhouseholdsmodifiedadjust-
edgrossincomefor2013musthavebeenunder$45,960foran
individual,or$62,040foracouple.Ifyourincomewilldrop
belowthe400percentpovertylevelin2014or2015becauseof
yourretirement,itmaystillmakesensetobuycoveragethrough
theObamacaremarketplace,evenifyoudontqualifyforthetax
creditsbasedonlastyearsincome.
Tohelpyouseehowmuchyoucansave,seethesubsidycalcu-
latorontheKaiserFamilyFoundationwebsiteatkff.org/interac-
tive/subsidy-calculator.
Toshopformarketplaceplansinyourstate,visitHealthcare.
govorcalltheirtoll-freehelplineat(800)318-2596.

Outside the marketplace

Ifyouarenteligibleforthegovernmentsubsidy,oryouwant
additionalpolicyoptionstowhatObamacareoffers,youcanalso
buyhealthcoverageoutsidethegovernmentmarketplacesdirect-
lythroughinsurancecompanies,brokersoragents.Thisoptionis
notavailableifyouliveinWashingtonD.C.orVermont.
Thesepoliciesdonotofferthefederaltaxcredits,buttheyare
requiredtoofferthesamemenuofessentialbenefitsasObam-
acarepoliciesdo,andtheycantdenyyoucoverageorcharge
extraforpre-existinghealthconditions.Youmightevenfind
slightlylowerpremiumsonoutsidepolicies,assumingthatyou
dontqualifyforthetaxcredits.
Anotherpossiblereasonforshoppingoutsidethemarketplaceis
tofindaplanthathasyourpreferreddoctorsandhospitalsinits
network.ManyplansofferedintheObamacaremarketplacespro-
videaverylimitednumberofhealthcareproviders.
Toshopforthesepolicies,contactinsurancecompanies,bro-
kersoragentsandaskthemiftheyofferpoliciesthatarenot
availablethroughthegovernmentmarketplaces.
Tofindalocalbrokeroragentthatsellsinsuranceplans,check
theNationalAssociationofHealthUnderwriterswebsite(nahu.
org)whichhasanonlinedirectory.Butkeepinmindthatagents
wontnecessarilyshowyouallavailablepolicies,justtheones
frominsurerstheyworkwith.
Youcanalsolookfortheseplansatinsuranceshoppingsites
likeeHealthInsurance.comorGoHealth.com,whichlistsplans
andprovidersthatmaynotbelistedonHealthcare.gov.

COBRA
Ifyouonlyneedhealthinsurancecoverageforashortperiodof
timebeforebecomingMedicareeligible,anotheroptionyoumay
wanttoconsiderisCOBRA.COBRAcoverageallowsyouto
remainonyourformeremployersgrouphealthplanforupto18
months,butnoteveryemployerplanisCOBRAeligible.Contact
youremployerbenefitsadministratortofindoutifyoursis.
InmostcasesCOBRAisexpensive,requiringyoutopaythe
fullmonthlypremiumyourself.But,ifyouvealreadymetor
nearlymetyouremployerplansdeductibleand/orout-of-pocket
maximumfortheyear,anddontwanttostartoverwithanew
plan;orifyoufindyouremployershealthplantobebetteror
moreaffordablethatthegovernmentoroff-marketplaceoptions,
itmakessensetokeepyourcurrentcoverageunderCOBRA.
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443,
Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org.
Jim Miller, creator of the syndicated Savvy
Senior information column, is a longtime
advocate of senior issues. He has been featured in
Time magazine; is author of The Savvy Senior:
The Ultimate Guide to Health, Family and
Finances for Senior Citizens; and is a regular
contributor to the NBC Today show.
June2014 5
Health Insurance Options
for Early Retirees
By Laura Nelson
Pioneer Staff Writer
BIG TIMBER Its all in the library.
From dismal emigrant beginnings to rail-
way riches, his name was associated with
everything from Pinkerton agency shootouts
to man-made, deathly flooding, clearing out
troops in the Civil War and establishing a
new way of giving to the needy.
His isnt just an adventure story found
on a shelf in a library, either.
The story of Andrew Carnegie is one
that built them.
A short man who
cast a long shadow
He was known as a short man who cast
a long shadow, Crazy Mountain Museum
Director Steve Harvey said.
In celebration of The Big Timber Carne-
gie Librarys 2014 Centennial Celebration,
Harvey compiled the fascinating history of
the man whose name appears on hundreds
of libraries across the nation.
Andrew Carnegie was known as many
things in his time, Harvey explained, many
which did not come with very positive con-
notations. He was often considered a robber
baron, a king of steel, a mastermind billion-
aire, a giant of industry and even held the
title of richest man alive in the early 1900s.
America really grew up, vertically, on
Carnegie Steel, Harvey said. Because of
his steel, he started building the skyscrapers
that literally built many of the skylines we
know today. Whatever he touched, he made
money on.
Carnegie was also a man known for say-
ing, A man who dies rich dies disgraced,
Harvey said.
He really re-arranged how people looked
at charity at that time, Harvey said. He
really made that transition from chari-
ty, which was giving to a specific relief or
purpose, to philanthropy, which was giv-
ing to create social change.
As the century turned and Western devel-
opment boomed, Carnegie spent more than
$55 million of his wealth on libraries alone.
In all his philanthropic pursuits, he would
give away more than $350 million dollars.
What would compel him to give away
all that money? Harvey asked. Thats
what compelled me, to try and understand
his thinking, his motivation.
Understanding why
To understand that, the museum director
said, one must travel further into Carnegies
history to the days of his poverty-stricken
youth.
After working in the textile industry in his
early and late teen years, Carnegie got his
first big break as a telegraph boy in
his Pennsylvania town $2.50 a week was
a big upgrade from his days as a bobbin
boy in the factory, Harvey noted. A retired
merchant organized a Saturday club for
many of the telegraph boys to gather and
peruse his personal library. That was the key
to education for the boy who went to school
only until the age of 8.
Later, his purpose for building libraries
would be founded on two principles: that
they always be free to use and open to
all. The first of his public libraries was
opened in 1883 in his birthplace of Dunferm-
line, Scotland. Six years later, the first in
America would open in Braddock, Penn.
Carnegie libraries in Montana
The Big Timber Carnegie Library marks
a century in existence this year, having
joined the family of Carnegies benefactors
in 1914. Over the course of 17 years, 17
June 2014 6
A history shared
Carnegie libraries in Big Timber and around
Montana were made possible by a big, historic gure
Photo by Lindsey Erin Kroskob/courtesy of Big Timber Pioneer
Andrew Carnegie, played by Big Timbers John Esp, has made several guest
appearances in 2014 at the Big Timber Carnegie Library, where he enjoys reading
to children.
Carnegie libraries were established
throughout Montana; Miles City was the
home of Montanas first Carnegie Library
in 1901.
More than 2,500 Carnegie libraries are
found around the world, with 1,689 in the
United States. Carnegie was partial to
smaller communities 70 percent of the
libraries are found in towns with less than
10,000 souls.
And they were all built in a span of
about 30 years so in one generation, all
these new libraries appeared, Harvey
said. Thats really incredible.
Harvey painted a bleak picture of library
life in the late 1800s. In 1894, there were
only 400 public libraries in the Unit-
ed States, and only 46 of those were west
of the Mississippi.
Today, nine of the original 17 Carnegie
libraries in Montana still operate as librar-
ies, including those in Big Timber, Dillon,
Fort Benton, Hamilton, Hardin, Lewis-
town, Livingston, Miles City and Red
Lodge. Fifteen of the original buildings are
still standing, serving, in addition to librar-
ies, as government office buildings, art gal-
leries, historic museums and more. Seven
buildings are listed on the National Regis-
ter of Historic Places.
Nearly 400 Carnegie libraries across the
nation hold that National Register listing,
Harvey said, which gives the libraries
the distinction of being the largest group of
buildings with that honor.
The libraries were built from a key of six
different floor plans, Harvey noted Big
Timbers was floor plan A but no
library was supposed to be the same. There
were no requirements that Carnegies name
be in the librarys title, although many
were so named, and common design ele-
ments ran through the different sites. Most
have lampposts set outside the front doors
with a Greek inscription that reads, Let
there be light.
Thats very fitting, Harvey said.
Carnegies libraries would bring that
light of free, public education to all those
who desired it and desired to better them-
selves, Harvey noted. All Carnegie Librar-
ies had to fit the formula by demonstrat-
ing a need for a library, providing a build-
ing site and providing a matching grant.
He wanted the town to support it, Har-
vey said.
A roving band of books
Before the Carnegie Library, Big Tim-
bers first collection was put together in
1901, although it was a mobile library
that wandered from stores to churches to
organization homes, Harvey said.
The library board was formed in 1906,
after years of a couple feisty gals run-
ning point on organizing a home for the
roving band of books, Harvey explained.
The Big Timber Womens Club spearhead-
ed efforts to purchase a plot of land for the
proposed library.
All across the west, the womens clubs
were a force to be reckoned with. They
were who got all that done, Harvey said.
In 1912, Big Timbers library president,
J.A. Lowrey, wrote to Carnegie, requesting
funds for the library with those stan-
dards met. The city was awarded $7,500,
based on the towns population, and a one
mill tax was established to fund the library,
which is still in effect today.
Harvey shared a quote found in Ted
Jones Carnegie Libraries Across Ameri-
ca book: There is no city so great that it
does not wear its library as its chief jewel.
Big Timber will continue to celebrate its
chief jewel throughout the centennial year,
Harvey said, with its largest event collabo-
rating with the communitys annual Sweet
Grass Fest and Rodeo event June 28.
Contact Laura Nelson at editor@bigtim-
berpioneer.net or (406) 932-5298.
June 2014 7
Above: The Big Timber Carnegie
Library opened its doors in April 2014.
Photo courtesy of Big Timber Friends
of the Library
Left: Crazy Mountain Museum director
Steve Harvey compiled a history of the
life of Andrew Carnegie.
Photo by Laura Nelson/
courtesy Big Timber Pioneer
Celebrating a Century
of Library Learning
Big Timber is getting ready to celebrate
its Carnegie Library turning 100. A num-
ber of events are planned for The Librarys
Big Day, set for Saturday, June 28.
Following is the schedule:
Noon Registration begins. Starting
at noon and taking place throughout the
event will be tours of the library, face
painting for children, trolley rides and
musical entertainment on the library lawn.
12:30 p.m. History of Carnegie
Libraries Lecture, presented by Crazy
Mountain Museum Director Steve Harvey,
in the Community Room.
2 p.m. Sweet Grass Fest Parade
begins. There will be chairs and shade at
the library lawn for parade watchers. Cur-
rent and former librarians will serve as
parade marshals. The theme of the parade
is 100 Years of Books and Broncs.
3:30 p.m. Centennial Celebration
Program begins on the library lawn. The
Legion Honor Guard will present the flag.
Speakers will include Gov. Steve Bullock
or his representative; State Librarian Jenni
Stapp; and library and local government
officials. A letter will be read from Vartan
Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Cor-
poration, New York City. Librarians and
others will be recognized.
4 p.m. Cake Contest winners will
be announced and a $100 grand prize
awarded. Cake Silent Auction will con-
clude. The birthday cake will be served by
Friends of the Library.
Events are free and open to all, just as
Andrew Carnegie would have wanted it.
By Kathleen Gilluly
Montana Best Times
LAUREL To the delight of collec-
tors and neighbors, over 800 varieties of
Tall Bearded Iris show their majestic col-
ors every June in a northeast Laurel
neighborhood.
Muriel Zahm has been tending to her
assemblage, cultivating the plants and
selling their offspring for the past 46
years. Like the plumage of showy birds,
the irises strut their stuff once a year for
just a few weeks. During that time, the
spectacular sight of blooming flowers
covering about a quarter of an acre draws
iris fanciers, children on field trips,
seniors from assisted living homes and
others who are just in awe from the won-
der of so many irises.
It isnt just the colors or the beauty of
the blooms that attracts buyers, Zahm
explained while pulling some pesky
weeds from the around the green fan-like
leaf blades of new growth. A lot of peo-
ple chose them because of their name.
Cultivating irises
With monikers like Lemon Pop, Honk
Your Horn, Amarillo Frills, Music Sweet
Music, Lost and Found, Rancho Rose, On
Edge and Fabuleux, the varieties or iris
are almost endless, as are the colors.
The man who creates these crosses in
Ohio names them, she said. Some are
named after the colors hes cultivated, oth-
ers are just whatever catches his fancy.
Although Zahms garden brings forth
hundreds of colors, she advises people to
tend to the blooms, as she does, to keep
them from crossing with each other and
reverting to purple.
I dont let any of them go to seed, she
said. When they finish blooming I take
out every bloom stock.
That keeps the descendants pure. Each
new baby iris, or rhizome, that grows off
a mother plant is a perfect match.
June 2014 8
The Iris Lady
Rainbow of blooms a testament to Laurel gardeners expertise
MT Best Times photo by Kathleen Gilluly
On the cover and at right: Muriel Zahm, owner of Muriels Iris Garden near Laurel,
tends this seasons crop of irises.
EDITORS NOTE: Its springtime in Montana, and with this issue Montana Best Times celebrates the growing sea-
son with a series of articles titled Growing Montana. The first story below features renown iris gardener Muriel
Zahm, followed by a feature on the Dr. Greenthumbs business in Livingston (Page 10), and concluding with a piece on
senior farmers and ranchers in the Lewistown area who are just not going to quit what they love doing (Page 12).
After the flowers die, Zahm tends to the
rhizomes, allowing them to grow to trans-
plant size. At the end of July, she and her
daughters harvest and wash each bulb-like
offshoot and the attached fan of new
leaves and package them up according to
orders placed by customers that viewed
them in their glory during full bloom.
Rocky Mountain iris, a wild variety, is
the only native iris found in Montana. The
domesticated blooms Zahm raises, ruffled
and bold like flamenco skirts, exhibit the
same toughness as their wild cousins. That
makes them an excellent choice for xeri-
scaping, a method of landscaping that
reduces water usage and employs plants
that require little maintenance.
My garden is a lot of work because of the
size and scope, she said. But in general,
these are super hardy and great to grow in
Montana. They like lots of sunshine and they
dont like to sit in water, so they do need
good drainage, but they are tough to kill.
Additionally, deer avoid iris, they multi-
ply easily, and even recuperate from being
sprayed with the herbicide Zahm uses on
weeds. A general balanced fertilizer works
well, she said.
Visitors welcome
Every year, in addition to faithful cus-
tomers, looky-loos and tours, the Big Sky
Iris Club comes for a picnic in Zahms
spacious yard. Iris fanciers from around
the state share their love of the tall, dra-
matic flowers. Others come just to wander
through the large iris patch or to take pho-
tos. In general, the flowers will bloom
through June 16, depending on the weath-
er. Drop-in visitors are always welcome.
I love having children here, Zahm
said. Last summer, a woman came with
her grandchildren. She wanted to have pic-
tures of them among the flowers. She had
the little boy sit by one called Blowing
Kisses and had him blowing her kisses. It
was precious.
Zahm welcomes anyone to visit her gar-
den at 1525 E. Maryland Lane. The best
time to visit is the first week in June, she
said, but the flowers are lovely for several
weeks. Each flower is identified by a sign
and folks can pick up an order form before
perusing the plants. Prices and specifics
will be on the form. The baby irises cost
between $3 and $6 each, depending on the
colors. Pink, orange and black are the pric-
iest, as are the newest hybrids. A deep bur-
gundy named Bewilderbeast is a deal at
just $3, as is the purple Judgement Call.
For more information or to schedule a
tour, call Zahm at (406) 628-3048 or
visit her Facebook page at www.face-
book.com/MurielsIrisGarden.

Contact Kathleen Gilluly at schools@
laureloutlook.com or (406) 628-4412.
June 2014 9
Photos courtesy of Muriel Zahm
Above: Muriel Zahms iris plot is featured in full bloom during
a previous growing season.

Right: Iris varieties display their brilliant colors.
Irises in
Montana
By Montana Best Times Staff
Iris takes its name from the Greek
word for a rainbow, referring to the
wide variety of flower colors found
among the many species. As well as
being the scientific name, iris is also
very widely used as a common name
for all iris species. A common name
for some species is flags.
Rocky Mountain iris or Missouri
iris (Iris missouriensis) was collected
on July 5 or 6, 1806 by Captain Lewis
on the return trip through Montana,
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
says on its website.
This iris is the only native iris
found in Montana. It is fairly common
in western and central Montana and
makes a good choice as a native land-
scaping plant.
By Natalie Storey
Montana Best Times
All summer long, Marc Catellier eats Caprese salads, one of his
favorite dishes, made from tomatoes and basil he grows in his
garden.
The only thing I have to buy is mozzarella and olive oil, said
Catellier, who also owns Dr. Greenthumbs in Livingston.
He grows five different types of basil for his Caprese salads, he
said.
Catelliers garden has slowly taken over the yard of his house,
and he now grows so much food that he donates a great deal of it
to the local food pantry.
A growing movement
Catellier is part of a growing number of people who are turning
to gardening to provide their food.
Interest in growing ones own food has grown nationally and in
Montana in recent years. While many older people remember a
time when all households provided more for themselves, todays
trend toward 21st century homesteading is attempting to bring
that way of life back.
Urban gardens are popping up again in the yards of many
homes, throwbacks to gardens people used to feed themselves
during the Depression years of the 1930s. Several popular books
have advocated and provided advice about how to grow and
make more of your own food, including Radical Homemakers:
Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture by Shannon
Hayes and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by
Barbara Kingsolver. Both authors chronicle their attempts to pro-
vide all of the food their families eat.
A number of factors are driving the trend toward growing ones
own food, including concerns about food safety and quality,
reducing grocery bills, and a desire for ones diet to be more envi-
ronmentally friendly, according to an article in Mother Earth
June 2014 10
More and more Montanans
are growing their own food
MT Best Times photos by Shawn Raecke
Marc Catellier is pictured in the grow room inside his business, Dr. Greenthumbs, in Livingston. He uses the room to start
peppers, basil and other plants in early spring.
News on 21st century homesteading.
Toby Day, the horticulture Extension
agent for Montana State University, said
economics drive gardening trends in Mon-
tana.
When economies go down, gardening
becomes very popular, Day said. Wheth-
er or not it actually saves money, Im not
sure. But the idea of being self-sustaining
is really tied to the economy.
From peppers to goats
Agricultural educators in Montana say
that theres a spectrum of interest in grow-
ing ones own food. Some people want to
grow only herbs and greens, while others
raise animals and vegetables that last their
families throughout the year.
Mona Lewis, who founded Paradise
Permaculture in Livingston, said people
who attend the food self-reliance classes
she offers are interested in growing food
on all scales.
I really believe we all have some agrar-
ian roots, Lewis said. Its just going
back to common-sense knowledge and
taking care of our own lives.
Some people like Catellier grow their
own food because they cant find what
they are looking for in the grocery store.
Catellier is a hot pepper enthusiast. Stores
dont sell the varieties of peppers he likes,
such as the Carolina Reaper and the Ghost
pepper alleged to be among the hottest
on earth so he grows them himself. He
makes his own hot sauce and barbecue
sauce from the peppers.
Michele Evans, who lives on a modern
homestead in Park County, said it took her
three years to build a food system for her
family. Now, almost everything they eat
they raise themselves, Evans said.
Evans teaches classes through the West-
ern Sustainability Exchange and Paradise
Permaculture. Although she grew up in a
gardening household, Evans said she start-
ed with making her own chicken soup.
Evans raises chickens and goats in addi-
tion to all the vegetables she grows in her
indoor and outdoor gardens. She makes
her own pet food as well.
I think theres a lot of interest, but peo-
ple dont want to do what I do because
they see it as overwhelming, which it
isnt, she said. They look at the amount
of hand work I do and think I could never
do it, but they can.
Natalie Storey may be reached at
nstorey@livent.net or (406) 222-2000.
June 2014 11
Above: Seed packets for sale in Dr.
Greenthumbs.
Below: Tomato seedlings are shown
inside the business.
I really believe we all have some agrarian roots.
Mona Lewis, founder of Paradise Permaculture
June 2014 12 June 2014 13
Passion for the land keeps older
farmers and ranchers going
Joyce Dahlhausen, 75, rides the ATV as she helps
feed cattle. Unwilling to give up ranching, Joyce
and Frank Dahlhausens concession to advancing
age was to sell off the mean cows.
Photo courtesy of Joyce Dahlhausen
By Deb Hill
Montana Best Times
LEWISTOWN Old farmers never die, they just go to seed.
Or so the joke goes.
But in Montana, it seems, theres some truth to the old saw,
in that plenty of farmers and ranchers are quietly working
away, taking care of crops and livestock well past retirement
age.
What makes a person continue to work at a job that is both
physically taxing and filled with uncertainty, year after year?
Why not just sell out, buy an RV and tour the country? One
would think that at some point, perhaps after age 50 or 60, the
joys of leisure would begin outweighing the psychic returns of
hard work.
Well, if you think that, you dont know Montanas farmers
and ranchers too well. What they will tell you, if you ask, is
there is nothing they could be doing that is as satisfying to the
soul as agriculture absolutely nothing.
Why change?
Were happy doing what were doing, and were happy
here, explained Joyce Dahlhausen, of Moccasin. Joyce, 75,
and her husband Frank, 77, are still running cattle on the ranch
they purchased in 1978. A son helps out a bit, but the Dahl-
hausens still do most of the hands-on work, including calving.
I dont know what else wed be doing, Joyce said. We
enjoy this more than anything.
Early in their marriage, Joyce and Frank lived on the family
place east of Helena. Frank worked for the city and Joyce
worked for the telephone company while they did a little farm-
ing. But when the kids were in junior high and high school,
the family headed to central Montana to a larger farm. They
purchased two sections, and added to them over the years.
Its been a good life. It was a good move for the kids,
Joyce said. We dont really see any reason to change. We
really enjoy the animals seeing the new births, the calves.
All our cattle are personally raised.
The one thing we did do, because at our age we dont
move as fast as we used to, we got rid of the mean cows.
My son told me, Mom, you know the cows, you know the
mean ones. Lets sell those so I dont have to sit down here
and worry about you.
But besides that, we really havent changed what we do
much, she added.
Technology provides a boost
Besides sheer stubbornness, equipment may be the one
factor that best explains how farmers and ranchers are able
to keep on working despite the aches and pains of being old-
er.
Its not easy work, but todays equipment makes a differ-
ence, David Shipman said.
While Shipman, age 76, stopped growing grain some
years ago, he still runs cattle north of Lewistown.
I couldnt go feed cattle in the winter without my heated
cab, he explained. The work is not quite as hard now as it
used to be, before we had all this technology.
Shipman said he seeded his fields to grass and hay a while
ago, and kept the cattle operation.
So why not retire entirely?
I sort of just got everything paid for, finally, Shipman
said. I just enjoy having some cattle and working them. I
get help from the neighbors sometimes, and my brother,
whos 69, comes out from Port Townsend, Wash., to help
with calving. Its hard to slow down.
Shipman said he started working the family farm at age
17, and has been doing it ever since. His secret to successful
farming is: Dont make the same mistake twice.
The home place was paid for when I got it, otherwise I
would likely have lost it along the way, Shipman said.
Because it was paid for, I could screw up and be OK. The
trick is to learn from your mistakes and dont repeat them.
Shipman said he put the farm in a conservation easement
to ensure farming there can continue into the future.
We never were money chasers, he said. And Im not in
a hurry to buy a new outfit and go off to some place else. I
enjoy what I do. Thats why Ive never worked a day in my
life.
Farmers, ranchers getting older across state
According to Darren Crawford, Agricultural Extension Ser-
vice agent for Fergus County, the aging of the countrys farm-
ers and ranchers is of concern to many in the ag-related fields.
The average age of a farmer or rancher in Montana in 2007
was 58, Crawford said, citing figures from the National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service. In 2012, it was 59. That doesnt
sound like much of an increase, but those are averages over a
lot of people. There are many more older people in agriculture
than there used to be.
Crawford said while advances in equipment and technology
June 2014 14
might have allowed farmers to continue to work their land into
later life, changing family structure and other cultural shifts
have also had an impact, mostly by reducing the number of
young people entering farming.
Starting about in the 60s, farmers and ranchers lost their
labor source, because families got smaller and more of the kids
went to college and then to other careers, not farming, Craw-
ford said. Then the farms had to rely on equipment instead of
manpower. Things like hay baling changed putting hay up in
small bales takes much more manpower than big round bales.
Pretty soon, everyone baled into big rounds, but then you have
to have the equipment to move them. And that equipment is
expensive a young rancher cant afford it.
Rising land prices and falling commodity prices are other
issues Crawford said create hurdles to attracting beginning
farmers and ranchers.
One thing that may help right now is the land coming out of
the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program), Crawford said.
Younger farmers can afford that land. But my concern is the
longer we wait to create programs to get younger people into
farming and ranching, the more institutional knowledge we lose
as we lose the older generation that worked the land.
Theres a lot of ranching and farming that isnt learned
from books. You have to go out with someone who knows that
piece of land, whos been successful at raising cattle or crops
right there. They know the seasons, they know the soil, they
know the range conditions, and they know what to do to get
the best results. If theres no older generation left to pass this
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Photo courtesy of Lewistown News-Argus
David Shipman, 76, still runs cattle north of Lewistown.
Photo courtesy of Joyce Dahlhausen
Frank and Joyce Dahlhausen are pictured in front of a round
bale of hay on their Moccasin-area ranch. The couple has
been raising cattle here since 1978.
June 2014 15
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Enjoying the challenge
At least for now, however, it seems there are plenty of expe-
rienced farmers and ranchers still working the land, if a younger
farmer needs advice.
Im still in this full time, said Jim Lew-
is, 81, who farms north of Lewistown near
Ware. My land is in wheat, barley, some-
times peas. I just enjoy the challenge of the
next crop, of raising things and seeing what
grows, and dealing with Mother Nature.
Lewis said his folks bought the farm he
runs in 1951. Jim was teaching Vo-Ag in
1977 when his father died, and he took
over the farm. He continued teaching, and
farming, until 1987, when he retired with
30 years of teaching under his belt.
Since then, Ive been farming full
time, Lewis said. While his daughter
brings the grandkids home to help with
harvest every year, and his wife, Marilyn,
pitches in, Lewis mostly works the farm
without help. But dont think for a minute
hes unhappy about that.
Theres nothing better than being out-
side at about 5 a.m. and listening to the
birds and animals, seeing the fields, watch-
ing the sun come up, Lewis said. Its
hard for me to imagine doing something else. Im not even sure
what that would be. I just like what I do here too much to quit.
Deb Hill may be reached at Deb Hill editor@lewistownnews.
com or (406) 535-3401.
Photo courtesy of Marilyn Lewis
Jim Lewis, 81, stands beside the plane he flies to check the farm and to travel
around the state, holding a Master Pilot award he received in February from the
Federal Aviation Administration.
By Doug Smith
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)/MCT
NISSWA, MINN. The plan was for 5-year-old Royal
Karels to visit his grandparents resort near Brainerd, Minn., for
a couple of days back in the summer of 1942.
But little Royal was instantly hooked on life at the lake.
I stayed all summer, he said the other day. Thats where I
learned my love of fishing. I went there every summer until I
was 16, fishing every day.
Karels, a retired Brainerd elementary school teacher, is 76
now, and still fishing. Virtually every day. Under an azure sky on
a Saturday at the Governors Fishing Opener on Gull Lake,
Karels opened his 46th season of full-time guiding, and his 71st
year of fishing since that fateful summer of 1942.
It was a slow start to a long-awaited season. Karels boated two
small northerns and I landed none by lunch. Other anglers
reported similar inaction. But basking in the sun, few com-
plained.
This is a beautiful opening day, Karels said as a loon called
nearby. I had my doubts the ice would be gone by now.
Karels is a local icon. When hes not guiding anglers on Gull
or three dozen other Brainerd-area lakes, hes out fishing, alone,
with his wife, Diane, or with his grown children or 10 grandkids.
I never get tired of fishing, he said. I absolutely love being
on the water. Its in my blood. I find it so relaxing and so much
fun. I dont even have to catch fish.
But he and his clients usually do. Lots of them.
Karels has been helping people catch fish since he was 10 and
anglers showed up at his grandparents resort on Shirt Lake,
looking for advice.
It was an excellent bass and panfish lake, and people came
from Ruttgers (Bay Lake Lodge) and the Twin Cities and asked
where to fish. Grandfather said, Have the kid row you. Id sell
them frogs and worms, and I rowed these people all over the
lake. There was no fee involved. People would hand me a dollar
or two. I thought I was in heaven. It was a lot of fun, and I
learned how to deal with people. That came in handy later.
By the time he was in college, he had a 2 1/2-horsepower
Johnson outboard.
Karels started guiding full-time in 1961 on Bay Lake. He is
one of the early members of the legendary Nisswa Guides
League, formed by Marv Koep. The guides worked out of
Koeps bait shop near Nisswa.
It was a magical time, Karels said. There were so many
people coming to the shop. Marv had a fish contest, and big fish
in the freezer, and people would come to look at our guide boats.
We had Lowrances Green Box depth finders and splashguards.
The price was attractive, too. Two anglers could go out with a
guide for a half-day of fishing for less than $20. Now a half-day
is about $300.
A lot of people could afford it, he said. We were so busy. I
was going every day, twice a day.
Karels has guided out of Craguns Resort on Gull Lake for the
past 26 years and isnt slowing down.
Im getting out all that I want, he said. Im on the water at
least five days a week. And when Im not guiding, Im fishing. I
love to fish.
He still enjoys teaching. His classroom now is in a boat,
though he does weekly fishing seminars at Craguns.
Karels has witnessed the big changes that have occurred in
fishing. Electronics and modern fishing gear have made anglers
more successful. And the catch-and-release ethic unheard of
years ago has helped fishing, too, he said.
Im catching more fish than I used to in the old days, Karels
said. We have lighter lines, better lures, were fishing more and
better lakes.
Karels targets about 35 area lakes, and unlike some guides
who focus on walleyes, hes a bass addict.
I fish a lot for bass because I like the action, he said. I fish
walleyes in the spring and fall, but in the summer I have to have
action. I wont take people to most of those lakes unless they
release all the fish, and they are more than willing to do that.
Most people just want to catch fish. They want to take a cou-
ple photos and put them back. It works out great.
Karels an avid ice angler and deer hunter is still going
strong, heading toward 80. He has retired once but has no inten-
tion of retiring from his passion.
Im going to keep guiding as long as I can get in and out of
the boat, he said.
I love it. Its part of my life.
June 2014 16
Legendary guide is still at it
after 71 years of shing
Photo by Doug Smith/Star Tribune/MCT
Longtime angler guide Royal Karels, 76, of Brainerd, Minn.,
holds a small northern he caught at the Governors Fishing
Opener on Gull Lake. The walleyes proved elusive that morn-
ing for most anglers.
June 2014 17
A summer must-see: Chattanoogas Rock City
By Kathy Witt
KathyWitt.com/MCT
More than 75 years ago, a Tennessee
land developer named Garnet Carter
embarked on an ingenious campaign to
lure tourists to his mountaintop attraction
to see some rocks. Yes, rocks.
See Rock City was painted on nearly
1,000 barn roofs in 19 states from 1936 to
1969; millions heeded Carters call and
made the trek to Chattanooga and the top
of Lookout Mountain. Their reward?
Breathtaking vistas sweeping across
swatches of seven states from a massive
outcropping named Lovers Leap. Fairy-
land Gardens, a whimsical wonderland
created by Carters wife, Frieda, an aficio-
nada of European folklore, with German
statues of gnomes and well-known charac-
ters from fairytales is set amidst a profu-
sion of wildflowers and other native
plants.
The area had its nickname long before
the Carters began wresting a world-class
attraction from this ancient geologic mar-
vel. Bucket list adventurers had been com-
ing to this mountaintop wilderness as early
as 1823 to experience the Rock City and
traverse its naturally formed streets and
avenues by mule. By the close of the
decade, Frieda had begun her grand-scale,
four-year landscaping project, forging
paths among the rock formations.
A mere 100 now-historic barns bearing
the distinctively painted black and white
slogans remain. Rock City, however, has
continued to grow, adding the magical
Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Vil-
lage, a 25-foot climbing wall, lots of shops
and restaurants even a Starbucks.
Wending through the 14 acres and passing
a 100-foot waterfall and a 1,000-ton bal-
anced rock is the Enchanted Trail. Its route
takes thrill seekers across the Swing-A-
Visitors can see seven states from Rock
Citys Lovers Leap near Chattanooga,
Tenn.
Courtesy of R&R Marketing/MCT
Travel
June 2014 18
Long Bridge, hovering 1,700 feet above sea level and spanning
200 feet.
Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world con-
tinue to find their way to Rock City each year, but it isnt the only
draw on Lookout Mountain. Ruby Falls is a 145-foot-high under-
ground waterfall. The Ruby Falls ZIPstream Aerial Adventure is
an obstacle course in the sky that includes bridges, tunnels and
700 feet of roundtrip zipping. The worlds steepest passenger rail-
way, the Incline Railway, is a National Historic Site that has been
in operation since 1895.
You can grab a seat for the Battles for Chattanooga, a three-
dimensional electronic battle map presentation recalling Lookout
Mountains strategic role in the Civil War through 5,000 minia-
ture soldiers, hundreds of lights, lots of sound effects and narrated
video. Afterward, stroll over to Point Park, the site of what is
called the Battle Above the Clouds, to see where the battles you
just learned about were fought 150 years ago.
Off the mountain, downtown Chattanooga is home to the Ten-
nessee Aquarium so big it takes up two buildings, their glass
peaks stretching into the skyline. In the River Journey building,
see freshwater habitats, two living forests and a lot of creatures,
including alligators, frogs, prehistoric sturgeon and otters.
This is also where Ranger Ricks Backyard Safari is located,
along with a Eurasian eagle owl, one of the largest owls in the
world. At the end of May, the aquariums otter exhibit will have
been expanded so visitors can see the feisty critters cavorting
about a multi-tiered landscape featuring shoreline, pools and
waterfalls any time of day.
The Ocean Journey building is where the sharks hang out,
along with penguins, jellyfish, squid, cuttlefish and crabs. Its
Undersea Cavern reveals panoramic views of a Secret Reef; its
indoor rainforest is home to the Butterfly Garden with hundreds
of the jewel-hued beauties in free flight.
Straight up Broad Street from the aquarium is The Chatta-
noogan, a boutique hotel with resort amenities that is offering a
Summer Fun Package for families. Choose free tickets either to
Rock City and Ruby Falls or to the Tennessee Aquarium and
IMAX with an overnight stay.
Kids will be happy to know there is free WiFi, a heated swim-
ming pool and an extensive menu with their kind of eats (chicken
fingers, grilled cheese, sliders, pasta, pizza) at the hotels Broad
Street Grille. Mom and Dad will love the vacation ambience of
the hotel, its oversized guestrooms, full-service spa with twinkle-
light relaxation area and sunning terrace adjacent to the pool.
The hotel sits on beautifully landscaped grounds with lots of
trees shading a courtyard in a neighborhood of museums, shops
and restaurants. Lookout Mountain, visible from many of the
guestrooms, is 15 minutes or so away.
Eighty-two years after its official opening in 1932, Rock City
continues to pull road trippers from the highway to come see
what Mother Nature and one entrepreneurial couple created. A
visit to Rock City and Chattanooga combines blast-from-the-past
fun with todays adventure in an extremely family-friendly get-
away.
Info
Chattanooga, (800) 322-3344, www.ChattanoogaFun.com.
The Chattanoogan Hotel, (877) 756-1684, www.Chattanoogan-
Hotel.com. Ask for the Summer Fun package when making reser-
vations. Rates start at $169 per night and are based on a two-night
stay for a family of two adults and two children.
Dont-miss moments
Standing at Lovers Leap atop Lookout Mountain and seeing
the world spread out before you. OK, not the world, but seven
states (Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Car-
olina, Virginia and Kentucky) and at 1,700 feet above sea level.
You may be overcome with the impulse to shout to your fellow
tourists, Im the king of the world!
Racing down the Tennessee River aboard the Tennessee
Aquariums River Gorge Explorer, a zippy eco-cruise vessel that
can do S-curves at 50 miles an hour and stop and turn on a dime.
You might spy bald eagles, blue herons and other river life, and
youll hear more about Lookout Mountain, its geology and role in
the Civil War.
Dining at either one of the Chefs Tables in The Chattanoogan
Hotels exceedingly pleasant Broad Street Grille. Sink into a com-
fy chair and turn yourself over to the culinary team; you wont be
disappointed. Dishes are layers of flavors (like the BLT bacon,
arugula, dried tomato and smoked onion aioli) beautifully present-
ed in a no-rush, soft-hush atmosphere, perfect for long conversa-
tions and lingering over desserts like luscious tiramisu.
Treating yourself to a Riverport Facial at The Spa at The
Chattanoogan. Its 50 minutes of tranquility and total relaxation
that ties harmoniously into a getaway to Rock City: Smooth-as-
glass stones from North Chickamauga Creek and the Tennessee
River are cooled and placed on key pressure points on the face to
improve circulation. Divine! Youll leave feeling buffed, de-
puffed and polished.
Discovering the MoonPie General Store just a few blocks
from the Tennessee Aquarium. Talk about a welcome blast-from-
the-past. Grab some MoonPies and RC Colas or your pick of lots
of other retro-themed candy and souvenirs _ Gummy Bacon, sock
monkeys, Capt. Kirk mugs, even See Rock City birdhouses.
EDIT0RS NOTE: Author, travel and lifestyle writer, and travel
goods expert Kathy Witt feels you should never get to the end of
your bucket list; theres just too much to see and do in the world.
She can be reached at KathyWitt24@gmail.com or KathyWitt.com.
Learn about the
Civil War Battles
for Chattanooga
and the impor-
tance of the
location in the
overall military
strategies of both
the Union and
Confederacy.
Courtesy of R&R
Marketing/MCT
If youre lucky enough to have some
grouse, pheasants or partridges in your
freezer, youre in for a real taste treat.
They are superb when cooked over char-
coal briquettes or on a gas grill.
Wild game meat doesnt have as much
fat as domestic chickens, though, so the
birds must be split in half in order to
reduce the amount of time they cook. That
will prevent the meat from drying out. Re-
sults are best when the skin is still intact
on the breast and the thighs of the birds.
Once the birds are split, the cooking
process is almost too simple. But its a
tried and true method that has created
fans of mountain grouse many times at
the Durfey shack.
Once the bird is thawed out, it should
be placed on a sturdy cutting board on its
back. If youre a cleaver fan, you should
whack the bird along the keel bone (fat
chest bone), lengthwise. Try to aim for
the middle of the keel bone. It might take
several attempts until youve severed the
keel bone and the vertebrae and cut the
bird in half. Keep your free hand away
from the bird to make sure you dont ac-
cidentally whack it as well.
If you need to help separate the halves
as you continue to whack away, use a
fork or other utensil. Dont use your free
hand for that purpose.
If a French chefs knife is more your
style, put the point of the knife near the
neck bone and place the palm of your
free hand on the top of the knifes blade.
Aim for the middle of the keel bone as
you force the knife down through the
birds chest. Keep reminding yourself
that youre in charge not the bird.
The keel bone wont separate so that
you have two exactly even halves. A
little bit of the breast meat from the cut
side will be left on the larger half. But try
to make your cut as close as possible to
the keel bone.
The larger the bird, the more force
youll need to exert.
Dont let your thumb slip under the
blade of the knife during the process or
youll end up at the emergency room like
your Best Times recipe contributor did
one time. We had invited good friends
of ours over for a mountain grouse feed
early one summer. I wasnt keeping track
of all of my body parts and managed
to cut my thumb deeply enough that
stitches were required.
Our friends knew where the beer was
kept in the fridge. They entertained
themselves until the careless chef and his
apologetic wife returned from the hospi-
tal and fnished cutting up the birds and
cooking them over white hot coals. Our
friends told us it was worth the wait.
Although cutting the birds in half is a
bit of a challenge especially the frst
time its attempted the results are well
worth it because
its the easiest
way to prepare
tasty game
birds.
The halves
should be
cooked over
fairly high heat.
They should be
turned once dur-
ing the cooking
process. Your
timing is perfect if the birds are cooked
thoroughly enough to meet your require-
ments, but not a minute longer.
The size of game birds varies greatly.
There are very small ruffed grouse and
very large dusky (blue) grouse. Pheas-
ants can be small young-of-the-year
birds that are harvested early in the fall
or large mature birds that are shot close
to the last day of the hunting season. To
gauge the doneness, its a good idea
to take an average-size bird and test it
by cutting next to the inside of the thigh
bone occasionally. I like to take my birds
off the heat when the thigh meat is still a
bit on the pink side.
We never eat the skin of game birds
at our house. Its just about impossible
to remove all the pin feathers from wild
birds. If you have an electric plucker you
might have better luck with that chore.
On The Menu
With Jim Durfey
June 2014 19
Grilled Wild Game Birds
Split game birds with skin on
Olive oil, optional
High heat from charcoal briquettes or a gas grill
Place bird halves on grill. Turn halves after eight or 10 minutes. Test for doneness
by cutting into inside of thigh. Remove birds when meat near thigh bone is still a
little pink. Guests should be advised to remove skin before eating birds.
Time for cleavers &
stout kitchen knives
A male ring-necked pheasant.
Photo by Dave Menke/courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
June 2014 20
Gallatin County
- American Cancer Society-Road to
Recovery: Drivers needed for patients
receiving treatments from their home to the
hospital.
- American Red Cross Blood Drive: Two
volunteer opportunities available: an ambas-
sador needed to welcome, greet, thank and
provide overview for blood donors; and
phone team volunteers needed to remind,
recruit or thank blood donors. Excellent cus-
tomer service skills needed, training will be
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- Befrienders: Befriend a senior; visit on a
regular weekly basis.
- Belgrade Senior Center: Meals on
Wheels needs regular and substitute drivers,
Monday-Friday, to deliver meals to seniors.
- Big Brothers Big Sisters: Be a positive
role model for only a few hours each week.
- Bozeman and Belgrade Sacks Thrift
Stores: Need volunteers 2-3-hour shifts on
any day, MondaySaturday 9:30 a.m.-6
p.m.
- Bozeman Deaconess Hospital: Volunteers
needed for the information desks, 8 a.m.-
noon, noon- 4 p.m., variety of other posi-
tions need filled as well.
- Bozeman Senior Center Foot Clinic:
Retired or nearly retired nurses are urgently
needed, 2 days a month, either 4- or 8-hour
shifts.
- Child Care Connections: Front desk help
needed Thursdays, noon-1 p.m., to greet cli-
ents, answer phones and general reception
duties.
- Childrens Museum of Bozeman - Wel-
come desk volunteer (s) needed for 2-hour
shifts, Mondays-Saturdays.
- The Emerson Cultural Center: Volunteers
needed for front office, greeter/reception,
MondayFriday 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
- Galavan: Volunteer drivers needed Mon-
day-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. CDL required
and Galavan will assist you in obtaining
one.
- Gallatin County 911 Communications:
Office help needed 1 1/2-2 hours one day a
week on your schedule.
- Gallatin County Election Office: Seeking
judges for the Nov. 4 elections. ($8 per
hour) Training provided.
- Gallatin Rest Home: Volunteers wanted
for visiting the residents, sharing your
knowledge of a craft, playing cards or read-
ing to a resident.
- Gallatin Valley Food Bank: Volunteers
needed to deliver commodities to seniors in
their homes once a month. Deliveries in
Belgrade are especially needed.
- Habitat for Humanity Restore: Belgrade
store needs volunteers for general help, sort-
ing donations and assisting customers.
- Heart of The Valley: Compassionate
volunteers especially needed to love, play
with and cuddle cats, do carpentry work,
be an animal bank collector (asking local
businesses to display an animal bank for
donation collection) or birthday party lead-
er.
- Help Center Telecare: Volunteers needed
3-4 mornings a week 8:30-11 a.m. to make
calls to homebound seniors, providing reas-
surance, check on safety and well-being,
and access to up-to-date referral information
to vulnerable individuals.
- Museum of the Rockies: Variety of
opportunities available.
- RSVP Handcrafters: Volunteers to quilt,
knit, crochet and embroider hats for chemo
patients, baby blankets and other handmade
goods once a week (can work from home).
Handcrafters are in need of 3-ply sports
yarn, and baby yarn.
- Senior Nutrition Volunteers: Volunteers
needed to help seniors with grocery shop-
ping, meal and menu planning, and com-
panionship, 1-2 hours a week, days and
times are flexible.
- Your unique skills and interests are need-
ed, without making a long-term commit-
ment, in a variety of ongoing, special, one-
time events.
Contact: Deb Downs, RSVP Program
Coordinator, 807 N. Tracy, Bozeman, MT
59715; phone (406) 587-5444; fax (406)
582-8499; or email: debdowns@rsvpmt.
org.
Park County
- The Depot and Yellowstone Gateway
Museum: Volunteers needed during summer
season.
- DES: Needs volunteers to help in map-
ping your neighborhood by noting resourc-
es and those with special needs in the event
of possible emergencies.
- Fly Fishing Federation: Volunteers need-
ed to help with mailings, childrens events,
and more.
- Livingston Health and Rehab: A volun-
teer is needed to call Bingo games.
- Livingston/Park County Library: Needs
afternoon volunteers.
- Loaves and Fishes and/or Food Pantry:
Many volunteer opportunities available.
- Western Sustainability: Needs volunteers
to help once a month signing up seniors for
free Farmers Market produce.
- Various other agencies are in need of
your unique skills in a variety of ongoing
and one-time special events.
Contact: Shannon Burke, RSVP Program
Coordinator, 206 So. Main St., Livingston,
MT 59047; phone (406) 222-2281; email:
livingston@rsvpmt.org.
Fergus & Judith Basin counties
- Community Cupboard (Food Bank):
Needs volunteers to help stocking food on
the shelves as well as with delivering food
to the home bound.
- Council on Aging: Needs volunteers to
help at the Senior meal site (Grub Steaks)
and with home-delivered meals. Your noon
meal is provided if you work at this site.
- Head Start and grade schools: Volunteers
needed to assist students.
- Library and Art Center: Volunteer help
always appreciated.
- ROWL (Recycle Our Waste Lewistown):
Recruiting volunteers for the 3rd Saturday
of the month to help with greeting, traffic
directing, sorting, baling and loading recy-
clables working to keep plastic wastes from
our landfills.
- Treasure Depot: Needs volunteers to sort
items and clothing at the thrift store.
- Always have various needs for your skills
and volunteer services in our community.
Contact: RSVP Volunteer Coordinator, 404
W. Broadway, Wells Fargo Bank building,
(upstairs), Lewistown, MT 59457; phone
(406) 535-0077; email: rsvplew@midrivers.
com.
Musselshell, Golden Valley &
Petroleum counties
- Food Bank: Distribute food commodities
to seniors and others in the community; help
unload the truck as needed.
- Meals on Wheels Program: Deliver meals
to the housebound in the community, just
one day a week, an hour and a half, meal
provided.
- Nursing Home: Assist with activities for
residents to enrich supported lifestyle.
- Senior Center: Volunteers are needed to
provide meals, clean up in the dining room
and/or keep records; meal provided.
-Museum: Volunteers are needed to greet
visitors and guides to show people around.
- Senior Bus: Volunteers to pickup folks
whom are unable to drive themselves.
- RSVP offers maximum flexibility and
choice to its volunteers as it matches the
personal interests and skills of older Ameri-
cans with opportunities to serve their com-
munities. You choose how and where to
serve. Volunteering is an opportunity to
learn new skills, make friends and connect
with your community.
Contact: Volunteer coordinator Mollie
Omicioli, South Central MT RSVP, 315 1/2
Main St., Ste. #1, Roundup, MT 59072;
phone (406) 323-1403; fax (406) 323-4403;
email: rdprsvp2@midrivers.com; Face-
book: South Central MT RSVP.
See RSVP, Page 21
Below is a list of volunteer openings available through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in
communities across southern Montana. To learn more about RSVP, call (800) 424-8867 or TTY (800) 833-3722;
or log on to www. seniorcorps.org.
RSVP
Wednesday, June 4
Farmers Market, Wednesdays through
October, Miles Park band shell,
Livingston
Federation of Fly Fishers Museum,
Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Livingston
Yellowstone Gateway Museum,
Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.,
Livingston
Montana Watercolor Society Members
Show, through June 30, Tuesday through
Saturday, Lewistown Art Center,
Lewistown
Friday, June 6
Wings Across the Big Sky Bird Festival,
through June 8, GranTree Inn, Bozeman
Saturday, June 7
Rock Creek Walleye Tournaments,
through June 8, Rock Creek Marina, Fork
Peck
Drum Wars, through June 8, Dawson
Community College, Glendive
Universal Athletic Spring Fling Hoop
Thing, Montana ExpoPark and Central
Park, Great Falls
Sunday, June 8
Festival of Cultures, Rocky Mountain
College, Billings
Monday, June 9
Greater Yellowstone Coalition Wildlife
Trip, through June 12, Sliver Gate
Thursday, June 12
Miss Montana Scholarship and State
Finals Pageant, through June 14, Dawson
County High School Auditorium, Glendive
Miles City Garden Club, 7 p.m., First
Baptist Church, Miles City
Friday, June 13
Nitro National Pro Hillclimb, through
June 14, Columbus
Gardiner Annual NRA Rodeo, through
June 14, Gardiner
Saturday, June 14
Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match,
through June 15, AG Lee Ranch, Forsyth
Buzzard Day Celebration, Makoshika
State Park, Glendive
The Mega Monster Truck Tour,
Fairgrounds, Helena
George Ives Trial and Hanging Living
History Program, through June 15,
Virginia City
Annual Wilsall Rodeo, through June 15,
Wilsall
Thursday, June 19
Montana Senior Olympics Summer
Games, through June 21, various
locations, Great Falls
Friday, June 20
25th Annual Lewis and Clark Festival,
through June 22, Gibson Park, Great Falls
Saturday, June 21
Adventure Cycling: Cycle Montana
Road Bicycle Tour, through June 28,
begins in Missoula
Fishtail Family Fun Day, begins 7 a.m.,
Fishtail
Wednesday, June 25
Little Bighorn Days and Custer Last
Stand Reenactment, through June 29,
Hardin
Thursday, June 26
19th Annual 1876 Grand Ball,
downtown Hardin
The Bridge - Headwaters Country Jam,
through June 28, Three Forks
Friday, June 27
Annual Chamber Golf Tournament,
Lewistown
Snowy Mountains Muzzleloaders
Rendezvous, through June 29, Lewistown
Virginia City Art Show, through June
29, boardwalk and in Virginia city
Community Center, Virginia City
Saturday, June 28
Sweet Grass Fest, downtown Big Timber
Vintage Vehicle Show, Yellowstone Art
Museum, Billings
Ride Around the Pioneers in One Day
130 Mile Ride (RATPOD), Dillon
Miles City Secret Summer Garden
Tours, 1-4 p.m. Miles City
19th Century Boxing Exhibition Living
History Program, 6:30 p.m., Virginia
City
Sunday, June 29
Billings Symphony Orchestra and
Chorale: Symphony in the Park, 4 p.m.,
Pioneer Park, Billings
Tuesday, July 1
Southwest Montana Arts Show and
Sale, through July 31, Bozeman Library,
Bozeman
Wednesday, July 2
Lewistown 4th of July Celebration and
Parade, through July 4, Lewistown
Livingston Roundup Parade, 3 p.m.,
downtown Livingston
Depot Festival of the Arts, through July
4, Livingston
Livingston Roundup Rodeo, through
July 4, Park County Fairgrounds,
Livingston
Home of Champions Rodeo and
Parade, through July 4, Red Lodge
Thursday, July 3
4th of July Celebration; through July 4,
Laurel
June 2014 21
June 2014 Calendar
RSVP, from Page 20
Custer & Rosebud counties
- Clinic Ambassador: New volunteer posi-
tion starting approximately July 1st.
- Custer County Food Bank: Volunteers
needed for food distribution Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays.
- Historic Miles City Academy: Volunteers
needed to assist in thrift store with sorting
and cleaning donated merchandise.
- Holy Rosary Health Care: Volunteers
needed Mondays and Thursdays in the gift
shop.
- Miles City Historic Preservation Office:
Seeking a volunteer to help with clerical
duties.
- Spirit Riders: Volunteer to assist with
traffic control at funerals.
- St. Vincent DePaul: Volunteers to assist
in thrift store with sorting, pricing, cashier
and stocking.
- VA Miles City CLC: Urgently need vol-
unteers to assist with veteran activities.
- WaterWorks Art Museum: Volunteer
receptionists needed, 2 hour shifts Tues-
days-Sundays.
If you are interested in these or other vol-
unteer opportunities please contact: Betty
Vail, RSVP Director; 210 Winchester Ave.
#225, MT 59301; phone (406) 234-0505;
email: rsvp05@midrivers.com
Dawson County
- If you have a need for or a special inter-
est or desire to volunteer somewhere in the
community, please contact: Patty Atwell,
RSVP Director, 604 Grant, Glendive, MT
59330; phone (406) 377-4716; email:
rsvp@midrivers.com.
Q. Gasoline seems pretty expensive
these days, but how does it compare
with some of the other liquids in your
life?
A. To answer, you need to estimate
costs and volumes, says Lawrence
Weinstein in The Physics Teacher
magazine. We all spend too much time
staring at the gas pump display
indicating $3 and up per gallon, which
translates to about $1 per liter (a liter is
about a quart). Bottled water costs about
a third as much. Crude oil at about $70
per barrel figures to about 44 cents per
liter.
Next consider perfume, which can
range from $1 to $1,000 per ounce (or
higher), most often about $20 to $50 per
ounce, putting it at roughly $1,000 per
liter.
Now ink for inkjet printers is priced at
$5 to $10 for a typical container of about
10 cubic centimeters (cm). That is about
$1 per cubic cm or $1 per milliliter.
Thus, crude oil, gasoline and bottled
water all cost a dollar or less per liter.
Vodka goes for $50 per liter, and wine
for $3 to $300 per liter. Ink for inkjet
printers costs about the same as perfume,
or $1,000 per liter.
As Weinstein concludes, The next
time you go out on a date, just splash a
little ink on yourself. It should certainly
make an impression.
Q. How many bananas does it take
to get you drunk?
A. Depends on who grows them and
how theyre processed, says Amy
Stewart in The Drunken Botanist.
Most of us have only eaten the one
kind of banana carried by supermarkets,
but actually hundreds of cultivars exist,
including the so-called beer bananas of
Uganda and Rwanda. Farmers prefer to
grow beer bananas ... because they can
process the fruit into a highly profitable
beer that, while short-lived, does not
perish as quickly as the bananas
themselves do. Transformed into beer,
the bananas are easier to get to market.
Processing involves piling ripe,
unpeeled bananas into a pit or basket and
having people tread on them to extract
the juice. Then the juice is left to ferment
for a few days until the cloudy, sweet
and sour beer is ready to drink. It can be
bottled and stored for two or three days
at most.
Q. When in the presence of a certain
carnivorous flower, would behaving
sheepishly help save your skin?
A. Not if the flower is a Chilean Puya
chilensis and if behaving sheepishly
means behaving like a sheep, says
Mental Floss magazine. The monstrous
flower, which can take 20 years to
bloom, has razor-sharp spines for
ensnaring small animals like birds and
yes! sheep. The animals that
wander too close to the plant cant
wriggle free and eventually starve to
death. The process aint pretty, but as
the victims decompose, they fertilize the
soil and provide needed nourishment for
the aptly named sheep-eater.
Q. At a bar one night, you think of a
couple of rowdies there as
Neanderthals. How far off the mark
are you with such a term?
A. While its been more than 5
million years since we parted ways with
chimps, its been only 400,000 years
since human and Neanderthal lineages
split, says Jonathon Keats in Discover
magazine. That makes you pretty much a
Neanderthal yourself, meaning your
thinking is hardly off the mark at all.
Moreover, if youre Asian or
Caucasian, your ancestors interbred with
Neanderthals as recently as 37,000 years
ago in Europe.
Despite some bad press, Neanderthals
had some great ideas: They made spears
by hafting sharpened stones to wooden
handles, then glued them together. Using
those spears, they were able to hunt
bison and woolly rhinoceros. And when
injured, they nursed each other back to
health, enlisting their greatest concept of
all: empathy.
As Keats suggests, to check out your
own quantity of Neanderthal DNA, you
can swab your cheek and send the swab
to the National Geographic Societys
Genographic Project.
Q. Imagine if you could eat a
270-pound hamburger with no hands
and no implements, and that made up
a third of your annual energy budget.
Then who might you be?
A. Likely a Burmese python, which
eats only three to five times a year,
strangling prey 15 times its size, says
Cornell herpetologist and snake-lover
Harry Greene, as reported by Elizabeth
Pennisi in Science magazine. Greene
has tracked down bushmasters, rattlers
and more in 30 countries; once in a
Brazilian swamp, he brushed up against
a green anaconda as long as a mid-size
car.
The king cobra, largest venomous
snake in the world at 4 meters long
(some 13 feet), has developed a
fearsome venom of 73 peptides and
proteins that swiftly immobilize and kill
its prey, mostly other snakes. (Actually,
100,000 humans die of snake bites
every year.) Prey-crushing pythons
(they dont have venom) can go without
food for months; when they do finally
eat, their kidney, liver and gut can
double in size in a matter of days, and
June 2014 22
$1,000
for a liter of printer ink,
and other crazy per-liter prices
By Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.
Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at strangetrue@cs.com
their metabolic rate increases 40 times
over.
A lot of people think of snakes as these
simple tubes, adds evolutionary biologist
David Pollock at the University of Colora-
do School of Medicine, but theyve actu-
ally adapted in many impressive ways.
As Pennisi sums it up, Snakes have
slithered their way through oceans and
across all the continents save Antarctica;
their 3000 species have infiltrated nearly
every conceivable habitat from termite
mounds to rainforest canopies.
Q. Dust off your crystal ball and try
looking 50 years into the future. When
sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov did this 50
years ago in 1964, how well did he hit
todays mark?
A. As expected, Asimov had plenty of
savvy technological hits, anticipating self-
driving cars, video calling, widespread
use of nuclear power, single-duty house-
hold robots, says David Pogue in Scien-
tific American magazine. Asimov also
worried about coming world overpopula-
tion, estimating it at 6.5 billion, which
isnt far off todays 7.1 billion. However,
Asimov missed in that underground
homes and those underwater never
became popular, nor did cars and boats
that levitate on jets of compressed air.
Actually, many of his prognostications
fall into a third category of technologies
feasible today but not yet commonplace:
moving sidewalks in airports but not on
city streets; no moon colonies nor ones on
Mars; no large solar-power stations in the
desert.
As Pogue summarizes it, three lessons
can be learned here about predicting the
future: First, almost every new technolo-
gy takes longer to arrive than sci-fi writers
imagine. Second, not all the big ones can
ever be anticipated; for example, even
Asimov overlooked the coming of the
Internet. Finally, many attractive or logi-
cal developments never materialize,
thanks to our own human failings. The
fault, dear Isaac, is not in our engineering
but in ourselves.
Ask me about the
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Across
1 California/Arizona
border reservoir
11 Has yet to settle
15 Let a new chapter
begin
16 Salingers __ Sto-
ries
17 Yellow sticky, often
18 With 3-Down, Wing-
ey Wallaces comic strip
girlfriend
19 __acte
20 Pkg. measures
21 Wife of Jacob
23 Ominous time
25 Smiley creator
26 Treated with malice
29 57501 preceder, on
envelopes
30 Place
31 __ ball
32 A little
freedom?
33 Lea grazers
34 Star of the 1931 film
M
35 Film
36 Yet, poetically
37 Toon lead singer in a
leopard-print leotard
38 Outlook
39 Building and
grounds
41 Comprehend
42 Post-reaping sights
43 Japanese sandal
44 Bunches
45 Thrice, in Rxs
46 Egyptian Christian
50 Nonexistent
51 Blew up
54 Gotcha
55 Liven up
56 Experiment
57 Number thats physi-
cally impossible to write
out in standard form
Down
1 __ drive
2 The company for
women company
3 See 18-Across
4 Honored retiree
5 Selling fast
6 Swore
7 Sleeveless garments
8 Summer quaffs
9 Nuevo __: Peruvian
currency
10 Remove restrictions
from
11 Like many a garage
12 Enthusiastically
13 Signs, as an agree-
ment
14 Type of headlight
22 Start to bat?
24 __ Arc, Arkansas
25 Petrol purchase
26 Weighs options
27 Dominant team
28 Winter soil phenom-
ena
29 Trojan War figure
31 Law recipient
34 Takes a bath
35 It merged with Trav-
elers in 1998
37 Tease, in slang
38 Irreg. spelling
40 Xylophonists tool
41 Antecede
43 1983 Woody Allen
title role
45 TV watchers conve-
nience
47 Like zero
48 Best of the Beatles
49 Big natural history
museum attraction
52 Bride in 1969 news
53 N.Z. currency
Crossword
June 2014 23
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BILLINGS OFFICE
1527 14th St. West
Billings, MT 59102
406-259-7983
SERVICE CENTERS
Glendive
Wolf Point
800-340-3720
BOZEMAN OFFICE
702 N. 19th Ave. Suite 1-C
Bozeman, MT 59718
406-586-5841
MILES CITY OFFICE
18 N. 8th Street Suite #8
Miles City, MT 59301
800-340-3720
*Offer expires 06/30/14
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