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406 contents
FEATURED STORIES 10 KACIE WEST 12 LAURA MUNSON
PEOPLE & PLACES 50 MICHAEL J. GWIAZDON (406 MAN) 52 GLACIER COUNTY’S QUEEN BEE 56 JOE COSLEY
ART & CULTURE 14 NANCY DUNLOP CAWDREY 17 KRISTI VESETH
58 FIRST BEST PLACE 59 MUM’S OPEN HOUSE EVENT
HEALTH, FAMILY& WELLNESS
406 LOVE
60 MINDFUL LIVING 62 IS THE MONKEY HOLDING YOU BACK
18 THE LOCALVORE WEDDING
64 HORMONES AND MARRIAGE
24 LOVE STORIES
66 30 DAY MAKE-OVER
FOOD & FLAVOR 30 NORTH BAY GRILL 34 LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS 36 WINES OF ARGENTINA
68 TALKING THYROID 70 THE LINGERING DAYS OF AUGUST 72 GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL
IN EVERY ISSUE
HOME & GARDEN
74 SHOP TALK Stone Chair
40 THE GILPEN-ROBBIN HOME 44 STUDENT BUILT HOUSE PROGRAM 46 THE HARVEST
Kim Romero
76 PROFESSIONAL PROFILES Ambujam Healing New Image Concepts Insty Prints Mountain West Bank Trails West Real Estate State Farm Agent Residence Club
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Publisher Cindy Gerrity cindy@montanasky.net
Business Manager Daley McDaniel daley@montanasky.net
Creative Director/Photographer Sara Joy Pinnell ayourartisan@yahoo.com
Editor Kristen Pulsifer Kristen@whitefishstudycenter.com
Staff Photographer Brent Steiner steinerbw@gmail.com
Copy Editor/Writer Carole Pinnell queencarolerule@yahoo.com
Sales/Marketing Kaycee Mohl kayceemohl@gmail.com
Writer Bridget Michlig
On the Cover: Sarah graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Business Finance. She is currently an Insurance Account Representative for Lyle Mitchell State Farm Insurance Agency. She spends her time enjoying all the Flathead has to offer, along with her fiancé Chris and dogs Macy and Ruby. Clothes courtesy of the Fawn Boutique fawnboutique.com
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Photography by: Sara Joy Pinnell ayourartisan.com
Published by Skirts Publishing Copyright©2009 Skirts Publishing Published six times a year.
6477 Hwy 93 S Suite 138, Whitefish, MT 59937 406-862-1545 info@406woman.com
View current and past issues of 406 Woman at www.406Woman.com
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Contributors Denise Dryden
Denise Dryden, is a Certified Parent Coach with over 30 years of experience in the fields of education, parent support, and therapeutic placement for adolescents and young adults. Her passion is working with people who are ready to make some changes in their life! After raising three kids she is happily maturing into mid life and enjoys living a balanced life in Whitefish. To contact her, please visit her website at www. DeniseDrydenCoaching. com
Mary Pat Murphy
grew up in Kalispell and graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in journalism. She moved to Alaska in 1974 after serving as a legislative reporter for The Associated Press in Juneau and spent the next 22 years there, working as a reporter and editor for the Anchorage Times, serving as a media coordinator in the Governor’s Office and as a legislative aide, among other jobs. She returned to the Flathead Valley in 1995 and lives on a small farm along the Whitefish River. She currently works from home as a writer for organizations including Northwest Healthcare and the United Way and participates in a number of community organizations.
Lee Anne Byrne is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker offering counseling in private practice in Whitefish, Montana. She blends holistic and conventional approaches in her work with adults, adolescents and couples, drawing on her extensive and diverse experience. Lee Anne also offers classes in mindful approaches to our moods. She can be reached at 406-862-1440.
Amy Grisak lives with her husband, Grant, and their two rambunctious boys in Great Falls, Montana. Amy is a freelance writer who's blessed to be able to stay at home with the kids while she writes about gardening, cooking, health and outdoor recreation. Amy also loves teaching people how to grow their own food, and is a garden speaker as well as around-theclock resource for Great Falls' community gardens. For gardening questions, www.amygrisak.com.
Dru Rafkin Jackman
Kiersten Alton, RPH,
Maggie Neal Doherty
Krista Conger is a Columbia Falls native who returned to the area six years ago after a long stint in the San Francisco Bay Area collecting a variety of biology-related degrees. After attending the University of California, Santa Cruz’s science writing program, she accepted a job in the Office of Communication and Public Affairs at Stanford’s School of Medicine, where she writes primarily about stem cell science, cancer and genetics. She spends her days telecommuting to her California job from her Montana bedroom office, wrangling three kids, one parakeet, one dog and (recently) 17 chickens, and her evenings running, knitting and drinking cheap boxed wine—not necessarily in that order. She’s thrilled to be back in the 406 area code and can see no reason to ever live anywhere else — with the exception of the dreary months of March, April and (this year) most of June and July.
is a pharmacist at Big Sky Specialty Compounding in Kalispell. She attended pharmacy school at the University of Texas in Austin where she learned about herbs, vitamins, homeopathics and how to make medicines from scratch (compounding). She helps patients reduce or eliminate medications and teaches classes on women’s hormones, environmental toxins, and nutritional and natural medicine for infants and toddlers. Recently Kiersten started an autism support group. For more information, e-mail Kalton@ bigskycompounding. com.
wrote and illustrated her first book in the 4th grade, titled, Jesse in Hollywood. Still an aspiring writer, she abandoned her childhood ideals of stardom once she figured out her true love, the wilds of northern Michigan where she was raised. With a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University in 2004, she moved to Montana where the mountains claimed her heart. Not one to set any limitations on herself as a writer, her life adventures have taken her into telemark ski racing, paddling her canoe, climbing mountains, and jobs where she’s wrangled sailboats on Flathead Lake, slung drinks at a ski bar, taught English to high school girls, and introduced kids and adults to the wonders of the outdoors. When she’s not backpacking or traveling the country in a ’64 Airstream adorned with red ants, her nose is typically stuck in a book. Her writing has appeared in literary journals, local newspapers, and on her mother’s refrigerator. Maggie resides in Whitefish, Montana.
is a Certified Personal and Professional Development Coach who started Sane Solutions by Dru in 1998. In her former life, Dru was a script supervisor who worked in the “glamorous” world of television. And although she loved the camaraderie, teamwork and 80-hour weeks, she took a dare from friends and decided to follow her passion of supporting others. She lives in Whitefish with her husband. To contact her, please visit www.solutionsbydru.com.
Bear Dance, Bigfork, Montana
406 Woman
Featured Stories
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K
acie West
By Carole Pinnell Photo by Sara Pinnell
Kacie West was crowned Miss Montana 2010, inheriting the crown from 2009 Miss Montana Brittany Wiser. Kacie is the daughter of Chris and Tammy West of Kalispell and is a 2007 Flathead High School graduate. She was one of 14 contestants contending for Miss Montana. Kacie is a 21-year-old student at Montana State University in Bozeman. The really exhilarating news, I just have to echo this again… Kacie is from Kalispell. She will go on to represent Montana in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas in January. It will air on ABC Jan. 15.
THE MISS MONTANA
Pageant spokeswoman said Kacie won most of the categories in the preliminary competitions. It was the first time someone has swept the preliminary awards since the competition moved to Glendive in 2005. Kacie got her start in the pageant world in high school. As a junior, she won the Junior Miss program and competed at the state level. There she met the director of the Montana Junior Miss Program, who introduced her to the Miss Montana Scholarship Program. In addition to the crown, Kacie won a $5,000 scholarship and $121,000 in applied scholarships. She also won several prizes, including a silver service tea set that Mitchell Oil Field has given Miss Eastern Montana and Miss Montana for the last 28 years. Here is “The Rest of the Story” as the famous orator, Paul Harvey would say. West competed in the Miss Montana pageant in 2008. She finished as second runner-up and won preliminary talent, but it wasn’t quite the outcome she was hoping for. “I figured I wasn’t quite finished. I wanted to try it one more time, so I came back, and here we are,” she said. Proving once again; “that a quitter never wins and a winner never quits”. You are definitely a winner Kacie! Kacie will study up on the art of modeling, by attending workshops. She also will work on her music and interview skills with help from local friends. Ivanna Fritz, a debate coach at Glacier High School and vocal coach Cathy Helder. Cathy has already helped Kacie prepare for her interview and talent competitions at the state level. Kacie said she also had support from Advanced Rehabilitation Services, Qdoba Mexican Grill and local dentist Leslie Anthony. As the Miss Montana ambassador to schools, Kacie will be busy with Scholarship Program’s conferences, special events and raise money for Children’s Miracle Network and Shodair Children’s Hospital. Kacie also will deliver information about underage drinking, her Miss Montana platform. She just completed her junior year at Montana State University, where she is studying elementary education with a
science option. For two years, she has worked as a resident adviser, and has seen the effects of underage drinking firsthand. Underage drinking is a serious public health concern in Montana. Many people do not realize alcohol remains the number one drug of abuse for Montana's youth. Every year in the U.S. more than 150,000 college students develop health problem that are alcohol-related.
K
acie also will deliver information about underage drinking, her Miss Montana platform. Underage drinking is a serious public health concern in Montana. Many people do not realize alcohol remains the number one drug of abuse for Montana's youth. That was one of the major topics judges quizzed her about, Kacie said. They asked her how to prevent underage drinking on a college campus. “One of the biggest problems behind underage drinking is boredom,” she said. “[Students] get very bored and look to underage drinking as a form of alternative entertainment.” To combat the boredom and offer healthy alternatives, she has helped bring together everything from carnivals to movie nights to swing dancing lessons. Kacie plans to take the next year off from college. “It’s a fulltime job, traveling as Miss Montana; I’ll be all over the state, making appearances at different organizations,” she said. I’ll be looking for Kacie at the Northwest Montana Fair, with pen and paper in hand… waiting for an autograph. Come and join me!
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Laura Munson By Bridget Michlig Photo by Heidi Long
“I don’t love you anymore. I’m not sure I ever did.”
His words came at me like a speeding fist, like a sucker punch, yet somehow in that moment I was able to duck. And once I recovered and composed myself, I managed to say, “I don’t buy it.” Because I didn’t..
Thus
Laura Munson Those Aren't Fighting Words, Dear New York Times July 3, 2009
read the column that appeared in the New York Times. That article officially catapulted Whitefish author Laura Munson into the Big League after more than 20 years in the minors writing umpteen short stories and articles, and fourteen unpublished novels. Within hours of her column uploading to the New York Times website, the servers crashed under the great weight of comments from readers around the world. And within two days of her column's publication, Munson had herself a book deal. An overnight success two decades in the making.
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is...A Season of Unlikely Happiness (Amy Einhorn Books, published by G. P. Putnams' Sons, 2010) is the full version of Munson's article, written in real time while she navigated the challenging, sometimes desperate landscape of a marriage threatening to crumble. “...Let's try in all this not to take sides. Because how does it feel to take sides? Do we get to be right? Self-righteous? I think there's more suffering in self-righteousness than most of us are willing to fathom... I know that he's suffering. I know because I've been there. I feel his pain and I've told him so....And I know it's more helpful to practice empathy here. Not anger. Or fear. Even though his words were like sharp sleet.” Munson chose a path other than the norm. While many would gird for battle, or flee the scene entirely, she chose to stand steady, remain nonreactive, and give her husband the time and space to figure out the causes and solutions to his crisis of the soul. Instead of pain, she chose to find opportunity to create beauty and happiness moment by moment for herself and her two children. Munson explains, “We live in a culture where suffering has become our normal. We think that to be strong is to fight, and in a fight someone has to win, someone has to lose. What if we chose not to fight, not to react from negativity and fear, but rather to respond with empathy? A course of no reaction brings so much freedom. A lot of power lies in going with a situation rather against it.” Her choice was not easy, nor was it spur of the moment. She had years of practice, born of the years she spent as a writer who didn't get published.
“I've got a tremendous collection of really great rejection letters. 'Not what we need at this time.' The negative voices got really loud- after a while you start to believe rejection letters and let those voices define who you are. As my therapist told me a few years ago, basing happiness on things outside your control is insanity. You have to let go of the outcome and focus on what you can create. I made the commitment to change my relationship with pain. All that practice being rejected in publishing changed my relationship to rejection. Hearing that I was unloved wasn't that different from the rejections I got from publishers. I was well poised to navigate my husband's crisis. I was on familiar ground. I decided not to take what he was saying personally.” She continues, “I've been across the country doing book signings, and the first question people ask is how can you hear those words and NOT take it personally? How can you not react? You do it moment by moment. With my husband I tried to communicate clearly, honestly and directly. I didn't lose my temper, and there was nothing left for him to react to. The ball fell back in his court, he had to figure out what was really wrong in his life.”
And what was wrong in his life seemed to be the sorts of things that go wrong for most of us at one point or another. We get older. Businesses stagnate, stumble, fail. Outside pressure builds. We worry about bills. We wonder why we do the things we do, what it all means. Why we are here in the first place. The sorts of questions to which answers appear only when we get very still and quiet and really listen. Munson and her husband arrived here 17 years ago, to a sky thick with ash and airwaves heavy with wildfire announcements, warnings and evacuation plans. That was the first hint that her life in Montana would be vastly different than it had been in Seattle, Lake Forest, Illinois, and everywhere else she had lived. “There's something about Montana I am kind of addicted too. Montana is the only thing I've ever known that is balanced between right and left, action and rest. It's so interactive, so physical. You develop a different type of awareness when you recognize you are on the food chain. You have to stop and think: will we turn the corner and see a mountain lion or a grizzly
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bear? What will we do? Everything changes here – I don't have the feeling of being protected that I enjoyed in my hometown. It's more like being called forth. Much of what I learned here helped me get through that time. Sometimes I feel very daunted by Montana, but I challenge myself to get out in it even when I have fear or am tired. Something beautiful always happens. ”
For Munson, getting out in it often means saddling up her horse and riding through the forest that abuts her home in Whitefish. That summer, her horse heard “lots of stuff,” she says with a wry smile. She chose her confidantes carefully, paying close attention to who was likely to take sides, who would rally her to fight, resist, struggle against the situation. So her horse became her sounding board and mirror, the forest offered solace and sometimes wisdom. In turn, she brought to her children the simple joys of a Montana summer – fresh produce from her garden and her friends', ice cream, fireworks on the Fourth of July. She simply carried on, looking for moments of happiness and unlikely sources of strength. “I was miserable while I was going through it all , but you wouldn't have known it to look at me,” she says.
Little by little, her marriage regained its footing. “I took my vows very seriously – we had a quote from Rilke about being the guardians of each others' solitude.” Her husband struggled, blamed, grasped at straws seeking relief. He said unkind things, and she remained outwardly unprovoked. In his own time – four months that must have felt like an eternity – he rejoined his family. His entry back was subtle – a repaired screen door, a painted porch rail – but it was authentic. They are now happily together. In fact, he graciously and authentically supported Munson in publishing this memoir. And she is outspokenly grateful to him for that. “People want to hear the nasty, juicy bits about the marriage stuff. The book is not about that. It's about stepping into a place of empathy, climbing into other people's shoes, understanding. I write to understand, and I know that words and actions are not who a person is. People have said 'please thank your husband for being willing to be the subject.' And I do.”
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is was number 18 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Nonfiction in April of this year. So what's it like to be published, finally? “I wanted to be published, of course, but I didn't write it to get published. I just wrote what I needed to write. Remember, this was written in real time, as I was experiencing it in order to make sense of what I was experiencing. If the page says 5:00 am, it was written at five in the morning. ”
“I submitted this to my agent and she said 'You don't have a platform. We've been so close with such huge publishers before, I'm not even sending this out. Try sending it in as an essay for the Modern Love column of the NYT.' So on June 29th of 2009, I rewrote it in short form and sent it off. One hour later I received the response from Dan Jones, editor of the Modern Love column saying, 'This one I'm going to take.” It was published August 2nd. That morning my blog registered just three visitors. By the end of the day, I had 3,000.. Within 48 hours, I had a book deal. The editor asked for some back story about my father, about how we met – that's the only part that wasn't written in real time. I let go of wanting my husband to come back to me, and he did. I let go of the want to be published, and it happened. That's the real story right there.”
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Buoyed by the way her column went viral, her publisher was eager to schedule Munson's book tour. It took her from coast to coast with signings and readings. For her hometown reading at Whitefish Lake Lodge, she chose to read a passage from the Derailed chapter, one that describes in excruciating detail a fiasco of a rafting trip with her children, her mother, her husband, and a dozen-plus tourist strangers. “People here laughed at that one in a way that was different than how they laughed anywhere else. I think that's because for us up here in Montana, we've all been that coolerthan-thou jerk who knows it all about rafting, the wilderness, whatever.” “I've had very little criticism – I've tried to just be open and honest and carry compassion. The trick with memoir is that it is by nature “life according to me.” This book gave me a chance to really be there, to authentically state my truth, and to practice empathy. While the core of the story is surrender, the story is also full of me being bad at it.” And it is precisely those examples of Munson being bad at choosing nonsuffering, and yet remaining so dearly committed to it, that makes that choice to not suffer seem possible even for us unenlightened ones. In her story lies the promise that happiness – the sort marked by contentment felt at the level of the soul, the sort of which is impervious to the buffeting of daily life and the pain of being human – is possible.
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406 Woman
Art & Culture
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N
ancy Dunlop Cawdrey By Carole Pinnell
Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey was privileged to be exposed to intriguing cultures throughout her childhood. Her father, a retired career officer, was stationed in diverse countries and Nancy was immersed in their cultures. Her love of the arts later led her to study in Paris and Britain. She still enjoys traveling abroad and to the Southwest to paint on-site plein air (in the open air) studies. Upon moving to Montana 31 years ago, Nancy eventually settled in Bigfork near Flathead Lake. The sweeping vistas serve as the principal inspiration for her work.
When I first observed Nancy’s paintings, I was captivated. I feel that I am sophisticated when it comes to various techniques of painting…but Nancy’s work is incredible. The paintings are done in a variety of mediums; oil, watercolor, pastel, mixed media, acrylic and silk. The color is mixed on the surface of the painting that gives the work more immediacy and spontaneity…Nancy calls it spirited painting. Viewing Nancy’s paintings, I can see her passion for
color, texture and pattern. She is a colorist with a strong sense of design that induces a response from the viewer. Her work includes wildlife, western figure pieces, landscapes that are spectacular and vibrant florals.
Nancy’s medium of choice is silk painting. She discovered the brilliance and extemporaneity created through a Chinese technique that has been practiced for thousands of years. Through the overlaying of various media, she creates buoyant color and texture. The combination of color and fabric take this medium to a new and exciting level. Nancy’s painted silks are what distinguish her work in the Western Category. She has created a new western art genre that is fresh, diverse and revitalizing. Galleries that represent Nancy’s work are in Jackson, Cody, and Colorado Springs, Durango and Bigfork. Her work is included in invitational art shows across the West and in many private and corporate collections across the country and in Europe. A limited number of her images are available as prints from Nancy through her gallery. Fox Creek Publishing
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has published a book about her work. Sky's the Limit: The Art of Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey by Kim Hermanson, Ph.D. Sky's the Limit describes the process, the attitude and the destination of artist Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey. The representations in the book are incredibly beautiful. It is a “must purchase” for every lover of the West, young and old. Many of us buy art for emotional reasons. The picture reminds us of acquaintances or experiences we have lived . One of the principal motivators that draw us to a work of art is because it makes a connection with our own life .
Many of us buy art for emotional reasons. The picture reminds us of acquaintances or experiences we have lived. One of the principal motivators that draw us to a work of art is because it makes a connection with our own life. After saying this… Sit back with your favorite beverage and click on www.nancycawdrey. com and watch bear, bison and all things native to us in Montana. Montana's diversity is portrayed in colors and tones that are indescribable. Nancy’s work will tug at the heart of any individual who has lived or traveled in the West.
Fox Creek Studio 2230 Riverside Rd.Bigfork, MT 59911 www.nancycawdrey.com 406-755-2727
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K
risti Veseth
Love Puppy Designs – Identify Yourself Adornment for Body and Home By Carole Pinnell Photos by Sara Pinnell
Kristi Veseth designs jewelry with beads, sounds simple… conversely, when you view her art you realize that they are anything but simple. The Whitefish resident designs necklaces, earrings, lariat-style leashes, and hanging Swarovski Crystal Prisms. The hanging prisms bring sunshine and rainbows into your home. They help to balance and redirect energy. Each piece, exclusively detailed to ensure the long life of the jewelry.
V
“I have been creating jewelry since I owned an import store in Whitefish many years ago.” Kristi states, “Traveling the world, I developed an obsession with finding beads. Beads are the original art form and express many aspects of the culture and societies in which they are crafted. When strung together they create another art form and most often identify the person and their place in that society. What drives my design style is a fascination with shine and sparkle mixed with natural elements. Reflection of light and the movement of the beads as they lay on the body enhance the beauty of the creation as well as the bearer.” Kristi manages Whitefish Pottery/Stillwater Gallery and is married to Tony Veseth. The logo for Love Puppy Designs is based on their girl dog “Fredd” – Kristi believes that just like a dog needs a collar to let the world know she is well taken care of, we humans need identification and praise. Love Puppy Designs donates to the Humane Society every month. We want animals to be able to find that care. They love us unconditionally as we should each other. Do your heart good…come see Kristi’s work exclusively at Whitefish Pottery. A treasure trove of new creations along with pottery from Ben Corum featured during Gallery Night Thursday, September 2nd at Stillwater Gallery (located within Whitefish Pottery)
http://www.lovepuppydesigns.com
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The Localvore Wedding By Maggie Neal Doherty Photos by Karina Ek, Lindsay Louden and Andy Hurst
E
rin Ek and Bill Rush did not want the typical American, white dress wedding. They did not want a karaoke machine or hotel reception hall at their July 24, 2010 farmhouse wedding in the Flathead’s lower valley. Instead, they wanted their wedding to be a family and community event. A simple and traditional, old world celebration that not only honored European traditions but also highlighted local Montana growers, brewers, artisans, craftsmen, and probably the most talented of all, Erin’s mother, Melanie Cross. The quest to have each element of the wedding to be either of local sources or handmade was not their original intent but started from a request to adorn Erin’s green wedding dress with a sash. It all began with a hand-embroidered traditional Czechoslovakian wedding sash. Erin, who has lived and taught abroad for several years now and planned her Montana wedding from Istanbul, Turkey, wanted a piece of her great- grandmother’s European heritage incorporated in her wedding. Melanie, who owns Camas Creek Yarn in Kalispell, took on the project when she could not find a sash to buy. The sash is made of tea-stained silk and embroidered with an intricate pattern of flowers and fruits in jeweled toned colors of reds, purples, and greens. The design not only reflects family heritage but also Erin’s love for folk art and one special fruit to her, the pomegranate. Once the design and sewing of the sash was underway, the desire to make the reception food, wedding and bridesmaid dresses, invitations, and wedding cake was a challenge the entire family took on. While Erin and Bill finished out their teaching school year in Turkey, stateside, Melanie and her husband, Andy, took to growing, fishing, sewing or building the ingredients for the upcoming wedding. “It became fun—how can I get this from either local vendors or something I can cook or can?” said Melanie. To match the design of the wedding sash, Karina, Erin’s sister, hand carved a stamp to make the wedding invitations. Melanie’s mother collected the cutlery, all different designs and colors, from her local thrift store. Moreover, Melanie, not only embroidered the wedding sash, but also made the wedding and bridesmaid dresses. Playing host to her daughter’s 120-guest wedding, Melanie took a year to procure food from her garden or from local farmer’s to make the dinner menu. The menu features meals that
Erin grew up with and those that honor Bill’s homeland, northern England. It was also Bill’s wish to have a wedding that was back to the basics and reflected family and home. “Life’s rituals have been made too materialistic. This is more fun,” he said. In addition, since people are experiencing economic hardships, it was important for Erin and Bill to use local purveyors to support the local Flathead Valley economy. The couple met three years ago in Istanbul, where they both worked for the same school. Bill has spent half of his life in Turkey and Erin’s teaching career has taken her around the world from Mexico to Venezuela. They were engaged in Istanbul and planned their summer wedding from Europe. Before their nuptials in Montana, the couple moved to Bill’s native England. While the wedding’s food and flowers are deeply rooted in all things local, the ceremony had a very international feel. In fact, guests came from around the world to join the celebration, including friends from Turkey, England, Africa, South Korea, Germany, Scotland, Canada, and Australia. For many members of Bill’s family, this was their first visit to America. The hors devours table, before the ceremony, featured a buffet of pickled foods and artisan breads. From Melanie’s cannery, the fare consisted of her pickled beets, asparagus from her spring harvest, and her dill potato bread that took three days to make. Andy spent the previous summer and fall catching fish on Flathead River near their home and his catch, showcased in the canning process, was preserved. According to Melanie, the menu design was “very earthy.” The dinner boasted local barbecued beef and pork from a pig raised by Erin’s stepbrother for his Future Farmers of America project. The salads came from family recipes and the ingredients, like the spinach for the Apple Feta Salad, right out of Melanie’s garden. To sip on, the guests had the tough decision between beer from Lakeside’s Tamarack Brewery or Melanie’s homemade chokecherry wine, which she and Andy worked on last fall. “We dedicated a year to this wedding. It’s been fun—not a job!” exclaimed Melanie. Erin, raised in Kalispell, wanted the food to be of the tastes of where she grew up. “I’ve had my mom’s Swedish cake since I was a kid.” Moreover, the Swedish cake that Erin ate through her childhood was her wedding cake, still made by her
Erin, raised in Kalispell, wanted the food to be of the tastes of where she grew up. “I’ve had my mom’s Swedish cake since I was a kid.” Moreover, the Swedish cake that Erin ate through her childhood was her wedding cake, still made by her mother.
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mother. For Erin, “I feel lucky that, in this family, we have so many skills to call upon.” Many of the family recipes, served at the reception, are from generations ago. They are written with a conversation in mind—one in which a mother or grandmother is teaching their child how to can from the garden’s bounty, or how to bake bread—and the true taste of each recipe, written on a stained index card is from its passage through time to one family member to another. This approach to the wedding reflects an entire family’s desire to be a part of Erin and Bill’s life and creates something special and lasting. The reception went well into the night, with local bluegrass and folk band, Old Slouch Hat, providing the music. If anyone got hungry after dancing or watching the sunset over the Swan Mountains by the bonfire, a late night treat of Finnish Rice Piirakkaas, a traditional meat pasty, was served later in the evening. The wedding guests invited to spend the night, camped in the Cross’s fields. At the wedding a white dress was not worn by Erin, however, for Bill and Erin this day reflected a rich heritage of family, of food, and of friendship. A traditional, hand-sewn flower adorned sash once again, ties the entire family from Europe to Montana, together.
Family recipes from the wedding of Erin Ek and Bill Rush, July 24th 2010
“We dedicated a year to this wedding. It’s been fun—not a job!” exclaimed Melanie.
Swedish Cream Cake 1 cup eggs 1 cup sugar 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder Beat first two ingredients until frothy. Mix flour and baking powder and then add the liquid ingredients. Bake in a greased pan at 325 for 20-30 Slice cake lengthwise when cool and add whipped topping and fresh fruit
Marinated Carrots 5 cups cooked carrots 1 chopped medium onion 1 chopped small green pepper 1 can tomato soup ½ cup salad oil 1 cup sugar 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ¾ cup vinegar 1 tsp prepared mustard 1 tsp soy sauce Salt and pepper to taste Mix dressing and add to the cooked carrots. Let carrots marinate for 3-4 hours.
Finnish Rice Piirakkaa from Tastes of Country by Frances A Gillette—
served at 10pm after the wedding
Quantities will depend on how many you’re serving Cooked brown or white rice Hamburger-approximately ½ pound of ground per quart of rice. Fry til browned Onions, add chopped onions to burger and fry Mix all ingredients and add salt Make favorite pie crust, roll round, fill with mixture, dot with butter, pull up pie crust to stop and pinch together to make individual pies. Bake in moderate over until golden brown.
Quick Jalapeno Chile Jelly
Apple Feta Salad
½ cup (4-6 medium sized) seeded and chopped jalapeños 6 cup sugar 2 ½ cup cider vinegar 1 medium sized green bell pepper, chopped 6 oz liquid pectin Prepare the chiles and mince in food processor Combine sugar, vinegar, chiles and bell pepper in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in liquid pectin. Return to a full boil. Boil for exactly one minute. Remove from the heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon. Ladle liquid into sterile jars, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Cap and seal and process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Combine in 1.5 cups olive oil: 1tsp sugar, 1 clove garlic, ½ tsp oregano, 1 tbs Dijon mustard, ¼ medium onion minced, ¼ tsp. Black pepper, ¼ cup white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp parsley Melt 3 tbs butter add 1 cup of walnuts, put on a cookie sheet and roast for 15 minutes in 350 degree oven Put ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp pepper in a bag or bowl with a lid. Add roasted walnuts and shake until walnuts are covered with sugar/pepper mixture. Cut up 1 green and one red apple, cover with lemon juice to prevent discoloration, you may substitute ½ cup cranberries for apples for a sweeter dish Add dressing, walnuts, apples and half a cup of feta cheese to spinach leaves.
All the recipes are not written in the sense that one can make these without the guiding hand of a mother or grandmother or other family member. The recipes are merely notes, an aid to jog the mind of the cook who’s learned these dishes at an early age.
H
n Reso o o m y a rt WHITEFISH, MONTANA
A Unique Lodging Experience. A Little Piece of Heaven
15 Ac Beautiful Serene Setting with Pond • 8 Min From Downtown Whitefish, Kalispell & Airport Sleeps up to 65 • Sauna •Hot Tubs • Full Kitchens • Workout Room Recreation Room • Dogs Welcome • Downtown Flat in the Heart of Whitefish
(406) 862-1471 (406) 270-8771 www.haymoonresort.com
406 WOMAN
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y Once in a
while, in the iddle of an rdinary life, ove ives us a
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l g
o
fairy tale
Photo by: Thousand Words Photography
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Photo by: Thousand Words Photography
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Couple:: Lance Lehigh - Civil Engineer, works at PBS&J in Bozeman, Kelli "Mariscal" Lehigh - degree in Elementary Education, currently substituting in Bozeman/ Belgrade School Districts until I can find a teaching position. Meeting: At Montana State University - our freshman year. What is love? Love is a connection between two individuals that is built on trust, friendship and time. What do you love: Kelli on Lance - His sense of humor and the fact that he loves to cook! He is always making new recipes that never leave me disappointed! :-) Lance on Kelli - loves her kindness, smile, and that she loves football just as much as I do! We are huge fans of the Broncos and the Bobcats. When did you know it was love? It was first sight for Lance - after we met and hung out the first night together with our friends (in our dormitory), he was asking them where I lived so that he could see me again. The next day he was knocking on my door and asking for my phone number...the rest is history!
Couple: Morgan Flanders, Hair Stylist at J. Thomas Salon - Cody Wood, Automotive Transport Dispatcher both in Kalispell. Meeting: Introduced by family and family friends. What is love? It is a connection that is made between two people. It’s sitting by your side, rain or shine, happy or sad, going the extra mile, when nothing is asked of you. An uncontrollable feeling, a deep emotional connection. What do you love: Morgan: I love his personality, his big heart and smile; Cody: I am crazy about her eyes, they are sweet and sexy. She truly has the biggest heart of anyone I know. When did you know it was love? We were 5k miles away from each other... We realized how much we needed one another while apart... We have not been that far apart since.
Wedding Details Rings: Made by Debbie Meyers from Billings, MT – Buffalo Chips/D Meyers Custom Jeweler lCake: Costco - MSU cake topper made by KellilDress: David's BridallTuxes: As You Wish lFlowers: Jennifer Higby (friend of the Bride’s dad)lDJ: Eric Caldwell Sonic Pulse DJ ServicelLocation: KwaTaqNuk Resort - Best Western Polson, MTlHair and Makeup: Hair: Hair Etc. PolsonlPhotographer: Shannon and Jeremie Hollman, Thousand WordslCaterer: Catered by KwaTaqNuk Resort
Wedding Details Rings: Riddles Jewelry lCake: Kelley Wood, Mother of the GroomlDress: David's BridallTuxes: As You Wish lFlowers: Flowers By HansonlDJ: Mobile BeatlLocation: Scotty's Shooting ClublHair and Makeup: J. Thomas SalonlPhotographer: Shannon and Jeremie Hollman, Thousand WordslVideographer: Sky Focus PictureslCaterer: Fabulous FoodslBar: Scotty's BarlRental Company: Putting on the Ritz
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Photo by: A. Yourartisan Photography
Couple: Danielle Schoppe, Private Child Care Provider. Ryan Schoppe, High school Math teacher Meeting: Introduced by a mutual friend What is love? Doing the dishes together no matter who made dinner. What do you love: Danielle- He is positive and helps me calm down even in the midst of the storm. Ryan- She is manipulative in the cutest and most obvious ways. When did you know it was love? Danielle- The first time he coyly held my hand, the perfect romantic moment stereotypes is what I love about him. Ryan- I knew I was in love when I needed to talk to her everyday.
Wedding Details Cake: Carolyn at Harvest FoodslDress: J. Scott CouturelFlowers: Conrad FlorallLocation: Swan River Inn lHair: Bigfork Beauty Shop lPhotographer: Sara & Justin Pinnell, A. Yourartisan PhotographylCaterer: Myself
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Photo by: A. Yourartisan Photography
Couple: Lyndsey Quatman, works in downtown Whitefish at McGough and Co. while she finishes her Masters Degree in Interior Design. Justin Marshall is in the Army Reserves and is finishing his degree at the University of Montana. Meeting: We met in California at 24-hour fitness in the small town that we were both living in, Lyndsey was working there part time and Justin had just moved to the area as a Golf Pro and that was his new home club. What do you love? Justin - I love how funny Lyndsey is and how much fun we have together. I really love to make her laugh and smile! Lyndsey- Justin always has something funny and witty to say which usually makes me laugh, and I love that and how much fun we have together, there truly is never a dull moment! When did you know it was love? Lyndsey- I knew I was in love with Justin early on in our relationship. We went for a drive up the California coast to his hometown and the ranch where he grew up. We went to lunch at his favorite place as a kid and found out it was the same restaurant my family would go to. We talked about childhood memories we had of the very same place. Justin - I knew I was truly in love with Lyndsey, when we took our first vacation together. We visited Whitefish where her family lives; I saw this great town, and got to know her family. This was the moment I knew I wanted to spend my life with Lyndsey, and we started by leaving California and moving to Whitefish. Wedding Details Rings: McGough and Co.lCake: Traditionally SweetlDress: BCBGlFlowers: Tina Ross (a family friend)lDJ: our very own IPODlLocation:The Lodge at Whitefish Lake (in the Pavilion outside)lPhotographer: Sara & Justin Pinnell, A. Yourartisan Photography lCaterer: The Lodge at Whitefish Lake
406 WOMAN
406 Woman
Food & Flavor
p.30  
North Bay Grill By Carole Pinnell Photos by Sara Pinnell
I adore the North Bay Grill! One experiences a lift in spirit, just walking through the doors of the restaurant. The building itself is sophisticated yet warm. It is a superb restaurant in the Kalispell dining scene. This eclectic eatery serves contemporary cuisine. If you are passionate about good food, this is the place to come for an unforgettable meal.
Appetizers include; Crab Cakes, Jalapeno & Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms, Shrimp Wontons, Barbecued Pork Quesadilla, Buttermilk Popcorn Chicken, Goat Cheese Tempura, Coconut Shrimp and a great deal more.
This eclectic eatery serves contemporary cuisine. If you are passionate about good food, this is the place to come for an unforgettable meal.
EntrĂŠes such as; Stuffed Alaskan Halibut, Tuna Pepper Steak, Beer Battered Fish and Chips, Crab Stuffed Prawns, Huckleberry Lamb Chops, Slow Roasted Prime Rib, Smoked Mozzarella & Red Pepper Ravioli, Seafood and Sausage Jambalaya, Grilled Duck Breasts, Chicken Marsala make for a languid evening.
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The North Bay Grill is an excellent place to go for lunch. If you
work downtown, it is a fantastic place to walk to and reasonably priced. I recommend an entree salad or the Thai stir-fry, with more than a pound of veggies. The Baked French Onion Soup made with toasted croutons and three cheeses is unsurpassable. If you are looking for a good spot for your company party, the North Bay Grill can customize their menu for your function. They can accommodate up to 40 people. There is a full bar and a long and varied martini list. The service is exemplary
North Bay Grill 138 1st Avenue West Kalispell, MT 59901 Phone: 406-755-4441
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30-9pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am-11pm; Sun 4-9pm. bar open later
If you are looking for a good spot for your company party, the North Bay Grill can customize their menu for your function.
-- from everyone, beginning with the person who takes your reservation by phone. If you love food and wine, if you want a meal you will remember, this is the place to come.
Keep in mind: Reservations recommended Cuisine: Steaks, Seafood, Eclectic Nightly Specials:
Give them a call at 406-755-4441 for a detailed description. Give the Gift of Food: Gift Certificates from North Bay Grille Available.
“Wine Without The Attitude”
THE VALLEY’S
Largest Selection OF SPECIALTY LIQUORS
Located on Hwy 2 in Columbia Falls (Eastside of Super One)
892-5335
Owners O’Brien & Melanie Byrd
Formerly Columbia Falls Wine & Liquor
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"How to Build a Beginner Pantry, Part 3"
Local Farmers’ Markets By Kristen Ledyard from John’s Angels Catering LLC Photo by Alisia Cubberly
I hope you are having fun and exciting cooking in your new pantry. I am sure you have been keeping inventory and making certain that you are not over buying. With each season come new items that are best for that time of year. It is time to visit your local farmers’ markets to truly enhance your pantry as each season arrives. This also, gives you a chance to start off each season with a new dish for your friends and family. I know we are all guilty of looking in our closets each season and repeating that we have nothing to wear. We can’t have that happen in your pantry! It is amazing and interesting to take time to visit any farmers’ market. For instance, even if you make your own jelly, you will always find a new tip or combination to try. I often take time to learn from other Chefs so I may be inspired in my own work. Recently, I picked up a few of the wonderful products offered at the Farmers’ Market.
The list is as follows:
Baby back ribs from Farm to Market pork, Red Squirrel almonds, Montana Produce at Mountain View Gardens, Beeline Nutty Almond Honey butter, and Moose Meadow Gardens produce.
Farm to Market pork raises their own hogs and carefully feeds them only quality ingredients from local farmers. Beeline has their own bees and harvests the honey. The produce is the highest quality and truly does not use pesticides. The recipes on the almonds at Red Squirrel are all their own and incredibly tasty. Take the time to ask important questions on how to use their products and when their products are in season so you can stock up. Armed with all of these new items for your pantry, let’s cook!
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F
irst, be sure and check everything into your pantry inventory. Wash your produce and store in the proper area of your refrigerator. If you have purchased berries and vegetables to be frozen or canned, separate them for later use. We will investigate how to properly freeze and what you can freeze in the fall to winter articles. Now you can focus on tonight’s dinner. Let’s start with a simple but delicious appetizer. No one will know that you didn’t slave all day making pastry.
Baked Brie with Honey Almond Butter 1 wheel of brie 1 Pillsbury croissant dough 1 jar of Beeline’s Nutty Almond Honey butter Nonstick spray
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the croissant dough and pinch together the lines to form one solid pastry. Place the brie in the middle and spread lots of the honey butter on top. Fold the edges up and twist to make into a purse like shape. Simply tear off excess dough and place on a sprayed cookie sheet. Place on the oven for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with water crackers for best flavor.
C
an’t you taste that right now? With the appetizer completed, on to the salad course. Simply use the beautiful butter lettuce (from Moose Meadow Gardens) and cherry tomatoes (from Montana Produce at Mountain View Gardens) you purchased at the Farmers’ Market. You have already washed them properly. I prefer to tear the lettuce for a more rustic tone and drop a few whole cherry tomatoes on top. Add the Red Squirrel almonds crushed or whole for an extra pop. They will offer texture and a zip with the cinnamon. Drizzle with your champagne truffle vinaigrette recipe from the last article for the final finish. Not only are you creating a healthy meal, but a meal with the highest of flavor and quality found locally. For dinner, baby back ribs from Farm to Market Pork are on the menu. Fire up your grill for the best result. Start by taking your meat out of the refrigerator and let the chill off of the ribs. Meat cooks best when you don’t shock it at refrigerator temperature. Slather the top of the ribs with the following glaze and continue to do so as the meat cooks. Be mindful of cross contamination between cooked and uncooked meat when glazing.
Angels’ Rib Marinate or as a Glaze ¼ cup soy sauce ¼ cup teriyaki sauce 3 tbsp honey 1 tsp garlic 1/4 tsp chopped ginger or powdered Dash of sesame oil Dash of Mirin Cracked black pepper Toasted sesame seeds
Whisk all ingredients well and use as a marinate for up to 24 hours or a glaze at the time of cooking.
W
ith your dinner well on its way, you can just have the salad with the main dish or add some vegetables to the grill to complete the entrée course. Toss your vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper before adding to the grill. This prevents sticking and keeps moisture in your vegetables while seasoning. Some favorite vegetables for grilling are zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potato, eggplant, asparagus, mushrooms, and many more. Then, sit down and enjoy your cooking success. Tell your guests where their food came from and how it was raised. People are very careful and interested in the background of the food they are consuming, especially in the past few years. After enjoying your creations, simply serve some fresh fruit drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Put the balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan and let it reduce into a syrup. This is great over fruit, fish, and salads. From premade items to fresh items, your pantry is nearing completion. take time to buy new vegetables, fruits, and proteins from your local markets. You will gain knowledge about how much there is to offer right in your own back yard. Thank you for supporting your local economy.
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Wines of Argent ina
406 WOMAN
By Kaycee Mohl of Crush Wine Bar
ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT THINGS ABOUT SHOPPING FOR WINE IS THAT THERE ARE SO MANY FUN NEW OPTIONS AVAILABLE. WINE IS TREND ORIENTED, IN GENERAL, BUT STATISTICS SHOW THAT MOST PURCHASES ARE BASED OFF OF VARIETAL, PRICE, AND LABEL. UNLESS A UNIQUE LABEL OR THE RIGHT PRICE POINT CATCHES YOUR EYE, YOU MIGHT BE MISSING OUT ON SOME OF THE BEST WINES ON THE MARKET. MANY NEW COUNTRIES AND REGIONS are now producing
fine yet affordable wines, but they often come in the package of an unfamiliar varietal... which can be intimidating to the average consumer. South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina are just a few of the countries that are making a name for themselves in the industry. Pick up any wine magazine or go online and you will see that wine ratings and reviews are dominated by these countries and what they are producing.
It has recently been announced that Argentina is now the fifth largest wine producer worldwide. The country exports some of the best wine in the world...and a lot of it. Known for vigorous, unique varietals such as Malbec and Torrontes, Argentinian wines are hot in the current market.
Most of the wine produced in Argentina comes from the La Rioja, Mendoza and San Juan regions. The country boasts itself as the primary producer of a unique white grape varietal, Torrontes. The Torrontes grape is characteristically crisp and floral but balanced and light. It’s similar to a Viognier with hints of flowers, peaches, and citrus fruits that make it a perfect wine for summer. Argentina is also well known for generating some of the best Malbec in the world, primarily from the Mendoza region. These wines are fruit-forward and juicy with a spicy finish that make them quite drinkable as a glass pour. They also pair well with a variety of foods ranging from chicken wings, to Indian, Italian, and Mexican cuisine.
Tempranillo, another popular wine from the region, was originally produced in Spain. In recent years, international demand forced winemakers to rediscover the potential of this wild fruit flavored black grape varietal, it is now produced all over the world. Argentina produces most of the Tempranillo found in finer wines and also in some less expensive options. Some great Argentinian wines are available locally. Listed here are three great options that are easily found:
Don Miguel Gascon Malbec is noted as having a nose full of bright black cherry fruit. Intense flavors of plum, spice, and black cherry create a juicy finish. This wine retails at around $12.99 a bottle. The Alamos Torrontes, affordably priced around $7.99 a bottle, is light and fresh on the palate. It is crisply acidic with notes of citrus and peach fruit and is a perfect example of the Argentinian white grape previously described. The Tamari Malbec Reserva, which retails at approximately $13.99 a bottle, carries aromas of intense berries, cherry, cinnamon and plum. Hints of vanilla and an excellent balance between ripe berries and tannins are provided by French oak in this full bodied, well-structured wine.
Pick up any of these wines at either your local grocery store, wine bar or wine retail shop.
406 Woman
Home &Garden
The Gilpen-Robbin Home
By Kristen Pulsifer Photography by Judy Pettersen and Ric Ellingson of Big Fish Photography
Simply entering the historical Gilpen / Robbin home, located on 632 6th Street, in Kalispell, is an experience. Suzy Williams currently owns the home,
and Timberlake Builders completed the remodeling in the last few years. All recent work remains true to the two-story Craftsman- style architecture, of which the home is a remarkable example. The siding is wood shingle, and the windows are six-over-six wooden doublehung and multi-light fixed units. These traditional, large windows work wonderfully to let in plenty of natural light, enhancing the elegant décor of the home. George Gilpen originally built the home in 1915. The house “stresses projecting ‘rafter feet’, Japanese qualities in the temple-like entrance, and trapezoidal windows which were all favorite features of the style.” Both additions done to the house in the late sixties and seventies enhance the home’s true and original structure. Gilpen only lived in 632 6th Street for approximately one year, selling it to George Simmons in 1916. He spent only $400.00 to build this quality home. Don’t we all wish we could do that with $400.00 these days? Gilpen, having to leave town, sold it George Simmons. Simmons immediately sold it to Hector Robbin who spent a significantly longer period living in the beautiful home- he remained there until 1932. The Robbins made quite a name for themselves in the valley. They were politicians and businesspersons, and took part in the Flathead Lake cherry industry. Leon Allen took up residence from 1932-1968 and then sold it in 1978, to Leon Bibler who was responsible for starting the lavish gardens that still inhabit the home’s large lot. These gardens hold every kind of flower from colorful Poppies to bulbous Peonies, and luscious fruit bearing trees. The gorgeous fountain that Suzy’s gardeners have up and running again burbles tranquil river sounds from its spouts. This home holds a plethora of family histories in its walls. Moose
Miller, who started Moose’s Saloon in Kalispell, also owned it. If you have not indulged in Moose’s pizza… you must! Miller’s daughter was a wonderful artist, and painted several rooms in the house. I wish this home’s walls could talk to portray a much more interesting and knowledgeable history of this iconic house, than I ever could. The current owner, Suzy Williams, has done a magnificent job remodeling and updating the home while also staying true to its original character. The new mantle and lovely built in cabinets added to the living room of the home, append to the home’s Craftsman- style architecture while giving it a sense of what is current. Her furnishings are stylish yet still appeal to the home’s demand for past elegance. Carol Nelson design worked with Suzy to put together this home’s elegant furnishings, and Judy Patterson Interior Outfitters put her own experienced touch to the home’s décor with her beautiful drapes and other additions. As you walk through the house and into the kitchen, you can see the one place where Suzy and her builders stepped into a more contemporary realm. The granite counter tops have a bit of sparkle, that I am sure Gilpen would not have had the option to use when building in 1915. The kitchen is indeed lovely and the cabinets and choice of décor bring in a classy yet comfortable feel. The staircase and railing went through some significant change. Suzy had standard height railings put in and the undersized railings, removed. Suzy made sure to keep several original accents that truly keep this home historic. For example, when I reached the top if the stairs and peered into one of the contented yet elegant bedrooms, the first thing I noticed was a beautiful hand-painted chandelier. Blue Hydrangeas painted onto the yellowish glass giving the light a lovely effect. Suzy said that this light has been a cherished item through several of the owners. With all of the charming décor of the house, and the exquisite furnishings, my favorite part of the house proved to be its current owner Suzy Williams. Suzy bought 632 6th Street after her husband passed away, and took it upon herself to create a home where she would truly feel comfortable. All if Suzy’s interests and past life
experiences show up at various spots throughout the house. For example, Suzy lived in Japan for some time when she was young, as her father was in the army and stationed there. The oriental screens, done by Howard and Maureen Jacobson, from Kalispell, hung throughout the home, represent her passion for that portion of her life. Suzy has also lived in other interesting places such as; New York, Chicago and Florida, but ultimately has ended up quite at home in Kalispell. When asked what brought her here, she responded: “I had a friend that lived here and absolutely hated it! So, my husband Paul and I came out to visit and find out more about what there was to hate.” Well, quite the contrary happened, and after their visit, they practically never left. Paul and Suzy fell in love with Montana and the people inhabiting this infectious state. She does not see much of that friend anymore, for any other reason than they just do different things. Suzy
seems to be quite busy on her own working on things like her home, her family and her involvement with the Conrad Mansion Board in Kalispell. Her beautiful Golden Retriever, Molly, is a good company and keeps her busy. They seem to have quite the friendship. I could have hung around Suzy’s home all afternoon drinking up all the renovations to the home and its history, and more importantly just talking to an interesting and extremely intelligent woman. Suzy’s devotion to her historic home, and everything else that she spoke of was admirable. I hope I have a chance to chat with her, again. Suzy Williams and her wonderful choice of decorators and builders did a fabulous job with this monumental home. When driving through Kalispell, it is worth a turn down 6th Street to gaze at the home and its extraordinary garden.
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Student Built House Program
By Carole Pinnell Photos by Sara Pinnell
What is a Student Built House (SBH)? Student Built houses are the result of a program partnership between Flathead Valley Community College, Flathead Building Association, and Glacier High School. A devoted group of volunteers and staff meet once a month as the SBH Committee (and have for 14 years) to work out the details such as; agreements and finances of each SBH. They deserve full recognition. On the committee are the following wonderful folks that have given a lot of their time, talent and resources to make this program a success:
Brad Reedstrom, SBH Chair, Bigfork Builders, Inc.lAndy Fischer, Bigfork Builders, Inc.lDebbie Hendrickson, Carol Nelson Design lRandy and Wanda Hinzman, Distinctive Countertops & CabinetrylBarb Funk, Windermere Real Estate lJason Hatten , Datum Drafting DesignlPat Smith, NAHB Green VerifierlAndrew Sliter, Sliter’s Ace Lumber and Building SupplylRoss Holter, Flathead Electric Co-oplGreg Waldrop, FVCC SBH InstructorlPatti Gregerson, FBA Executive DirectorlLayah Cottonwood, SBH CoordinatorlSusan Williams, Rocky Mountain Bank
Flathead Building Association Student Built House Program - House #14 - 149 Looking Glass Ave. Kalispell MLS # 296443
Homebuyers of Student Built Houses
walk into their new homes with huge equity. This is due to the large donations of top quality materials and services by local businesses and subcontractors including the labor of SBH FVCC Instructor, Greg Waldrop and the students. Businesses that donated in large ways to SBH #14 at 149 Looking Glass Ave. in Kalispell include: Jim Casto, Logix Insulated Concrete Forms, A2Z Engineering, Bigfork Builders, Inc., Carol Nelson Design, Datum Drafting Design, Distinctive Countertops, Interstate Alarm, LaSalle Lighting, Montana Rockworks, Mutual Materials, NW Pipe and Supply, Ray-Gone, LLC, Rocky Mountain Tile, Rocky Mountain Bank, Vann’s, West Masonry, and Windermere Real Estate. Flathead Electric Co-op gives SBH a generous annual grant to further this program.
Who is eligible to be a student in the Student Build House Program?
Greg Waldrop SBH FVCC Instructor states “People of all ability levels junior/senior’s in
high school or students enrolled at FVCC are eligible for enrollment in the program. They will learn the fundamentals of how to build a single family residential house from the ground up. Class is 3 hours a day 5 days a week. They work through all types of weather including rain, sunshine, wind, hail, snow and sleet. The SBH Program prepares students to go into the construction and educates them in the “how to” of home building. ” This program involves the students in the academic community, as well as the trades and business community.
SBH #14 at 149 Looking Glass Ave. in Kalispell is in the final stages of NAHB Green Verification, is in the top ten in the state of Montana in Blower Door testing according to Paul Tschida (we have a 1.72 rating, the average is 4) and is a stable ICF Construction that is for sale at this time in Mountain Vista Estates. For more information about the SBH program or to find out about how to purchase the home please go the FBA website at www.buildingflathead.com
Flathead Building Association SBH 21 West Reserve Drive Kalispell, MT 59901 (406)752-2422 FAX (406)752-5122 www.buildingflathead.com
T
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he harvest is the gardener’s payoff after a season of hard work. It’s important to know when to pick each vegetable at its peak because every vegetable has its own schedule. Some are best used when just ripe and eaten immediately, while others can chill out for awhile until you’re ready to bring them in for the winter. Here are a few tips on when they’re ready: Tomatoes – Without question, tomatoes are best when they fully ripen on the vine. The plant spends weeks sending sugar and nutrients to the fruit, and it makes a big difference when it comes to flavor. Of course, they’ll turn red if harvested prematurely, but whenever possible, leave them on the plant until they’re ready to be used. With that said, since tomatoes are precious commodities for gardeners in northern regions don’t waste the green ones at the end of the season. If a hard freeze – lower than 31 degrees – is in the forecast, pick everything that is full size, even if it’s completely green. Store them in single layers in cardboard boxes in a garage or basement, and use them as they turn red. Check regularly to remove any with bruises or rotted spots to avoid spoiling the entire box. The flavor isn’t as perfect as straight out of the garden, but it’s still superior to store bought produce.
Peppers – Most people are used to eating immature green, sweet peppers, but for optimum taste, let them turn red. They’re far less bitter with more complex flavors. Cut the stem with a knife to avoid breaking the plant. Corn – A good indicator of ripeness is when
the silk on the end is brown and dry, although you must feel the entire length of the ear to know whether the kernels are fully developed. Avoid peeling back the husk because it’s an open invitation for insects to eat the corn before you do. Quickly snap off the ear in a single motion. Don’t twist it or yank it off.
One of the absolute delights of summer is sweet corn that goes directly from the plant to the pot of boiling water. A minimum amount of time between the two events prevents the sugars from breaking down or the corn from becoming tough. If you do have to store it, keep it in its husk in the refrigerator, and shuck it before cooking.
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Potatoes – Potatoes are great because
you can eat them throughout the summer, or wait until the end of the season. If a handful is needed for dinner, dig in at the base of the plant to pull out new potatoes. The skins are thin so these are best used immediately. To harvest for long term storage, wait until the plant dies - usually after the first frost. With a garden fork carefully unearth the spuds. If you accidently pierce or cut a potato, use it right away. Brush off the dirt, but don’t wash the potatoes. Spread them out on a garage floor or other protected space to allow the skins to cure for a couple of days. Store them in a cool, dark place. If they sprout before use, simply break off the fragile shoots. Check regularly and toss out any rotten potatoes.
Onions – Like potatoes, onions can be
used throughout the summer. The rest can be dug and stored once the tops die. Pull or dig them out of the ground, brush off the soil and allow them to cure for 3 to 4 days in a shelter. Store them in a cool, dry place in onions bags or crates that allow plenty of air circulation.
Carrots – The longer the carrots stay in the ground, the better they taste because the sugar concentrates in the roots as the days shorten. As soon as they’re large enough (roughly the diameter of a pencil) you can pull and use them in salads and stir fries, but there’s no need to be in a hurry to dig the remaining patch. As a matter of fact, if they’re insulated sufficiently, such as with a foot or deeper layer of straw or leaves, they can stay in the ground throughout the winter. Over-wintered carrots are a sugary
treat in the spring. If you bring them inside, store them in sand or sawdust in buckets or a trash barrel in a cool area of the home.
Winter Squash – It takes a long, hot season to ripen many varieties of winter squash, but the effort is well worth it for these sweet, versatile vegetables that store well into the winter. Although they can stay on the vine late into the fall, it’s important to harvest them before a hard frost. Winter squash is typically ready to harvest when a fingernail doesn’t easily pierce the squash’s skin. Cut, don’t break, them off of the vine, and try to leave a couple inches of stem. Avoid bruising or cutting the rind; use damaged ones first. Store winter squash in an area around fifty-degrees with moderate humidity to keep them usable up to 6 months.
Bringing in the harvest is one of those joys only a gardener can experience. There’s nothing like heading to the basement or garage to pull out carrots, potatoes and onions for dinner knowing they came from a summer of satisfying work. By AMY GRISAK
406 Woman
People & Places
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406 Man
Michael J. Gwiazdon
is the President of the Sportsman & Ski Haus. A strong work ethic and retail savvy were part of the driving force that brought him where he is today. Doing business since 1968, the Sportsman is now an employee owned sporting goods store with locations in Kalispell and Whitefish, Montana.
By Carole Pinnell Photo by Sara Pinnell
On the road to Montana . . .
When I was in high school in 1959, my mom worked in a restaurant in Minnesota. Two men who dined there owned a fine restaurant in Montana . . . in Glacier Park's Many Glacier Hotel. Thinking it would be a good opportunity for me, Mom talked to them about my working there in the summer. They offered me a job, before I knew it; I was on a train bound for the wilds of Montana!
A strong work ethic is born . . .
My new job in the Many Glacier kitchen was "The Dish Washer". I soon became the chosen son of Mrs. Rodde, the monarch of the kitchen. I wowed her by scrubbing the blackened pans so well they became gleaming silver. My hard work paid off and she promoted me to the position of dining floor bus boy. Shortly after that I was promoted again to waiter with all the benefits. The third year I became a bellhop which was the top job.
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Romance in the park . . .
Nancy, my first wife, and I met when I was working at Many Glacier. She worked in East Glacier and we attended the University of Minnesota. Nancy became a part of the Summer Play House in Whitefish. Shortly after my career at Many Glacier Hotel came to a close we were married in Goodhue, Minnesota. Nancy and I had two children, daughters Millie and Courtney. Millie and her husband Gardner have two children, Bodie and Merritt. Courtney and her husband Matt have two children, Ella and Mia.
Path to the Sportsman & Ski Haus . . .
After leaving the Many Glacier Hotel restaurant I worked several places before starting with the Sportsman Ski Haus including the Viking Lodge, Markus Grocery, I traveled and narrated Jim Rice's ski films, and the Columbia Falls aluminum plant. From there I went to work at the Ski Shop on Big Mountain. I started in the ski rental department in 1967, and that same year I became manager of the department. Throughout the five years I was with the Big Mountain Ski Shop I expanded my responsibilities and learned everything I could. Towards the end of my five years at the Big Mountain, Mel James and Don Burks talked to me about managing their ski shop at the Sportsman & Ski Haus in Kalispell. I went to work for them in 1973, and became a partner in 1981. The Sportsman evolved from a surplus store to sporting/recreational with a fashion emphasis. In the early 70's, we were the first ones to bring
Nike and Adidas running shoes into the valley. Up until then the only running shoes available locally were Keds. We introduced many other trends including Polo shirts, metal, and then fiberglass skis and boots.
Employee owned Sportsman . . .
Eleven years ago, Sportsman became an ESOP company, which means it is employee owned. Our store is one of the best in the country because we train our staff thoroughly in sales and customer service. Our highest priority as a company is customer service. We pride ourselves in maintaining a staff of experienced and knowledgeable people. Our commitment to our community is something we take very seriously and is always a consideration throughout our business. Whether it is utilizing local vendors and business services, hosting the annual WINGS Cancer Support Donation Drive or helping with local causes, we do our best to give back to the community that we all share. Our staff is excellent at organizing major events so promotions are done in the best possible way. When we recently hosted the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, they said it was the best, most successful promotion they have ever had. Employees stay here long term. Many of our employees have been with us for well over fifteen years. If they work a minimum of 32 hours a week, they become part owners. They do not purchase the stock . . . they obtain it by working, proving once again that a good work ethic pays off! Sportsman & Ski Haus Hutton Ranch Plaza 145 Hutton Ranch Road Kalispell, MT 59901 PHONE: (406)755-6484 FAX: (406)758-7425 Sportsman & Ski Haus Mountain Mall Highway 93 South Whitefish, MT 59937 PHONE: (406)862-3111 FAX: (406)862-4216 Email us: contact@sportsmanskihaus.com
Expansion of Sportsman & Ski Haus . . .
When we built our new store, we went from 23,000 to 55,000 square feet. I was a little apprehensive . . . it was a huge step. The main contractor that we worked with said he had never worked with anyone as relaxed and peaceful as I was. I am a firm believer in giving everything over to Jesus Christ. Nine years ago, a good friend of mine was dying. I was always a believer but as I watched him and his steadfast faith, it changed my life. An acquaintance I have who is in real estate asked how I lucked out to have a career in a business that is still doing well in this sluggish economy. I told him, "I have always been lucky by being in the right place at the right time, working hard, and I turn everything over to God." Because the Sportsman is unique and has a diverse selection of different products, our sales and profitability have grown. Our two stores are only 10 minutes apart . . . but they both continue to do exceptional business.
In the Present Day . . .
I have made my home and raised my family in Whitefish for the past 44 years. My wife, Linda, and I have been married for 23 years. We have a wonder child, Matt, who attends Whitman College. I also have a stepson, Koan Mercer, who with his wife Staci has a new son, Roke. Koan is a public defender in Missoula. I have a great career, get to travel, ski and golf, and share my good fortune with other people and causes.
I am truly blessed!
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lacier County’s Queen Bee
By Maggie Neal Doherty Photos By Glacier County Honey Company
Courtney Stone Fullerton and her husband Greg experienced a whole new meaning of the word honeymoon . But what can you expect when you're the co-owners of Glacier County Honey Company? The pair spent the better part of the summer after their July 2009 wedding extracting 125,000 pounds of honey from their hives.
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n the span of one summer, Courtney got married, launched Glacier County Honey Company, built a warehouse, and opened her own law practice in Cut Bank. She just may be as busy as the bees she and her husband keep on the eastern flanks of Glacier National Park. Courtney, 30, was raised in Virginia and with her family, began visiting Glacier in 1989. Courtney’s family, the Stones, have been summering in Glacier ever since their first visit. When Courtney was 18 she spent a summer working in St. Mary’s but she never imagined, 11 years later, she’d call Babb home or marry the local beekeeper. Courtney was introduced to her future husband Greg, who’s now 26, in the summer of 2007. Courtney had moved to Montana full-time after graduating from Appalachian School of Law in 2007. It wasn’t until an ice fishing excursion on Duck Lake that Courtney and Greg began dating. Their relationship turned serious in July of 2008 and they were engaged by the winter. With Greg residing in his hometown of Babb and Courtney practicing law in Missoula, they had to determine who would move where. “It would have been absurd to move 1,000 beehives to Missoula. So I came to Babb,” said Courtney. For both Courtney and Greg, family has played an important role in their lives and business. Courtney and her family’s relationship with Glacier go well beyond hiking and summer jobs. Tragically in 2004, Courtney’s youngest brother, Howard died. To honor Howard, the Stone family purchased the remnants of the old Bar X 6 ranch on Duck Lake near Babb. They named the property Hillhouse for Howard’s middle name. None of the Stones knew that their old ranch with its pond, Gretchen’s Mirror, and panorama views of the high peaks of Glacier would not only be a testament of Howard’s life but also restructure their entire family. Her brother Sanford is currently studying for the Montana bar exam and is planning to partner with Courtney. At the start of this summer, Courtney’s parents sold their Virginia farm house and retired to Whitefish. Greg is a second generation beekeeper—his father founded and operates Chief Mountain Honey Company, also of Babb. Once Greg and Courtney were engaged they too wanted to start their own beekeeping
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business that also specialized in pollination and beeswax products. Glacier County Honey Company not only reflects the area in which the bees and Fullertons call home, but they also have 38 bee yards spread throughout Glacier County. Glacier County Honey Company is a small bee operation with 1,000 hives. The bees in each yard have a two to three mile range and have an incredible food source—the stunning wildflowers of Glacier and surrounding areas. For Courtney, “Beekeeping is important work. The honeybee is the backbone of agriculture.” Thanks to the abundant wildflowers the bees visit, their bees produce honey that is light and clear, and this lack of color makes it highly desirable. The United States Department of Agriculture grades honey on seven colors scales, reflecting the honey’s purity, and Glacier County Honey Company has consistently been awarded the highest designation, water-white. Glacier County Honey Company does not add or remove anything but the beeswax from their honey. “We take enormous pride in our honey, but it’s the bees and the flower sources that take the credit,” Courtney declared. With their one year anniversary highlighting this summer, they are also in the construction process once again, building a second and much larger warehouse to hold their honey house, wood shop, barreling room, extracting room and warming room for their honey operations. Currently, Courtney makes her beeswax products, including candles and Christmas ornaments in her kitchen. “We have the luxury of still having every finger in every part of this business,” she noted. The pollination aspect of Glacier County Honey Company sends Greg each winter to northern California for four months. The bees get a reprieve from the harsh Montana winter and spend the season pollinating almond groves. While Greg joined the bees in California from January to April, Courtney stayed in Babb. She couldn’t leave behind her law practice or their Hillhouse property for the winter months. She also had to maintain the retail and marketing aspects of their new business. “I heard of too many cautionary tales of a winter in Babb, so I kept myself busy,” she said. She designed the company’s website, wrote the content, tested her beeswax products, and launched the Glacier County
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lacier County’s Queen Bee , continued .
Honey Company blog. With her undergraduate degree in English and also an aspiring writer, her blog not only served to highlight the business and life at Hillhouse—including visiting grizzly bears in her front yard –but was also a way for Courtney to stay in touch with her family and friends while she spent four months of her first year of marriage away from her husband. “It was a way to let everyone know I was OK”. The blog not only showcases the business’s new adventures, including updates on the progress, or at times the lack of, on the new warehouse, but also shares rich and heartfelt stories of the couple and also of their family and friends and their relationship to Glacier. It is the Fullertons desire to have all aspects of the company reflect the area in which they live. As a young couple building their Montana business, the Fullertons
said they feel like they can be as successful as they want. “We have nothing but youth and energy on our side,” states Courtney. But with their youthfulness and deep love for the landscape and the bees, the two are quite busy with managing all aspects of Glacier County Honey Company. In between managing the financial aspects of the business, checking in on the queen bees in each colony, and meeting with clients as far away as 110 miles to Shelby, Montana, the couple does try to find time to hike in Glacier and entertain visiting friends and family. When asked of Courtney’s journey from southwest Virginia to her current position as the true queen bee of Glacier County Honey Company, she remarks, “I could have been a successful lawyer in Missoula, and I could have been happy as a ski bum in Whitefish, but I am deeply satisfied as a beekeeper’s wife in Babb.”
Glacier County Honey Company sells its honey in one, three and five-pound containers that have a unique flip top, vacuum seal that makes for no sticky honey mess on the bottle or on the kitchen counter. They also offer honey wholesale in 55 gallon drums. Honey extraction takes place mid-June through September. Close to 125,000 pounds of honey are extracted from their bees each year. Glacier County Honey Company website: www. glaciercountyhoney.com Or call, 406-544-2818 To follow Courtney’s blog on Glacier County Honey Company: http://glaciercountyhoney. wordpress.com/ You can also stay updated on the bees, the progress of the warehouse, and the upcoming honey extraction by following Glacier County Honey Company on both Twitter and Facebook.
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fter 81 Years…
Joe Cosley’s Back in Town! By Dave Renfrow
The first year-long public exhibit in The Vault at Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls, opened in July. This year’s display, Cosley’s Return, is an official Glacier National Park Centennial Event. The Vault at Glacier Discovery Square has become a handsome display venue. Joe Cosley’s original art and artifacts, along with early park photographs will be on display until Summer 2011. The local non-profit, First Best Place, partnered with the Northwest Montana Historic Society and The Museum at Central School in Kalispell along with dozens of volunteers to complete the exhibit.
ABOUT JOE COSLEY:
Joseph C. Cosley (1870-1943) was a well-known French Canadian and Métis’ trapper, mountain man, artist, decorated WWI veteran, romantic, endurance athlete, regional celebrity and park ranger who frequented Columbia Falls in its robust infancy. Cosley often played cards with Charlie Russell at the famous Gaylord Hotel on Nucleus Avenue and would entertain locals and tourists with stories and sketches of the high country. He routinely ran on foot as many as 30 miles daily, sometimes more, along his trapline in the Belly River area, or to attend a dance at a distant community in Montana or Alberta, B.C. Columbia Falls, as an exciting point of embarkation where extraordinary people gathered, welcomed Cosley’s appearances from about 1889 until his famous escape run in 1929. The Columbia Falls newspaper, the Columbian, April 7, 1910, heralded Cosley’s summer arrival:
“JOE COSLEY’S IN TOWN”
“…ARRIVED IN TOWN MONDAY MORNING TO GREET OLD FRIENDS. HE RELATES SOME HARROWING EXPERIENCES WHILE CROSSING THE MAIN RANGE.”
The 1910 boundaries designating Glacier Country as a National Park remained blurred in the eyes of early settlers who hunted and trapped the area. Many did not immediately stop the practice. Old habits die hard especially when subsistence living was the norm. Cosley’s notoriety came because he had signed-on as one of the first park rangers, dedicated to upholding the new laws of a National Park. After 20 years of legal trapping in the region, Cosley continued to supplement his meager wages as a ranger with what he knew; trapping… at times illegally.
In recounting Cosley stories, Columbia Falls’ revered native daughter and trusted historian Dorothy Brading fiercely defended Joe as a good person; intelligent and thoughtful, entertaining but quiet-spoken. Brading’s greater point was that times changed around Cosley. Cosley did not become a bad person; his world changed. In her eyes he was not a criminal in the societal sense, but a friend who did not adapt to change.
Cosley’s life story is often now told under the amplification and emphasis of his arrest for trapping; similarly to the memory we keep of any modern day notables when their indiscretions become known. The tags read Joe Cosley: MOUNTAIN MAN, RANGER, POET, ARTIST, ATHLETE, WAR HERO, ENTERTAINER, ROMANTIC, AND OUTLAW. The arrest and his remarkable snowshoe escape from Lake McDonald across Ahern Pass to the Belly River and Canada, to some, speak loudest. However, no life is
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one-dimensional. Cosley trapped after the law changed. And his camp was notoriously messy. There were blemishes among the more polished facets of a truly extraordinary person. When his captor Joe Heim phoned a Canadian Waterton Lakes National Park ranger to ask if he could bring Cosley out through Waterton, the answer was, “Yes, and when you step foot over the borderline, I’ll arrest you for kidnapping”. Our southern Alberta neighbors still hold high regard for Cosley.
Similar to our culture, in 1929 when he was arrested, there was mistrust and friction between local residents and law enforcement vs. Federal authority. The Flathead County Sheriff, with a thumb to the eye of National Park authorities, allowed Cosley to escape by turning him loose to his friend, Charlie Howe. Howe was a popular Lake McDonald entrepreneur and businessman. Howe and Cosley are among those depicted in the east-facing mural in uptown Columbia Falls. AMONG THE COSLEY ARTIFACTS ON DISPLAY IN THE VAULT AT GLACIER DISCOVERY SQUARE:
Cosley sketches of bronc-busting men and women . Cosley’s saddle from his famous horse crash over the cliffs of Ahern Pass J C Cosley engraved and carved pearl handled 32 caliber Winchester revolver Cosley Traps Pelts Cosley original Post Cards Tree carvings from Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park Sculptor Dale Smith of Cardston , Alberta created a bronze of Cosley running on snowshoes depicting his great escape Display partners include: Glacier National Park, the Whyte Museum of the Rockies in Banff, Alberta, Canada, Causley (Cosley) family members, Hockaday Center for the Arts, Cosley biographer Brian McClung and his wife Marie, donors and loaners from JJ Ranch near Mountain View, Alberta and Granite Ranch near Cardston, NaVeda Lewis of Littlerock Arkansas, and from Columbia Falls, Badrock Ranch, Chris Peterson, Station 8, and the family of Leon Lennon.
Display viewing hours are M, W, F - 10AM – 2PM, open during Thursday Farmer’s Markets, open during special events. Glacier Discovery Square is located at 540 Nucleus Ave., Columbia Falls. For more information: www.firstbestplace.org
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irst Best Place
By Krista Conger
Mouthwatering and musical Farmer’s Markets. Fun-filled whitewater races. Jaw-dropping art and photography exhibits. Outdoor-focused lectures and classes. Sounds just like…Columbia Falls? If you're surprised, you're not alone.
In the sibling trifecta that makes up the northern end of the Flathead Valley, Columbia Falls has long been viewed as the sleepy sister of Whitefish and Kalispell. Home to the Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant and Plum Creek Timber Company, its residents have often prided themselves in being more blue collar than blue blood, more down home than uptown, and more laid back than uptight. What many of them may not have known, until recently, was this sense of quiet selfconfidence springs from deep roots. “Columbia Falls is the oldest living community in the Flathead Valley,” said Dave Renfrow, the chairman of the board of the First Best Place. “Our history goes much deeper than the industrial foundation that many people associate with Columbia Falls. People living here are right to be proud of their community and their heritage.” In fact, Columbia Falls was established in 1891, six months before the town of Kalispell was christened. (Demersville, Kalispell’s predecessor ceased to exist in about 1892 after many residents and businesses literally picked up shop — buildings and all — and moved north to Kalispell.) There’s no denying that the First Best Place moniker — a riff on the well-known tagline that refers to Montana as the Last Best Place — is a gentle poke at the city’s larger neighbors. But the organization itself has serious plans to improve the quality of life for people living in and around Columbia Falls and to promote the town’s connection to Glacier National Park, the Flathead River and the Flathead National Forest. “We really are the Gateway to Glacier, and have been since the beginning,” said First Best Place board member and local business owner Hilary Hutcheson, “We don't have to change this town to make it incredible, it already is. By highlighting what we love about the place, we make it better for folks who live here, and that makes it a great place to visit as a bonus.” Hutcheson’s public relations company, Outside Media, serves adventurers who work and play outdoors. Clients include global outdoor sports brands Salomon, Suunto, Easton Mountain Products, KT Tape, Ellington Handbags and Klymit, as well as Montana-based brands Outdoor DNA, Talus Outdoor Tech, Montana Fly Company, Bluebird Guides and Glacier Raft Company. Hutcheson is one of many former residents who’ve returned to Columbia Falls after an extended, career-building absence out of state to find her hometown buzzing. The creation of a community gathering place, a health education center, an upgraded library, a revitalized trail system and even the restoration of the now-
defunct Old Red Bridge downstream of the current Highway 2 river crossing, are in the works — all thanks to a group of dedicated, highenergy volunteers hailing from around Flathead Valley. “Our volunteers are absolutely phenomenal,” said First Best Place board member Jane Ratzlaff. Ratzlaff is also the executive director of the non-profit Glacier National Park Fund. “With their help, we’ve been able to create strong ties with Glacier National Park, North Valley Hospital, Flathead Valley Community College, the
Boys and Girls Club, School District 6 and others.” Indeed partnerships have been a major piece of the success of First Best Place. By combining forces with groups ranging from the US Forest Service, National Park Service, local history museums, and many others, First Best Place has been able to break through barriers that may have held back individuals or small groups in the past.
There’s no denying that the First Best Place moniker — a riff on the wellknown tagline that refers to Montana as the Last Best Place —
Another solid partnership is with Flathead Valley Community College to bring college programming to Columbia Falls. Some of these relationships have also involved funding. For example, North Valley Hospital recently committed $150,000 to the Glacier Discovery Square project to help develop the Health Education Center there. Glacier Discovery Square is the organization's headquarters. It's a formerly abandoned bank building in the town's center, and currently hosts a wide range of community and youth education programs--a central part of First Best Place's current and long-term plans. In 2009, its first year of programming, 12,000 people used the Square. By the end of this year, organizers forecast
20,000 people will participate in activities there. Currently, the Square is home to a wide range of programs for children and teens who gather weekly to perform theater, learn history, play Guitar Hero and shuffleboard, and just hang out in a safe and positive atmosphere. North Valley Music School offers piano, guitar, voice and violin lessons, and the Flathead County Library hosts regular programs and movie nights for children and adults. What’s more, the Girl Scouts, the local chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society, the newly formed Flathead Beekeepers Club (so cool!) and the local Business-to-Business group also meet at the Square. The Square hosts more Glacier National Park Centennial Celebration events than any other venue in Montana. It is the home base for long-standing events like Heritage Days and Night of Lights. This fall, First Best Place is hatching plans to launch a project that will create a training ground for Columbia Falls High School students to gain real-world experience in running a small business. Is it all making your head spin? Many people say so. But no one has ever accused the First Best Place of aiming too low. “We like to think of ourselves as the Department of Doing,” said Renfrow. “Our volunteers are our Do-ers, and we’re committed to making things happen.” Local resident and Farmer’s Market Do-er extraordinaire, Cindy Shaw agrees. As another small business owner (she throws, fires and glazes her own pottery) she has a long history with the town and is familiar with the complex dynamic in a community where dramatic new population growth means new voices joining long-time residents. “The First Best Place offers a muchneeded gathering space for educational presentations and potentially contentious community dialog,” said Shaw. "Dialog that brings together foresters and recreationalists, wolf-lovers and wolf-hunters, those who want to pave the North Fork road and those who don’t. I’ve been so impressed with the respect these groups have shown each other even as they agree to disagree,” said Shaw. “People who live here share a common connection and a love of the outdoors, that allows us to transcend some of the traditional confrontational attitudes.”
Education. Trails. Health improvement. Historic restoration. Community bonding. What’s not to love? If you’d like to learn more about what the First Best Place is up to, visit their website at www.firstbestplace.org, check out their Facebook page or even follow them on Twitter (@firstbestplace). You know you want to. “ After all,” says Renfrow. “We *are* the best community in the Valley.” Sibling rivalry, anyone?
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UM’S OPEN HOUSE EVENT JUNE 18, 2010 Photos by Sara Pinnell: A. Yourartisan
On a perfect evening in June, Mum’s Flowers hosted a memorable summer kick-off party and open house event, introducing Cara Finch as the new owner. The wellattended party was hosted under a beautifully decorated tent rented from Celebrate Event & Party Rentals outside Mum’s store in Whitefish, where partygoers were served wine and beer provided by Crush Wine Bar and uniquely elaborate appetizers created by Gayleen of Fabulous Food.
Hundreds of local business owners, customers, family and friends moved between the flower shop and tent, enjoying acoustic music by Fernie band Ben Hur and the scent of fresh flowers while donning costume accessories at the outdoor photo booth. Attendees included local business men and women such as Chelsi Blackwell of 57 Boutique, Sean Averill and Fabienne Averill of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, Tami Yunk and Melissa Berdimurat from the Village Shop, Dawn Blair of Third Street Market, Ann and Franco Guerri of Renaissance West, Gabrielle Cahoon from Exhale Pilates Studio, Kaycee Mohl of Crush Wine Bar, Jordan and Travis Taylor
The party, designed and organized by new owner Cara, perfectly exemplified the entrepreneur’s elegant but modern style, which she carries into the business as a compliment to the legacy left by previous ownership. It was a great mix of former and future customers and an opportunity for the community to see the subtle changes that Mum’s has undergone during the recent transition of ownership. Mum's Flowers is located at 711 Spokane Ave. and operates Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm., Saturdays 10:00am to 2:00pm. (406) 862-2757. www.mumsflowers.net
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indful Living By Lee Anne Byrne, LCSW
Would you like a simple, powerful, free, always accessible, always socially acceptable way to clear your mind, ease your emotions and relax your body? Does it sound too good to be true? It is true! Simply breathe mindfully. Consider for a moment that breath is the most essential life giving resource we have. We can live only minutes without it. On the other hand we can go days without water and quite a lot longer without food. When we stop to contemplate how powerful breathing is to sustaining life, we have a glimpse into why it is such a powerful tool when we use it mindfully – that is deliberately, in the present moment, with focus. Ordinarily we breathe without giving any thought to it at all. In this automatic process, our lives are sustained. When we turn our deliberate attention to the breath – mindfulness – our lives are enhanced. We have all been told this most of our lives, even though we often forget it. How often have we heard or said, “Take a deep breath” at a challenging moment? At times of stress, fear, worry, concentration, effort, suspense, even excitement, it is common that our breathing becomes shallow or that we hold it. Just when we could use full oxygenation the most, we cut it. It is one of those many ironies of being human. Imagine for a moment a baby breathing. What do you notice? Now, imagine someone in a movie nervously, creeping down a hallway. What do you notice? When babies breathe, their little bellies move a LOT. The nervous person creeping down the hall is likely holding their breath or breathing in their chest. This is the first tip on mindful breathing: Notice where you ordinarily breathe in your body. This is easily done by placing one hand on your chest and the other on your solar plexus (that area above the belly and below your chest), breathe normally and notice which hand moves the most or if they move the same amount.
I’ve been taught different things about which is the best: to breathe primarily in the solar plexus or to breathe evenly in the solar plexus and the chest. What is certain is that it is NOT ideal to breathe primarily in the chest. This limits the amount of oxygen available to the body and is both a response to stress and something that creates more tension in our bodies and mind. If you are a chest breather, take a few minutes each day for a week or two and focus on breathing so that your solar plexus hand moves at least evenly with your chest hand or perhaps more so. This can fairly quickly retrain your automatic breathing which may help improve health and well being.
For all of us, there are a plethora of ways in which to mindfully use our breath to help us be present and effective in any moment. Here are a few of them:
a) Put your focus on how your body moves as you breathe
b) Notice how your breath feels cool on the inside of your nostrils as you inhale, and warm as you exhale
c) Take a long deep breath (or two, or ten), beginning in your belly and slowly moving the breath up into your chest until you are so full of air that your shoulders lift slightly and then exhale slowly in reverse d) Use a finger and block off one nostril and breathe in and out
of only one side – (Granted, this one may not be entirely socially acceptable in every situation, but it sure is great for balancing yourself when feeling strong emotion.)
e) Count your breath up to ten as follows: One on the inhale and one on the exhale; two on the inhale and two on the exhale, etc. and begin again if desired
Not only can being mindful of our breath be used as a tool to shift thoughts, mood and to relax the body; it can also be a way to prepare to extend mindfulness more broadly to other aspects of our immediate experience. Have a little fun with closing your eyes and being mindful of your breathing and then opening them and mindfully using your senses to take in all of your other experiences in the moment. Remember that mindfulness is not only a great way of gracefully moving through challenging situations, but also a way of living a more joyful, vivid life!
Over the river and through the woods. Standard.
SUBARU
6219 HWY. 93 SOUTH WHITEFISH | 862-2571 www.DonKsubaru.com
Just 10 Minutes North Of Reserve On Hwy. 93
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s the Monkey Holding You Back from Being Financially Successful? By Dru Rafkin Jackman, ACC
If you’re like most Americans money is not a topic you enjoy discussing. You think about money a lot but you rarely share your thoughts with others for fear of being judged. At the same time you compare yourself to others and think you should be better with money than you are. You experience doubt, fear and frustration around finances. You have thoughts about scarcity and spend time forecasting your doubtful financial future. Sound familiar?
As a Certified Coach I partner with clients to shift their focus away from their doubts and fears and toward their professional and personal dreams. I see them for who they really are and what they are capable of and I give them the tools to see what I see – that they have everything they need to be successful. They discover and acknowledge what is truly important to them and succeed in moving past their usual ‘roadblocks.' Together, we design goals and actions that move them forward as they shift focus toward what is possible.
You have dreams and visions of what you would like to accomplish financially, of what being financially successful looks like for you and your family. What does it mean to be financially successful? It means doing what you said you would do with money, consistently and with ease. It means honoring your financial commitments, knowing how much comes in and how much goes out. It means you pay attention to your money by spending dollars rather than wasting or leaking them. Being financially successful has less to do with how much money you have and more to with how you are thinking about using it.
The feelings of frustration, scarcity, doubt and worry most of us experience around money are actually telling us something. They’re saying, “Hey! You are not listening to who you are and what’s important to you”. What you are listening to is Monkey Mind which Dr. Maria Nemeth discusses in her book, “The Energy of Money”. She describes Monkey Mind as the “selfcriticizing aspect of our mind that swings from doubt, to worry, and back to doubt”. Monkey Mind chatters most loudly when we are following our dreams because it is designed to maintain the status quo – “even if the status quo is something we long to leave behind”. It’s the chatter we all hear when we take a risk, try something new or challenge our current position. The good news is that Monkey Mind only comes up when you are about to move toward what really holds meaning for you, its job is to keep you safe. Now that may not make sense but that is what it’s designed to do. Let’s say you really want to go back to school. You think about it, get a little excited and then, BAM, you hear all the reasons why you can’t or shouldn’t. Then what? Usually nothing…until you spend money on something and make excuses for why you can spend money on clothes, treats or a cool new cell phone but not on continuing your education. You haven’t done anything
wrong, but most importantly; you haven’t been listening to your voice of wisdom either.
Clarity is the principle we’ll call on to untangle the Monkey Mind knot of thoughts. Making decisions with ease and clarity requires that we take a good look at the difference between the self-criticizing chatter and the voice of wisdom. Only then can you make a decision on whether to return to school. Your decision will be based on facts, desires and ideas about your future rather than on the fear, drama and issues offered up by your Monkey Mind. Grab a pen. First, I want you to write down something that you’ve dreamed of doing but haven’t because of _______ (time, money, energy, etc - fill in the blank). Don’t hold back. Good.
Now write down everything that comes into your mind when you think about achieving that dream. Write down the good stuff, all the possibilities and ideas that come when you think about achieving the dream. Now write down all the thoughts and evidence you have for why this is not a good idea – the doubts, worries and fears.
Notice the difference in your energy (high, low, frustrated, happy) while you are looking and writing. When we listen to Monkey Mind our energy is low and the possibilities start to dry up. When we listen to the voice of wisdom – the one that is taking into account who we are, what’s truly important and what contribution we’d like to make – the energy is high. We experience joy and excitement and we see possibility. Once you see the difference between the two you can cull out the Monkey Mind, look at what’s possible and start making a plan for how you will move forward. There will be obstacles for sure, but you can move past those now that you see what is real and what is useless chatter. We spend a lot of energy dancing with Monkey Mind because we think it’s telling the truth. What would it be like to shift your attention to the dream that excites you – your truth? That shift in focus will empower you to begin taking the small steps toward making your dream of being financially successful a reality. You have everything you need to begin.
Good luck!
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406 WOMAN
ormones and Marriage- A quick overview that could save your marriage. By Kiersten Alton, RPH
Do you remember the days when you looked at your spouse to be and all you could see was absolute perfection! Don’t you wish you could get that back. My husband is still perfect, but depending on where my hormones are on that particular day he has varying degrees of perfectness. Men and women should get a handbook on hormones when we start dating, a must read before you get married. It would read something like this: Right now you have endorphins and love hormones circulating throughout your body. These hormones of desire will only allow you to see the things you like about each other, your faults will show up later. This early burst of love hormone will help you fall madly in love and hopefully sustain you throughout a long prosperous relationship. However, there are a few things you should know about your partner’s hormones and how they are going to change throughout your relationship together. This information will help you to love each other when you aren’t being very loveable!
For Men: The Short guide to women’s hormones
1. Pregnancy, small children years: your wife will either feel great while she is pregnant, because she will be full of hormones or she will feel terrible. Whichever way she feels, just tell her every day how beautiful she looks and love her despite the 70 pounds she may gain. Once children come along, she may have monthly fluctuations in her hormones brought on by lack of sleep and stress. Love her anyway and bite your tongue a lot! Her once high sex drive may disappear because testosterone levels usually fall in our 30’s and 40’s. She does still love you. It really is nothing you have done, just changes in her hormones making her more irritable at certain times of the month. Remember, your testosterone levels are still great, hers may not be. Love her anyway. (and know there is help for this if needed) 2. Pre-menopause years: During this time she may start having the beginning signs of menopause. She may forget things, have more headaches, insomnia, irregular menstrual cycles, fatigue and irritability. Just wait this may get worse as she actually starts menopause. The sweet woman you married may say things she never would have said before an in a tone she never had before. Trust me, sometimes we don’t know how we sound and we really don’t mean it. If you had spent years getting up at night with babies, and having cramps every month you would be crabby too. Love her anyway.
3. Menopause: When she has not had a menstrual cycle for a year, she is in menopause. You might think, thank goodness! The irritability and monthly headaches will disappear. You are right but now you must be prepared to wake up drenched in her sweat and feeling like you are sleeping with a heating pad because of the changes in her body temperature. Welcome into your life the night sweats and hot flashes. (By the way, there is help for
all these symptoms). The best thing you can do at this point is to continue to love and support her and get her to go see a practitioner who can help her with her hormones! Note: Your low hormone days are coming, so patience and empathy now may be reciprocated later!
For Women: Guide to male hormones
1. The high testosterone years: Your new partner will have the sex drive of a 20 year old for a lot longer than you will. He will find sex a stress reliever, which may be the complete opposite for you. He will also have great energy levels and muscle tone if he is working out. Weight will be easier to lose because of the higher levels of testosterone. His mood will be fairly stable, without the monthly fluctuations you experience. 2. The low testosterone years: For men the age that this can happen will vary. Stress and chronic pain decrease testosterone levels. So I have seen men with high stress lives have low testosterone in their mid 30’s. Typically testosterone declines in the 40’s and 50’s and can cause a condition called Andropause.
3. Andropause: Decrease in testosterone can cause low libido, fatigue, pain, depression and loss of muscle mass. Low Testosterone also increases the rate of osteoporosis. Many diabetics have low testosterone. In men, andropause is usually very gradual and often times the symptoms are not noticed. The partner may be the first one to notice the decrease in energy, depression and lower libido. I believe many “mid-life crisis’s” are actually caused by hormone imbalance. The man feels unwanted by the wife, because her hormones, not him, are driving her mad. His hormones are beginning to decline and he wants that old fire back. The combination can be a recipe for disaster. Okay, now you understand each other better. What’s next? Remember there is help for hormone imbalance no matter what stage of life you are at. If you need recommendations for practitioners in our area who can help with male or female hormone imbalance send me an email. Women usually seek help, men usually need to have the appointment made for them! Enjoy your summer, hopefully hormone symptom free, and more importantly, love each other!
Sustainable Fashion 525 Railway, Ste 101 in Whitefish 406 333 0388
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Day Make-Over By Sam Glauber
If you only have 30 days, one month to get in the best possible shape, what would you do? Now granted 30 days is not a lot of time depending on your fitness goal and your current state of fitness, but it is enough time to get some pretty jaw dropping results by following this step-by-step plan to get you looking your best in 30 days.
First let’s take a look at your workout schedule. If you are already working out 5 days a week, great. If not, it’s going to be necessary to bump up your workout frequency for the next month in order to maximize results. One hour 5 days a week is less than 3% of the time you have available to you each week. Most Americans spend an average of 4 hours a day watching T.V. If you really want to drop some pounds and look your best your going to have to find a way to spare 60 minutes, 5 days a week.
O.K. now that you know how much time you’ll be spending in the gym, here’s what you’re going to be doing with that time. Perform the following exercises in supersets. Do A1 then A2 rest 60sec and repeat for 3 sets then move on to the B1 and B2. For pictures and complete descriptions of each exercise visit the Wave’s Facebook trainer’s corner (www.whitefishwave.com)
Monday –Upper body workout Tuesday- Cardio 30min A1 Flat DB bench press A2 Seated rows B1 Pull-ups B2 Shoulder press C1 Leg Raises C2 Lateral Raises
3x15 3x15 3x15 3x15 3x15 3x15
15min interval training (1min fast, 1min medium) 15min medium pace
The key to getting maximum results for this workout program is to make it hard. Be sure to only rest 60 seconds between supersets. You might want to use a stopwatch at first because it can be very easy to rest longer once you start getting tired. Also, make sure that the weight for each exercise is heavy enough. If you are doing sets of 12 reps you should be able to get no more than 12 reps with that weight for that exercise.
Wednesday Lower body workout Friday Full-body workout day A1 Squats 3x12 A2 Lunges 3x12 B1 leg curls 3x12 B2 Standing Calf Raises 3x12 C1 Plank on hands 3x60sec C2 Wall sit 3x60sec
Thursday- cardio same as Tuesday
A1 Jumping lunges 3x10 A2 Push-ups 3x15 A3 One arm rows 3x10 B1 Leg Raises on back 3x12 B2 Side lunges 3x12 B3 Reverse push-ups 3x12 15min intervals 1min fast 2 min medium pace.
4. Drink only non-calorie beverages. (Lots of water!).
By following this simple workout and diet plan you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish in 30 days. You’ll be a leaner, fitter and better you. The key is sticking with it.
Now that you know what your doing in the gym, it’s time to cover want you should be eating. What you eat over these next 30 days is going to have huge impact on your results so follow these 4 rules to keep you on track.
1. Eat small meals every 3 hours or about 5-8 times per day.
2. Eat lean protein in every meal. For a list of foods that contain lean protein visit the trainer’s corner on the Wave’s facebook page. 3. Eat fruits and or vegetables with every meal.
1250 Baker Ave. Whitefish, MT 59937
Sam Glauber - is a Certified Personal Trainer who works with a wide variety of clients at The Wave Aquatic & Fitness Center in Whitefish, Montana. If you would like some professional assistance with your diet and exercise program, please contact Sam for your personal and complimentary diet and exercise consultation. 406-862-2444 – sam@whitefisheave.com
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Talking Thyroid: Check your metabolism troubles at the door
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By Mary Pat Murphy
re you tired of being tired? Have you lost the shine in your hair? Do you have the blues just a little
too often? You may want to get your thyroid function checked. These are some of the symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland, a condition known as hypothyroidism. Less prevalent but potentially more troublesome to treat is hyperthyroidism. It’s the opposing condition in which the thyroid is overactive. It can bring on weight loss, speed up heart rate and increase sensitivity to heat.
Millions of people in the United States have one of several forms of thyroid disease, something that’s far more common in women than in men. More than 20 percent of menopausal women in the country are diagnosed with thyroid dysfunction. And studies show that millions more probably have thyroid problems that go undiagnosed. Having thyroid disease doesn’t doom you to a marginalized life. For the most part, the right regimen of medication resets the body’s metabolism to a normal rate and you resume your normal activities. “Thyroid disease is easy to diagnose and treat if the proper tests are ordered,” Dr. Jose de Souza said. He recently joined the practice at Northwest Endocrinology at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, and is the Flathead Valley’s first full-time endocrinologist. He’s working to dispel myths and pass along some facts about hormone issues, thyroid disease among them. The notion that you’re guaranteed to gain weight if you have hypothyroidism, for example, is an urban legend, Dr. de Souza said. “Yes, you can gain a few pounds,” he said. “But I see a lot of thin people with hypothyroidism and a lot of overweight people with hyperthyroidism.” Hypothyroidism can lead to fatigue, depression, high LDL cholesterol, constipation, dry skin and hair, menstrual abnormalities, joint stiffness and difficulty dealing with cold temperatures. If you become pregnant, your thyroid hormone replacement dose needs to be increased a bit and monitored closely. A baby’s thyroid gland doesn’t form until the second trimester. If the mother’s thyroid doesn’t support that developing fetus properly, it can influence brain development. “It is important for brain information,” de Souza said. So important, he said, that children of mothers who had even mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy scored lower on IQ tests years later when they grew into their teens. After delivery, your dose can be reduced to pre-pregnancy levels. Hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, brings its own set of challenges. It’s an autoimmune disease that sends antibodies to attack the thyroid gland, causing hormone over-production. The most common form is Graves’ disease. “We need to slow that down with medication or radiation or, as a last resort, surgery,” de Souza said. “When hyperthyroidism gets serious is when it attacks your eyes. It’s very difficult to treat.” Telltale signs that you may have an overactive thyroid include shakiness, weight loss, hair loss, difficulty dealing with heat, sleeplessness and irritability. Doctors typically treat it by using medication to slow hormone production, radioactive iodine therapy or surgery. Other problems can beset the thyroid gland, as well – thyroid nodules; goiter, which is an enlargement of the gland; thyroiditis, an inflammation of the gland; or even cancer. “Almost 50 percent of people over 55 have thyroid nodules. It’s
very common,” de Souza said. It’s often first diagnosed through a CT scan of the chest and neck for other reasons, testing that has been ordered for carotid issues or a simple physical exam by a doctor. The good news is that only 5 percent of nodules are cancerous. More likely, if the nodules are large and the thyroid gland is enlarged, you’ll have hoarseness or trouble swallowing. But even if you do get cancer of the thyroid itself, the outlook does not have to be glum. It’s diagnosed on an outpatient basis then, if cancer is confirmed, treatment usually involves surgery to remove the gland followed by radioactive iodine treatment. “Ninety-six percent of people are alive and cancer-free 10 years later,” de Souza said. “It is a slow-growing cancer that is cured in a large majority of patients. Compared to other cancers, thyroid cancer is relatively easy to treat.” Doctors round out treatment with annual check-ups and lifelong hormone replacement. So take heart. With medical advances in the field of hormone therapies and a new resident expert in the Flathead Valley to help you take control of your life, your next tired day could be nothing more than a result of that 9,000-foot mountain you hiked yesterday.
So just what is the thyroid and why do you even need it?
It is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, nestled just above your collarbone. It’s part of your body’s system of endocrine glands, the glands that make hormones. The thyroid’s special function is to set your body’s metabolism – the means by which your body gets energy from food. Hormones from the thyroid regulate how your body breaks down food and whether it decides to use the energy immediately or store it for later. What signals the thyroid to work in the first place is the pituitary gland. It’s located at the base of the brain and produces thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which is carried through the blood steam to the thyroid. Thyroid hormones influence how every organ system in the body works. They tell organs how fast or slowly they should work. They regulate how oxygen is consumed. They orchestrate how heat is produced. When disease hits your thyroid, it changes everything related to how quickly or slowly your body uses its energy. Thyroid disease can bring on a host of problems if not treated. How do you find out whether your symptoms are caused by thyroid issues or by another condition? The best way is through a TSH test, a simple blood test that measures hormone levels. It’s recommended for anyone with a family history of thyroid disease, who is over age 35 or who has symptoms or risk factors. Many people show no symptoms from thyroid imbalance, so the TSH test is a great diagnostic tool. It is one component of a metabolic panel ordered as part of a routine physical exam.
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406 WOMAN
Teens
Parents
here is a certain energy that comes with August and the lingering days of September. It is the time to enjoy the warm sun, time to spend with your family and friends and relax in the long evenings. For those of us who are parents there is a daily reminder during the summer of when we were kids out of school, what that used to feel like to have hours each day to play, and what it was like sometimes to be bored. Perhaps it was hot out, maybe your best friend was away for a whole week on vacation and you had nothing to do. You may have been to the lake or the pool a hundred times already. You didn’t want to mow the lawn, or wash the car. You needed to find something to do that was fun.
I would like to introduce the concept of allowing boredom in your life again. That open time with nothing to do boredom is what I am talking about. When was the last time you were bored? When was the last time your kids were bored? Really bored? For much of our year we are on a very busy structured schedule. The kids have school, we have work, kids have afternoon activities; then dinner, homework, and chores once everyone gets home. The weekends are full of kids sporting events, performances, projects, and evening plans with friends. We are overbooked and swirling around trying to get everything done each day and we usually don’t have any time left over to relax.
Summer time can be a respite from the busy schedule… if we allow it. If we allow our kids some freedom from schedules to get good and bored! Create some open time and nothing to do time in your home and allow lots of small, magical moments of connection to start blossoming. Turn off the electronics. Don’t schedule anything to do for a couple of days. Give you
Grandparents
This Summer
and your kid’s some time to let your minds drift and your imagination some room to breath. Allow enough time to get bored, to dig deep and get creative. Pay attention and see things you may have missed before. Let your kids move outside of their comfort zone and try new things like finding a new interest or makeing a new friend. As a parent, create time for your kids to connect with themselves and reach out to something new.
Here’s an example. On one of the full moon nights this July, David and I decided on the spur of the moment to dig out my old double kayak and take it to Whitefish Lake just as the sunset was fading in order to watch the moon rise. We got out there in time to watch as the water skiers tried to get that last run on the calm water before it was too dark to see. We watched the lights going on around the shore and the sounds of motors and music leave the lake. As we sat there, the birds swooped down looking for fish, the fish started to jump and we speculated from the sounds of the splash about the size of the fish. The lake entertained us. It was peaceful and I saw a much different part of the lake than I do during the busy daylight hours. When the moon appeared it was magnificent, it rose through the tree line, then up into the sky leaving a long beam of light across the water to our kayak. The moon rises like this every month, yet how often do we stop what we are doing and quiet ourselves enough to sit and watch it? How often have I even forgotten there is a moon outside? Just look at the memory we created just by allowing ourselves time to open our schedule, quiet our evening, and try something new! This is one of those pieces of magic that happens when we allow it. This is the magical opportunity we are always looking at as parents to connect with our kids and ourselves. Be wise and understand that boredom can be a good thing!
By Denise Dryden
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How to Beat the End of Summer Blues As I hit the highway for my last summer vacation, I realize that when I return home the first week of August, I am going to have to hit the ground running! Running towards what, you ask? I will be running towards the school year, of course. The summer is rapidly drawing to a close, and it is time to get ourselves, our kids and our friends kids…. whoever, ready for school. I know that I have spent the summer chasing crazy schedules, sleeping late, going to bed late, rushing my kids to all sorts of new fun activities, camps, and family trips. But now, it is time to settle down, refocus, and gear up for early mornings, consistent school schedules, and more attentive sleep times. Switching gears is hard for both parents and kids, so I have put together a list of things to help get our minds out of the summer sun and back into school.
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chedules - How Do We Change Them?
For the late morning sleepy heads, start waking them up earlier. Easy, right? NO! So, do it gradually. If you start now, you can wake them up 5-10 minutes earlier every day. Give them a task that needs completing in when they get up so they have something to get up for. Even if it’s something fun or just basic chores that need to get done, they need something to wake for, just as with school. Hold them accountable so they do not simply drift back to sleep or towards the couch and TV. This same routine can be manipulated for bedtimes. For older kids that have spent every night out and about with friends, set an earlier curfew. Start with having them home 15 minutes earlier, then gradually adjust…. 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, until they are back to their school year curfew. (This strategy also works for the younger ones and bedtimes). So they don’t feel punished and make your ears bleed with the whining that may come with this process, implement this during the week and maybe let them stay out a bit later on the weekends. You can also decide what days they should go out, and what days they should simply decompress at home.
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ow that the kids are home more, what do you do to get their brains geared up?
Check in on summer reading assignments- Do they have any and have they completed them? This is something that could keep them home a few nights or get them up a bit earlier in the morning. It has to get done, so have your child scheduled and be accountable for when they are going to complete the work. Have your kids plan a fun final family trip. Let them dust off those computers and research where they want to go, where to stay/ camp, and what activities would be fun to do in their selected destination. Grease up those math skills and have them account for the mileage, and how much money the trip will cost. Give them a budget so they have to factor in and be accountable for the dollar side of their selected journey. Have kids keep a journal for their planning and for the actual
trip. Recommend that they write about their favorite and not so favorite parts of the trip. Journaling is great way to practice and improve writing skills, expression of ideas and opinions. If traveling again is not an option, plan a project at home that needs to be done. You can still polish up the math skills and keep kids relaxed and close to home by building something or fixing something. Measuring, fixing, and building things together is a good way to get the brain back to working condition, and flush out some of the sunscreen that seeped in too far. Play more games at home. Scrabble, cards, games that require strategizing and patient thinking. Also, casually bring up more conversation in regards to current events and what is happening outside of our summer. Recap all of the major events that have happened this summer, not only here, but around the world. Conversation is a great thought provoker… our kids hear and think about more than we realize. Lastly, just keeping your kids close to home and take a break. Quietly leave favorite magazines, or interesting library books in random places around the house. They will pick them up and start reading and thinking. Start asking them questions that will help churn the brain cells back to recovery. Have the kids cook a meal… research it, prepare the ingredients, budget and measure out what’s needed… they are thinking and planning! You do not have to pull out the workbooks and tutors, quite yet, to get this process moving. Summer is still here and we need to soak up all we can. But just keep your kids closer, and have them take a break and switch gears. Summer is fun, but it can be crazy and exhausting. You feel it and your kids feel it to. So, find some indirect ways to get them back to home base and provide some fun easy ways to get the synapses firing again. Look in the next issue of 406 Woman for study tips and strategies to use once our school year is off and running and kids and parents become aware of what needs to be done!
By Kristen Pulsifer
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Shop Talk : Laurie Brown, The Stone Chair By: Carole Pinnell Photo by: Sara Pinnell
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he Stone Chair
on 117 South Main Street in Kalispell has an unbelievable selection of varied and unique items to purchase. I pause on the sidewalk outside the shop, basking in the warm Montana sunshine. In the windowpane are fanciful paintings by Maggie Logan with clever adages. Gazing in I see a display of pottery of striking shades and quality. Opening the front door, the music and the nostalgic building take me back to the 40’s. They are a perfect backdrop for perusing the items on the shelves. There are racks of distinctive wrapping paper and cards guaranteed to tickle the fancy of a loved one or friend. A traditional cabinet holds striking and inestimable articles made of silver. Skillfully framed paintings by Lisa Schaus charm the walls, giving a warm ambiance to them.
The shop also has a section of organic soaps and items made to enhance ones “soaking in the tub” experience. The Stone Chair is a comfortable and charming space filled with a hand-selected blend of elegant to fanciful. The staff is welcoming and enthusiastic to assist you with items to fit your unambiguous style. If you want to add classic, stylish, timeless pieces to your space, stop by The Stone Chair… style for your life. Visit: The Stone Chair, 406-752-5719 117 South Main Street, Kalispell, MT 59901
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Shop Talk : Kim Romero
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By: Carole Pinnell Photo by: Sara Pinnell
K
im Romero
is not your average bookkeeper… Kim has 40 years of accounting experience with a B.S. in accounting, is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, AND SHE COMES TO YOUR OFFICE OR HOME! Kim serves businesses of all sizes and forms: C-Corps, S-Corps, LLCs, LLPs, partnerships, non-profits, and sole-proprietors. She also offers a widerange of services to individuals. She can assist you from businesses startup/set-up through tax return readiness. Kim told us two of her primary services goals are to "fill that gap in professional services available to businesses and individuals. Typically, there is a huge gap in the knowledge and services of a bookkeeping practice, and a CPA firm. I strive to fill that gap by providing bookkeeping plus many of the other tasks one may have gone to a CPA firm for only because there was nowhere else to go." Secondly, says Kim, "I strive to empower people with knowledge…over the years I have seen just how little some business owners understood about the "business side" of running their business. As an example, owners may pay someone to keep their books but never look at their financial reports because they do not understand them. Well, I work with them so they do understand those reports. More importantly, I can tell them what those reports say about where the business is and where it is going. I will work with the owners to whatever extent they desire; for instance, I have a client that I provide QuickBooks training to during which I also provide basic bookkeeping instruction, discussion of her recordkeeping responsibilities, and discussion of tax issues relating to her business. I have other clients that don't want to know anything except the bottom line on their P&L."
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USINESS INFORMATION…
SERVICES: Accounting *Bookkeeping *Payroll Services *Individual & group QuickBooks training* Software consulting* Audit preparation* Year-round tax planning* Bookkeeping system set-up* New business set-up (including IRS, state, county, etc. as required)* Checking account & credit card account set-up & reconciliations* Bill paying* 1099 compliance & processing* Invoicing & collections* Job costing* Cost accounting* Non-profit (fund balance) accounting *Quarterly and/ or annual bookkeeping file review * Office document flow design & set-up (that has the necessary checks-and-balances)* Retirement Plan accounting *Policy & procedure design & implementation* preparation of "CPA friendly" and "banker friendly" files and/or reports. EXPERIENCED IN THE FOLLOWING INDUSTRIES: Ambulatory surgical centers* Automotive* Beauty services & products* Building trades* Commercial & residential construction: general & sub* Computer & software services* development & sales* Dental practices* Financial services* HOAs *Hospitality (RV, hotels, resorts, spas, golf, recreation)* Hospitals *Insurance *Landscaping* Legal practices* Manufacturing* Medical practices* Multi-state franchises* Non-profits* Printing* Real estate investment* development & sales* Restaurants* Retail* Telecommunications* Transportation * Wholesale & retail fuel.
BACKGROUND: During Kim's 40+ years, she worked for approximately 25 years in private industry. She started in high school doing the books for her father's business and worked her way up until she held positions such as CFO, Corporate Controller, and Director of Finance and Accounting. She spent the remaining 15 years working at CPAs firms where she also gained 5 years audit experience. During her years with CPAs firms, Kim says, “I went from a bookkeeper to an accountant. I learned so much during those years it is just amazing to me now."
Call or visit Kim Romero at ESSENTIAL ACCOUNTING & TAX SERVICES for all business or individual needs…inclusive and “a la carte” services available. 406-257-1455 P O Box 358 Kila, MT 59920 essentialbookkeepingtax.com
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406 WOMAN
Meet Daylene Ambujam Rose Ambujam Healing Heal the past ~ Heal the present
Professional Profiles
Meet Sharon, New Image Concepts Dynamic Treatments, Visible Results, Beautiful Skin at Every Age
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8000 HWY 35 SUITE 5, BIGFORK, MT. 406.837.1464
ach decade of our lives have different joys, struggles, and brings a whole new layer to ourselves. It's life, it’s aging, and it’s beautiful. Along the way we try to take better and better care of ourselves and our skin is part of that process; keeping healthy inside and out. LED Light Therapy also works in layers, from the inside out, and works on different levels to treat varying skin conditions. It uses light to smooth away scars and cellulite, zap acne, and even reverse the effects of sun damage. Owner Sharon Tillett of New Image Concepts has added LED Therapy to her list of facial skin care treatments. “I’ve been researching light therapy for two years, looking for the safest, most effective LED treatment out there. I’ve found it.” Light Emitting Diodes (LED) offers a noninvasive treatment. It stimulates collagen and elastic production, kick-starting the skin’s own regeneration process. For acne-prone skin the Blue light therapy uses a specific wavelength to spark the development of free radicals which attack acne-causing bacteria.
The Red light therapy uses another specific wavelength which stimulates the skin cells regeneration process. A combination of the two encourages cell rejuvenation; restoring skin tone, lifting, and smoothing fine lines and wrinkles. The 20 minute treatments are recommended in a series of 10. “Everyone’s skin has different concerns,” says Sharon, “and I like that this LED therapy offers a variety of methods to address those differences.”
New Image also carries Jane Iredale mineral makeup; Epicuren’s Enzyme based program, and Jan Marini Skin Research products. You can shop online and find out more about other services at www.newimageconcepts.com.
Daylene Ambujam Rose www.ambujamhealing.com (978) 210-5272 The entire premise of Ambujam Healing is to help you become aware of your self in such a way, that you heal and awaken- effortlessly. Daylene Ambujam Rose, a professional Intuitive Healer for over 15 years, sees every experience you’ve ever had that creates present-life issues, relationships and situations. Her specialty is seeing the specific unconscious emotional wounds from your past relationships that have not yet healed or awoken. When the past is not healed it follows us into the present and re-creates the same relationship dynamics, emotional issues, and beliefs and inner feelings about ourselves. This unconscious cycle goes unnoticed for eons and nothing fundamentally changes within us. It makes the process of inner and outer change feel effortful, difficult, nebulous, frustrating and never quite complete. The only true resolution is Awareness. Daylene sees where awareness is needed within you for the past wounding to heal and release for good. Once the past is healed, it allows you to be simply present. The entire unconsciousemotional-cycle stops and there is true freedom. Your long sought inner changes happen now: gently, organically and effortlessly. Her work attracts individuals who are deeply passionate, sincere and curious about their paths of inner growth, healing and awakening. Ambujam Healing partners with clients’ own awareness and deep commitment to themselves, with the results being an easier, faster, and more enjoyable way to heal and release issues. She works with individuals, couples, families, children and animals and also gives group healings. Session Menu Includes: Life-Awareness Readings, Energy Healing, Animal Healing, Couple's Reading and Healing, Family Healing, Pre/Post Surgery Healing
Meet Billie, Mountain West Bank
What’s happening in the Mortgage Loan World Today?
Practical information for the Self Employed Borrower BILLIE LITTLE, REAL ESTATE LOAN OFFICER MOUNTAIN WEST BANK, NA • 44 W IDAHO, KALISPELL MT • 406.752.2265 EXT. 133 / 406.253.5494
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on’t panic…things are still progressing with the Mortgage World. Yes, it is getting a bit harder to obtain financing than it has been in the past. However, there are still products and excellent rates available. The days of “Stated Income and No Document” loans are gone. For those self employed borrowers who, historically, could walk in and obtain a mortgage based on credit, home value and assets…no longer an option. The days of a note and a handshake have ended. The self employed borrower, typically, aspires to pay the least amount of taxes as possible. This can be in the form of writing off everything feasible, to ensure that bottom line is advantageous for tax purposes. Unfortunately, if you aspire to obtain financing these days, this will not be an alternative. Investors and Underwriters will now require two years of full tax returns, both personal and business. Another requirement is an average of the past two year’s income. This information is needed to calculate an average monthly amount to qualify for the loan. When preparing your return in the upcoming year, it will be extremely productive to keep this in mind. Mountain West Bank, NA has the products and programs needed to facilitate any type of real estate mortgage transaction. Drop by and see what we can do for you. We will find a solution to fit your particular mortgage needs and financial situations.
As women who live in Montana, many of us herald the merits of buying local, whether it’s at the farmer’s market or our neighborhood hardware store.
But even more than that, it’s nice to be able to recognize the people behind the businesses that are getting our money, and to know that, like us, they’ve invested in our community. According to Civic Economics’ Andersonville Study of Retail Economics in October 2004, every $100 spent at a nationwide chain results in $43 of local economic activity. On the flip side, every $100 spent at a locally-owned business results in $68 of local economic activity. And more money in the community means more jobs. On that note, we proudly introduce a few of the professionals doing business in a neighborhood near you.
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Rhonda Kohl, Trails West Real Estate Your Iron Horse Expert Rhonda Kohl,Trails West Real Estate 492 East Second Street Whitefish, MT 59937 c: 406.250.5849 - o: 406.862.4900 Rhonda@TWRE.com
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honda Kohl (Oseen), Broker/Realtor is pleased to announce her recent move to Trails West Real Estate and Affiliate of Christies Great Estates to join the Whitefish Team. Originally from Southern Alberta, Canada, Rhonda has resided in Whitefish since 2003. Shortly after getting settled here, she had the great opportunity to be employed by Discovery Land Company's Iron Horse Golf Club; a high end private golf community which transferred over to member ownership in the spring of 2008. With over 14 years of real estate sales experience, including 6 ½ of those years with Iron Horse, Rhonda has established herself firmly and brings a level of dedication and knowledge to the 'Iron Horse' market offering unparalleled customer service and confidence. She will continue to market Iron Horse through Trails West Real Estate and Christies Great Estates and is also excited to broaden her horizons and expand her knowledge to the greater Whitefish area and Flathead Valley. You can be confident that every aspect and detail of her work will be addressed with expertise, enthusiasm and discretion. Trails West’s affiliation with Christie’s Great Estates opens an international market to buyers; they however also feel it is important that Trails West maintain a small town feel. The company takes pride in their agents on passion for service, their unwavering commitment to clients, and dedication to the real estate profession. Trails West/Christies have a competitive edge in the “premier” real estate market and are able to present the stunning Flathead Valley to the world through their comprehensive website at Christies Great Estates website at www.ChristiesGreatEstates.com Trails West website at www.TrailsWestRealEstate.com. Offices include downtown Bigfork, Harbor Village, Lakeside, Whitefish and at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake. Trails West has been locally operated for over 40 years in the Flathead Valley.
Meet Tamara & Judy, Insty Prints Insty Prints Gives Back INSTY PRINTS, 131 MAIN ST, KALISPELL MT. 406-752-8812 49504 HWY 93, POLSON MT. 406-883-3778
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uccessful communities help each other, share ideas and work to make their collective environment a better place to be. At Insty-Prints we not only believe in this, but we act upon it daily. Giving back to our community is vital not only to those we are helping but to us as well. There are so many worthwhile organizations doing great things to make this a thriving community. It's impossible to help and give to them all, but Insty-Prints believes in supporting as many as we can. In 2008-2009 we supported more than 70 businesses and organizations in their efforts. So many of these organizations are from the non-profit sector, and they appreciate and understand the value of the support that Insty-Prints provides. In 2009 alone, we printed more than 36,000 free posters announcing events or fundraisers for groups and organizations around the Valley. Hundreds of dollars in gift certificates have been donated for various auctions or charities. It's simply helping each other out and giving back to a community that's been a positive place for us to be. We also feel it's important to give our time in the community. Volunteering in various groups and organizations has allowed us to give back with our time and learn more about some of the worthwhile opportunities in our valley. Having an active role in our wonderful community…it's what Insty-Prints is all about.
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Professional Profiles
Meet Sandy, Residence Club at W hitefish L ake
Meet Chad Miller CPCU State Farm Agent Chad Miller CPCU State Farm Agent 245 Windward Way Ste 110 Kalispell MT 59901 chad.miller.m7f9@statefarm.com
Phone 406-752-3515 Fax 406-752-3517
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y family and I moved to the Flathead Valley in January of 2009 from Olympia, Washington. I have been working for State Farm for 17 years and came to take over a State Farm Agency from an agent that recently retired. My office is located on top of the hill close to the hospital and the summit. It was an easy decision to move to Montana. We came to visit and fell in love with the valley and we were ready to leave the rainy west coast of Washington. My family is very involved in sports. Baseball was my sport as a kid and I played in college. My wife is an accomplished horseback rider, my son is an ice hockey player and we travel all over Montana and Canada going to his games. My daughter loves gymnastics and will soon be competing in local meets. We enjoy all the outdoor activities the Flathead Valley has to offer, both winter and summer. You’ll will find us on the lakes during the summer and up on the mountain during the winter. We have two chocolate labs that round out our family. We have enjoyed becoming part of this wonderful community.
1400 Wisconsin Ave Whitefish, MT. 59937 Direct: 406.863.9841 Mobile: 406.261.8066 sandy@WhitefishLakeClub.com www.WhitefishLakeClub.com
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resenting the Residence Club at Whitefish Lake is an easy task for real estate agent Sandy Staudenmayer. The product simply sells itself. Brought to life by the Averill family, a four generation conscientious driving force in the Flathead Valley, the Residence Club is an exceptional opportunity for those looking for a luxury vacation home on Whitefish Lake complete with all the amenities of a fine hotel, but at a fraction of the cost of whole ownership. The Residence Club is a shared or fractional deeded ownership option in two and three bedroom luxury lakefront residences at the Whitefish Lake Lodge. Of course our pampered owners enjoy all of the amenities at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, but they also have extra privileges such as pre-arrival shopping, their own ski boat, free greens fees at the Big Mountain Golf Course, a private ski lodge on the mountain, 24/7 concierge services, and more. Sandy can be found in the lobby of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake surrounded by the exquisite Montana elegance that comprises the main Lodge, or on the pristine waters of Whitefish Lake touring clients on the new 20 foot Chaparall Residence Club ski boat. If you ever thought about owning vacation property in Montana, you owe it to yourself to check out the lifestyle you can enjoy at the Residence Club at Whitefish Lake. Visit our website at www.whitefishlakeclub.com, or just stop in for a personal tour. Sandy will be happy to show you around.
Because healing happens together. Montanans have always been willing to lend a helping hand to their neighbors. And in that same spirit, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Montana has been offering support to children and families in Montana for 28 years.
In 2009 alone, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Montana touched the lives of nearly 5,000 Montana families. • The Ronald McDonald Houses in Billings and Missoula provided Montana families 4,300 nights of caring support. • Our Ronald McDonald Care Mobile®—a mobile pediatric clinic on wheels—provided care to more than 3,000 uninsured Montana children.
• Ronald McDonald Family Rooms at St. Vincent Healthcare—and soon at the Kalispell Regional Medical Center— continue to offer a place of refuge to families whose child is in the hospital. We can’t do it alone. We rely on you—our donors, volunteers, staff and the generous support of your local McDonald's restaurant. Since our doors opened in 1982, together we have helped nearly 50,000 Montana children lead healthy and happy lives.
Thank you for your support. Because healing happens together. Photo courtesy of www.janiphotography.com.
www.rmhcmontana.org
©2010 McDonald’s Corporation