Northern Arizona's Mt Living Magazine | Summer 2020

MOUNTAIN NORTHERN ARIZONA’S

MAGAZINE

Mother Road Meteor City Trading Post prepares to reopen with help from Route 66 family

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Summer 2020

Fresh, convenient food offered at The REAL Kitchen Artist Emma Gardner celebrates beauty of the macabre Musings on nature during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Summer 2020 namlm.com

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TABLE of CONTENTS

2020

COVER STORY

8

Reviving the Mother Road Joann and Michael Brown purchased the deteriorating Meteor City Trading Post in 2017. After navigating many roadblocks and receiving help from fellow Route 66 business owners, they hope to have portions of the historic trading post open to the public later this summer.

DEPARTMENTS MATTERS of TASTE

MIND & BODY

16 The resiliency of entrepreneurs is

24 As women age, the needs of their

highlighted in the story of Kara and Ross Taylor, whose restaurant The REAL Kitchen opened a week before Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered dine-in operations statewide to cease.

bodies change. Learn what lab work is suggested for different age groups in order to provide comprehensive understanding of what to look for at each milestone.

BY the BOTTLE

OUTDOOR LIFE

18 As the year reaches its longest day

26 For many, nature provides a sense of

on June 20, local breweries offer a wide variety of refreshing beer styles— including a slushie made from a fruity gose—to enjoy on a patio or on the trail in to-go cans.

comfort during uncertain times. Read field notes from Seth Muller on how wildlife and trees continue to offer wisdom and peace while the human world is in turmoil.

the ARTS

DISTINCTIVE SPACES

20 Death isn’t just a part of our lives

30 Little Free Libraries have popped

during holidays like Día de los Muertos and Halloween. Flagstaff artist Emma Gardner explores the beauty of the macabre year-round.

up in cities worldwide, varying widely in form. In Flagstaff’s NoHo neighborhood, two bright red British telephone booths offer passersby a unique literary experience.

ALSO 6

EDITOR’S NOTES

7 ABOUT TOWN 4

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

34 PLAYING FAVORITES 35 SPOTLIGHT

MOUNTAIN NORTHERN ARIZONA’S

MAGAZINE

Mother Road Meteor City Trading Post prepares to reopen with help from Route 66 family

PLUS

$2.95

Summer 2020

Fresh, convenient food offered at The REAL Kitchen Artist Emma Gardner celebrates beauty of the macabre Musings on nature during the COVID-19 pandemic

Free with Arizona Daily Sun Home Delivery winter19 namlm.com

ON THE COVER Meteor City Trading Post quickly fell into disrepair after it was abandoned eight years ago, but it remains a familiar landmark to many who drive past.

Photo by MacKenzie Chase.

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MOUNTAIN NORTHERN ARIZONA’S

MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Colleen Brady 928.556.2279

EDITOR MacKenzie Chase mchase@azdailysun.com 928.556.2262

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine is published quarterly at 1751 S. Thompson St. | Flagstaff, AZ 86001

SALES CONTRIBUTORS Zachary Meier Lydia Smith Clare Nixon

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine is published by

ISSN: 1534-3804

Copyright ©2019 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, illustrations and other materials are invited, but will not be returned unless accompanied by a properly addressed envelope bearing sufficient postage. Publisher assumes no responsibility for lost materials or the return of unsolicited materials. Publisher assumes no responsibility for any materials, solicited or unsolicited, after six months from date of publication. Cover and entire contents of this publication are fully protected. Reproduction or use without prior written premission from the editor is strictly prohibited. Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine is not responsible for scheduled event changes. Any views, opinions or suggestions contained within Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine are not necessarily those of the management or owners.

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EDITOR’S NOTES

‌I

t’s hard to sum up recent events in a neat, 400-word package, and even harder to go about business as usual when so much of what our world considers “usual”—whether good or bad— is rapidly changing.

As COVID-19 casts a pall of uncertainty on everything we do in 2020, no one knows what the future will hold. Business owners and consumers alike have had to adjust to this new, ever-shifting reality, which has highlighted the importance of supporting each other and the inspiring creativity that comes with being an entrepreneur.

For our annual Women in Business issue of Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, I had the opportunity to speak with Joann Brown who, with her husband Michael, has been working to renovate the abandoned Meteor City Trading Post just outside of Flagstaff—a property the two purchased in 2017. For them and other business owners along Route 66— like Angela Archibeque and Blas Sanchez of Earl’s Route 66 Motor Court in Winslow, or Cindy and Antonio Jaquez of Jack Rabbit Trading Post in Joseph City—a feeling of uncertainty is nothing new.

The historic road is practically synonymous with change, its current state a far cry from the glittering symbol of Americana it was during its heyday in the 1940s through ‘60s. These fellow Route 66 business owners know the struggles and want to see each other thrive, volunteering their time and expertise to help Joann complete her project.

According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, more than 11.6 million businesses in the United States are owned by women, generating $1.7 trillion in economy-boosting sales. Of that number, 5.4 million businesses are owned by women of color, generating $361 billion each year. If we want to live in a healthy and diverse community, we need to continue supporting black, indigenous, Latinx and other POC-owned businesses and artists. We need to focus our attention locally as well and continue supporting our favorite women-owned businesses like Meteor City when it opens, Local Juicery (featured on page 34) and The REAL Kitchen (featured on page 16).

These last two businesses focus on clean eating to fuel healthy bodies, with Local Juicery owner Summer Sanders’ newest book Love Your Body, Feed Your Soul also discussing practices to boost mental health through nutrition. While we know how important it is to regularly monitor our physical health—perhaps even more so now—the practice is one that should always address mental health as well.

I hope you take some time to enjoy the simpler things in life when you get the chance, whether it’s the breeze dancing across your shoulders, a cold drink under the warm sunshine or a bright smile from a loved one.

Until next time,

MacKenzie Chase mchase@azdailysun.com

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Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

ABOUT TOWN

Favorites of the season from the area’s art and entertainment offerings

JUNE 20 LOUD AND PROUD Online at www.OrpheumFlagstaff.com While Flagstaff Pride canceled its annual festival, the spirit of the event continues with Flagstaff Pride LIVE! Broadcast from the historic Orpheum Theater stage, and in partnership with the Orpheum and Virtual Arizona Pride, drag queen Mya McKenzie will present a variety of local talent for viewers of all ages to enjoy beginning at 3 p.m. Flagstaff became the first city in Arizona to raise the rainbow flag for the whole month of June in celebration of Pride Month last year, and the tradition continues. As the organization states on its Facebook page, “Pride this year may have different colors but we are still loud and proud!” Free.

JUNE 25 & JULY 30‌ IN THE OPEN AIR The Arboretum at Flagstaff, 4001 S. Woody Mountain Road Take advantage of the high desert’s breathtaking scenery while flexing those creative muscles by enrolling in the Arboretum at Flagstaff’s Plein Air Painting in the Pines art class. Local artist Debbie Mechigian will guide participants in identifying a subject, sketching out a composition and mixing colors. To adhere with health precautions, class sizes will be limited, with registration required 24 hours in advance, and masks must be worn during class. $30-35. Visit www. thearb.org to learn about more events like weekly yoga classes and wildflower walks, as well as the annual plant sale July 18.

ONGOING

FROM THE HEART The HeArt Box, 17 N. San Francisco St., Suite #1B

In a recent video posted on The HeArt Box’s website, founding artist Jill Sans explained what the gallery means to her: “The HeArt Box is a place for me to gather, to share, to tell stories and connect with others, to show the bigger world what Flagstaff art is all about.”

Sans opened the space in 2018, welcoming in different guest artists to feature on the east wall each month. After taking a hiatus to ensure the safety of the community as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Flagstaff, the gallery has reopened for appointments from 1-5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Mask-wearing visitors can browse art during their 45-minute time slot, or place orders for delivery and curbside pick-up. www.theheartbox.space.

ONGOING

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER Online at www.nau.edu/SummerSeminarSeries

Hear from the talented and diverse faculty of Northern Arizona University, as well as visiting scholars and experts in the community, during the annual Summer Seminar Series, presented by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. While lectures will explore a range of topics such as “The Search for Water on Mars” and “The Role of Intellectual Humility in Political Hostility,” many will also focus on the COVID-19 pandemic from a variety of political and economic perspectives. The series will be held Thursdays via Zoom from 5:30-7 p.m. through Aug. 13, with time for a Q&A session after each presentation. Free and open to the public.

ONGOING

AT THE DRIVE-IN Parking lot on the corner of Leroux Street and Cherry Avenue

Coming soon to a parking lot near you, Movies on the Square: Drive-in Style. That’s right, the Flagstaff Downtown Business Alliance’s summertime staple will continue to provide families with entertainment each Saturday night through June with an extra dose of nostalgia. Admission will be limited, with the parking lot opening at 7 p.m. and the movie starting at sunset. June screenings include Incredibles 2 (June 20) and Princess Bride (June 27).

Snacks and boxed dinners will be available for purchase from local businesses. Visit www.downtownflagstaff.org/events/movies-on-thesquare for more information. Free.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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Reviving the

MOTHER R

8

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

ROAD

A

MACKENZIE CHASE

long a dusty stretch of Historic Route 66 just east of Flagstaff, Meteor City Trading Post has sat dormant since its previous owners abandoned it in 2012. As the formerly robust attraction fell victim to the elements, vandals arrived to hasten the process.

By the time Joann and Michael Brown purchased the property in 2017, every single window across multiple buildings was smashed, graffiti covered the walls, rattlesnakes had moved in and people had been using the area to relieve themselves during road trips—despite an established rest area located just a mile west.

Meteor City called to Joann, though.

“I kept asking myself, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’” she said of emptying their savings into the project.

Although hesitant to leave the life she and her husband had built together in Indiana, she found encouragement when she was laid off from her job, giving her the green light to take a new job out west and chase after this crazy dream of bringing the trading post back to life.

“I broke down in tears, and it wasn’t that I lost my job; I got the answer,” Joann said.

Meteor City Trading Post is one of the last of its kind on this particular corridor of Route 66, along with the abandoned Two Guns and Twin Arrows Trading Post toward Flagstaff. During Route 66’s halcyon days, these attractions existed just as much for amusement as they did for filling up on gas and food on the 2,448-mile highway that connected Chicago, Illinois, and Santa Monica, California.

Established as a gas station in 1939 and then a trading post named in honor of neighboring Meteor Crater by Jack Newsum in 1941, the so-called city grew to a population of two when Newsum married Goldie in 1946. She would go on to earn a reputation as the “wicked witch of Route 66” as a result of, among other things, issuing countless speeding citations as the area’s sole justice.

The original Justice of the Peace building still stands, but the empty shell of it and the surrounding teepee structures and geodesic dome remain simply as a reminder of a time when Summer 2020 namlm.com

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Joann Brown watches a couple on a motorcycle pull up to the trading post. Photo by MacKenzie Chase

many travelers took a more leisurely approach to car travel.

Every time Joann visits the trading post, she said she meets visitors who stop by, reminding her that the area is still a familiar landmark for many. She also finds herself regularly painting over new graffiti that pops up on temporary wooden walls announcing plans to reopen. On a windy afternoon this past Memorial Day weekend, as she set down a paintbrush and can of teal paint she had been using to cover graffiti on the north side of the property, she noticed she had some of the color on her hands and quipped, “It wouldn’t be normal if I didn’t have paint on my hands.”

While the Browns have owned 10 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

the property for three years now, Joann wasn’t able to relocate to Arizona from their home in Jeffersonville, Indiana, until July 2019 when she accepted a position at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Prescott. The idea was that Michael would follow shortly after, once they sold their house. They encountered a slow buyer’s market at first, but a recent offer has reignited their hopes of being reunited sooner rather than later.

“It’s been hard,” Joann said.

“I never thought that we were going to be apart that long.”

Still, she’s proud of the progress she’s been able to make on the property despite not being able to drive out there as often

Jack and Goldie Newsum lived at Meteor City until the 1960s. Jack died in 1960, and Goldie lived there with her mother Hattie until Goldie’s death in 1967. Courtesy photo

as she’d like, and admitted there’s a long way to go.

“I wish I could be out here day after day after day after day doing it,” she said. “The passion is so deep that I uprooted—I mean, to leave everything after 30-some-odd years, there’s a passion. The sacrifice that we have made to bring it back [cannot be understated].”

Michael regularly traveled Route 66 as a child to visit family in Oklahoma, and he and Joann took the full trip together when they first moved to Indiana from their hometown in California. However, it wasn’t until just a few months ago that they found a photo negative from that trip, in which Joann had snapped a picture of the teepee structures and the sign reading “Exit 239” for Meteor City Road. To Joann, that was enough of a Meteor City Trading Post before it was abandoned. Courtesy photo sign that she was meant to reopen the trading post.

“I stayed there, we got to talking and next thing I know, they’re up here [helping],” Joann said. “They’re busting their butts A ROUTE 66 FAMILY Ed Klein is nothing short of a housemore than I could even imagine. I couldn’t keep up.” hold name for those familiar with Route 66 restoration work. The preservationist has And just like that, she became part of a helped many renovate their historic assets Route 66 family, made up of salt of the earth and rework their business model to better folks who care deeply about the history of fit the changing times. With better-known the route and the success of its remaining chain restaurants and shops often located businesses. just down the road, Klein helps owners Sanchez and Archibeque bought the hisrecognize what makes their establishment toric Earl’s Route 66 Motor Court in 2018, unique in order to attract customers. following in the footsteps of Lee and Floranel For Fender’s River Road Resort in Needles, Earl, and Rex and Lillian Marble, the latter California, it was an emphasis on its proxof whom opened the business in 1953 as the imity to the Colorado River—located right Marble Motel. Sanchez and Archibeque made in its backyard. For Meteor City, Klein ad- Jack Newsum opened Meteor City Trading a slight change to the name, adding Route 66 vised Joann to emphasize the historic aspect Post in 1941. Courtesy photo to the middle of it, but the rest has remained of the original Justice of the Peace building; largely true to its roots, including its colorful well as bring business to the route.

Jack Rabbit Trading Post is 30 miles down the neon signs. The couple lives on the premises, “I encourage everybody, every single per- and takes to heart their customers’ happiness. road and already has the tourist trinket market covered. Meteor City’s Justice of the Peace son that drives [Route 66], to talk to as many “We try to make them part of a family. building will be transformed into a museum people as you can,” he said. “[A lot of travel- That’s how they feel, that they have met ers will] drive, they see things, they stop at a long-lost family,” Sanchez said. “They feel outlining its story to draw in visitors.

“It’s the mindset of business as usual, and restaurant to eat, they stay in a motel, then like they’ve stepped back into time, and they business as usual doesn’t work,” Klein said they get up and go with very little interaction.” leave from here wanting to come back.” of what he imparts on these owners.

Those who take an impersonal approach When Joann needed help demolishing While the COVID-19 pandemic has when it comes to travel miss out on an inte- and hauling away vandalized mobile homes translated into a resurgence of car travel as gral part of the historic highway. Joann stayed at the back of the property, Sanchez volunpeople avoid flying to their destinations, at Earl’s Route 66 Motor Court in Winslow teered himself and his Bobcat skid-steer Klein explained those who might stop at when she first moved to Arizona and took the loader, clearing out several tons of debris. these businesses will have to do more than time to get to know the owners, husband and He believes in keeping Route 66 alive, and is just hop out of the car for a photo oppor- wife team Blas Sanchez and Angela Archibe- awaiting instruction from Joann to see how tunity in order to get the full experience as que, who both grew up in Winslow. he can help out next.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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The original Justice of the Peace building will be restored to serve as a museum.

Photo by MacKenzie Chase

“Right now it’s just mostly looking out for the place,” Sanchez said. “Every time I go to Flagstaff I stop and see what’s been going on.”

Joann has also found camaraderie in Cindy and Antonio Jaquez, who have owned and operated Joseph City’s Jack Rabbit Trading Post since 1995. A third-generation family business, the trading post has experienced its own share of ups and downs since it opened in 1949.

Cindy recalled struggling to stock the shelves with merchandise after the 2008 financial crisis, which, among other things, prompted many to stop traveling.

“We just didn’t know if we were going to make it day by day,” she said.

By 2016, things began looking up, with the upward trend continuing all the way until this past March when the coronavirus pandemic reached northern Arizona and Jack Rabbit’s sales saw a stark drop. Although classified as an essential business due to liquor sales, Cindy and Antonio decided to temporarily shut down the trading post 12 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

way down ever since. It’s really still quiet.

“This is definitely a hard job. Emotionally it’s hard, not knowing what’s coming is hard, but the people are amazing. We always talked about wanting to do something else, maybe selling and moving somewhere to try something else, but when all is said and done, I feel like this is the place we were meant to be, you know what I’m saying? It’s just a feeling of like a big huge family, and meeting new people that will be your lifelong friends forever. It’s a feeling that you don’t get anywhere else.”

BEST LAID PLANS

Inscriptions on the inside of one of the teepee structures. Photo by MacKenzie Chase before reopening the second week of May. “We had people traveling from all over the country to come for our opening day,” Cindy said. “It was amazing, but it slowed

Joann’s original goal was to welcome visitors to the newly renovated Meteor City on June 6, 2020. In the wake of the pandemic, however, many aspects of readying the business have been delayed, from securing permits to assurance that in-person gatherings were safe so she could invite local artists to sell their wares as part of a vendor market.

The art market is an important aspect

Teepee structures with notes written on the inside serve as a sort of time capsule for those who have visited Meteor City throughout the years.

Photo by MacKenzie Chase

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The land surrounding Meteor City Trading Post is home to jackrabbits and other wildlife.

Photo by MacKenzie Chase for Joann, who has seen the high caliber of talent in Flagstaff, and hopes to provide an affordable platform for those looking to sell their work to a traveling customer base.

“I want to give back,” she said. “Everybody should have a chance, you know? It’s an opportunity.”

Among Joann’s other plans are to pay homage to the 1984 science fiction romance Starman, which includes a scene filmed in Meteor City’s geodesic dome. A section of the dome’s interior will be dedicated to movie merchandise. One of the teepee structures next to the building will potentially be turned into an ice cream shop, as it had operated in the past.

“We’re behind her every step of the way,” Cindy said. “So many businesses are dying and going away right now, just in our little stretch from here to Flagstaff. We don’t want to see all that go, we want to see it thrive.”

Preservationist Klein, who is based out of the Phoenix area but grew up in Chicago at the eastern end of Route 66, currently works in IT, and has owned several successful businesses in the past. He doesn’t want to tout his personal accomplishments, though, and helping these owners isn’t about the money.

“I’ve never really made a dime off Route 66 in the last 11 years I’ve been on it,” Klein said. “I don’t want anything. I just don’t want the route to die, and it’s dying. But if we could grab it and slow the bleeding until 14 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

we figure something else out...

“I’ve always given,” he continued. “And the reason why is because we were told growing up, ‘If you do well in life, you should always give back.’ And so to me, this is a great charity. I’m saving some history and I’m helping people try to turn their lives around.”

For the Browns, they use every penny they earn from T-shirt sales posted on their Facebook page to buy paint and other supplies, and pay a portion of the electricity bill.

“We are not one of these types of people that had tons and tons of money in the bank, decided, ‘Hey, I just don’t want to work anymore, let’s come out here, and bam-o, we’re open,’” Joann said. “No, it’s going to be piece by piece by piece by piece. Call us fools, call us whatever—a lot of people would say that—but it’s worth saving, and nobody else was going to do it.”

THE ENDURING ALLURE OF THE ROAD

Despite its shiny exterior during its heyday, Route 66 didn’t escape the Wild West’s reputation for murder and racism as African American travelers relied on their Green Book to find which businesses would serve them.

In a 2018 book titled Pop 66: A Dreamy Pop Can Camera Odyssey Along Route 66, photojournalist Wes Pope wrote, “Changing attitudes about race, the treatment of

Native Americans, the country going to war again and again, the ecological disaster of the Dust Bowl, the story of the Okie Exodusters—are just a few of the histories and herstories embedded in the Mother Road. Beyond the souvenir shops, there is a poverty of the land and a toughness of the people.”

The more readily accepted version of Route 66 was immortalized in songwriter Bobby Troup’s “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66”—first recorded by the King Cole Trio in 1946. It was given the nickname the Mother

While Meteor City undergoes remodeling, Joann and Michael Brown encourage visitors to stop

by Earl’s Route 66 Motor Court and Jack Rabbit Trading Post.

Photo by MacKenzie Chase

Road in John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath and was featured in countless movies, but Pixar’s Cars (2006) really turned the spotlight back on Route 66 after its surface shine had dimmed.

“They nailed how it is for these small towns and for these business owners, and for these people coming in who just don’t get it,” Klein said. “[Director] John Lasseter absolutely nailed it. I tell people, ‘Until you’ve experienced Route 66, you’ll never truly understand [the struggles].’”

As the trains roll along the tracks to the

south and wild jackrabbits hop across the landscape, Joann and Michael get closer and closer to seeing their dream come true.

While Joann knows it might be easier if a business person with expendable income who saw Meteor City as just another asset dedicated their time to bringing it back, she doesn’t think it should be like that.

“I think it’s supposed to be something that’s felt from the heart,” Joann said. “I know how desperately hard each and every person works along this road, and I think that’s part of [its draw for me], the total ded-

ication. They don’t have any corporations.

They don’t open, they don’t make money.

“It’s also called the Mother Road,” she added. “It just keeps kind of taking care of us.”

Follow Meteor City Trading Post on Facebook @meteorcity66 and Instagram @meteorcityroute66 for up-to-date information.

Learn more about Jack Rabbit Trading Post at www.jackrabbittradingpost.com, Earl’s Route 66 Motor Court at www.earlsmotorcourt.com and Ed Klein at www.route66world.com.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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MATTERS OF TASTE

EAT AT THE REAL Ross and Kara Taylor started the successful FBOMB nut butter brand before branching out to the restaurant business.

Courtesy photo

Ross and Kara Taylor provide fresh meals for Flagstaff GAIL G. COLLINS

A

fter building the successful nut butter brand FBOMB, husband and wife duo Ross and Kara Taylor shifted gears to open their first restaurant, The REAL Kitchen. Expanding upon their healthy, high fat snack business, The REAL Kitchen was opened to create clean, quality meals for busy families like themselves. The soft opening, which tested the à la carte menu, had been a happy event. But the restaurant opened its doors just five days before Flagstaff’s citywide shut down in March to slow the spread of COVID-19, leaving the savvy small business owners a bit blindsided.

“No one expected that, and we are wholly invested—we don’t have financial backers,” 16 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

Ross explained.

The pandemic instead led the Taylors to focus on one of their secondary goals to keep the restaurant afloat.

“We had planned all along to do heat-athome meals,” Kara said; it just came into play sooner than they had anticipated.

The restaurant’s heat-at-home meals come as family style dishes, like beef stroganoff, smoky molasses pork tenderloin or custom choices with an array of sides. The meals also offer a wide selection of drinks from chardonnay and ginger beer to bubbly waters and kombucha.

The benefits of picking up dinner from The REAL Kitchen are convenience of preparation—flash-thawing, flat pack boil-in-bags that are table ready in 30 minutes or less— and quality food options with minimal additives and processing. As their website

An outdoor patio invites diners to sit and relax a while when they pick up their orders.

If you go The REAL Kitchen is open Monday-Sunday, 3-7 p.m., at 1509 S. Milton Road in the Sherwood Forest Shopping Center. Visit www.eatatthereal.com for more information and to place an order.

suggests: Don’t compromise, order online.

“We’re trying to offer value meals for the checkbook squeezed,” Kara said, but there is no skimping on ingredients.

Ross and Kara began their quest for clean eating with FBOMB, which has been praised

by Forbes, Men’s Health, PopSugar and ABC News. Their low-carb, high-fat snacks like keto-friendly bars, crisps and nut butters are naturally good and packed with energy.

The same attention to detail is applied at The REAL Kitchen. Finding suppliers that were up to their standards proved more difficult than first imagined, and they emphasize the importance of product quality all the way down the supply chains. Items are as organic and local as possible, from sources such as Arizona-based Shamrock Foods, Grand Canyon spices, NexVeg meat alternatives, Drinking Horn mead and veggies grown in Yuma.

The result is a gluten-free baseline utilizing only avocado, coconut and extra virgin olive oil in their recipes.

“There is something for everyone from vegan to carnivore,” Kara said. “A group with disparate needs can all eat here.”

Paleo chili, made with beef, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and sweet potato cubes, can be picked up in a flat pack and ready for dinner in 30 minutes. Courtesy photo Whether the dietary restrictions are selfor health-imposed, there is a variety of appetizing dishes available to diners. The goal is accessible food that is fast, but not fast food.

Batch preparation streamlines the practice for efficiency and no waste. Enjoy dairy-free chicken masala, Austin steak bites or NexVeg plantballs, or nosh on coconut oil roasted

cashews sprinkled with Redmond salt and smoked black pepper that taste magical.

“We oven roast everything,” Ross said.

“The labor is in the scratch sauces with better oils and quality ingredients, preparation and simplified cooking for consistency.”

Even The REAL Kitchen’s décor benefitted from the team’s ingenuity and handcrafting.

Ross and Kara brought in a crew of FBOMB employees to gut the space and rebuild it. A color scheme of scarlet and ebony is edgy against sleek steel and slate, but finds harmony in organic overtones. A leaf motif is found in the lighting, beneath the bar and table partition. Each leaf was hand-drawn and cut from sheet metal.

“That was Kara’s idea,” Ross said generously. “Every good idea was Kara’s.”

The REAL Kitchen reopened for Happy Hours on May 22, showing off a striking patio with its signature colors. A hotshot stopped in after a busy day and sampled the pork chili verde and sighed. She took a nourishing flat pack home to the family. She will be back.

“We are the little gem in Sherwood Forest,” Ross said with a grin.

Staycation Family-fun activities unique to Flagstaff . . .

Walking

tours

Ready, set, go ...

Creative Spirits

virtual painting events Paint your reality.

Beer Trail

Awesome ales, beautiful brews, and endless trails.

Foodie

I’ll have two of those.

Goodness abounds and awaits you as our chefs know homecooking has run its course.

Getaway Here Romance or family ...

You have the fun; leave the cleaning to us.

Flagstaff Authors

bookcation

Venture near and far – accomplished, thrilling, lively, passionate ...

... for links and more ideas visit discoverflagstaff.com/staycation

Naturee Walk Walks

At the Arboretum Roam miles of scenic pathways.

Museum of Northern Arizona

Online Events A treasure worth seeing.

PLEASE ADHERE TO REQUIRED CDC HEALTHCARE TRAVEL GUIDELINES, BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS AND HOURS, AND FIRE RESTRICTIONS. STAY, PLAY, DISTANCE AND MASK RESPONSIBLY. Summer 2020 namlm.com

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BY the BOTTLE

Beer for the

SEASON Refreshing brew styles include IPA, pilsner, gose ADAM HARRINGTON

J

Historic Brewing Company’s Oceanfront Property is a crisp and refreshing lager worth enjoying this summer— no ocean necessary. Photo by MacKenzie Chase

18 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

ust six months in, this has unquestionably been an unprecedented year for our world and our small businesses, and the brew scene is no exception. The plethora of locally owned breweries in northern Arizona have been challenged to find creative solutions in order to stay afloat and continue serving up their thirst quenching creations while large gatherings have been discouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Join me on a tour as I wax eloquent about Flagstaff ’s breweries and share what each has been up to lately.

Beaver Street Brewery, Flagstaff ’s oldest brewery, offers one of its most popular beers year-round. Red Rock Raspberry is a light ale at 4% alcohol by volume with hints of raspberry backed by a reddish hue. This beer is easy to drink and quite thirst-quenching on a warm day. For someone new to beer, or who typically dislikes the “beer” flavor, this is a great one to sample. A seasonal summer release from the brewery, Del Sol is an American light lager that is easy to drink due to its low alcohol content, low bitterness and relatively simple ingredients. This is what some refer to as a lawnmower beer—easy to drink while doing chores.

On to Flagstaff ’s second oldest brewery— by about three months—Flagstaff Brewing Company has brewed up a refreshing Kölsch-style ale that is sure to please the palate during these warmer months. Enjoy it while sitting on what may be the best brewery patio in town. (Beaver Street is a close second.) Occupancy restrictions are in place to follow guidelines from the CDC, but Flag Brew is also offering to-go growlers for those not comfortable with spending a prolonged amount of time in public at the moment. As for the future, the brewery plans to present a pre-prohibition style lager once production is at full scale again.

Wanderlust Brewing has recently started offering some of its brews in 12-ounce cans.

A current favorite spring and summertime beer is the Chateau Americana Belgian Pale Ale. A perfect mix of complex malt character on a light body, delicate floral aromatics and spicy hops complete this beer, making it the perfect warm-weather sipper. At 5% ABV, this beer is the complete package for a flavorful spring patio treat. If something with a little more oomph is closer to your style, then 928 Local is the beer for you. At 8% ABV, one would never know this beer is so powerful with how light the body is.

The incorporation of local honey allows the beer to be big in booze but light in mouthfeel while still packing in malt, delicate hops and locally harvested farmhouse yeast characters that leave a dry finish.

Historic Brewing Company offers its own share of easy-drinking warm weather brews

to the parched purveyor of hoppy suds.

Oceanfront Property is a light American lager that has been cross-bred with a Mexican lager, resulting in a refreshing, crisp beer that holds flavor and body in perfect balance. By adding a touch of lime, the brewery has created its Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal-winning Salt River Lager. A touch of citrus opens this beer up and reminds one of sunbathing on a beach south of the border. Another refreshing brew, Undercover Cucumber—a controversial seasonal that people either hate or love (or love to hate)—is one of my favorite porch side companions. This golden ale is dosed with pounds upon pounds of cold-pressed cucumber, producing a melon-like flavor akin to, as the brewery states, “spa water that gets you toasted.”

The brewers over at Mother Road Brewing Company have been flexing their creative muscles to add a fun variant of the popular Tower Station IPA. With a touch of grapefruit added to this Arizona staple, Roadside Grove is a hoppy, big and flavorful IPA that remains easy to enjoy in the sun.

Sunday Drive, an American hoppy lager, is a surprisingly well-hopped version of a traditionally lower-hopped style. Utilizing American hops that are typically showcased in IPA styles, they managed to squeeze out delicate aromas of apple and citrus along with herbal flavors to back it all up. Both of these beers are available in cans and on draft at the brewery’s two locations.

Lumberyard Brewing Company, owned by the same folks who started Beaver Street Brewery, has some great core beers available in 16-ounce cans, ideal to carry with you on the trail as hiking companions or to pour into a glass while watching the sunset. First Light Lager is low enough in alcohol content to successfully complement watching the sun rise or enjoying its watercolor display as it sets. This is an easy-drinking beer that is light in malt character and has a slightly spicy hop finish with little to no bitterness.

However, if more prominent hops are your thing, look no further than Hazy Angel, a New England Style Hazy IPA. The Haze Craze swept the nation a few years back and the people have voted: the haze is here

to stay. Hazy Angel boasts a medium body with malt character to match, and fruity hop notes with moderate bitterness. This IPA is a great place to start for those afraid of hops, or a place of comfort for those who love that green little flower.

We shall end our journey with Flagstaff ’s youngest brewery, Dark Sky Brewing. With four-plus years under their belt, the brewers of Dark Sky never seem to stop innovating and dialing in their brewing process.

With a summer-long release of a Kölschstyle ale that will be served in traditional Stange glasses and their occasional barrel-aged beer release, Dark Sky is the place for trying new things. A love of the Crispy Boi (pilsners and lagers) has led to a rotating single hop pilsner experiment. At the time of this writing, the featured pilsner was solely hopped with Amarillo hops, lending a character of ruby red grapefruit to a light, grainy beer. The next iteration will showcase Nelson Sauvin hops that offer white grape characters along with gooseberry and passion fruit notes. With the days being hot and experimentation being a focus of this brewery, Dark Sky is offering Fruited Gose Beer Slushies.

Gose (pronounced goes-uh) is a typically easy-drinking warm-weather beer that is slightly tart and salty. Adding some fruit to this style and then blending it with ice makes an astonishingly refreshing beverage for an afternoon on a hot patio.

That sums up our tour of the Flagstaff brewing scene and what this season has to offer the sun-kissed beer drinker. All of the aforementioned beers are available in to-go formats. As the summer days roll on, I look forward to watching the hop bines weave their way upward, to blossom their beautiful green cones that promise the next harvest to come.

Adam Harrington is the former Lead Brewer of Mother Road Brewing Company and currently owns and operates High Altitude Home Brew Supply and Bottle Shop in Flagstaff. He is a lover of beer and brewing, and is always happy to answer any question about either.

His store, located on Steves Boulevard and Route 66, carries a worldly selection of mead along with everything homebrewers need to make beer, wine, cider and mead.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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the ARTS

Emma Gardner works on a painting during the Museum of Northern Arizona’s annual Celebraciones de la Gente in 2018.

Photo by Ben Shanahan

LIFE IN DEATH Emma Gardner celebrates beauty of the macabre KATIE KING

‌F

or those who don’t already know Emma Gardner’s name, perhaps her art—in which she often depicts humans as skeletons—will strike a familiar chord.

These skeletons do everything from going to the acupuncturist to getting married.

They drink wine, dance and fall in love, often adorned or surrounded by deep rich reds and purples. They style their hair, wear hats, bike, ride rapids and lounge in parks.

They do everything we do—or used to do as of late—and remind us of the timely na- “Butterfly Kisses.” Acrylic paint with gold leaf.

20 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

ture of life. Are these skeletons doing what they missed the most during their time in the physical realm? Are they revisiting some of their favorite memories? Or are they showing us how fortunate our moments and opportunities are? The images are somewhat wistful, but as lively as skeleton paintings can be. The skeletons, mostly women, are very fashionable and can be seen sporting everything from snakes to boas to roller skates.

“It’s funny,” Gardner said during a phone interview. “When people see my skeleton pin-up girl collection, they have to think to themselves, ‘This woman doesn’t even have a body but she is sexy, so maybe it is more about the attitude.’”

For her, they are a symbol of humanity, and the art touches on the concept of dying well—living life to its fullest through humor, passion and vivacity.

Gardner is a third-generation painter.

She began her career in Flagstaff at The Artists’ Gallery as a jewelry artist, volunteering, promoting work and serving within the gallery’s committee for three years. She said this was a great way to get to know the local art scene, describing it as being less competitive and more supportive than in other cities.

Given its subject matter, Gardner said her paintings were often dismissed as “Halloween art” initially, and not taken seriously.

This perception changed for two reasons, the first of which being a permanent installation of her work at MartAnne’s Burrito Palace starting in 2002.

“Anne Martinez and her daughter Tina Duarte, who is the current owner, have been instrumental in my career as a painter, giving me a venue to show my art and making sure I’m not literally a starving artist,” Gardner said. “And the food is delicious. I worked in restaurants for over 20 years and feel like getting to know the community that way Diners at MartAnne’s are welcomed by an array of Emma Gardner’s paintings, including this helped me network and show my art. People portrait of Anne Ozmun in the front room. Photo by MacKenzie Chase can’t fall in love with it if they don’t see it.”

Her work also benefited from an important cultural shift in knowledge of the MexLearn more about Emma Gardner at www.emmagardner.com, www.facebook.com/emma. gardner.921 or on Instagram @emmakaygardner. The artist has pieces available for local ican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the delivery and shipping. Contact her for mural commissions and other art inquiries at (928) Dead). Death is not just something that per607-5039. meates our culture around Halloween; it’s a

For more information

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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Emma Gardner leads the Day of the Dead procession along Butler Avenue in 2015. The annual Day of the Dead celebration featured the installation of a community ofrenda, face painting and craft projects, as well as the parade through downtown Flagstaff.

Photo by Jake Bacon

pervasive and active part of our existence that many would prefer to shove into unseen corners of their minds, like miscellaneous clutter when a house guest arrives. Día de los Muertos faces death head on, with families remembering loved ones who have died through lively processions, altar building and more.

Gardner approached her now-signature style after being inspired by the work of Mexican political lithographer José Posada, moving his black and white images into color. Her work in Flagstaff benefits largely from sales from tourists, those who have passed through and remembered her art.

When asked about how she feels female-identifying artists are supported locally Gardner responded, “It’s interesting.

Sometimes I feel like people don’t take me seriously more because I’m short than because I’m a woman.”

She’s a strong supporter of her 22 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

“Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.”

Paint on wood panel. Courtesy photo fellow artists, and said she’s currently inspired by The HeArt Box founder Jill Sans.

“Her mandalas are so beautiful, and she is working so hard to be able to continue The HeArt Box,” Gardner said. “We all should be supporting her as much as we can. Her little gallery actually has a big impact for

Emma Gardner hosts an annual holiday art show with fellow local artists, and she often offers smaller pieces of her art for sale.

Courtesy photo many local artists, not just Jill.”

Gardner wears as many hats as an artist as the loft ones with which she adorns her skeletons.

Not a surprise to many Flag-

staff artists and small business owners, she spends only about 40 percent of her time actually making art. The rest of the time is dedicated to working on

taxes, buying supplies, shipping her art and doing office work. A fair amount of that time is also spent conducting research as many of her images are rich in symbolism.

During the pandemic, shipping has been running smoothly for her, although Gardner said she has missed the opportunity to go to thrift stores, which were closed during the state’s stayat-home orders, to scout her signature antique frames.

Gardner said she feels it’s her purpose as an artist to cheer people up during this time. She gave her sewing machine to someone who wanted to make masks for the community. During stayat-home orders, she released free-to-download coloring book images on her website for people to use and said she plans to continue this contribution.

Gardener added she just wanted to put some fun images up and

Emma Gardner’s work is currently on display in the waiting room of R&A Import Auto, located at 2932 E. Route 66. Courtesy photo give people a little break from their reality.

“Things might get difficult, but they don’t need to get ugly,” she said.

Gardner served on Flagstaff ’s Beautification & Public Art Commission for four years, and has donated her talents to paint theater sets for Flagstaff

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She has further contributed to the beautification of the city through commissioned murals in private homes as well as businesses like Salsa Brava and The Yoga Experience One of her most recent projects was a fundraiser for the endangered humpback chub,

a native fish of the Colorado River. She teamed up with the Sierra Club to provide a free virtual painting class, themed “The Colorado River,” on a Wednesday (Hump Day) to support the prevention of proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act regarding the fish’s current status.

Locally, outside of MartAnne’s, Gardner is currently showing her work in the lobby of R&A Import Auto, 2932 E. Route 66. While an unconventional venue, the repair shop has proven to be a dedicated supporter of local arts.

“Bill Porter, the owner of R&A, is a great guy and he has worked on my truck for over 20 years,” Gardner said. “So many of his customers were artists, he decided to put a gallery in his waiting room. He is a great example of how the community can help each other in new ways and create innovative spaces.”

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Summer 2020 namlm.com

23

MIND and BODY

Routine labwork for

EVERY AGE 24 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

GREENSHOOT MEDIA

Y

ou can feel just fine and still have hidden problems such as vitamin deficiencies and other issues that can be exacerbated if left unchecked. Here are some regular lab tests you should have at every age, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

20-39  Blood pressure: Your blood pressure should be less than 120/80. Elevated blood pressure means the top number, or systolic blood pressure, is between 120-129. The diastolic pressure, or lower number, is higher than 80. Hypertension starts at 130-139 and 80-119. Any number higher than 180/120, and you are in a hypertensive crisis. Seek emergency care.  Cholesterol: If you’ve had normal cholesterol readings, have your cholesterol checked every five years. A normal total cholesterol level is less than 200 mg/dL. High-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol levels, should be above 60 mg/dL. Non-HDL cholesterol levels should be less than 130 mg/dL, and your triglyceride levels should be less than 150 mg/dL.  Dental and eye exams: You should visit your dentist and eye doctor annually, especially if you have diabetes.  Breast self-exam and mammogram: You should be doing a monthly breast exam, but you shouldn’t be getting mammograms at this point unless recommended by your doctor.  Pelvic exam and Pap smear: Starting at age 21, you should have a pelvic exam and Pap smear every three years to check for cervical cancer. Also get screened for sexually transmitted infections. If you’re over 30 and your Pap smears and HPV tests are normal, you can scale back your Pap smears to every five years.

40-60 Have all of the screenings above, but you should now be getting a professional breast exam every year.  Mammogram: Women between 50 and 74 should get a mammogram every other year.  Colon cancer screenings: Once you turn 50, you should start being screened for colon cancer. This may include a yearly stool test, a flexible sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, a double-contrast barium enema or a computed tomographic colonoscopy.

After 65 All of the above, but now we need to worry about bone density.  Bone density test: If you’ve had a bone fracture, you should have a bone density test once you go through menopause or have other high fracture risks.  Hearing tests: Have an audiogram at least once a year.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

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OUTDOOR life

MEMORANDA FROM NATURE Field notes and observations during the pandemic

26 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

STORY AND PHOTOS BY SETH MULLER

‌F

rom the end of March through early May, I followed the state’s stay-athome orders—mostly. I avoided the built, human world, but could not help but visit our trails and forests and deserts, going to accessible but lesser traveled routes at mostly off-peak times. I was armed with hand sanitizer and a bandana doubling as a face mask. I gathered notes along the way, in which my missives on nature blended with the eerie and awe-striking pandemic.

Initial observations: Traffic turned slow on Lone Tree Road during my late March morning walk near the equinox. A herd of elk showed no hurry to cross the roadway, while a conspiracy of ravens met by the corner of Zuni and Lone Tree. The meeting was called to order. The scavenging business was usually booming, but they needed to stratLight therapy arrives with the glow of cliffs on Harding Springs Trail. egize for optimization given the projected downturn in road kill. Meanwhile, I carried He wanted to see the canyon verdant, thick with grass and flowers. We talked about the fear and resignation, anxiety and resolve.

I sorted through another feeling about the pandemic and what felt like an extended global pandemic: sheer awe. In the face of spring break into forever. I guessed him in his calamity, here, nature says: Show some reearly 20s. We apologized for the log removal spect. Here, nature says: Slow your roll. I and he shrugged. Log placement along the asked the forest about this during my walk. creek gave him something to do in the midst The forest only shrugged. Happens all the of the listless days. He didn’t mind the extra time. work.

A possible metaphor: On the warmest day in March, we hiked the Bell Trail to a swimming hole along Wet Beaver Creek. It was still too cold to swim, but a perfect day to study the flow. I taught the children about the upstream V—how it indicates a stone or shallow spot near the surface. The downstream V reveals an unobstructed passage.

We looked at increasing currents, hydraulic features and eddies. I started to wonder: Is the pandemic a gut-rolling rapid? I watched the sticks and leaves my children threw into the turgid creek and thought the answer yes.

We passed through a Great Narrowing. We entered the churn.

From a March 25 hike: My son Ezra and I walked the Griffith Spring Trail and beyond.

Patches of snow and standing water brought a seasonal magic and promise of wildflow-

Cathedral Rock in the morning along the Baldwin Trail. ers. The water flowed and sloshed through the shallow canyon home to the spring. Ezra wanted his stick, which he named Hairy for the clumps of moss, to ride downstream.

Logs blocked the way. I removed two, but noticed a man downstream who added a log.

We walked down to talk to him, but stood about 15 feet off. He explained he was laying logs to slow down the water, to let it soak in.

What I miss: I have missed the morning trip to the school bus stop, for Grace. Grace has not. She has hated the middle-school bus ride. When we started our trips to the stop last August at 6:30 a.m., we walked to the corner of Zuni and Masonic with the sunlight slicing between the trees. It kept us warm. By November, it was near black and freezing. We started driving down in the van. In February, we researched dawn. We learned that we have Night, which is all dark. Then, we have Astronomical Dawn. This is the earliest light. Next, Nautical Dawn brings enough light to make out the horizon. With Civil Dawn, the sun is just below the horizon and brings enough glow that artificial light is not required to carry out activities. Civil Dawn is often used to make laws around hunting, aviation and headlight use. We waited for this kind of dawn, but never got to officially welcome it as part Summer 2020 namlm.com

27

of our bus trips after the pandemic struck.

I have missed our light tracking, each day brighter. Grace will still hate riding the bus, but one day she might long for our celestial observations.

Closer listening: The week before Easter, I found communion with nature on the Harding Springs Trail in Oak Creek Canyon.

The path vaulted the eastern slopes of the gorge. Under the canopy of ponderosas, I visit with oak, maple, manzanita, yucca, currant and a carpet of ground-low purple flowers in the mood for spring. Zero people on this trail at this time of morning.

The birds made up the day’s soundtrack.

The cliffs glowed in the morning sun, symphonic. It was light therapy. It was canyon Eucharist. It brought a special kind of stillness. Later that morning on the radio, I heard that the Earth was shaking less. A seismologist in Brussels reported “a 30 to 50 percent reduction in ambient seismic noise” from the decrease in human activity. It was a good time to listen to the Earth. What did the ground have to say?

Lowland spring day: In Sedona, the day before Easter, where the verdant meets the tawny. Hours of red stone and Oak Creek to myself. Near dawn, I took a loop on the Baldwin Trail south of Cathedral Rock. Everything radiated. The ground and the flora and the sky. My senses swam in it. The cliff rose was baby-powder fragrant. The bees worked in dizzying spirals, a different flight pattern than the hummingbirds. They rocketed through the sky with bursts of trills. I sensed they wanted to break the sound barrier. I imagined the tiny booms they could release. At the end of the loop arrived a wild patch of ocotillo, arms up in celebration and buds at the ready. It was a new spring in the high desert. Soft flowers joined the spikes and spines. I embraced it all and sank myself into it. The morning ended at the water, where I hung my hammock by the creek. I thanked the trees that held me.

Hammock hung by Oak Creek near Red Rock Crossing.

crossing failure, soaked to the knees. I did an end run by going to the other start of the Huckaby Trail. I hiked to the bench placed in honor of Joshua Seth Williams. Halfway between the trailhead and the bench, water coursed through a draw. Pinyon jays attended to the serious business of spring.

Red dirt clung to my wet shoes. I took in the overlook of the city of Sedona. It was quieter than normal—way quieter. A silenced hive.

The rocky buttes did not seem to mind. They were going on being red, no matter if people were ogling them or not. They kept watch From an April 15 hike: Half-moon. Twi- on the gorges and slopes below, where the light moving to dawn at 5:45. Birdsong erup- flowers and bees were happy to return. tion. It was a busy time in Birdland. Birds have outnumbered people on all of my treks.

Important note: The Western Chorus The creek was swollen and I had a creek Frogs were croaking with several morning 28 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

announcements at Keyhole Sink. They predicted a greener year. The sink itself held a belly full of runoff, while a small cascade fluttered down the basalt walls. My children and I were on a field trip. Lesson one: Who lived here centuries ago? What messages did they leave on the stones? What happened when the world shifted under their feet?

Lesson two: What were the questions this place wanted us to ask? What did it show us? Lesson three: What can we learn about ourselves from it?

From an April 26 jaunt: A blue heron circled over the ephemeral wetland of Rogers Lake. I wanted to only write about that moment from this day, because it struck me as enough. The day brought more, though.

Rogers Lake is an important resource to many wildlife species.

Three mallards, a white crane and a massive flock of a kind of bird I could not identify from the distance. An explosion of feathers appeared where ducks had skirmished. A whip of a breeze pushed the feathers around.

Frogs were vocal here, too. Marsh grasses sprouted green among the brown. Spring was a force that could not be held back.

Mother’s Day at Red Mountain. A storm system welled up from the Baja. A May-day sneak peek at the monsoon. My wife Jane’s Mother’s Day present arrived with rain and storms.

Thunder bass-lined through the Red Mountain amphitheater.

Rain freckled the ochre-colored dirt. The petrichor perfumed the pinyon-juniper woodland.

At the mountain, the children climbed too high on slopes of volcanic tuff. We moved along

the carves. It appeared a fantasy-movie realm. What action set piece could unfold here? We found our own drama. The terrain provided more temptations to climb, despite unsteady footing. Ezra struggled. I ascended to him and we got low. We slid among the skittering pebbles, careful to avoid Mother’s Day injuries. I appreciated the distraction from everything else. I needed to focus on this moment, on the uncertain ground and my center of gravity. We made it to the bottom of the slope. We were OK. And, as we walked back to the trailhead, the storm passed on.

Seth Muller is a freelance journalist and author. He penned two Grand Canyon books: Canyon Crossing: Stories from Grand Canyon Rim to Rim and Heart in the Bony Middle. He is the former editor of Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine.

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DISTINCTIVE SPACES

Jake Bacon officially opened his tiny library phone booths at the end of 2019.

Photos by Gabriel Granillo

Across the pond British telephone booths transformed into libraries encourage literacy SVEA CONRAD

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hat defines a space? Is it the four walls that surround it? The ground upon which it has been built? The people that congregate within it, forming their own space through stories and conversations? In the case of two bright red British telephone booths in the Flagstaff neighborhood known as NoHo (north of the hospital), the answer is all of the above.

The two glossy red staples from across the pond stand like two gatekeepers, cherry red and gleaming, in front of local photographer Jake Bacon’s North Rim Drive home. They are tiny libraries, one for adults and one for children and teens. Their purpose, Bacon explained, is to make books accessible to Flagstaffians and passersby, young and old.

Tiny libraries have been multiplying worldwide the past decade or so, with 30 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

100,000 officially listed with the Little Free Library project, according to the organization. Millions of books are exchanged in them each year.

“The whole idea is getting the community involved, and for me community is everything,” Bacon said. “So it’s not just, ‘This is Jake Bacon’s project,’ it’s how I can bring the community together and get them excited about a project, that, yes, I shepherded along, but most of the books in here are donated.”

Getting the project to what it could be was no proverbial walk in the park, though.

The idea had been percolating for almost 25 years, with Bacon enduring several failed attempts to obtain authentic British telephone booths over the course of those two-plus decades. As symbolic as Britain’s black taxi cabs and double decker buses, he would settle for nothing but the real thing.

And then, in 2018, his dream began to take shape. Not only did he find one booth for sale—which had been rusting under an old willow tree in South Carolina for almost 30

years—that number soon became two, with a second one appearing in rural Pennsylvania, where its owner had flown it in from a junk yard in the north of England.

“I called the guy in South Carolina and said, ‘Look, you’ve got it listed for $5,000.

I will buy it from you, but I really think it’s worth $1,000.’ Finally he said $1,500, so then I called the guy in Pennsylvania, and he was like, ‘I think it’s a great project. I will charge you what the other guy charged you.’

It’s all about having that conversation with people,” Bacon said.

Then he and daughter Charlie (Spelling)—11 years old at the time—embarked on their cross-country pilgrimage.

“I was serious enough about this project and stupid enough that I was ready to strap a car hauler to the back of my truck and drive a 5,000-mile round trip and send half the money in advance. I managed to convince people that I was crazy enough that I would do it,” Bacon said, referring to a GoFundMe titled Tommy Needs a Kidney Jake Wants a Phone Booth, to which Flagstaff locals con-

tributed in swaths.

“The community put their money into this when they could have put it into lots of more worthy causes,” he said. ”They believed in what it could be.”

After a precarious nine days on the road with only minor hiccups behind him, Bacon began the restoration of the booths. Traditional British telephone booths are made of cast iron, making them susceptible to shattering from even the smallest of bumps in the road, and their panels are made of glass—though almost all the glass was broken years ago in the ones Bacon bought.

Over the course of about eight months, Bacon and a handful of experts sandblasted the booths, scoured for replacement parts, painted them, replaced the glass panels and fitted them with inner shelves for the books. The backs of the two booths, facing Bacon’s house, are covered by the entirety of one of Rudyard Kipling’s most famous poems, “If,” in which the English journalist, novelist and poet encourages readers to live a balanced life.

Throughout the process, Bacon said he had doubts the project would be completed as he had dreamed of for so long, as he took one step back for every two steps forward.

“This is such a huge project and there are so many other things that I maybe could or should be doing,” Bacon recalled thinking, “but I was so invested in seeing the finished product.”

This was not only because of his goal—“Not to just have it be a tiny library, but a standalone literacy project where

Both booths, one for adults and one for kids, are stocked with mostly donated books.

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Jake Bacon pets Rafiki while keeping a watch on his tiny libraries from inside his house.

“If” by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) If you can keep your head when all about you

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

But make allowance for their doubting too;

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

32 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

people could have an experience based upon getting a book”—but because of Bacon’s own personal connection to the telephone boxes and the country from which they hail.

Bacon’s father was an Air Force officer and Bacon grew up between Australia and England. When he was just three months old, his father died, so Bacon and his newly widowed young mother moved back to England from Australia to be with family. Bacon ended up completing most of his schooling in England.

“It means the world to me to have [the phone booths],” he said. “Now I’m more American than I am British. I’ve been here 30 years, so when I go back to England it’s very familiar, but I don’t really know how things work anymore.

It’s nice to have a piece of home here, though Flagstaff is home, too.”

Jake Bacon’s free libraries, located on North Rim Drive, are currently being sanitized daily to keep visitors safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inside one of the telephone booth libraries.

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Summer 2020 namlm.com

33

PLAYING FAVORITES

Love your

body,

soul

Feed your

HRG

Summer Sanders offers guide to self-love, health, beauty and happiness

W

TIM TARANTO

ith the allure of the Red Rocks in Sedona and the majesty of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, northern Arizona has long been a bastion of conscientious living practices and the healing arts. It is from this landscape that we are given plant-based chef, restaurateur and local author Summer Sanders’ latest book, Love Your Body, Feed Your Soul: Self-Care Rituals and Recipes for Your Inner Goodness (Skyhorse Publishing, 2020). Within its pages, readers are treated to the many rituals and recipes, wisdoms and musings that sustained and inspired the author along her own journey of self-love and mindful living.

“These are a collection of ideas and suggestions that were (and are) very helpful for me. As you’ll hear me repeat in this book, pick and choose!” Sanders wrote at the outset of the first section, “On Inner Work.”

Half cookbook, half wellness guide, Love your Body serves as a well-organized compendium of healthful practices. From useful mantras and meditation tips to homemade skin masks and hair treatments, holistic pregnancy and motherhood advice to plantbased recipes, this book is replete with information for readers interested in nutrition, 34 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

spirituality and where those worlds intersect.

For this reader in particular, it was in the pages of recipes where the book really began to shine. Starting with tonics, teas and coffees, and moving through beverages, soups, sandwiches and lighter fare before bringing it all home with entrees and decadent desserts, Sanders makes good on her mission to bring some healing to our cultural relationship with food.

Sanders is the author of another cookbook, Raw and Radiant (Skyhorse 2018), and owner of Flagstaff and Sedona’s Local Juicery juice bars, so it is no wonder that the nut milk, smoothie, shake and juice sections were particularly inspiring—so much so that whipping up the yam, cardamom and almond smoothie seemed almost like a requirement in the middle of reviewing this book. The end result did not disappoint. From the following section, the macadamia nut ricotta, fresh fig and honey balsamic crostini is next on the sampling menu.

It is also worth mentioning that the food plating and work of photographer Alexa Gray

are simply gorgeous. Shots of chickpea flour pancakes topped with cashew butter, microgreens and pickled watermelon radish, and raw blueberry lemon layer cakes are worth framing. A book on nourishing beauty deserved a bounty of voluptuous, glossy photos such as this.

But what makes the nearly 300-page hardcover especially compelling is Sanders’ personal narrative and journey from a young woman struggling with disordered eating, low self-esteem, alcoholism and depression into a confident and spiritually attuned woman.

“I remember the day I felt alive again,” Sanders wrote, recalling the moment her inner life began to change. “That morning I began a two-week juice fast, I meditated, took a walk to just enjoy nature, I quit drinking, I let go of the friends that were no longer serving me, and just focused on my well-being.”

It might be easy for some to eye-roll when reading about new age practices like juice fasts or self-care rituals, but Sanders’ voice and vulnerability make this read approachable and ultimately valuable to readers. This is a book worth gifting to a dear friend.

SPOTLIGHT alone was quite an honor. And then to bring the silver medal back to Flagstaff, honoring a book that was written, edited, illustrated and designed by Flagstaff people ... we could have flown across the San Francisco Peaks without an airplane, that’s how proud we are of the local team that made this lovely little book.

JULIE HAMMONDS Editor and publisher, Soulstice Publishing

What do you enjoy about working with a team to complete projects?

Tell us a bit about yourself. What drew you to a career in publishing?

I remember puzzling out the pronunciation of the word “college” on a street sign when I was first learning to read. My mom gently corrected me: “Say ‘KAHL-edge,’ not ‘kahl-EE-ghee.’” She was my first proofreader. Both parents nurtured my young brain’s love for words, my mom with notes in my lunch pail, my dad through letters we sent back and forth. Dad was also a great reader who kept piles of books around and took us on regular outings to the bookstore.

From an early age, I loved reading; the longer the book, the better. Then I started writing for my own pleasure in fourth grade and never stopped.

with stories and photos by the Flagstaff running community, celebrating our long-distance romance with an iconic Colorado trail run, the Imogene Pass Run. When I first heard the idea, I admired its community-building possibilities. I’m a runner myself, as Myles is, and we’re also both writers and editors.

Soulstice Publishing began in that intersection of interests and a shared commitment to making something meaningful together. We have two more books coming out this summer: Just a Teacher, a novel based on the life of Flagstaff educator Jim David, and Chasing Excellence, a biography of running coach Joe I. Vigil.

Did you consider going down other paths before coming to editing/publishing?

What have you learned from the process?

Definitely. It’s the multiple paths and game trails and detours that make life interesting, isn’t it. My college degree is not in English, as you might expect , but in natural resources conservation. After college, I tested out the working world in an environmental law firm and then as a land use planner. It took a while, but finally I found a job that combined writing and nature: I became the managing editor of Arizona Wildlife Views, the state’s wildlife magazine. In that role, I wrote dozens of feature articles about wildlife and wild lands. I also discovered the pleasure and challenge of coaching other writers. I still get deep joy from writing, but I would say the hours I spend editing and publishing books are equally fulfilling. I’m proud to help other writers achieve their dreams.

How did Soulstice Publishing begin?

Our first book, To Imogene, a Flagstaff Love Letter, was born in the imagination of my business partner, Myles Schrag. It’s filled

A publishing house sits at the intersection of art and commerce. Even a business like Soulstice Publishing, whose tagline “books with soul” expresses our commitment to meaningful creative work, has to make money. Having been a writer and editor for so long, I’m at home with the artistic side of publishing; it’s the commercial side that challenges me most. Each project is unique, calling on Myles and me to be daring, dedicated and diligent, as well as creative. We often feel like explorers out on the edge of the known world. Fortunately, we have a network of adventurous colleagues at other small publishing houses who generously share their expertise as we learn our way.

To Imogene took home the silver medal for Best First Nonfiction Book at the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards.

How did it feel to be recognized so early in the publishing company’s timeline?

When our first book was named a finalist in this prestigious national contest, that

A publishing house unites people with diverse skills around the shared goal of creating something bigger and more complicated than any of them could achieve on their own. When Myles and I worked on the Imogene book, the team included more than 70 local runners who wrote stories or sent photos, plus a graphic designer, a watercolor artist, two illustrators, a circle of advisors and funders, and the press that printed the book. I feel like a coach in such situations.

My goal is to meet each person where they are and give them the tools and knowledge to perform at their best as we make something beautiful together.

How do you see the future of publishing changing as technology becomes more intertwined in our lives?

The technologies for creating books have been evolving ever since book-making began. What doesn’t seem to change is that people love to read books. We lose ourselves in a novel whose storyline thrills us or tugs at our heart. We learn from passionate experts about a subject that ignites our curiosity. The technologies will continue to change, but publishers still play a vital part in delivering good books to readers, and I think we always will.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Our publishing company is named after the Soulstice Mountain Trail Run, so it will come as no surprise when you hear that I’m a trail-crazy mountain runner. I also coordinate columnists for the weekly High Country Running column in the Arizona Daily Sun. And I am the board president for a scrappy local theatre company now in its sixth year, the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival. I love to watch live theatre, and this company has created some magical moments on stage. I look forward to the day when it’s safe for us and our audiences to meet in person again.

Summer 2020 namlm.com

35

Use y o scan ur phone’s & boo came k y o ur tel ra to appo e intme nt tod health ay!

Schedule your check-up today!

North Country HealthCare is here to keep you healthy.

We are offering virtual medical and dental visits for the whole family.

Call to schedule a telehealth appointment today!

Keeping you healthy to do the things you love to do.

36 Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine

928.522.9400 northcountryhealthcare.org