!!!!!

Guess what I get to take with me!? 

(No, it's not the cat!)

I have a pretty cool Aunt :)

Going to the Sun

This morning I woke up for the first time with the sun in my face. I sprung out of bed and went to go look out the window at the mountains- I could see them perfectly, there was hardly a cloud in the sky! I didn't waste any time. I fed the cats who were clearly annoyed that I had slept til 8am hungry for their breakfast, and got in the car. Over the past week I have gone to Whitefish a couple times, each time passing the sign for Glacier National Park with a sigh because of the weather. But today, I excitedly took that right turn, and headed to the park. It was fun to drive on Highway 2 towards the park because you are headed right toward the mountains the whole time watching them gradually get larger.

I made it to the park, and found out from the ranger that only 10 miles of "Going to the Sun" road was open due to the snow. I was ok with this, paid my $15 dollars and drove until I couldn't drive anymore. Sometime in the future I will have to come back to drive the entire length of the road. It goes right through the heart of the park, and has some spectacular views from what I have gathered from the internet. I pulled over to the side of the road to park, got out my hiking boots and wandered along the side of Lake McDonald for several hours. I took a lot of pictures, but again, I have yet to find my camera cord so you are going to have to settle with my phones pictures for today.

This picture does not do it justice at all. It was so amazing to stand on the bank of this lake and see these mountains. The water is so clear, that I bet you could still see all the way to the bottom if you were at its deepest spot. I found a spot that jutted out into the lake a little bit, took a seat and just took it all in. At first I couldn't get over how quiet it was, there was no highway noise, no noise from people, and the water was just so still. But once my ears got used to it, I heard so many things. I could hear the snow melting from the sun beating down on it, the very quiet sound of the water lapping up on the banks, birds chirping, and the breeze making its way through the trees ever so softly. Its amazing the things you can hear and see once you clear your head.

Eventually and reluctantly, I made my way back to the car. I stopped by the visitors center on my way out of the park to grab some post cards (so check your mail!) and headed back to Kalispell. I got back around 4pm and decided to take full advantage of the sun. I got out the deck furniture they have stacked in the corner for the winter, grabbed a Montana beer, turned on NPR who was playing some fabulous jazz music, got my book and my journal out and soaked in the sun. The cats had the same idea. The four of us (me, plus the 3 cats) stayed out there until the sun went down peering out at the mountains and following the bald eagles soaring overhead. Here is the view I had this afternoon:

I was really excited when my phone rang and I saw coopers face on the screen! Cooper, who has been at basic training for the past several weeks, has very limited phone access and so I was really excited to chat with him if even for a couple of minutes. Last he heard I had just accepted my job in Seattle, so he was curious to hear what I was doing in Montana. Following that I got a call from my Mom and was able to catch up with not only her but the whole family! I can't wait to have them come visit this summer!! hint hint :)

Anyways, I finished the evening by making myself some grilled zucchini and a sweet potato. This was a nice treat since I have mostly been juicing the whole time I have been here. Heres to healthy beginnings!

Spending time getting to know Flathead

This week I have been out exploring the Flathead area. I found a couple of cute coffee shops in both Kalispell and Whitefish where I have been able to go to get some reading and writing done in a fun and relaxing atmosphere. I have also been able to go to a couple of movie/documentary showings.

On Tuesday I went to the Flathead Valley Community College showing of Miss Representation  which was a really great documentary on Women and the media. It did an interesting job of giving facts of how little women are represented by media companies, especially women in positions of power and influence. The film used examples of how famous women in politics are under completely different scrutiny than men. For example, when Hillary Clinton disagrees with someone, she is considered to be complaining or bitching and people blame it on PMS or menopause. Whereas if a male politician were to make the same statement they would be simply stating their opinion on the matter. If you have time and are interested in gender, you should check it out.

Since the days have all been cloudy and snowy, I have been restricted to sticking around the cities. I have really been wanting to go on the "Going to the Sun Road" which heads up towards Glacier National Park, but after my experience driving in the snow on the mountains with my car, I am not too anxious to go up there with this weather.

On Thursday, Aunt Kim arranged for me to meet up with one of her friends Lisa and her niece to go to the Mountain Film Tour in Whitefish. We met up and had pizza and some wine before heading over to see the films. There were a couple that were really moving, funny and some that were down right crazy. I will link some of my favorites that are short so you can take a peek on youtube:


Kadoma: "Kadoma" was a nickname for Hendri Coetzee, a legendary South African kayaker who had explored some of Africa’s wildest rivers. In December of 2010, American pro kayakers Chris Korbulic and Ben Stookesbury followed Coetzee into the Democratic Republic of Congo for a first descent of the dangerous Lukuga River. Seven weeks into the expedition, tragedy struck. Coetzee was paddling tip to tail in between the other two men when a fifteen-foot crocodile surfaced silently and swiftly pulled him underwater. He was never seen again.

Mr. Happy Man: Johnny Barnes is one of the happiest people in the world, and his main goal in life is to share that happiness. This humble and lovable Bermudan wakes up at 3 a.m. every morning and heads to one particularly busy intersection to stand, wave, blow kisses and shout, “I love you!” to passers-by. Crazy or not, Johnny has a lot to say about what it takes to be optimistic and happy. And he has brought smiles to the faces of thousands who would have an otherwise dreary morning commute.

Way Back Home: With trial bike in hand, Danny MacAskill returns to the old country to try a few new school tricks. Filmmaker Dave Sowerby captured MacAskill at play in his hometown of Dunvegan, Scotland. 

And by far the funniest:
Animal Beatbox: What is the true call of the wild? Here we travel down a very special river and are introduced to a wide variety of animal kingdom members, each of whom contributes their name for the sake of music. Look for the monk-ey.

You should check them out if you have the time! 

I made my way to Missoula today which was fun. Walked around the downtown for a bit before I decided that since I was in Missoula, I had to walk up to the famous "M." So I did. My calves might hate me right now, but it was a great view of the city. Once I find my camera cord I will be sure to post some pictures. Plus the view of the mountains and lake on the drive to Missoula were spectacular! I kept pulling over to get the same picture of a different view of the mountains because I just couldn't get over how beautiful they were! Despite the 40 degree weather, I have really been enjoying my time here! Enjoy the films :)

23 hours of driving to Montana...

To start off my trip a little early (my internship does not start til the beginning of April), I decided that after years and years of wanting to go to Montana to visit my Aunt, now is the time. I emailed her a couple weeks ago and said that on my way to Seattle I would love to visit. It just so happened that she has a wedding to attend in Guatemala and needed a cat sitter. So I packed my bags a little earlier than planned, filled my car up and hit the road. I decided that it was necessary to stop and sleep since the ride would take me 23 hours with no stops... When checking out the map I saw that Mt. Rushmore is in the middle and would be a great place to not only catch a little sleep but to check out an awesome monument that I had never before seen.
The first day's drive was easy and this is pretty much all I saw: (all these pictures were taken with my phone and are pretty poor quality, sorry!)

This was taken in South Dakota where I had the windows down because with the sun bearing down it was a steamy 90 degrees. It did however give me the opportunity to learn that my car either does not have air conditioning, or I do not know how to turn it on, really it could be either. Once I hit the Black Hills it cooled down luckily. And the views were amazing! I think it's all in the plan to make you hate driving on the flat prairie for hours and hours to make you really appreciate the hills and mountains. Plus they just pop up seemingly out of nowhere! Once I got checked into my hotel in Hill City around 5pm, I hopped back in the car to check out Mt. Rushmore. I wanted to make it there before the sun went down, since I knew I had to leave early the next day. I got there with perfect timing. Drove through the practically deserted Rapid City with its western style main street. Found a very deserted (almost creepy) parking lot and hiked to the monument.

It was neat to actually see the monument. I would like to go back some day to spend some time to explore the area more, not so much the touristy 'western' main street that is right outside of the monument, but the hiking and caves that surround the area. I drove by Crazy Horse which is not quite done yet, but it was fun to see signs for it, turn a curve and all of a sudden see the shape jutting out of the mountain side. It will be amazing once it is finished. 

I went back to my hotel, grabbed something at a near by grocery store for dinner and promptly crashed at 9:30. Woke up at 5am the next day for no apparent reason other than I wanted to get the long drive over with and arrive in Montana as soon as possible. I had to wait around for breakfast since it didn't start until 6:30. As soon as I ate I hit the road again. I decided to follow the route that my phone's GPS had laid out for me instead of following the route I had picked out before, because it was 'shorter,' and took me through more state parks- so hey, why not? I love the mountains and would like to see as much of them as I can, so I followed the phone. It took me on a couple of interesting roads up some of the mountains (ok, they might be hills for locals, but I am from IOWA!) with hairpin curves that had me gripping the steering wheel with my sweaty hands, but eventually I came to the end of the park in one piece. Then I was back on flat land. That was when I started to see some dark clouds gathering around the mountains that were starting to peak up in the distance.

Needless to say once I hit those clouds the rain started to pour. Conveniently enough, that is also when I arrived at the base of a mountain range so it was back to tightly gripping the steering wheel and sweaty palms. I did stop for a bit, because I am not so comfortable driving in that weather not knowing where I am going. The rain eventually subsided though, and I was all of a sudden in the mountains. Off and on I hit more weather, in the higher altitudes I hit some snow. It was crazy to go from 90 degree weather where I was complaining about my AC not working to turning my heat up in less than 24 hours. But then again, I am from Iowa and should be used to this by now... 

 This was probably the worst the roads ever got. Mostly just slushy highway, but not too slippery. Then again I was driving slow. It wasn't long before I was almost at my destination and started to see the beauty that Montana is. I ignored how tired I was of driving and pulled over to snap this:

I wish I wasn't driving so I could have oooh'ed and ahhh'ed the sights, but I was on the side of a mountain so I kept my eyes on the road. Like I mentioned before, that morning I had decided to take the route that my phone had set out for me instead of the one I looked up on my computer. This had worked for my trip so far, so I wasn't worried. That was until I started going over mountain ranges, and lost all cell phone signal... Basically growing up with a phone by your side at all times you get used to being able to find things by yourself without  having to pay attention. If you are lost just get on google maps, or call your parents. It's always been that easy. So it was a little unnerving when I lost all connection (for over an hour! can you imagine!?). Luckily as I was driving I was paying attention and had seen signs pointing towards Missoula. I knew that Kalispell was just north of that, so I followed the signs to Missoula until I was back in cell phone range. By that time I had added probably another hour onto my trip, but c'est la vie. I eventually made it to Kalispell where my Aunt greeted me with a hug and a warm bed. Where I crashed. The next day this is the view I woke up to outside Kim's house:

This is the best picture I have been able to get since I have been here because it has been raining and snowing. I am very excited to get out and explore more over the next week. I really hope the clouds go away and give me some sunshine and clear views, if even for a little bit. More to come later in the week! 

Start of a new Adventure...

Well, here I go!

I accepted a job at Laughing Crow Farms on Bainbridge Island just outside of Seattle, WA! I am so excited to finally move on to the next part of my life. Over the past couple of months I have been looking for jobs on some type of farm. I looked into the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) program, which seemed like a great idea... until I checked my bank account. I then decided to look at some programs that not only provided housing but paid as well. So I plugged in "Organic Farm Opportunities" into the trusty google search engine and found a website that listed internship and apprenticeship programs all across the U.S. and Canada (here). I updated my resume, and started to email farms like crazy. I heard back from several, but was really excited about a couple in particular. See, not only do I want to learn how to grow food, but I want to be able to take that experience and share it with others.

Let me do a bit of a back story:
A couple of summers ago, I was working for the RRTTC (Recycling & Reuse Technology Transfer Center) and had the opportunity to work with Price Labratory School on developing their school garden program. I met one of the most amazing people- Julie Fisher. She was a retired German teacher, and loved Price Lab School (her daughter taught there). Over my first few weeks working with her, I quickly realized I had no knowledge about what it took to even run a small scale garden like the one we were dealing with. But, not to worry- she had years and years of knowledge. Every day that I would go meet her at the garden, she would always teach me something new. I learned that to keep those bugs who love broccoli off of the leaves, you had to stroke them everyday with your hands to ward them off. I learned how easy it was to grow potatoes, how to best use a limited amount of space by organizing your plants by height.  I had to work so hard to even keep up with her as she was always moving and doing something. Me, a 22 year old college student matched with an almost 80 year old small woman! It was amazing. I was so motivated every day to work and help out because every day in the garden there was something new. New things growing, vegetables popping up on the vines, flowers blooming. I would go to pick weeds around the tomatoes and be stopped to learn that you can actually make a great salad out of most of the things I was tossing into the compost!

The most rewarding thing I found, however, was I was not the only one excited. Every day kids from the school would come outside during their recess and instead of going to play kickball with their friends, they would show up at the garden and ask for a job. They would harvest the tomatoes with giggles as they filled their baskets. They were so excited when they saw little sprouts popping up out of the soil from the seeds they had just planted days ago. These kids would follow Julie around all day, and ask her question after question about why this plant looked different from the others, how long would it take for the beans to show up, how did a huge zucchini grow from that tiny little flower? And question after question Julie would answer with enthusiasm. I think I learned more in those short months than I did in my high school biology course! It clicked one day for me, why is there not more of this going on? Inside those school walls teachers were using books, pictures and the internet to show the growing process of plants when it was going on all around outside! It made so much more sense to bring those kids outside- to have them plant seeds and see the process happen in front of their eyes! Now I do have to say, that the teachers at Price Lab were some of the greatest I have ever met. They did bring their kids outside and provide hands on learning more than any school I have ever seen. But to me it seemed like common sense to bring all kids outside- think of all the learning that could happen with all subjects. Bring the art class outside to draw, paint or create. The english class to be inspired to write stories about what they thought of the garden. The possibilities were endless.

So, after all of that I wanted to pursue a job that involved working with kids outside. I had no idea in what capacity or if there even were any jobs out there. The program at Price Lab was funded through a grant at the University. Could there be more programs out there that were funded by the school itself, or maybe other non-profits in the area. Was this a growing field where I could possibly one day find a full time position with benefits? I thought, why not? I have seen changes over the past several years with people realizing the importance of healthy food. Food without GMO's, chemicals, pesticides, and processed stuff that leads to disease and poor health. If people were actually starting to pay attention there has to be some interest in teaching our kids. I could go on about the importance of local/organic/raw foods all day if you let me, but I trust that if you know me you understand- or at least have read or watched the numerous materials I have told you about :)

So, here I am. About to embark on my adventure to Bainbridge Island. This island, I just learned, has a long history with Japanese and Japanese-Americans (http://www.bainbridgememorial.org/). This island is where they exiled the Japanese from the West Coast 70 years ago during the War. I am actually going to be living the historic Suyematsu Farm House. I will go into more detail about this once I learn more.

My internship I have been told will be split almost 50/50 with half my time spent learning about organic farming on the island, and the other half spent working with teachers to develop curriculum for those wanting to incorporate farming education into their classroom learning. This is a pilot program run through an organization called Global Source Education (Click here for more info). I am very excited to work for Betsey and Brian who are both so passionate about expanding their farms to not only provide healthy produce for the area, but to teach and educate others.

I hope this provides a little bit of background and introduction to what I will be writing about over the next 8 months. I am excited and nervous all at the same time! I will try to write as much as I can. Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for reading :)