The Final Countdown!

 Two weeks from today I will have essentially finished all of my responsibilities as an AmeriCorps VISTA for Montana FoodCorps! My time in Montana is quickly winding down, and I’m starting to take the time to reflect on what I've accomplished over the past twelve months.

It has been an incredibly long year, but I knew that it was going to be like this when I first moved out here. To cope with the isolation and loneliness that I knew would accompany life in small-town eastern Montana (and because I love goal-setting), I wrote three goals to complete by the end of my service; July 21, 2012.

These goals were:

1)      “Read all of the books that I should have already read.” This is fairly open-ended, but has provided great incentive for me to put down my mystery-thriller paperbacks in favor of real literature, and provided a little culture in a world that sometimes seems dominated by french fries and cowboys.

2)      “Finish writing a first draft of my novel.” I’ve been playing with a certain story in my head for the last ten years, and I decided that the fact that this story is still with me means that it needs to be written. My first draft simply requires a beginning, middle, end and basic coherence.

3)      “Learn to play the guitar well enough to justify buying an electric guitar.” I started learning to play the guitar in April, 2011 and decided that this is something I want to pursue. I love playing an instrument that people can sing along with, and making really loud rock ‘n roll music. Electric guitars are expensive, so I need to be more than a raw beginner to validate such an investment.

With the end in sight, I’m starting to examine how well I’ve done on these goals in the past 12 months. 

1)      My reading list:

The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand

Little Big Man- Thomas Berger

A River Runs Through It- Norman Maclean

Les Miserables- Victor Hugo

Hunchback of Notre Dame- Victor Hugo

20,000 Leagues under the Sea- Jules Verne

The Complete Writings of Mark Twain

Great Expectations- Charles Dickens

Bleak House- Charles Dickens

The Princess Bride- William Goldman

Complete Journals of Lewis and Clark

On the Road- Jack Kerouac

Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte

Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens

1Q 84- Haruki Murakami

The Audacity of Hope- Barack Obama

Three Musketeers- Alexandre Dumas

War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy

Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Rebecca- Daphne du Maurier

Around the World in 80 Days- Jules Verne

Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell

Grapes of Wrath and other stories- John Steinbeck

Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy (pending completion)

This year, I reaffirmed my affection for Dickens and lack of enthusiasm for Twain. I was surprised to find that I enjoy Jules Verne and can tolerate the Russian authors better than expected. I confess that although we agree on absolutely nothing, I was reminded of how much I adore reading Ayn Rand. I prefer the movie to the novel ‘The Princess Bride,’ but reading ‘Les Miserables’ was enhanced by the fact that I’ve seen the Broadway show, and was probably my favorite read of the year. I will continue my reading in the coming year in North Powder.

2)      My novel: At present it is 70 pages and has a clearly defined beginning, middle and end, though no title. Although I have a monumental amount of work ahead of me before it will see the light of day, I am thrilled with the progress I’ve made. I love my characters, I’ve been entranced by this plot since the idea first occurred to me, and I’m excited to have finally figured out the ending. Work on this story will definitely continue.

 

3)      The guitar: I started the year with three months of basic lessons  under my belt and a folk songbook "borrowed" from my father. Although I can’t claim to be a good guitar player, I am no longer a raw beginner. I can crank out Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock,’ the Band’s ‘The Night they drove Old Dixie Down,’ and McLean’s ‘American Pie’ with competency and have been pushing myself to learn new and harder chords. I’m not ready to join a band, but I’m dying to hear how the Fine Young Cannibals’ ‘She Drives Me    Crazy’ sounds on an electric now that I’ve mastered it on acoustic. 

Though my novel still needs a title, I have 200 pages to go on ‘Anna Karenina’ and I have yet to master the rhythm of ‘Hit me With Your Best Shot,’ these goals have helped keep me busy, and I’m ready to start shopping for electric guitars. Retrospectively, I accomplished a lot this year, and not just for FoodCorps!

Fire-Fighting FoodCorps!

 For the last couple of days I have had a sore throat and a hacking cough, but it is not a summer cold. It comes from the hazy blue smoke haunting Lame Deer, blowing in from the raging Ash Creek fire twenty miles east of Lame Deer. Since last Tuesday, the Boys & Girls Club has been acting as an emergency shelter for evacuees from the town of Ashland as well as home base for the Red Cross and Salvation Army. The electricity has been off and on for days, and the Club staff has been working 16-20 hour shifts to keep the shelter running. This fire is the number one priority fire in Montana, and my housemates and I have had our evacuation bags packed for several days should the wind change.

Despite the fact that this is a horrifying natural disaster, this experience has been inspirational. I’ve been responsible for organizing donations and have put in dozens of late-night hours sorting cans of food to dispense to the shelter in Ashland (taking me back to the days of packing food for Oregon’s Post Office Food Drive). Our gym currently acts as bunk room and mess hall for families who have lost their homes and storage space for the enormous mountain of donations the Club has received. The outpouring of support has been amazing, and volunteers at the Club have been putting in 110% nonstop for the last week. I’ve had the chance to meet some incredible new people and seen the monumental things they can accomplish in the midst of a crisis. We’ve had visits from the governor, both Montana’s Senators and our sole Representative, and Jan Napolitano of Homeland Security may be the next visitor we get. Local TV stations and journalists have become regular visitors, and tomorrow MSNBC will be stopping by.

The last several nights have seen me watering the garden at 2 AM, at the first break I’ve had. Because of the chaos at the Club, our plants have been low-priority. There have been days when Lame Deer has been at risk of running out of water, and so the garden has gone dry. Although it was hard to sacrifice the garden, I am grateful for every little thing I can do to make a difference. Luckily the water is back on, and there were only a few fatalities in the pumpkin patch.  

Life is going to continue to be crazy at least through the end of the week. The Club is going to remain open as a shelter for a couple more days, and we are anxiously keeping an eye on this fire (the “Ash Creek” fire) and the “Bad Horse” fire to the west, both of which remain largely uncontained and unpredictable. A potential thunderstorm tonight could bring relief in the form of rain, but also presents enormous danger because this region is a giant tinderbox, and a single lightening strike could spell disaster. There will be no fireworks this Fourth of July, and the annual Pow-Wow may be canceled. 

With less than twenty days to go in my term of service, I can’t help but laugh that Eastern Montana isn’t going to let me go out on an easy note. Every time I’ve overcome a challenge, a newer and bigger one has risen to take its place. Although I miss spending time in the garden with Club kids, working the shelter is equally rewarding and satisfying work, and I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people I have gotten to know through this experience.

If you want to read my update on the Montana FoodCorps blog, check here:  http://www.montanafoodcorps.org/2012/07/many-hats.html

This Month in Photos

“Anina, have you watered the garden yet? Can we do it for you?” These are questions that I hear every day now, and fill me with joy! Summer has arrived to Lame Deer, which means it is hot out, and I’ve been dreading the tedious hauling of watering cans from the kitchen sink to the garden, over and over again. Now, however, the kids at the Boys & Girls Club have a personal interest in making sure that it is well-cared for. 

The last couple of weeks in the garden have been exciting, fun, and great for raising awareness about this project. Recently the Club was lucky enough to be visited by Tony West, the U.S. Associate Attorney General, who took a brief garden tour and recommended that I “send Michelle some pictures.” It was exciting and inspirational for us all to see the Club recognized for the amazing things that it does in the Lame Deer community, and has been doing for twenty years.

Last week, we planted a “pumpkin” patch. It is not strictly pumpkins, however. This garden includes watermelons, sunflowers, and seeds from a “mystery bag,” which was my sneaky way of getting them to plant zucchini. Everyone marked their plant with flags I made out of duct tape and coat-hangars, and every day since then the garden has been under close scrutiny. Our first watermelon sprouted yesterday. We have also lined one wall of the arts & crafts room with sunflowers which we hope will provide artistic inspiration.

This week we were lucky enough to have John Youngblood come and take some amazing photos of us working in the garden and of the first radish harvest!

The plants already growing in our beds are thriving. The first strawberry has started to turn pink, and others aren’t far behind, to the delight of all my little girls. The lettuce has fallen victim to daily snacking (which is great!!) and I need to get the trellis up ASAP for our rising peas and beans. I hardly need to even visit the garden any more, since throughout the day I receive daily reports from my fellow gardeners. “My plant needs water!” “Someone picked an onion!” "There's another strawberry growing!” "My pumpkin is going to be HUGE!"

Finally, I learned today that I got the FoodCorps position in North Powder, Oregon! Starting in August I will be working with the North Powder Charter School to expand many of the fantastic projects they already have going to promote healthy fool, and enjoying being back in my home state! I owe a great deal of thanks to everyone who helped me with this- from editing my application to acting as references to tolerating my constant FoodCorps-related conversation. Although I'm excited about this next step, I will be a little sad to leave all of my wonderful new friends and gardening-partners!

Getting in the Groove

Planting flowers

Ten months into my term of service and I’ve finally found my groove! It took me a while to find my place in the crush of kids that the Club receives every day, but once I made a couple of friends I’ve spent every day having all kinds of fun!

When kids are on the playground, I simply follow them outside and holler, “who wants to play in the garden?” and at least 7 or 8 come running. Our activities range from counting the flowers on our strawberry plants (we’re up to 8) to planting peas to a playground-wide hunt for bugs. We’ve examined the buds emerging on our newly-planted lilac bushes and learned about how the weather influences the growth of our plants. The first taste of lettuce was declared “scrumptious” by all. 

I consider these informal lessons ‘guerilla FoodCorps’ work- although I might have a general idea of what I want to teach, developing a lesson plan isn’t practical and I make it up on the spot. This is a challenge, but it has also been enormously fun. Not a day has gone by since I started working with the kids that a child has not come up to me and asked, “When can we go outside? I want to plant today!” At times I regret how small our garden is because it has little work to offer kids on a daily basis. But then I remember that we have to carry water from the kitchen to the garden, and the small size seems more practical. I’m doing a poor job of restraining my enthusiasm, however- a pumpkin patch has already expanded outside of our raised beds and the Club’s mentor program is putting in apple and pear trees. All of the kids have requested watermelons, so we’re going to give that a shot as well…

Working in the garden only takes up a portion of my time. The rest of my time I spend playing vampire robots, making games out of picking up garbage, and dodging basketballs to the head. 

Our thriving pallet garden

I’ve also been making enormous effort to get out of town on weekends and visit my fellow FoodCorps members. I’ve helped out at a garden work day and learned line-dancing at a fundraiser in Red Lodge, and ran my first 5k in support of Livingston’s Farm to School Program (and then spent the evening sitting next to John Mayer at the local bar! See the latest issue of People magazine for details, page 130-133! I’m not kidding!) My free weekends are spent in Wyoming, strolling through downtown Sheridan’s adorable boutiques, cafes and bookstores. 

As my end of term quickly approaches (July 21), I am spending an enormous amount of time thinking (and worrying about) what happens next year. I have interviewed for FoodCorps positions in both North Powder and Salem. Although North Powder was originally my first choice, my interview with the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation left me excited and eager to serve with them as well. I should be finding out in the next week or so, and I will gladly accept either position should it be offered.

 

All this activity leaves me exhausted with my head spinning every evening, but it is incredibly satisfying after having spent so much time sitting idle this year. I have work, lots of friends (who are all about three feet tall and wear ‘Dora the Explorer’ tee-shirts); all in this funny little community that has welcomed me with open arms.

Working with Enthusiasm!

One of the most troubling aspects about America’s food system is that so many people are unaware that it is broken. When food is easily accessible at the grocery store, there’s no need for people to think any further than checking off their shopping list.

In my time with Montana FoodCorps, I’ve encountered a great many people who aren’t interested in changing the system. When they can afford to pick up what they need at the grocery store every week, it becomes awfully hard to convince them that something’s wrong.

Lame Deer is an entirely different experience. For people living paycheck to paycheck, the flaws of the system become obvious. They can’t afford what they’d like at the grocery store. What the grocery store has is neither fresh nor affordable because of the distance it travels to get here. Transversely, people can rarely afford to drive the 100 miles it takes to reach quality food. And all of these challenges are readily acknowledged by everyone who lives here.

Honor Ceremony at the Pow-Wow

 Because Lame Deer fully recognizes these challenges, my gardening project has been embraced with enthusiasm by the community. The Extension Office here has become my best friend as well as the Club’s primary sponsor for the garden. Co-workers now stop by my office to chat about caring for their tomatoes or to share sunflower seeds, kids bring me daily reports of the number of flowers on our strawberry plants, and I give tours to kids of the garden at my house and get them to try arugula. The Club welcomed me to the community with an honor ceremony at their annual PowWow, following which I was engulfed by the town's gardening population.

This week I met with the Greenhouse manager for Little Big Horn College on the neighboring Crow Reservation, to learn that we have exactly the same agenda. Her program runs a demonstration garden, offers a goldmine of gardening information within the community, and promotes the health and economic benefits that local produce offers. She is developing community surveys, finding partners, and spreading the word. She left my office with a list of plants the greenhouse will donate to the Club, and left me thrilled and impressed that this community is so ready to work to address the many challenges of food insecurity here. I hope that we can develop a partnership to increase the reach of both our gardens and raise awareness about the feasibility of growing our own produce in this region.

For the first time this week I worked in the garden with Club kids. I had them help me mix soil in pallet- beds and then each child planted a seed of their choosing in a milk carton. By the end of the hour, there were seeds everywhere, milk cartons had already been spilled and everyone was elbow deep in the damp soil making mud pies.

Though I’ve yet to establish order in the garden, the enthusiasm I’m working with makes every step far more fun since I’m working to moderate energy instead of having to relentlessly build it myself. One of the most important lessons I’m taking away from this year is that change comes from energy, but if there isn’t energy then change can’t happen no matter how much cheer leading I’m willing to take on. I feel privileged that I get to experience and learn about both sides of this challenge!

How to Build a Garden

It’s hard not to admire a brand new garden. Freshly-built raised beds, evenly-coiled hoses and neatly stacked tools are an inspiring sight to gardeners and food enthusiasts alike. How can tomatoes not thrive when planted in raised beds out of newly-hewn wood? Don’t peas always grow better on carefully-crafted trellises? Being a FoodCorps volunteer means I’ve seen and helped out in numerous gardens this year built at nearby schools, for communities and in greenhouses.  

It would be easy to get the impression that this is the only way a garden should be; fresh, pristine and organized. But although they look inspiring, these beautiful gardens are intimidating. The cost of lumber, potting soil, tools and materials adds up, and keeping a garden site looking like new can seem an insurmountable task for a new gardener. 

This is why I am especially excited about the garden that we’ve started at the Boys & Girls Club in Lame Deer. Since I’m here for only a short time, I don’t have much access to grant money. The Club has limited funds, which means we are building this garden on the cheap- and through the wonderful generosity of the local Extension Office. 

Our garden is made out of recycled (untreated) shipping pallets we found in the backyard. There is nothing fancy about them. They are heavy, rugged and full of splinters. I've spent hours pulling rusty, bent nails from their boards. They are filled with a mix of potting soil and red clay scavenged from a nearby hillside. They are lined with landscaping cloth, cut with children’s scissors and attached with my office stapler and plundered staples. No fancy tools necessary here!

We have 30 strawberry plants growing in the pallets along with some garlic, lettuce and onions. I water them with a kitchen pot because there isn’t a working spigot outside, and no one in town sells appropriate watering cans. We’re starting tomatoes and sunflowers in used milk cartons donated by the school, as well as every feasible container I found in my house. There are marigolds growing in a coffee cup and thyme emerging from the salt shaker. Starts are crowded onto my windowsill and front porch since we have no greenhouse. We’ll fertilize with my homemade Bokashi compost and what we can afford to buy at the hardware store. 

There is nothing fancy about this garden. This setup means more work, no doubt about it. My hands are still healing from the splinters acquired from working on the pallets. My back aches at the thought of carrying that watering pot out to the plants. But all of these inefficiencies make this garden even more relevant. This is not a community where people are going to buy fresh lumber for beds, or nice hoses to water with, or bags of new soil. Gardens are pieced together out of whatever materials are available. The extra labor is worth it if it saves money and gardeners can get a couple of fresh vegetables for their efforts.

The Boys & Girls Club garden isn’t just about bringing fresh food to Lame Deer’s kids. It’s about demonstrating to this community that gardening doesn’t mean colorful pottery or shiny new shovels, smooth green hoses or sharp clippers. This garden says that gardens don’t have to be an expensive or fancy affair. The strawberries will grow just as well in the pallets as if they were in beds built by carpenters. Lettuce does just fine being watered out of the pot as long as it doesn't get flooded. Our rickety pallets probably won’t last more than two years, and the Club may not always have volunteers willing and able to carry that damn bucket of water. But if all this garden does is illustrate to Lame Deer how accessible gardening can be, than it will be effort well-spent.

What's Funny...

It’s been an interesting first month in Lame Deer, and I’ve learned a lot. The most important thing I’ve been working on is my sense of humor. My mantra has become “remember, this will be funny one day,” and I’m getting much better at keeping this in mind.

So this week, here is a list of things that are funny:

1.       My home phone only works when it is less than 50 degrees outside

2.       My snuggie is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I take back anything I ever said against snuggies

3.       I’m growing thyme in a salt shaker

4.       My oven is my main source of heat at home

5.       “Delight in the Lord” is written on my bathroom mirror and I can’t get it off

6.       People “park” their horses in parking spaces and at the gas station

  7.       I started a garden at the Boys & Girls Club after being here for only three weeks

 

   8.       I’ve named my trailer ‘the Hatch’ (in reference to the TV show ‘LOST’)

   9.       The Lame Deer Hardware store is also the movie rental place

  10.   Thanks to wonderful people thinking of me back home, I have more dark chocolate and Oregon coffee in my cupboard than any other type of food

  11.   My favorite part of the weekend is listening to ‘Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’ while  doing a puzzle

12.   I am trying to figure out where to plant a hops vine at the Club

13.   My office desk is named the “time-out corner”

14.   I can play my guitar as loud as I want in the Hatch (which is way louder than I anticipated wanting to)

15.   Now that I have no access to it, I crave pop music

16.   A 200 mile round-trip drive made with joy to my favorite coffee shop in Miles City on the weekend 

17.   Upcoming TB vaccinations? 

18.   There are going to be 3 other volunteers living in the Hatch with me this summer.

19.   ‘Tub Thumping’ by Chumbawumba is my theme song (“I get knocked down/but I get up again/you’re never gonna keep me down)

20.   Time goes way faster here than in Forsyth