Branding at the St. Labre Ranch

Last month, Annie, Sarah, and Harry traveled out to the St. Labre Ranch yet again to help out with their annual calf branding. A handful of St. Labre employees and students, along with a group of students from Pretty Eagle School all spent the day loading about 200 calves into the squeeze shute to be branded, tagged, and vaccinated. Eager to get right in the action, Annie, Sarah, and Harry volunteered to jump into the corral with the calves and help push them along through the shute. After putting on goalie-sized shin guards and hopping down into the corral, the three of us soon realized that getting 200 calves into the shute was no picnic! We held our own, however, and I'm sure that everyone present on the sidelines enjoyed watching a group of city kids try to duke it out with a bunch of cows. And even though at the end of the day we were covered head to toe in dust, sweat and occasional bruises, it was an awesome afternoon and one of the more memorable times we have had this year.

Bowling!

Sometime after Christmas we had a community meeting in which we decided we wanted to go bowling together. We looked at our calendars and determined that the first free weekend we had was in March. I'm not sure what happened back in March, but we didn't go bowling. Last weekend our much anticipated bowling outing took place!

On Saturday afternoon we drove the 45 miles to Broadus for a day of bowling fun. I think we were all shocked when we walked into the bowling alley to find only four lanes in the whole place. We were also surprised to be the only group bowling on a Saturday afternoon. Some of us used bumpers and discovered that when you remove the bumpers your score can decrease by 100 points! Others of us discovered that without bumpers your score sometimes doesn't even reach 100 points. We all bowled three games and had a really great time trying to catch the action in photos.

Bowling all afternoon helped us work up a big appetite and we stopped at one of the restaurants in Ashland on our way back home. We all enjoyed burgers, fries, and pops (or in some cases the tiniest can of apple juice you've ever seen). We also got really excited about the "mud pie" dessert option only to be told it wasn't actually available! Despite our disappointment over not having dessert it was a great day spent with our great community!

A Retreat for the High Schoolers!

A few weekends ago, the seven of us held a retreat for the St. Labre high school students at the buffalo ranch. James had the original idea for the retreat back in the fall, and all of us were on board immediately as we thought it would be a different way to get to know some of the high schoolers. It also gave us an excuse to go back to the ranch for the weekend!
After many late nights planning and re-working our talks, we headed out on the St. Labre mini bus on Friday afternoon with 6 students in tow. We wanted to keep the weekend pretty relaxing, so we combined some of our activities with time spent outdoors exploring the ranch property. Some of our favorite moments from the weekend happened while we were riding in the back of pick-up trucks enjoying the warm weather and beautiful views. We concluded the day with a bonfire and smore's, and by the end of the weekend it seemed everyone had enjoyed themselves!

Eggcelent Easter Eggstravaganza!!

Our Easter activities began the Saturday before Easter with a community-wide egg hunt in Ashland. In order to prepare for this big event, Annie, Cori, Peggy, and Sarah individually stuffed 1,000 plastic eggs with candy and then hid them the morning of the hunt with the help of Jess, James, and Harry. The egg hunt drew crowds of kids eager to get the most candy and win an Easter basket to take home. The boys grilled close to two hundred hot dogs and hamburgers, while the rest of us served up tater salad and beans.


On Good Friday, all 7 of us traveled up to Hays to join Missoula and Billings for the Eggcelent Easter Eggstravaganza! Saturday was our big Easter dinner featuring commodity ham and other assorted dishes, and then we joined the rest of the Hays community for the Easter Vigil Mass. Although the mass was a tad long (three hours), it was filled with many funny moments, thanks to the dynamic duo of Father Joseph and Sister Laura. Sunday began with an egg hunt sponsored by the Hays JVs, in which we were split up into communities to see which house could retrieve the most eggs from the house/yard. Hays ended up winning (home field advantage)! Afterward, we took a drive through Mission Canyon, and we all came out unscathed despite a minor mishap involving James, Annie, Kelly, and a large falling boulder.
Sunday evening, we did what all JVs do when they gather in large groups...made prank phone calls. After Sarah's second batch of fudge was almost wiped out and a few of us were overcome by a rare condition called "the fudgies," it was time to hit the hay. We headed out early Monday morning, and as soon as we were out of cell phone range, we got a flat tire. Jess, James, and Harry took care of everything, and we were back on the road to Ashland in no time.

Weekend Getaways!

Two weekends ago we traveled to St. Labre Ranch for the second time this year. The ranch is located about two hours away in Custer, MT and is owned by St. Labre. The first time we went we all realized the true meaning of "middle of nowhere" as the ranch spans 20,000 acres and no matter where you look all you see is land. It is a great place to go when you're looking for some peace and quiet.

The best part about the ranch is getting to see the buffalo! Ray and Rose, the ranch managers, took us out in a pickup to help feed the herd. Some of the buffalo are so used to being around people that they actually ate food pellets right out of our hands! In case anyone is wondering, buffalo tongues feel like sandpaper and are freakishly long! Besides feeding the buffalo, a weekend at the ranch gives us time to relax and enjoy each other's company.
Last weekend we went to Hays to visit the 5 JVs there who were celebrating the dedication of their new school building. In 2008, the Hays elementary school was burned down and since then, the school had been operating out of makeshift trailors while awaiting the completion of the new building. Construction was finally finished in January, and the Bishop came last weekend for a blessing of the entire school. It was a very happy day for all of the students and staff at St. Paul's Mission School, as they had been waiting a long time for this! We were very excited to travel to Hays to support our friends, and I think we we all enjoyed the beautiful views on the ride up there! In fact, James timed the drive almost perfectly so that we drove through the mountains right as the sun was setting. And of course, stopping in the awesome town of Roundup was also one of the highlights of the trip.

1 hour down...12 to go!!

For our second retreat of the year, we traveled all the way to Valley, Washington (a 13 hour drive) for the weekend. Although it was a long trip, the drive through the mountains was absolutely gorgeous and made the trip worthwhile. It's always great to see more of western Montana and Idaho, and according to Harry, Wallace, Idaho was the best pit stop we've made all year!
This second retreat was centered around social justice, and it was really empowering to sit around as a collective group and talk about the injustices we see at our jobs, why we see these injustices, and what we can do to make an impact. I think many of us came away from retreat feeling relaxed, inspired, and hopeful.
In order to split up cooking for such a large group of people, Emily and Bruce put each community in charge of cooking one meal for the weekend. Ashland was in charge of cooking squash for Sunday dinner, and as usual, the prep time in the kitchen soon turned into a dance party as we all paraded around the kitchen in our aprons and hair nets. We turned what could have been a boring hour and a half in the kitchen to a bumpin' par-tay! James and Harry were most enthusiastic when it came to the dancing (naturally), while the women held it together to produce a delicious meal for everyone.

We Dabble in Quilting

Last Fall, Annie, Sarah, and Peggy began taking a quilting class at the Prayer Lodge in Busby. The class is taught informally by a woman named Sis, who is known in these parts as the Queen of Quilting. Even though none of us had any experience with a sewing machine, we jumped right into it and began working on lap quilts to donate to the Prayer Lodge.

The first few weeks proved challenging, as we were not aware how precise our measurements had to be or how difficult it would be to try and sew in a straight line. But, after months of hard work, ripping out seams, and yelling at sewing machines when the bobbins fell out, we finally completed our first quilts! They are hanging proudly in the main gathering room of the Prayer Lodge while the three of us are moving on to our next projects.

Not only did we learn the fine art of quilting while at the Prayer Lodge, but we also made connections in the greater community. And learning how to sew became very helpful during the holiday season, as all three of us made homemade gifts for friends and family!

It's All Fun and Games...Until Someone Flips the ATV!

Over the past few months, we have befriended a teacher from the middle school who has been kind enough to invite us television-deprived JVs over to watch some football games. Last Saturday, we kicked it up a notch and utilized her snow tubes and ATV for a fun day in the snow. James hopped in the driver's seat and Peggy, Sarah, Annie, and Jess were brave enough to let him pull them on snow tubes around the property.

James started off going easy on the girls, but once he was comfortable enough with the ATV, he really stepped on the gas and enjoyed flipping all of us off of the tubes. After a few hours of cold winds and wipeouts, Kathy invited us in for some hot chocolate and snacks. James stuck around outside to enjoy one last ride on the ATV, and the next thing we knew, he was on the ground and the ATV was flipped over onto its back!! In true heroine fashion, Annie and Jess sprinted into action to save their fallen roommate. As James waited by the overturned ATV, obviously unharmed, Annie and Jess ran across the field to help him pick the ATV back up. Jess ran a little too hard, however, and sprained her ankle in the process!! (Thanks, James).

By the time Annie and Jess arrived to the scene of the accident, Kathy had skidded to a halt near us in her car to make sure no one was dead. After James admitted the only thing he hurt was his pride, we headed back to the house for the hot chocolate that was awaiting us!

Happy Holidays from Big Sky Country

Instead of buying Christmas gifts for everyone in the house, we decided to do a "Secret Santa" and all ended up with either homemade or fair-trade gifts. Even though the secret didn't last very long (it was pretty easy to figure out who had who with all of our different schedules) it was a fun way to celebrate with each other despite our limited budgets!


With most of us flying out on the 22nd, we had planned to leave after work on the 21st and spend the night at the Billings JVs. However, due to inclement weather, we were given an extra day off and left in the early afternoon in order to make it safely to the big city.

Since the Billings JVs were still working, we decided to live it up and enjoy a nice dinner. (Although James tried to get us to eat at a travel agency/cafe.) It was good to be able to spend time together in a relaxed atmosphere before heading home!



While we all slept comfortably in warm sleeping bags, Jess had to make a 7am flight. James and Peggy were supposed to leave around 9:30 and Annie and Sarah an hour after that. Everyone was happy to have a few extra hours to sleep until they realized that Jess' flight was the only one to get off the ground that morning. James and Peggy ended up switching their flights and flying out the following day. Annie and Sarah endured a long day on stand-by in the airport and arrived home either very late the night of the 22nd or very early in the morning on the 23rd. In the end, everyone arrived home safely to enjoy the holidays with family and friends!

By the time we all arrived back in Ashland in early January we were excited to share our experiences at home with each other as well as to get back into our Montana routines!