02 May 2013
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schulz, said “Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.” Charlotte Sanddal is a living testimony to that statement. Sanddal has entered the World Masters Games swimming competition to be held in Turin, Italy from August 2 to August 11, 2013....
Read more → 04 Apr 2013
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
Walking into Gale Pikkula’s office at G & M Ceramics, you aren’t sure if you’ve entered the workspace of a chaotic artist or a mad scientist. Small bottles filled with colored powders line the half-opened drawers of desks. Dozens of grayish teeth molds lay scattered about—some in plastic...
Read more → 02 Jan 2013
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
Aristotle said, “Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.” But who exactly is responsible for writing laws in the first place and then later amending them when they need to be changed? If you walk eastward on the first floor in the Capitol building and pass...
Read more → 02 Jan 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
In the heart of Ecuador lies a small green patch of jungle accented here and there with the bright skins of indigenous fruits: bananas, plantains, pineapples, papayas. Much of the surrounding countryside has been slashed to the jungle floor and replanted with soil-depleting African palms. But here, at La Alegría...
Read more → 06 Dec 2012
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
It’s a bitter cold December night in Helena. As the night progresses, temperatures drop well below freezing and frost stencils itself on window panes. Around 2 a.m. fluffy white flakes start drifting down atop MacDonald Pass. More and more flakes join in the descent and soon the road’s black...
Read more → 04 Oct 2012
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
t’s 9:20 a.m. and people are beginning to meander into the governor’s reception room for a press conference. Journalists angle their cameras in the direction of the podium situated in the southeast corner and flip their notebooks open—pens primed. Heads turn as Gov. Brian Schweitzer enters...
Read more → 06 Sep 2012
Posted by Tegan Maynard Hahn 
A heritage grain revival is sweeping the sustainable food movement and Montana farmers Jacob and Courtney Cowgill are leading the way in reviving the lost flavors of our region. Located near Conrad, Montana, Prairie Heritage Farm specializes in growing ancient grains, turkeys and vegetables, all of which...
Read more → 06 Sep 2012
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
People often say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While many mourn the once-green mountainsides in Montana, many of which are now speckled red and gray from beetle kill, Eli and Chaneal Smith are illuminating the hidden beauty of the devastation. In the spring of 2011, Eli and Chaneal established...
Read more → 02 Aug 2012
Posted by Tegan Maynard Hahn 
visit to the Sweetgrass Bakery has been a Saturday morning ritual for the past 35 years. The moment you walk through the door your senses are inundated with a heavenly smell. The sun shines though the big front windows and lights up the front case, which is filled with sweet rolls, baked to golden...
Read more → 02 Aug 2012
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
Ebony clouds billow up above the trees of the hillside. The setting sun in the backdrop burns red through the haze. The summer air is tainted with ash and smoke and burns the throat when inhaled. Suddenly an object appears through the smoke, moving slowly just above the tree line. It’s an MT 205 helicopter...
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