T-minus 18 days

To continue learning best practices, we trekked over to Loon Lake Gardens & Pottery to meet Gayle Prunhuber and weed one of her garden beds. We got to feed the pulled weeds to her chickens and goats and go for a swim in Loon Lake! On top of that, Gayle sent us home with generous tubs of goat cheese and one bag each of fresh produce. The cheese suffered severe mutilation within minutes of entering our possession.

The next day, we drove along N Somers Rd to the Lighthouse where we planted squash from their greenhouse and had the opportunity to meet some of the housemates. The Lighthouse is a farm based christian home for adults with developmental disabilities. And these adults have busier schedules than most! Not only do they maintain the farm and house by tending to the heifers, pigs, and chickens, they are active members of the community. We barely got to see them on Friday because the majority had chosen to go out garage sale-ing that morning!

For many reasons, we are really lucky to have Robin Vogler as our supervisor, but one outstanding reason is that she encourages us to volunteer at sites throughout the community that might appreciate our extra hands/tentacles. Plus, we get to meet rad people like Gayle Prunhuber of Loon Lake and Shirley Willis, executive director of the Lighthouse. 

The weekend passed quickly and Monday hit us with that OMG SO MUCH TO DO energy we all know too well. Hunched over construction paper for two straight days, Jordan produced labels for each plant growing in the garden. Anyone passing by our office would have found her locked in a stooped posture, lording over sketches of tomatillos and kale. As her colored pencil beaus feature both drawings and names of the plants, kids will take greater ownership of the vegetables because they will be able to recognize the various plants that they themselves plant and harvest. 

The next step is to laminate them with an appliance none other than the laminator over at Lakeside Elementary School. The chances Jordan is going to pursue an MFA in Painting & Drawing once she's done here? Probably 7 out of 10, especially considering that the ghost of Edward Hopper is known to appear to her at midnight each night, whispering secrets of his craft. 

Meanwhile, Katie has struggled to understand how to use a drill. The birdhouses needed to have holes installed so that they could be hung on the garden fence with zip ties. Thanks to a couple of worthless e-How articles (don't explain what to do with a chuck key without first explaining what a chuck key is) and a few hours worth of experimentation/frustration (building castles out of drill bits, realizing batteries have to be charged, figuring out what a chuck key does), Katie gave up on the normal sized drills and turned to the drill press. That only makes sense: small machine doesn't work, turn to larger machine. Holes were drilled and the b-cribs were sprayed with clear coat.

Just fancy enough to work that tool belt 

Today is the 17 day marker for our time in Montana. In less than three weeks, including weekends, our terms of service will be over. We are confident about how much we plan to do before we leave and how much we will accomplish. Which is everything on the planning list, of course.