Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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The concept of "innocent until proven guilty” is one of the touchstones of our legal system. We are not to lock people away in jail/prison simply upon supposition and innuendo. They must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. However, there are many in the media who thrive and gain great financial and personal advantages by trying people in the public forum. These people seem to delight in pillorying those they’ve deemed guilty of some crime without the benefit of ever seeing any evidence of culpability. They are not imp...
I would like to expand a little on last week’s piece. This is not a rebuttal, as I wrote this before last week’s Courier was sent out. I hope you noted that I did not say we weren’t a Christian people. However, we are not a specifically Christian nation. We have many religions in this country, many of which do not acknowledge Jesus Christ. This is our right, granted in our founding document, the Constitution. The founders of this country framed our founding documents specifically to avoid endorsing any one religion. They were free think...
This gardening season has been unusually long. Normally by now, I've had several frosts and a hard freeze, which kills off all the above ground vegetation. There have been a couple light frosts this past week but I haven't had a hard freeze yet. The husk cherries and delicate pepper plants have turned black and wilted away. The tomato vines would have also except I'd already picked all the fruits and uprooted the plants. Those are still in a pile, awaiting their turn at being hauled away to my...
Recently, my older sister posted this on social media: “So I just got an email from the RNC. Some chick in Florida wants me to donate so she can help return this country to the conservative values it was founded on. I don’t think she knows our history at all or she’d realize that we were founded on extremely radical values. You know, all that about all men created equal, no monarchy, no religious litmus test to hold office, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a government of the people, for the people, and about the peopl...
First, a correction: Last week my column had a glaring error. I'd stated that green beans can be sliced or chopped and frozen as-is for cooking later. It should have said "green peppers." Beans need to be blanched and rapidly chilled before freezing. I apologize and sincerely hope no one ruined their green beans. (My only excuse is I was writing using my smart phone while traveling to Billings and I seriously lack proofreading skills for my own work. I know what I'm trying to say, but my phone a...
Now that we've had a light frost, we can enjoy a bit of lingering summer. Sometimes this is the best part of summer for us. Our harvest is finished so we aren't worried about hailstorms or early snows. All the fall chores can be finished without having to wear extra-bulky clothing for warmth. The summer fallow strips have been plowed. The combine is in the shop for a tune-up. When it comes back it will be stored inside until next harvest season. The grain cart will be put away for the winter....
The cooler weather we had last week means it's officially 'worry about frost' season. This is the time of year I start thinking about dragging out the old truck tarps, blankets, and frost cloths. They need to be laid out so it will be quicker and easier to cover the tender plants I'm not ready to let freeze yet when frost is in the forecast. The tomatoes always get covered first, followed by the peppers, cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. I'm thinking about trying to cover a few of the husk...
We finished our wheat harvest on Sept. 2. Now I have time to catch up on my garden chores, if only the weather and my body cooperate. While I'm much recovered from my boute with pneumonia, I haven't yet recovered my pre-illness stamina. I miss it. The damp, cooler temperatures and high winds are not helping in that recovery. The cooler mornings find me working inside the house, catching up on laundry and the dreaded dusting and vacuuming, definitely not my favorite things to do. The warmer after...
I grew up as a military dependent, known to many as a brat. We brats embrace the term, not as a slur, but as a mark of distinction. We recognize in each other a shared lifestyle, foreign to most staties. Most of us experienced varied cultures and countries, making us adaptable to most of what life has to offer. Our symbol is the dandelion, scattered by the winds of life, yet able to set down roots and thrive where we land. When I was a teen, of an age to meet my life partner, my father was...
Last week I talked about harvest interfering with my gardening. On top of that, I managed to catch pneumonia, which I know nobody wants to hear about. Even medical professionals only listen to one's litany of ailments because they get paid to listen. It just means that I haven't been able to take advantage of my couple hours each morning before I've had to head out to my "office" in the Trac. Yesterday, one of my pretty maids (our eldest daughter, and now my copy editor) came up to visit us,...
This is the time of year my garden gets short shrift. Every year I know it's coming, and every year I still put in a large garden. Every year I swear I'm not going to do so much, but then spring happens. You know, that time of year when hope springs eternal, and I dare to believe I will become Wonder Woman and able to do it all. Then harvest time hits, and I am Wonder Woman, wondering why did I do this to myself again? So here I am, out in the fields, sitting in our Trac, pulling the grain cart,...
Many years ago, Dennis and I moved up north to become farmers with his parents. Before that, we were both employed at the former Glasgow Air Force base, long before it became St Marie. We didn't have any clear plans for the move, other than his dad needed him. We certainly had no master plan for our yard. That all happened piecemeal and very haphazardly. We put in a double-wide mobile home after revamping the well that has been here from the homesteading days. A septic system was also added, a...
Many plants can be successfully grown in containers. Greenhouses do a thriving business selling both flowers and vegetables specifically for pots. The advantage is versatility. Flowers may bloom on your front steps, or on your deck or patio, places where there is no soil for them. Those who don't have a yard they can dig up can grow tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and flowers on their balcony or wherever they have enough sunlight during the day. The disadvantage is the need for daily watering. Conta...
This week I thought I'd write about flowers. But this morning, just before 4 a.m., I was awakened by the winds and some thunder. The windows were open, bringing in the cool air, and I got up to close them. I knew the forecast was for rain, and while we have been fervently wishing for rain up here north of Glasgow, I didn't want it inside the house. I checked the weather station we have inside the house, and it showed the winds gusting to 50 mph. While I was shutting the windows, there was a...
It's raspberry season! I always look forward to the first delectable berries from my garden. Every time I head out there to work, I'll be checking on the progress of the canes. Early in the spring I'll look for signs of life. I search for the green, having missed it all winter. There will be a few violas blooming (they seem to blossom under the snow). The rhubarb starts crowning. There are green blades of grass here and there (the first green grass is on the edges of the highway, using the...
My garden is bordered on the north and west by our shelterbelts. We have planted lilacs to the east as a living fence and to allow me to labor in the garden sheltered from view. We aren't far from the highway, and I prefer to not have everyone driving by seeing me slaving away. The house itself blocks the view from the south. Each fall, the trees will drop their leaves – lots of leaves. I will use the mower with the grass catcher to mulch and gather the leaves from the lawn. That mulch is d...
How does it grow, my garden? Certainly not with silver bells, nor cockleshells, which are actually a type of mollusk not found up here on the prairies of Northeastern Montana. I might speak sometime in the future about the pretty maids all in a row, as my husband and I did raise three wonderful, pretty daughters. In any case, it does grow an abundance of chives, rhubarb, and raspberries, almost carefree, now that they are well established. It has taken years of gardening to get to the point of...
