Harlowton, MT

It is for everyone and anyone. Come and help there is plenty to be doneand a list of needs is located at the garden. To participate means to share in the harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It could simply be watering the plants, pulling weeds, mowing, weed whacking, or something more strenuous like helping to build a fence to protect the garden from the deer.

The garden is a place to grow a sense of community, expand our circle of friends, create better physical and mental health, reduce stress, and be a healthy example for our children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren. The garden also provides nutritional benefits from the freshly grown organic vegetables.

On July 24, twenty-four youth from 10 months to 14 years of age arrived to paint the benches and stones that adorn the garden. Paintbrushes in had, each youth found that special rock to display their talents. Even some of the adults joined in the fun and allowed their creative juices to unfold before their very eyes.  It was a day of summertime fun for all involved.

We also have a summer series taking place at the garden on Thursday evenings from 7-8pm and all ages are welcome. See you at the garden! Contact Mandie Reed 632-4728 or Lea 632-4345 for more information.

Rhubarb is the first harvest of the summer for the Harlowton Community Garden. Sharing the harvest  is one of the first steps to building a strong community with educational information included. The dangers of the leaf of the rhubarb will be explained, fresh rhubarb will be sampled, recipes will be shared and the tastes and delights of the harvest will be eaten.

Come and join us at the Harlowton  Community Garden, Thursday, July 10 at 7:15 pm to enjoy the fruits of the garden and your labor.

Our goal is Fall 2008 Preschool Enrollment

Wheatland Memorial Hospital, Harlowton Schools and Central Montana Head Start are working on a plan to bring Head Start to Wheatland County.  The group is working diligently for a fall 2008 enrollment.  Hillcrest Elementary is working on finding a space, Wheatland Memorial Healthcare is working to provide the healthcare needs and Head Start will provide the teacher for the preschool.  Together we can make sure that all the preschool age children in Wheatland County have access to preschool and get off on the best foot!

Head Start is a comprehensive child development program that has served low-income families since 1965.  These child-focused programs serve children birth to 5 years of age, pregnant women, and their families with the goal of increasing school readiness of children from low-income families.  Head Start provides a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development; medical, dental, and mental health; nutrition; and parent involvement which are responsive and appropriate to each child’s and family’s developmental, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage and experience. 

Through the Rural Communities conference I was informed of the Wired Grant to help with educating Eastern Montana Manufacturers.  After submitting an application to the Montana Manufacturers Extension Center I was enrolled in the Boot Coffee Roast Profiling & Cupping course.  The WIRED program paid for the course and airline tickets for me to go to San Francisco to attend this course.  This has been a course that I have wanted to attend for years and have not been able to afford.  This course has greatly improved my roasting skills which will allow us to be more competitive industry and so far it looks like we will be able to add more employees with the additional sales we believe will be attainable with our increased knowledge. Submitted by:Ian ReedOwner, Snowy Mountain Coffee

The e-commerce training session offered through our local Horizons program was of great benefit.The most frequent statement heard afterward from those of us attending was, another couple days of training would have been nice. They covered the basics of simple web design using free tools provided by google, which would transfer over to the free templates used by most hosting providers, so if you had never done any web design before this would have been informative, though a bit over- whelming at times without proper notes and good review for those of us who have messed with web sites.Great benefit came out of listening to what makes good design, how to track the traffic your site receives by using behind the scene tools that Google provides free of charge and the best part was listening to professionals that are using e-commerce to grow their businesses.

A program designed to encourage fitness and healthy eating habits among elementary and junior high aged youth began mid-March with 96 students participating. Judith Gap had two teams, 30 students total, Hillcrest Elementary had five teams, 54 students total and Harlowton “Chill Zone” was represented by a team of 12 students.

The youth were asked to keep a chart of activities and the number of hours of exercise they completed on a weekly basis for the 2-month program. The structure and execution of the compilation of charting failed, yet the youth were enthusiastic about all activities they now labeled as exercise and came to understand the concept related to good health.

Bringing the program to a successful ending evolved through a conversation with a brother and sister(ages 8 & 10), who thought having a “Bicycle Rally” would be a wonderful event! Judith Gap youth were unable to attend due to the mileage distance. The rally took place Saturday, May 17 at the Youth Center with 26 youth participating and 9 adults volunteering to accompany the youth on their ride to Chief Joseph’s Park on their bicycles, scooters, tricycles or anything with wheels. The event involved decorating individual bicycles with streamers, ribbons, pipe cleaners, playing cards for sound effects, etc., a bicycle safety course instructed by the Harlowton Sheriff’s Department, a safe bike route from the Youth Center to Chief Joseph’s Park with volunteers not normally involved providing supervision, and a healthy snack consisting of a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruit and clean water. The healthy snack was a huge success enjoyed by all the youth and volunteers!

Through partnering with Hillcrest Elementary, Partnership For Youth, AmeriCorps Vista, and Horizons, Wheatland County Fit Kids program ended on a positive and successful note. Youth are continuing to ask if we are going to do “Fit Kids” when school begins. My answer is alway YES!!! Charting results of physical activity is in the revision stages for Fall 2008.

Laughing Yoga has come to Harlowton through a partnership with the Wheatland Memorial Healthcare, Adult Education and Hillcrest Elementary. Adrie Min, physical therapist at Wheatland Memorial, is leading participants through gentle breathing techniques, stretching exercises and laughter.

Classes are available, free, to anyone in the community and meet on a weekly basis, Tuesday evenings, 5:30-6:30pm at Hillcrest Elementary. With all the busy schedules of summertime, classes will resume when schools are back in session mid-August.

Laughing Yoga is something anyone can do!!! There are no age barriers, no socio-economic barriers, no barriers period. The only requirement is the ability to laugh. Classes have a contagious element and bring you back wanting more of that calm and peaceful sensation. Tools that enable us to relieve stresses from our everyday lives helps to create a more peaceful home life, interactions with others can begin with a smile and a sense of wellness is just a laugh away.

Please join in and bring a friend or two for Laughing Yoga classes with Adrie Min.

    On behalf of the Harlowton Ministerial Association, I would like to thank the over fifty volunteers that distributed 8,316 pounds of food during the June 12 Thrivent Food Truck event co-sponsored by the Montana Food Bank Network.  These are amazing numbers, but what is more amazing and inspiring is the enthusiasm with which you went about the hard work of setting up, distributing, and cleaning up.  I believe that we positively affected the lives of 131 families (335 individuals) in our surrounding communities.  This event showed the need that exists outside of our local food bank operations.  The Montana Food Bank Network has graciously donated three more pallets of food.  This food will be distributed after the Harlowton Area Food Bank is relocated to the basement of the Federated Church, 15 1^st NW, Harlowton, sometime this summer.  We also appreciate the use of the ambulance barn – it was a perfect venue!    We are interested in your impressions of this event.  Please blog your comments reflecting upon the following questions:·        What was the best aspect of the distribution?·        What are your suggestions regarding the improvement of the distribution process?·        Were you satisfied with the event?·        Would you participate again?·        In what ways did you participate? Submitted by Pastor Mark

Computer Basics Training

MSU Extension IT Specialist Nick Richardson offered a computer basics training at the Health Education Center on May 28, 2008.  We used the lap tops from Extension’s mobile computer lab so everyone had their own computer.  Nick walked 15 participants from diverse backgrounds and skill levels through computer basics including parts of a computer, what to look for when you purchase a computer, how to protect your computer from viruses and e-mail basics.  Some comments from the class were that “I loved the class and wishes we had one every week, she would take them all” and that it was so fun to learn in such a non threatening environment.  “Now I know enough to ask questions, I used to be afraid of looking silly.”  “Being able to use the computer and e-mail allows me to keep in touch with my grand-kids without worrying about a big phone bill and now I am not afraid to go to the library and use them.”   

When Harlowton English students finished reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin, their teacher challenged them to pay-it-forward by thinking of something they could do to improve someone else’s life. She taught them that sometimes we make the world better—not by confronting terrorists or building schools on the other side of the world—but by simply being who we are. They were asked to write an essay describing what action they chose, what effect it had on the receiver and what effect it had on them. Following are some of the statements made by students about what they learned from helping someone else.

 “There are very few things that produce more meaning than a simple task aimed to help out a neighbor or friend.”

“I felt so light hearted. It made me feel good to know that I was giving something that could help comfort a child.”

“I realized that no matter the time or money I am spending…I am benefited from it.”

“Sometimes you do something so much you don’t even consider it a good deed.”

 “Even though I was tired after the work was done, I was very satisfied with myself. I had done a good turn for the town that has been so good to me.”

“I guess it is hard to say why I did what I did…I didn’t acknowledge the favor I was doing as a good deed until I realized the impact it had on her.”

“It put a smile on my face and made me realize I live a privileged life with people who love and care for me.”

 “We talked about how helping someone gave us a better feeling of accomplishment than when we did something for ourselves. I could not help but wonder: what would the world be like if everyone did something nice for some else every day?”