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Several times a day visitors, stick their heads into the soon-to-be-opened "Black Granary: The Bakery," at the end of Main Street in Big Sandy to ask if there are any pastries to buy or when the shop will finally open. The simple answer is "soon." Mary Merrill hopes to start serving customers with pastries and coffee beginning with a soft opening on May 5th. Mary will be waiting to officially open at a later date once the lease has been completed. " I will close for family things. I have kids...
“If I have a superpower in life, it’s the ability to find almost anything interesting.” My brother told me this last year during a conversation we were having related to how to become a renaissance man. A renaissance man is a well-rounded individual. It really refers to the breed of person who develops abilities and skills in a wide range of areas. It was coined in reference to the type of men who emerged during the Renaissance period who made art, studied philosophy, studied the sciences, and m...
Students at FE Miley Elementary School experienced hands-on instruction for Earth Day this week when they took part in a community cleanup effort organized by the teachers. Several weeks in advance, the Elementary School teachers planned the basics of the day and divided the eastern side of town into areas for each class to engage in clean up. The original plan was for the students to go out primarily in the afternoon, but high winds and the cold weather prompted a change in plans. The majority...
There’s a difficult bit of teaching in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about picking the sawdust out of your neighbor’s eye. The idea is that anyone who is going to set about cleaning the eyes of their neighbors should check their own eyes to make sure they aren’t in worse shape. Jesus’ humorous description is of a guy with a log hanging off his own face while looking for specks of others. The analogy shouldn’t be too surprising coming from a carpenter, who likely had to deal with...
Big Sandy High School will be competing in the Spring Music Festival online next week after missing the event last year entirely due to the lockdowns. This year, the Montana High School Association (MHSA) decided that all of the state music festivals would be done digitally, due to concerns over the potential spread of the COVID virus. This decision was a bit of a disappointment for the students and staff who see the festival as a major component of performing arts at the high school level....
Budding musicians in the Big Sandy area have a new resource to learn and grow through the teaching and experience of several local entertainers. The "School of Rock" set out to "give the kids a little bit of music education that is popular music based, not that there's anything wrong with classical music. We just know a little bit about popular music, because we have been playing it forever," explains Chris Meyers who is heading up the School of Rock effort with the help of his father, Larry Mey...
The Big Sandy Food Bank is raffling off a half a pig to raise money to support their food distribution program. Tickets are $5 and the drawing will be held April 30th. They can be purchased from the Senior Center, the offices of the Big Sandy Activity Center, the Mint Bar, or at the Mountaineer Office. They can also be purchased from Terry Grant or LeaAnn Williams. The fundraiser is a result of the generosity of Triangle Communications. The company purchased pigs and cows from 4-H groups last...
In the first century, when Jesus lived and taught, the Jewish people were living under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were violently opposed to the Romans, a fact that resulted in more than a few violent uprisings that set out to liberate the nation of Israel. They did not succeed and eventually angered the Romans enough that they destroyed the country completely, exported its citizens all over the empire, and outlawed the Jewish faith in Israel entirely. This desire...
Erik Sietsema— For the first few years I was here, when I would tell the kids they could go to children’s church, I would say: ‘If you are a small child, or just very immature, you can go downstairs.’ It was just a joke I’d add in. Sometimes I’d mention someone by name, just to tease them. Well, one year April Fools Day fell on Easter Sunday. It was a pretty full house that day, which is kinda normal for Easter. When I said: ‘If you’re a small child or just very immature, you can go downstairs,...
Last year, I preached the Good Friday and Easter Morning Services to an empty room with a camera set up to stream everything to Facebook. All of the other churches in town, and across the country, had the same experience. Like everything that happened in 2020, church services for Easter were cancelled due to the lockdowns. Most churches had had the opportunity to adapt by that point and were streaming their services or running worship online via Zoom or other apps. In the weeks before Easter...
In the ancient world, Jews and Samaritans hated each other. The conflict between the two groups went back hundreds of years and frequently reached levels of venom and spite that we rarely see in our culture. It was common for Jews to kick the dust off their feet before leaving Samaria to make sure they didn’t bring any Samaritan soil with them to their own countries. Jews often crossed the street and spit in the road when they passed Samaritans. Jewish rabbis didn’t even consider Samaritans to...
The Big Sandy Rotary Club will be hosting its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 3rd at 11 AM sharp. The event will take place at the Big Sandy Airport. The event is open to children who are old enough to walk and collect candy, toys, and eggs through 5th grade. The Easter Egg Hunt has been hosted by the Rotary Club for around 60 years. The kids will be divided into five groups by age and assigned to a specific area of the airfield, where candy, small toys, and a few special plastic eggs...
With the arrival of Spring, Big Sandy's gardening and landscaping communities have a local source for buying high quality soil. For the last couple of years, Dan Matthew has been selling Glacier Gold Potting Soil and the Glacier Gold Professional Blend. Both soils are produced by Mountain West Products right here in Montana. Dan explained that the professional blend holds moisture longer. The Mountain West website explains additional benefits, like additional nutrients that are present in the...
A few weeks ago, I made a peanut butter sandwich for my son for lunch. He took his sandwich with him to his room, where he ate and played. Because he’s a typical four year old, it didn’t take long before he forgot about the sandwich and wandered off to do something else. When he remembered his lunch, he returned to it and found that the dog had eaten his lunch, which he had left on the floor in his room. Frustrated, he came to me crying over his lost meal. I made another sandwich, which he too...
I deal with a handful of hard deadlines every week. By Sunday morning, I have to have a sermon written. By Monday morning, I need to complete two articles and a column. Monday through Thursday I have to have the kids out of bed, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:30 AM. There are a few others, but I suspect most people deal with similar hard deadlines and goals. The thing is that these deadlines don’t necessarily coincide with the larger objectives of my work and personal life. They are i...
"I like to watch kids learn new things and be productive and find themselves and find what they like. I like to foster their curiosity and their wonder of the world. How they see things," explained Melissa Han, the current Junior High math teacher and floating substitute at Big Sandy High School. Melissa and her family moved to Big Sandy just before the start of the 2018 school year from their previous home in Brady, Montana, which is just south of Conrad. For the first two years of the...
Visitors to The Grocery Store last Thursday morning were treated to an unusual service: Captain America was helping customers load groceries to help support veterans. In this case, the man in the mask was Allen Mullins, who has been walking to raise money for veterans for 12 years. "Since 2009, I've made it my job to get out here in this country to find VFWs, American Legions, Vietnam Veterans, families with kids that need assistance. I organize a walk and help them out." When asked about the...
When the British first introduced the game of golf to India, after building their first golf course, they discovered a problem with the natural environment. The indigenous monkeys around the course were fascinated by the little white balls. They began to steal the balls, disrupting the games. The British tried all manner of methods to solve the problem of monkeys interfering with play. They built fences, but the monkeys simply climbed over them. They made loud noises, but they eventually learned...
LeaAnn Williams is growing a local business selling homemade organic soap, shampoo, shaving cream, body butter, lip balm, and other self-care products. The soap making project began three years ago when LeaAnn's husband, Gabe, began experiencing reactions to the soap they used in their shop. "So we thought well, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start an alternative for him to wash his hands. So, I started investigating about charcoal. I learned that it was very good because it can't be absorbed by...
The 2020 homecoming, which was postponed to this year due to last year’s Covid lockdowns, has been cancelled entirely. Michelle Danruther, speaking on behalf of the Homecoming Committee explained: “We had planned on it being in the third week in June 2020. But because of Covid, we thought we would send it on a year. Now, we’ve cancelled it.” Michelle explained last year’s decision to postpone the event to this year. “Beginning or middle of March is when you started hearing things were being...
If you turn on a tv, open a web browser, pick up a magazine, or look at any medium that presents you with an advertisement, you’ll encounter all manner of messages and ideas. One of the unifying themes in all advertising is the idea that you should be comfortable and happy all the time. It makes sense that this would be the case because no one is going to buy a product that promises them hardship or to make their lives harder. It’s good advertising and sorta makes sense in other settings. Bei...
While substitute teaching at the Elementary School last week, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a cup of flavored coffee from Kira Witmer. Later, over the weekend, I learned that the coffee was delivered as part of the coffee cart, which gives teachers the opportunity to order coffee and snacks from the Special Education classroom at the High School. The initiative was pioneered by Kira in an effort to teach life skills to her Special Education classes. She hopes to see it grow in coming...
In a surprising upset on Friday, February 12th, Big Sandy's 110 pound Wesley Cox wrestled against and pinned 160 pound Jaxon Coates of Cascade, Montana in the third round of their match, despite giving up nearly 50 pounds and several inches of height. The sight of the two wrestlers stepping out onto the mat was strange to watch as Jaxon towered over Wes, though the pair of athletes are the same age. Wesley later explained that he really didn't expect to win. He attributed his victory to...
Wednesday morning the thermometer dipped below 30 degrees for the first time this winter, and many locals weren’t ready for the chill. My experience of the cold morning started when I walked out into thecold to start my car so it could warm up a bit before I drove the kids to school. When I turned the key, the engine rolled over slowly for a few seconds before giving up entirely. I quickly realized that I hadn’t plugged in the block warmer, so I plugged it in and threw on my battery charger in...
By Erik Sietsema The Big Sandy Public Library has changed its hours of operation, is compiling a community cookbook, and has upgraded some services in order to better serve the community. The new hours began Monday, February 8th. Rachel Baumgarn, who works at the library, explained the change: "It's more consistent. We're open at 10 all week, and we close at 5, except today (Friday). We close at three. We got asked a lot about hours because nobody knew when we were closing or opening. So we...