Sweet Sustenance

Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did. William Butler (1535-1620)
Oxford dictionary of quotes

Some days I feel like I can’t get anything “important” done, because of all of the daily, mundane tasks I must first accomplish.

Tasks such as getting gas, buying groceries, stopping by the post office, horsekeeping, housekeeping, innkeeping, (geez all this keeping !) greenhouse gardening the weekly menu line up, getting the car’s oil changed…these are all regular, everyday activities, which seem to leave little room for creative expression.

Or, do they?

Perhaps this every day life stuff is what sets someone apart from the crowd.
Perhaps it is about the way you treat people, and the way you face each day, which makes you who you are.

If you grocery-shop with a scowl on your face…what does that say about you? If you wait in line at the post office with your hands on your hips…what does that say about you?

How can we make our “everyday life” reflect our extraordinary qualities? It’s something I strive for everyday. I’m not quite there yet. I might be guilty of an occasional grocery store scowl, or find myself in an occasional hands-on-hips sort of mood…

But I want to create a better realty, because this islife; it’s not a dress rehearsal. So on to the weekly menu with my all time favorite fruit… guaranteed to inspire creativity and smiles..

When To Buy Strawberries
From: Handling Tips From The NASGA Fresh Strawberries Booklet

If you cant or don’t grow ‘em yourself, of course, choose locally grown strawberries during the harvesting session, they will be the freshest and the most flavourful. When picking strawberries, try to pick early in the morning or later in the day when the fruit is cool. Strawberries are best used within 2-3 days of picking. Cover and store them unwashed in the refrigerator. Do not crowd or press.

What To Look For When Buying Strawberries
From: Handling Tips From The NASGA Fresh Strawberries Booklet The best strawberries are the ones you pick yourself or buy from your local strawberry fields. Farm fresh strawberries are hours old with little or no handling and no travelling. Enjoy the flavour and fragrance of fresh-picked strawberries. Look for plump, bright red and fully ripe berries. Caps should be attached green and fresh looking. The size of the strawberry is not important. All strawberries, large and small, are equally sweet and juicy.

How To Store Fresh Strawberries
From: Handling Tips From The NASGA Fresh Strawberries Booklet
Sort and remove any bruised or damaged berries as soon as possible and use in sauces, purées or jams. Place the berries in cool, well ventilated containers (32 to 40°F / 0 to 5°C). The moisture content of Fresh Strawberries is high, so store uncovered or loosely covered. Hull strawberries and rinse gently JUST before serving. Careful storing and handling will maintain their maximum flavour, colour and texture.

They start pointing their nose out around mid-may and disappear by the end of July. We are lucky have real-ruby-red-home-grown strawberries as soon as the beginning of May.

Strawberries are so versatile from a mousse to a soup, from a compote to a posh tart A so many strawberries, too little time.

So basically what happens is that you end up making a new strawberry thing everyday and everyone — except you — gets bored with strawberries.

It’s Monday …. so let’s have a healthy start to the day and week. Not to worry, decadence will take uh root during the week, no doubt Blend strawberries, blackberries, a banana, a small pot of strawberry yoghurt and orange juice for 30 seconds.

Served with whole wheat toast or muffins . you’re ready to roll. While you’re sipping…more fruit for thought.

Freezing Strawberries Without Sugar for Jam and Other Uses
From: Handling Tips From The NASGA Fresh Strawberries Booklet
Fill freezer containers with prepared sliced, or washed and dried berries to within 1/2″ (1 cm.) of top. Combine 4 cp. (1 L.) cold water with 1 tbsp. (15 mL.) of lemon or lime juice and pour over berries before freezing. Seal, Label and Date.

More strawberry induced fixin’s on the inn menu this week.

Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast

Serves: 8

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
12 slices home style white bread cut into 1-inch cubes
16 oz. cream cheese (cold) cut into 1-inch cubes
1 dozen large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1/3 cup Canadian maple syrup
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. butter

Steps
Slice the strawberries. Arrange one half of the bread cubes in a well greased 13″x 9″ baking dish. Arrange all of the cream cheese cubes over the bread cubes, and sprinkle 1 1/2 cups strawberries on top. Arrange the remaining bread cubes over the strawberries.

Pour the half-and-half Into your blender, then add the eggs and blend. Add the maple syrup and blend. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread, strawberry and cream cheese mixture. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the dish from refrigerator 45 minutes prior to baking. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes; remove cover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until French toast is puffed and golden.

To prepare strawberry sauce: In a small saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and 1 cup water. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Stir in the strawberries and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until berries have softened. Add the butter, and stir the sauce until butter has melted. Serve hot over the Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast.

Waffles with Fruit
Ingredients

* 2 cups sifted flour

* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 eggs, separated
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 5 tablespoons melted shortening
* 1/2 cup strawberries, blueberries or whatever fruit you’re adding

PREPARATION:
Mix and sift dry ingredients. Combine beaten egg yolks, milk, melted shortening and; add to dry ingredients, beating until smooth. Stir in sliced banana. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour or spoon batter into each section of a hot waffle iron.

Cook waffles until crispy and browned. Serves 6.

Strawberry Pancakes - From all recipes

Pancakes are the epitome of a decadent breakfast. Light and fluffy, sweet and doughy they are comfortable and fancy at the same time. Dress them up with some vanilla and a few slices of gorgeously plump strawberries and you have the perfect start to an amazing day.

ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 ¼ cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for cooking
approximately 1 strawberry per pancake (~8), sliced into 8ths

* obviously these would work with almost any fruit: banana, blueberry, blackberry…peach…mmm. Anything works.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a smaller bowl beat the egg slightly, add milk, vanilla and 3 tablespoons oil. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until flour is moistened (clumps are okay!).

2. Heat non-stick frying pan over medium-high and brush lightly with oil.

3. Pour batter by ¼ cupfuls onto hot pan, making three pancakes at a time. Top each with strawberry slices and then cook until edges look slightly dry. Turn and cook other side until golden.

More fruits of my labour for next weekend, and the “doingness” takes my mind off pre-show nerves. Another show and go with Alle, here in Whitehall. Yup .. it’s showtime folks yet again…

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit. Sorry couldnt resist
-Baltasar Gracian

Taking the Guess Work out of the Guest Room

Trust me, as an innkeeper, i know from this one. It’s in the “innkeeper’s creed” to be “Type A” about organization

Whether it’s a bedroom used by guests or one for your children, a spare room should be a special place that always says “Welcome.” The people who visit your home need room to move around in and space to set out what they bring along with themh That once called the “extra” space that is now often a sewing room, library or home office. Although it may only rarely house guests, it should be furnished so that if guests do turn up, they will be comfortable and quickly feel at home.

• Keep a supply of empty hangers in the guest room closet, and keep to a minimum any hanging storage you decide to put there. Clothing stored in zippered bags is less likely to get in the way of overnight visitors.
• Always reserve some closet space for the possibility of guests—so their shoes have a resting place and their empty luggage can be tucked out of the way. You should not have to rise at dawn and rush to reorganize the guest room to prepare for the arrival of Aunt Mabel on the afternoon train.
• Dont go crazy with alot of furniture in your guest room. A chest with only one or two decorative items on top will be put to good use whenever your houseguests decides to unpack, unless the drawers are already stuffed with storage.
• Limit the amount of decorating. A clock, a radio, a book or two, plus a comfortable easy chair and a lamp are the only elements, other than the bed, that a guest room requires.
• Don’t allow the room to become spillover space for items that really belong elsewhere in your home.
• If the room also has a TV set, make sure to have an up-to-date TV listing on hand for your guests’ late-night or early-morning viewing. It would also be a good idea to print out how-to-use instructions and attach them to the bottom of the remote.

Then your guests cant ever accuse you of being ” Hospicable. That would be a cross between hospitality and dispicable. As in , Montana’s nice but the host was hospicable! Instead upon amicable departure, they will look at you and view it as a  Hugatunity. As in an opportunity to give someone a hug.

Innkeeping Heloise Style

As an innkeeper,there are those days when . God knows, I need all the domestic wisdom I can get. The contemporary Heloise, the beautiful silver-haired lady most of us recognize from the daily paper and womens’ magazines, is actually the daughter of the original Heloise, who began publishing household hints in 1959. I am sure she was thoroughly delightful. The times must have been insane, as evidenced by the following gems excerpted from her 1961 booklet “Heloise’s Housekeeping Hints,”

Many of these are genuinely helpful and innovative But there’s always a few that, well, I can see where the contributor might have thought—before their second cup of coffee in the morning, or after their second martini in the evening—that it was something the world needed to know. The annotations are mine, but the quoted material is re-published verbatim.

I swear. (I couldnt make this stuff up anyway )

From the preface:

“Take all instructions in your stride. If you have a phobia or allergy…naturally sweep under your bed everyday.”

A phobia of what? Snakes under the bed? Or it’s a general phobia and you need to hide there?

“Keep in mind…the second wife always has a maid!”

Innkeeper’s Note: always be the second wife. But I digress yet again.

“May I remind you once again: that house will be there long after you are dead and buried. Funny, how houses outlive us!”

Ha-ha! Ha. Excuse me while I go sweep under my bed in an act of obsessive-compulsive self-soothing. And then crawl under it.

from “Dig into Closets”:

“Wait until you are mad! This is the best time to clean. You will say to yourself, ‘I have kept this dress for two years thinking that I would remake it, but I am mad today so why not throw it out?’”

Stuff your anger (in paper sacks) to save for cleaning day.

once dug out of closets…”you will have this thought in your mind: ‘Now I am ready in case I get sick or have a party, I will be prepared so that strange people in my kitchen won’t talk about me.’” Sweep for phobias; dust for paranoia.

on Laundry: a favorite topic and ritual here.

“Did you know that table cloths can be bought now in pure dacron?”

Untainted by natural fiber.

The book includes a whole section on Heloise’s innovative, labor-saving alternative to ironing: hanging the laundry on a line, then blasting the wrinkles out with the garden hose and letting it drip dry. It’s unclear to me how this is more efficient than ironing, but she later notes that “A steam iron is worth its weight in gold,” so perhaps hosing is a solution for first wives who’s husbands won’t buy them one. See innkeeper’s note above.

And our Heloise’s hint for what then to do with the hosed, dry laundry:

“Put a sheet on the floor in front of the TV! This is Saturday night and the entire family will be there. Leave the clothes there…Psychologically, all the clothes that they have used during the week will be in front of their noses. Whether they are aware of it or not…they will absorb it. They are proud of that stack of clean clothes.”

If not, next Saturday night, put all the dirty clothes in front of the TV. And the dishes, too. Psychologically, this is bound to have an impact.

But if not,

“A child’s little wagon is a wonderful aid if you have no one to help you.”

from “Paint Your Kitchen:”

“This is best done when your husband is home. Why? If he won’t help you at least he can see how hard you have worked!”

Passive-aggressive tactics are marvelous for producing anger to stuff for future closet cleaning sessions.

on “Cleaning the Bathroom:”

“…but to save money and energy and get the best shine possible use an old washcloth slightly saturated with kerosene…the kerosene odor leaves in a few minutes.”

Best not to do this while smoking.

“Alcohol is cheap, it removes soap film and leaves no water spots. But best of all, it is usually kept in the bathroom cabinet.”

The laundry hamper is also a good place to hide it.

from “Mending Made Easy:”

“THE HOUSES will be here long after we wives are dead. Why kill yourself over them? I can think of lots better ways to die!”

“Have you ever noticed how rested you feel after dinner when the dishes are done? This is the time to do some of your hard, time consuming chores.”

Why, no! I hadn’t! But why waste precious daytime hours on the tough stuff?

“How to Have a Whiter Wash:”"…add your bleach and you detergent to your hot water. If you have Pine Sol in the house, add some of that…Lysol is just as good.”

Lighter fluid, anti-freeze…anything that has a skull and cross bones on the bottle. Just toss it all in. Then,

“Have another cup of coffee, o’ innkeeper and let’s get something done.”

Because everything until now was just a warm-up.

“And this comforting aside:

“And don’t feel bad about not ironing underwear. It is an accepted fact today that not one man in a hundred whose wife has children wears ironed underwear.”

Heloise suggests that if you must, you can remove wrinkles from your husbands boxers with the garden hose set to a light sprinkle. For futher time saving, I suggest you do this while he is wearing them.

In the final section of the book, a miscellany of household hints, Heloise also absolves you from the sin of not making the bed perfectly:”Besides, when a wife pulls down the covers at night, she usually gives the bottom sheet a ‘whack and a brush.’”

You could give your husband the same, while you’re at it.

Before there was Woolite, there was this method of hand washing:Use a toilet plunger to “wash mens socks and all sorts of hand washing in the kitchen sink!”

Do it in the toilet bowl! Let your flush box do the rinsing!

Git ‘r done.

Focused or Frazzled

Let’s see … start the laundry and load the dishwasher. And that’s before I head out for morning run and gathering of the horses for their morning feed. While those are running, put on the accounting hat, balance the books, (note to self… dont forget to throw laundry in dryer enroute to grocery shopping). After heading home, putting away the groceries, get the breakfast menu ready do last check around and last minute straightening up the house, before guests arrive.. When all that’s finished, get in a ride on either Gazi or Alle getting them ready for their next competitions. I mean G-d doesnt want me to give them up does He? My acquisitions of them for endurance and showing, respectively have truly been G-dincidences. Glancing at the watch, do the perfunctory grooming so I can tidy up, welcome guests, do do the welcome tour and fall into bed, thinking about all the things you still didn’t finish. Ah the joys of innkeeping even more so now since we’re in high season.

Sound familiar? Do you feel like all your minutes are accounted for before you even have time to think, carry on a meaningful conversation with your spouse, or relax? Rather than feeling like you actually participate in and enjoy your days, you’re being driven through life by all the things you must do?

Both Joani ’s fellowship and taking the time on Sundays for a bit of Sabbath has given me the proverbial food for thought .. In an effort to be the best innkeeper and wife or simply to serve God to the best of our abilities, we often find ourselves overcommitted, overextended. and str-r-r-retched . Is this the way God intended it? you wonder.

The truth is, God never intended us to live frazzled lives. But it takes faith, discipline, and persistence to manage time God’s way.
Frazzle = stress. And stress produces anxiety, frustration, , and crankiness.. In an effort to do it all, however, we forget what’s most important — and end up accomplishing nothing. As my DH always says “slow down to go faster”.

I’m convinced that the solution to our time problems can be found in Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

As I consider the phrase, “all these things will be provided for you,” I think of what provisions I need — peace, stability, and energy to do the things that are necessary.The key is to filter out the things that aren’t necessary and remind myself of my ultimate priority. Jesus didn’t say, “Seek first to complete your daily to-do list, clean the inn, ride the horses and to take care of your family.” Instead, He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.”

Seeking first the kingdom of God is the most overlooked spiritual principle today. By trying to do so many things — even good things — we often leave little time to do the best thing. I’ve come to learn that just because something serves God’s kingdom doesn’t mean that I was meant to be the multi-tasking servant who is spread too thin. Instead, God promises that He will instruct us about the things He wants us to be doing if we are seeking Him each day. 1 Corinthians 10 :31 reminds us to do it all for the glory of G-d… Be it horses, the inn.. it’s ultimately all <i>his</i>

In Jeremiah 33:3, God tells us that He will answer us if we call out to Him and seek His direction. It doesn’t necessarily make worldly sense, and it isn’t always the natural thing to do. Sometimes it takes sheer discipline to turn to God first instead of turning to all of our responsibilities.

And when I feel the stress o meter rising, I can always be found reciting a Philippians 4:13 or a Shema. THere now I feel better

What spiritual quotes help you? Either way, do I hear an amen?

The InnSide Scoop

As summer approaches, the chances of having far-flung friends and family calling to let you know that they will be in your area sometime in the next few months is high. For most people, this means there will be an expectation that you will at least offer your home, a piece of the fllor or closet as a place for your friend or family member to rest his/her/their head(s). If only the responsibility as a host(ess) ended there! Fear not, your intepid innkeeper has a medium size innside scoop to make the visit pleasant for all involved:

Take time off for your guest

Good excuse to take some R&R anyway. Let ‘em know when those time(s) are so there’s no room for misunderstanding. It is easy for a houseguest, especially one that has not visited in some time, to assume that the host(ess) will not only be sitting at home preparing for the visit, but will also have absolutely no plans other than spending time with her when they arrive! Good host(ess) that you are, however, this will not have to be a serious concern of your houseguest. Instead, arrange to be home, certainly when the guest is due to arrive, and also at least some of the time that your guest will be staying with you. You may want to take the first day or two off, or save the one on one time for the end of your houseguest’s stay. Either way you do it, your guest will appreciate it.

Provide an area for houseguests to claim as their own (for the duration of their stay) their own “home away from home” as it were.
Whether it’s a fold up cot in the livingroom, or the computer room turned into a guest room, your guests will appreciate having a space in your home where they can call home-temporarily. Ideally this would be a separate room but even if it’s a foldout sofabed, arrange things so that your guests can use this area as if it were their bedroom for their stay, and keep their luggage and other belongings with them in this space. It may not be the most comfortable arrangement , but your guests will sure appreciate their own “space”.

Nothing like ye ol “care package.“.. You may not be in the innkeeping biz , but towels, toiletries, and the usual sundries are a nice touch. If you happen to know said houseguest well, you’ll know for example, if they’re allergic to scented products, have any dietary restrictions, or love reading hunting magazines. If you are able to, you can provide all these things that would make the stay that much more pleasant for your guest-be it an extra blanket for someone who is always cold or some bottles of water in the room of a guest who is always thirsty at night. A lot of things that make people comfortable are very inexpensive and if you can provide some of these, your houseguest will remember your hospitality long after they’ve returned to their own home. Definitely a good thing for our business, actually

Be a concierge

You know those handy information centers that are usually located around local area chambers, train stations and airports, providing car rental options, maps and answering other questions? We have a lew of those brochures here for your handy dandy use. If you can’t drive your friends or family to every sight they want to see, or take part in every activity they want to do, provide them some options for transportation: you can loan them a spare car (if you have one), or give them info on local outfitters if they’re bird watchers or want to take a “guided tour” of the National Parks. If they are hikers or cyclists, an appropriate map, with an indication of areas where good bike/walking paths are, might be handy. If you know know the directions to the various places your guest will want to see, use a highlighter to mark the directions clearly for your guest. Sometimes, it’s the simple things.

Don’t foget the (not so) little things
Depending on how comfortable you are, you may want to provide your guests with a key to your house so they can come and go as they wish. You might also want to offer them the use of your laundry facilities and encourage them to ask you for any items they may have forgotten or might need. Some houseguests will also want to know what sorts of “house rules” you’d like them to abide by, including how late they can be noisy till, whether or not they can use your phone without asking (and how you want to handle long-distance phone calls) and which bathroom you prefer they use, for example. These may be small things but to a guest staying in a home they are not accustomed to, spelling out some of these things might be helpful. Encourage your guests to ask you questions if they are not sure.

“HOSPITALITY, n. The virtue which induces us to feed and lodge certain persons who are not in need of food and lodging.”
Ambrose Bierce

Bein’a Chicken - Don’t Cry Fowl

Ah.. the joys of 4-H’ing.. Now I know i’ve gone country. And while I’m not a zoologist, but I am thinker.

Raising Chickens for the first time can be intimidating. When I first called the feed shop, I was trying to sound like a pro. I asked, “Do you sell pullets?” “Yes”, the man replied. “Are they all females?” It’s been an uphill battle ever since.

Pullet parenthood is an much of an adventure as child rearing, only with more feces per pound of body weight. However, I’ve been reading quite a bit on poultry matters. So here ’s a little scoop on how this chicken rearin’ goes.

Go to your local feed store and purchase $10.00 worth of chicks and $50 worth of food and supplies. Don’t forget the water dispensers. Buying the metal ones, never plastic is always advised. I have yet to see a metal one.

Next, place the chicks somewhere sheltered, like a bedroom closet. Toss in some highly flammable straw or wood shavings and promptly dangle a glowing heat lamp just above them. Note to self: Update homeowner’s policy.

For the next several weeks feed them 3 lbs of food per day and remove 4 lbs of sh*t per day from the closet. Despite all logic the birds get bigger. As the adult feathers grow in be sure to clip one of their wings. That is one per bird, not just one wing total. Clipping can be accomplished by tossing your scissors and your body into the heaping mound of chicks, poop and straw. Grab a wiggling screeching bird from the bile pile. Restrain it with one hand. Stretch the wing out with your second hand. Clip off 50% of the wings outer ten feathers with your third hand.

As the birds grow adjust the heat light temperature down by one degree per day. No, this is not actually possible. That’s not my point. You start at 100 degrees for hatchlings then continue down by one degree per day until your bedroom is a minimum of 3 degrees cooler than the spring blizzard outside your window.

Before the move, experience the Joy of Wing Clipping one more time. Feather clipping never works the first time. Still, after all the hassle you probably don’t want them to fly the coop in under sixty seconds. Of course, if you’re like me, by this time you may be inclined to pack them each a lunch and leave a stack of Greyhound tickets by the open coop gate.

The scoop on coop construction: Hen houses and chicken coops are an art form unto themselves. There are lots of web sites showing off architectural designs from Chicken Chateaus to Bird Bordellos. The meticulous craftsmanship makes my own home look like – well – like a chicken coop.

Always fashionable, I went with designer shabby for our coop. As for the coop itself, there is a gift for tight chicken wire, which eludes me. Inferior design aside, I ultimately learned a thing or two. The nesting boxes are supposed to be up off the ground. That is correct. For those of you keeping score you just spent two weeks cutting back the birds flight feathers only to hang their houses in the sky.

Higher than the nest boxes, you are to build a roost. This is where the birds crap at night so they do not crap on your breakfast eggs. Of course the roost is usually OVER the nesting boxes, so whatever you do, don’t use those perforated plastic milk crates. For young birds maintain a heat light in the hen house.

And finally there is the feed regime. I consulted several experts and read up on feeding as well. Make sure to give your chickens, starter formula, mash, growth formula, start & grow, brood formula, grit, no grit, scraps, no scraps, no antibiotics, medicated starter, non-medicated starter and never ever switch in-between.

Alas, if you want healthy, happy chickens that lay good quality, tasty eggs then make the effort to feed your chickens a balanced diet that’s intended for chickens.

Unless you really do know what you’re doing, the best option is to buy ready made feed from a local farm merchant.

Be forewarned; finding a label that identifies contents as organic and free range can be futile. Trust me. I’ve tried. But I won’t give up. Some farmers aren’t giving up either. Here’s a great article from one about the old-fashioned practice of letting chickens roam free on the farm. And another about why a free-range label might not mean so much. As with so many other issues, we’re left to wonder what’s best and what we’re really buying. Seems the only way to be sure is to buy from a local farm where you can see for yourself what goes on.

Ready made feed will give your birds a balanced diet that keeps them in good condition without risk of malnutrition or diseases and disorders caused by a lack of essential nutrients and vitamins.

Think about it. If a commercial, free-range, organic egg producer who relies on each and every one of thousands of birds producing an egg a day does not bother to feed his hens any old rubbish, why should you?

I may not be Queen of the Coop yet, but at least I’m not running around like one with my head cut off

Montana on my Mind

A childhood dream came true when we moved to Montana May, 2004. Another dream was reached when me and husband, Dan, opened Fish Creek House, a bed and breakfast just outside of Whitehall, just 20 minutes from the historic mining town of Butte and close to Bozeman.

“When I was young I always told my parents I wanted to live in Montana,” Living in New York and later California , I wasnt quite sure how that would happen.

Dan, a partner in a computer business and gunsmith, and I, a bi-athlete, came to Bohart Ranch near Bozeman to compete in the running and shooting competition and fell in love with the area. The search was on for property in Montana. For Dan, he was returning to his roots. He lived in Malta until he was five.

We found a beautiful log home located on forty acres with gorgeous views of the mountains and a stone’s throw from Fish Creek. Located just 15 miles from Whitehall, nestled in the Tobacco Root Mountains. .The Inn offers rustic charm with all the modern conveniences. It’s also a perfect stopover between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

While I was initially reluctant to “virtually” build this home from afar, my gut instinct on John Benedict and his crew were spot on… Trustworthy, dependable and way fun to be around.

So here we were in California doing a virtual and long distance “remodel”… So we devised the monthly California-Montana drive tour… First we broke it down into two days, and finally got the world and Olympic record for doing it in 14 hours. The stretch of I-15 thru Idaho predictably became the worst weather wise, with big rigs jackknifing in the windy snow . On our third jaunt, highway patrol stopped us to clear one off the road adding about 4 hours to overall time… Made up for world record the time before!

We’d meet John Benedict our builder at each of these “pow wows” and he’d give us the guided progress tour. Fortunately our realtor was always available as well even going so far as to try to find the “missing septic” tank in 5 inches worth of snow… a real trooper. Although his search was unsuccessful,since we eventually had to add another septic to meet State Requirements for the B&B, the spirit was great

During one of our trips, they took a hike down to the creek and when I looked up at the log home nestled in the hills, the name Fish Creek House came to me A “v-8 ” moment as itwere.

A new barn , arena and round pen have been built for our horses and guests are welcome to bring their own horses and board them.

Other activities include hiking, antiquing, exploring nearby ghost towns and hosted shooting clinics at their range. Virtually outside our door is the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, great for hiking, biking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing Whether on horseback, or in hiking boots, you will enjoy some of the most beautiful, untouched country in America. A perfect stopover between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

“We want to accommodate people who are nature loving. We’ll make you feel like part of the family while you’re here,” Dan hosts monthly shooting clinics An Olympic rifle coach had a shooting range was built on the property. Where else can you take in a museum and a rodeo… all in one day?

Another specialty of Fish Creek House is the food. We offer a gourmet breakfast for their guests and with their own personal greenhouse, the vegetables will be organically grown on site.

We offers two guests suites, each with a private bath, a large living room with a stone fireplace, a library and a sitting room, complete with a microwave and a fridge. Fish Creek House is also a place where the active businessperson can stay in touch. (if you must !) We offer wireless internet in each of the rooms. We have furnished our home using custom made Montana pieces in their guest rooms.

Ah nothing like the life in Big Sky Country Montana, The bed and breakfast, our horses and the folks… just another day in paradise

Take the Time Today

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller

Meanwhile in the Inn the Kitchen segment, guests often asked what time I got up in the morning in order to have breakfast ready . I had to admit that I didn’t get up at 4 a.m. even though I did make all of our homemade bread, muffins, pastries, cakes, p pancakes, waffles, granola, omelets, eggs benedict, French toast, etc.

Being frugal I continue to find has virtually nothing to do with being cheap.Au contraire it’s about the best use of your resources, be it t your time or the stuff in your closets You look at your daily routines with new eyes. Organizing becomes second nature. After all, time is money, right?

Multitask and Combine Chores: A way of life here. I almost feel like I’m slackin’ when I’m not If you have a handy list of short tasks, you can refer to it and start making the best use of even small blocks of time. might include making a salad, setting the table, watering plants or sorting mail.Make the best use of your driving time by combining tasks in a single day instead of making several trips during the week. If you need to get gas for the car, combine that errand with your shopping. Yup you can walk and chew gum at the same time

Here’s a look innside.

We serve each morning between 8:30 and 10 a.m. Our menus may include fresh fruit, muffins or coffee cake, and a hot entrée. We also offer homemade granola and old-fashioned oatmeal. I hit the kitchen at 6:30 or 7 depending on the menu of the day. With the inclusion of the morning walk and bringing in our horses, the key is preparation and planning. See time management above.

Our 5-day rotation means creating 5 unique menus with fruit, muffins and entree paired for flavor and balance. If we’re serving a heavy sweet French toast, fruit will be be light and fresh, preferably unsweetened to balance the sweetness of the entree. A light and airy cheese omelet can be started (or finished!) . You can balance your menus from day to day, serving a savory entree one day and a sweet one the next. Breakfast imitates life, balance is an essential element of their menu.

Preparation is the key to making painless breakfasts that look and taste like a big deal but are easy on the chef. While you are cleaning up from breakfast and the oven is still on, and the floor has not yet been washe, you can prep your wet and dry ingredients for muffins, cakes, pancakes and waffles so that the next morning you only have to mix them together and bake. Yeast based recipes are actually better if risen overnight in the refrigerator. For example, our pecan sticky buns are filled, rolled, cut and then put in the refrigerator to rise overnight. We pull them out at 7 a.m., allow them to return to room temp and then bake as always. This works for bread, coffee cake, even Belgian waffle batter.

Eggs for omelets can be broken, beaten, flavored, and refrigerated the day before. Cheese can be grated and refrigerated as well. You can even poach eggs ahead of time. Chefs doing big hotel brunches poach their eggs the day before. You just cut the poaching time by 1 minute, immediately put the eggs into an ice water bath and refrigerate. When ready to serve just slip the eggs into simmering water for the 1 minute of final cooking and voila! they’re ready to serve. Every innkeeper has a recipe or two for do ahead egg dishes that get prepped the day before and sit overnight in the fridge, and then bake in the morning.

Fresh vegetables and herbs hold very well if cut and bagged the day before. We just take a jaunt down to the greenhouse (in season, of course) Just refrigerate until ready to use. On the other hand, most fruit is best done the day of serving. Save the fresh melon or berries to prep the morning of serving to insure that they are at their best. There are a few fruit dishes like cooked compotes that benefit from aging and can be done a day or two ahead.

Good quality coffee and tea are musts. We use Seattle’s Best Organic coffee Organic coffee’s part of our green philosophy here at the B&B. For some reason, people equate “organic ” anything akin to giving up their favorite food. Au contraire.

Then there’s the “unprecedented opportunity for creativity ” by planning for the use of leftover ingredients. Leftover unserved sliced fresh peaches become homemade fresh peach preserves with nothing more than the addition of sugar and some slow, back of the stove cooking. They get raves, save money and take almost no effort. We always keep some preserves in the freezer in case there are no leftover peaches. Combining our frugal and green philosophies nothing that can be used is thrown away.

So plan first, then prep ahead. Breakfast will be a pleasure for you and your guests. Anticipate all the little things that can and do happen while you are trying to make a beautiful breakfast. If you are prepared none of this will phase you and your guests will ask, what time did you get up to make this fabulous breakfast?

So tip the innkeeper, what’s on your menu?

Serenity Prayer on Steroids.

I remember hearing the “Serenity Prayer” as a young “whippasnappa” the first time from my father… It’s helped alot when I get real anxious.

There are those days and times however, that serenity, courage and wisdom are all tested and in question.

Grant Me The Serenity To Accept
Things I Cannot Change. The Courage
To Change The Things I Cannot Accept
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of
Those I Had To Kill Today Because They
Got On My Nerves, And Also Help Me To
Be Careful Of The Toes I Step On Today
As They May Be Connected To The Feet
I May Have To Kiss Tomorrow.
Help Me Always To Give 100% At Work.

12% On Monday

23% On Tuesday

40% On Wednesday

20% On Thursday

5% On Friday

And Help Me To Remember When I’m
Having A Bad Day And It Seems That
People Are Trying To Wind Me Up,
It Takes 42 Muscles To Frown,
28 To Smile…………………………….
And Only Four To Extend My Arm
And Smack Someone In The Mouth!!!

There now dont you feel better…  I do.  Now go take on the day!

A Housewife on Steroids

Or a day in the life of an innkeeper.

Forget what you saw on Newhart, that ’80s sitcom about an innkeeper who seems to spend most of the day lounging. Dan and I have found our complementary strengths, so we wear all the hats”. Still you’res on the go 12 hours a day and is lucky to get six hours of sleep a night.

I’ve found the key to productivity for me… is the more i do , the more I do… Have a plan and then it’s go with the flow chart time

First Up: Perfunctory run with Manker.. .we both need to get out… get the horses in for their morning breakfast.. .thisis a bed and breakfast after all.

Second up: fixing the washer.

Dan and I (OK, Dan alone, with me watching) take the machine apart and discover the culprit: a ripped hose. We’ll need a replacement, and soon Dan races north to the closest store that has one — 20 miles away.

I’m left behind to arrange fresh flowers for the dining room. Already, I’m falling behind on the day’s chores. By now, I should have prepared registration cards for check-ins. And at some point I must get into the kitchen for the weekly menu “fire up the ovens” routine. Still waiting for Dan to come back, I instinctively go re-clean the toilets… cathartic.

As an aside, we remodeled the inn, can you say “gutted it and started again” and just before we moved in we had a well known local cleaner come in and give it a top to bottom cleaning. Nothing worse than moving all your belongings into a new home only to have to get into everything and clean it. Best to clean an empty nest. To this day, I owe her a debt of gratitude. Periodically we have some of her staff in here prior to or apres guests for a clean up. “It’s not too bad,” she says when asked what it’s like to work at a bed-and-breakfast. “I guess this is what it’s like to be a housewife.”

A housewife on steroids, maybe. I go over the “game plan” for when each breakfast item needs to go in the oven (critical, , when serving up to 14 people a day). And there’s another chart showing the dietary constraints of each guest. Tomorrow, one guest is a vegetarian. Another doesn’t eat eggs.

Excuse me, just had to take that last phone call; a reservation .. folks coming from Boston .. .via Yellowstone and staying for two nights. Pre-requisite and fun schmoozing and yes… booked. They too are looking to transition their jobs and lifestyle to Montana. I’m telling you this really is the last best place

Guests or no guests, kitchen cleaning is non-ending. You also have to be a part time fix-it type since Murphy tends to rear his head at most inopportune time. Here’s thirteen enlightening cleaning tips

Tip 1: DOOR LOCKS If a room clearly can’t be whipped into shape in 30 days, much less 30 minutes, employ the Locked Door Method of cleaning. Tell anyone who tries to go in the room that you accidentally locked the door and can’t find the key. Of course, the locksmith can’t possibly come until tomorrow. CAUTION: It is not advisable to use this tip for the bathroom. Time: 2 seconds

Tip 2: DUCT TAPE No home should be without an ample supply. Not only is it handy for plumbing repairs, but it’s a great way to hem drapes, tablecloths, clothes, just about anything. No muss, no fuss. Time: 2-3 minutes

Tip 3: OVENS If you think ovens are just for baking, think again. Ovens represent at least 9 cubic feet of hidden storage space, which means they’re a great place to shove dirty dishes, dirty clothes, or just about anything you want to get out of sight when company’s coming. Time: 2 minutes

Tip 4: CLOTHES DRYERS Like Secret Tip 3, except bigger. CAUTION: Avoid hiding flammable objects here. Time: 2.5 minutes

Tip 5: WASHING MACHINES & FREEZERS Like Secret Tip 4, except even bigger. Time: 3 minutes

Tip 6: DUST RUFFLES No bed should be without one. Devotees of Martha Stewart believe dust ruffles exist to keep dust out from under a bed or to help coordinate the colorful look of a bedroom. The rest of us know a dust ruffle’s highest and best use is to hide whatever you’ve managed to shove under the bed. (Refer to Secret Tips 3, 4, 5.) Time: 4 minutes

Tip 7: DUSTING The 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House method says: Never dust under what you can dust around. Time: 3 minutes

SECRET TIP 8: DISHES Don’t use them. Use plastic or paper plates and you won’t have to. Time: 1 minute

Tip 9: IRONING If an article of clothing doesn’t require a full press and your hair does, a curling iron is the answer. In between curling your hair, use the hot wand to iron minor wrinkles out of your clothes. Yes, it really does work, or so I’m told, by other disciples of the 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House philosophy. Time: 5 minutes (including curling your hair)

Tip 10: VACUUMING Stick to the middle of the room, which is the only place people look. Don’t bother vacuuming under furniture. It takes way too long and no one looks there anyway. Time: 5 minutes, entire house; 2 minutes, living room only

Tip 11: LIGHTING The key here is low, low, and lower. It’s not only romantic, but bad lighting can hide a multitude of dirt. Time: 10 seconds

Tip 12:: BED MAKING Get an old-fashioned waterbed. No one can tell if those things are made up or not, saving you, oh, hundreds of seconds over the course of a lifetime. Time: 0

Tip 13: SHOWERS, TOILETS, AND SINKS Forget one and two. Concentrate on three. Time: 1 minute

There’s a lot more to running an inn than baking muffins, That’s why it’s great to be a husband/wife team where while Dan does alot of cooking I do the housekeeping, bookkeeping, marketing and ranch stuff. (except for the real heavy duty work that needs to get done around a ranch) . except when I’m cleaning.

Trot on friends, trot on.