The ANTecdote
Busy as a Bee
Perhaps you, as our lovely and informed supporters and friends, know why our company is named Red Ants Pants? Or, perhaps not. Well, let’s refresh. Red Ants Pants is named for the the female ants in a red ant colony because they do all the work! Well, female red ants are not the only hard workers in the world of insects and we’re just tickled pink to introduce you to another hard worker insect, the honeybee and to the woman who takes care of the them on the eastern edge of Glacier National Park. Queen Bee Courtney Courtney Stone Fullerton, along with her husband, Greg, are the beekeepers of Glacier County Honey near Babb, Montana. Beekeeping is not her only profession. She’s also a lawyer with her own practice in Cut Bank. Not only does Courtney help Greg, a second generation beekeeper, with the extraction process – Glacier County Honey extracts about 125,000 pounds of honey each summer – she also manages the company’s books and the retail aspects of this new Montana company. While their company warehouse is under construction this summer, Courtney’s been making her beeswax products, including candles and Christmas ornaments, in her kitchen. In fact, two days after their July 2009 wedding, the newly weds went right to their “honeymoon” – extracting 125,000 pounds of honey! Their real honeymoon didn’t happen until all the honey was extracted and Courtney’s law practice was set up last September. According to Courtney, one in every three bites of food can be traced back to the honeybee. The Fullertons have a strong belief that bees are the backbone of agriculture. And their bees couldn’t be more lucky to have wildflowers to nourish them from Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Due to their incredible food sources, Glacier County Honey is light, pure and simply sweet! In fact, it is consistently awarded the USDA’s highest designation for honey. And to us, this honey is most delicious! Montana bees make the best honey! Glacier County Honey is a small operation with 1,000 hives and you can order their honey in either 1 lb/3 lb/ or 5 lb squeeze top bottles. Courtney is just so fabulous (and incredibly smart) that she packs her honey in this spill-proof squeeze top bottles that leave no honey dripping down the side of the bottle or left to leak all over a cupboard in Anthill (ahem, yes, we may have had a honey leakage problem on one of our past Tour de Pants. But not anymore!) Her beeswax products, which are 100% natural with no added fragrances or dyes, can be found at their website too. And if you enjoy reading about another small Montana business or of other beekeeping adventures we invite you to visit Courtney’s blog about all things Glacier County Honey and of her unique life in the remote northeast corner of Glacier National Park. Our attorney-beekeeper friend is also a talented writer! One thing’s for sure-Montana women can certainly do it all. Proudly showing Glacier County Honey's finest We know that the saying, “busy as a bee” is not just for the bees, but rings true for all of us. But after what we’ve seen when we visited Courtney and her bees at their Hillhouse property, we know it’s damn important to take time, like the honeybees do, to smell the wildflowers.
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Red Feathers and Red Ants
Pamela and Marilynn, the straw bale builders Red Ants Pants has teamed up with Red Feather Development Group, a phenomenal organization out of Bozeman, MT. Red Feather educates and empowers American Indian nations to create sustainable and replicable solutions to the severe housing crisis within reservation communities. Red Feather organizes volunteers, and, alongside tribal members, builds needed homes using sustainable materials and techniques. Red Ants Pants partnered with Red Feather by sponsoring their two female builders, Marilynn Cochran, from Arlee, MT, and Pamela Pauly, from Lopez Island, WA. Both of these women have been in construction for over 20 years, many of which have been focused on more sustainable building methods including straw bale construction. In June, Red Feather volunteers, alongside the new home owners, Albert McManus and Clara One Feather’s family, built a straw bale home on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Eastern Montana. Sarah Calhoun of Red Ants Pants joined them for 2 days to help with the final stages of the build which included lots of interior painting. “Meeting these inspiring women who are the leading experts in their industry is such an honor. Learning from them, working side by side, hearing their stories…that’s what it’s all about,” said Calhoun. When asked what she likes about straw bale construction, Cochran replied, “It brings the feminine back into building. The curves, the plasters, it’s kind of like your pants!” Huge thanks go out to Marilynn and Pamela for their partnership, as well as everyone at Red Feather, especially Mark Jensen for helping to coordinate this collaboration. Thank you all! Calhoun with Marilynn Cochran and Mark Jensen Marilynn and Pamela at the volunteer camp
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Open Space, a film by Conservation Media and produced for the Sonoran Institute, is a short film about the issues of open space and development in the west. This beautiful film features several Montanans addressing the loss of open space for agriculture and wildlife habitat in Montana and one of the featured profiles is of Sarah and Red Ants Pants! Enjoy the film and our hats off to filmmaker Jeremy Roberts for his wonderful and poignant short film. And you also can take in the breathtaking landscapes of the Big Sky state.
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Tough trail work? No sweat with RAP
What comes to mind when you think of your perfect June Saturday? Pulaski, rock bar, tread, digging crew, brushing, and hard hats are exactly what you envision when you think of a Montana summer day, right? Maybe not. Well, if you weren’t planning your next trail crew adventure in Montana, we’d like to share our report of our trail crew efforts in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex to celebrate National Trails Day two Saturdays ago. Volunteers celebrating National Trails Day National Trails Day began in 1993 to engage and inspire people from all across the country to get involved in their local trails, either by recreating or volunteering to help maintain their trail systems. This tradition occurs every year on the first Saturday in June and RAP was more than excited to get down and dirty for and help maintain a beautiful trail in Maggie’s neck of the woods. The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, based in Hungry Horse, MT, hosted a one day volunteer trail work project in celebration of National Trails Day. As good friends of Maggie’s, she signed up to help. The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation provides folks with volunteer trips to work on the vast and rugged trail system of the third largest Wilderness area in the lower 48. Their trips range from a one day experience to spending a week backpacking through the “Bob” on a trail crew, noxious weed eradication or restoring a historic phone line. Volunteers luck out–all of their food and work gear are provided by the Foundation. In fact, on some trips, there are even inflatable kayaks packed in by a pack-string to let those hard-workin’ volunteers float out of the Bob on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River after they’ve spent a week working on trails! So, if this little post has wet your whistle for an incredible volunteer vacation in one of Montana’s most pristine and wild places, click here to learn more about the BMWF’s trips. Maggie’s group was led by veteran trail crew leader Addy and her dog Beast. And the 5 person group was the muscle group–using rock bars to move large rocks and Pulaski’s to widen the eroding Skiumah trail. And luckily for the rest of Maggie’s crew, she was working hard in her Red Ants Pants, so no horrifying plumber’s crack was exposed since RAPs have a higher back rise to prevent any indecent exposures. Although rain, which has been a constant in Montana this June, greeted the volunteer crews in the morning, by lunch time, trailside, the skies cleared! And at the end of the day, the crews, a bit weary from the work, but left knowing that this special trail was left in much, much better shape then when they found it. Tough trail volunteers! So you might not have a trail crew project in your summer plans, but even if you’re not finding yourself with a cross-cut saw in hand, RAPs are perfect for any dirty and tough job that not only requires some good ol’ strength but also some good fun. And yes, crazy as it may sound, we do think that trail crew projects are fun, especially when there’ s a BBQ afterwards to celebrate our accomplishments!
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Red Ants Pants hosts Cycle the Rockies Bike Tour
Last week, 10 weary and very wet bikers pedaled into White Sulphur Springs. They were the 8 students and 2 instructors of the Cycle the Rockies course. This course is part of the Wild Rockies Field Institute. Based in Missoula, WRFI; www.wrfi.net, is an independent, nonprofit educational organization that offers affordable, high quality, academically rigorous field courses in some of the most beautiful and interesting landscapes in North America. Cycle the Rockies consists of 28 days of biking across Montana studying energy issues and climate change. The students began their journey in Billings and will complete the adventure in Glacier National Park. Along the way they meet with local ranchers, oilmen, venture capitalists, Hutterites, and lots of various folks who specialize in energy in one form or another. Red Ants Pants was excited to welcome them in for the night, stuff them with elk burgers, asparagus, and roasted potatoes, and hear their stories. Check out their blog at http://wrfi.net/CycleTheRockies/. Pedal safely friends and keep expanding those minds! WRFI Bikers at Red Ants Pants
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You Can Take the Girls Out of Red Ants Pants but...
Maggie & Sarah with Nick from Hatchopedia Last Thursday night Sarah and Maggie ventured to the big city of Bozeman for a night on the town and to show our support for a very worthy cause, the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council. Our dear friends at Hatchopedia hosted their second annual Ol’ Blue & Big Fish Contest and although we were busy on Tour de Pants and couldn’t enter the big fish contest (our talents not only lie in pants!) we could help the effort in protecting southwest Montana’s unbelievable beautiful waterways as an event sponsor. Red Ants Pants is certainly proud to help organizations that are dedicated to keeping Montana’s great lands and rivers protected, clean, and accessible. Sarah & Mike England, founder of Outside Bozeman Magazine, at the Hatchopedia party Not only was the event as a good celebration of the biggest catch and the excitement of winning a drift boat or old Jeep (which, sadly, neither one of us came away as the big winner) but a wonderful night spent with many of our Red Ants Pants friends and supporters. If you’ve already checked out RAP’s first commercial that aired in 2008 on YouTube then you might be familiar with one of our very talented model/actresses, Sam. Sam lives in Bozeman and is one of Sarah’s oldest and dearest Montana friends. And since Sam calls Bozeman home, we got to meet up with her at the event and check in to see how she’s fairing after her RAP video debut. Rest assured that this woman, who’s line from the commercial will be forever famous: “You got a chain?” has not allowed RAP fame to go to her head. In fact, Sam just graduated from Montana State University with a Master’s in Nutrition. Congrats to her! Sarah and Sam enjoying a good laugh You can try to take the girls out of Red Ants Pants, but you can’t take the Red Ants Pants out of the girls…despite casting aside our trademark pants for the evening and dressing up a bit in sun-dresses and our matching jean jackets. Nothing says spring in Montana like pale white legs out on the town with snow still high up in the mountains! Although we were at a fishing party, brown paper bags containing a new pair of RAPs were spotted and stickers were seen everywhere at the event! Congratulations to our friend Nick and his crew at Hatchopedia for hosting a successful fundraiser. Now we’re all itching for our rainy weather to clear so we can get out and enjoy the rivers and mountains this spring!
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Where Good Friends Gather
In one week, we covered 2, 850 miles (well, give or take a few miles here and there) across Oregon, northern California and the Seattle area. And in all of those miles traveled, we were greeted with sunshine, lush spring blossoms, the cool smell of the ocean, and most importantly, welcomed by our friends and made new RAP connections. Here are the legs to your favorite pants! Our last stop on Tour de Pants was in Seattle. We first had a quick and fun visit to the factory where your RAPs are made in Kent, WA. The factory is operated by a mother daughter team, Cheryl Evans and Sheila Brush. And this just wasn’t your typical business stop–both Sheila and Cheryl care very deeply for Red Ants Pants and for Sarah. Although business was discussed, the conversation eased into personal life, asking about family and friends. And Sarah received a very fun miniature beaded red ant from the floor manager, Terry. If you wear a pair of Red Ants Pants you should be quite proud that the men and women who make your pants are truly wonderful people! After our visit at the factory, we headed a bit east of Seattle to Sammamish (it’s a very fun name to pronounce) to catch up with Sarah’s cohorts from her Student Conservation Association days. Sarah worked as a trail crew leader for SCA and still manages to find time in her busy RAP schedule to cook for their Work Skills week–a week dedicated to crew leader training. Our party host was Sarah’s longtime friend through SCA, Sarah Hanson. We found Sarah’s cozy home nestled deeply in the northwest woods. She’s been busy all winter renovating her parent’s home. And her well worn RAPs show her efforts! Before the party, we made a quick stop to the SCA camp to say hi to friends and show off our RAPs to incoming crew leaders. Sarah holding up her old pants, and modeling her new pair! For our last night on the road, we couldn’t have asked for any more–we were surrounded by Sarah’s old friends, friends spanning her life through her journies with Outward Bound and the SCA. We all curled up on futons and chairs in Sarah Hanson’s home and laughed our way through the RAP slideshow as many of the photos were of friends at the party. After traveling so many miles, there’s no place quite like where your good friends gather. Good friends Heidi and Emily. What beautiful women! With yawns punctuating the night, we said our goodbyes with promises to make summer visits to Montana. Many of our friends are beginning trail crew work on the Pacific Crest Trail, beginning their new job Seattle to practice medicine, and our dear friend Emily is busy planning her wedding this July! So many great things to look forward to! And we loaded up the truck early Wednesday morning and hit I-90 for the long drive through Washington to White Sulphur Springs. We’re so very thankful to all our party hosts and their guests for truly welcoming us into their communities! And we’re very grateful to all our RAP supporters across the west coast. Tour de Pants is at a stopping point for the spring. Sarah’s travels haven’t quite ended yet. She’s off to her home in Connecticut to celebrate her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary! Maggie will watch over the shop and the pets while Sarah’s away and then she’ll return home to Whitefish for the summer. Stay tuned for more adventures with Red Ants Pants as we slide, happily, into summer.
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Planting good ants in Ashland
Beautiful Ashland River on our stroll through town Our beautiful drive took us north from the Bay Area through the rolling hills of northern California, past a cloud-camouflaged Mt. Shasta and into the lush small town of Ashland, Oregon. Ashland has made its mark as playing host to the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival and we feel quite strongly that if the Bard himself checked out these pants, there would certainly be a sonnet or two dedicated to the wonderfulness of Red Ants Pants. We didn’t have enough time to take in a play, sadly, but instead connected with farming women at a house party. We were so lucky to have two hosts in Ashland and great thanks to Melina and Aiyana for the pants party! And for making room in their busy harvesting schedules for us! Our party fell on the eve before the huge Tuesday morning farmers market. These pants can't wait to get some dirt on 'em! Our intimate party was made quite lively due to Melina’s adorable three year old son and his excitement during the RAP slideshow and his dance moves! We laughed and snacked on homemade cornbread while Elin swayed to Dolly Parton’s “Working 9 to 5”. Two of our party guests have a very special relationship–a mother daughter duo who now have the Red Ants Pants! Leslie, the mom, runs the farm where Aiyana and her fiancée (who also wears RAPs) live and work. And check out just how great they both look in their RAPs. lRAPs for you and your mom! As rain began to fall on the truck, we left our new Ashland friends and headed north to get a few miles under our belts (did you know that we have Red Ants Pants belts?) before our long drive to Seattle. Our Tuesday Seattle stop includes a visit to the factory where your most favorite pants are made and a house party with Student Conservation Association crew leaders and alumni!
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Women Are Building California
Cari all smiles with her new pants! We just wrapped up a busy weekend in Oakland, attending the 9th Annual Women Building California conference. It was a whirlwind weekend in the Bay Area–between the conference and our stints at playing tourists in the big city. We were so happy to connect with some pretty darn tough, hardworking (and, we might add, very fun-loving) women. This was our second appearance at the conference. Last year we made the trek all the way down to Los Angeles (and yes, in case you were wondering, it was a shock to us Montana gals!) to attend the conference and meet with all different tradeswomen. This statewide conference is unique in that it brings together all the different types of trades–from pile drivers to electricians–under one roof to celebrate, educate and inspire working women. In the trades, women only make up 2% of the workforce. And last year, we were so thrilled to show these women that finally there’s a company that makes workwear just for them! And by women too! We had so many wonderful supporters, so at this year’s conference, it was incredible to reconnect with familiar faces and also meet new women working in the Bay Area. But, it was a true eye-opener on the status of our economy and job front. So many of these women are not working. They’ve been laid off in the last year. Quite a different one year makes. And, of course, these women are determined to not allow the recession to knock them down. So, these women are looking at other ways to stay engaged–they’re attending classes on green building and their positive outlook on the job front is guiding them into leadership positions with their unions. These women are smart, and talented and they know that in order to ride out this difficult time, they have to stay positive and stick together. Fun times and friends at the reception And we were more than impressed with the support they’ve shown Red Ants Pants for the past two years. As much as we hear on the news or read in the newspapers about the millions who’ve lost their jobs, sometimes it’s overwhelming to hear the tough news, but after a weekend spent around these women who’ve faced adversity in so many ways, and now to have lost their jobs, we’re confident it’s their attitude and strength that will rebuild the economy and most certainly with these women, rebuild California. The conference took place during the day so at night, we took full advantage of exploring the city. And luckily, the conference ended early on Sunday, so our dear new friends Rachel and Robin played tour guide and showed us San Fransisco. We first met Rachel, an electrician, at least year’s conference. And not only is Rachel one hell of a fun lady to be a round, she’s also made a RAP first. Have you heard about our ‘Where’s Your Ant Challenge’? The ‘Where’s Your Ant Challenge’ refers to the single ant label sewn on each pair of pants. And the ant is sewn in a different location on every pair and if you find your matching ant on a women (or man) wearing their RAPs, then you get a free RAP t-shirt. As much as we love getting to know our customers, we also think it’s important that our customers get to know each other too. Connect, it’s a good thing. Rachel showing off her matching ant Well, Rachel found a matching ant. Just not with another person. But herself. Rachel loved Red Ants Pants so much that she bought a second pair and guess what? Yep, matching ant with her second pair. Matching ants aside, Rachel and Robin were quite possibly the best tour guides and we ate and walked around the city, thankful that RAP has taken us to so many wonderful places around the country and introduced us to so many wonderful and beautiful people too! For two women who really, really enjoy small towns, we did manage to have a good bit of fun in Oakland and San Francisco! And now, Tour de Pants rolls on north to Ashland, Oregon to meet with local farmers. See, work–either working with your hands in the dirt or pounding nails is a good, good thing.
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