The ANTecdote
Helena Rocks!
Back in the end of August we did a pants party at the home of Kris Larson in Helena, MT. We met Kris at a previous party this past spring and couldn’t get enough of her. She hosted a party in her lovely and festive carport, complete with a larger than life paper mache drinkin’ man…but of course! Bethany posing with the paper mache man, we'll call him 'Fred'. The party kicked off with dozens of vibrant and enthusiastic leading ladies of Helena rolling in, welcomed with hugs and kisses. What a phenomenal community of women!! The crowd sang along to the slideshow, hooting and hollering throughout. Then the fun really began as all 25 women dropped their drawers in Kris’s colorful living room. That’s right fellas, these gals know how to party! Not sure how we fit everyone in but we did! The laughter started and couldn’t be stopped. Bethany, our very helpful and generous friend from White Sulphur who came along to help with sales couldn’t even hear herself think over the gales of laughter! Turns out two sisters in particular (I won’t name any names) were developing a new line of pants that feature….well, actually what happens at a Red Ants Pants party stays at a Red Ants Pants party. I’d better keep it to that! Happy Pants Customers Needless to say, we had an absolute blast, and completely blew our own record of pant sales out of the water!! And, I’m proud to announce, we had our very first wife and husband matching ant! Huge thanks to Jane for her continued support. She too is a two timin’ pants party attendee, but this time she brought her husband…who wisely (or perhaps not so wisely) snuck in and out early before the pants started hitting the floor! Huge, huge thanks to Kris, Bethany, and all you wonderfully supportive ladies of Helena. We look forward to seeing you at the Blackfoot Brewery, Farmers Market, Great Divide Cyclery and No Sweat Cafe! Yeeee Hawwww! The last women standing...and STILL laughing!!
Learn more
Backyard Excitement
The only way I can figure out how to get anything done in my backyard is to throw a party. When there are 100 people coming over for a pig roast, things get done pretty quickly around here. Earlier this summer I began to expand my yard which involved: building a fence, building a deck, building a chicken coop, putting in a bonfire pit, and of course the mason jar candle lighting. The only problem was the majority of this didn’t get done until the evening before, and the day of, the party. Calhoun doing some last minute deck building Fortunately many hands make light work (Thank you Nick, Caroline, Anna, Elton, Jake, Bethany, Ted and Karrin!) And we pulled it off. Peter Brown and my favorite new keg holder. The pig hit the spit at 7am, the kegs went on ice in the clawfoot by 3pm, and the fun really began when Rabbit Stew, our very favorite band out of Dillon, MT (and infamous pants party hosts!) began to tune up their fiddle and bass. Rabbit Stew warming up on the new stage! So glad the fine carpentry work that went into the deck held up as a backyard stage. A very good time was had by all. The rain pushed us in for more dancing in the Red Ants Pants shop. This picture shows the wreckage at 3am when folks finally started to head to bed/deck/shop floor/airstream/yard and collapse into the beds of many pick up trucks. Sign of a good party. Our good friend Evan was even put to bed. As if this wasn’t enough excitement, I found my very first chicken egg the following week. It’s just amazing what a perfect round little beauty can come out of a chickens butt! My very first egg! Thank you lovely chickens!
Learn more
Montana Summer Living
Hard to believe it’s the final day of July. Summer has officially arrived in Montana–the temperatures are rising, the days are magnificently long, and our gardens are slowly producing food. Our days are spent with a strong desire to spend it outdoors–coffee taken in the backyard, walking barefoot in the garden, cutting fresh lettuce for tonight’s summer salad, and on days away from work our feet hit the ground and we’re off hiking in the mountains. Or paddling a canoe down the Smith River. Montana summers are magical, beautiful, and liberating. With our toes dipping in the cool mountain streams, fly rod resting on the shore, a cold beverage in one hand, we hold on tightly to our fleeting summer. How are you spending your summer? Hiking in Glacier National Park Remote cabin in Montana's Bob Marshall country Pulling a trout out of a high alpine lake Sunset on the mountains
Learn more
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.
Learn more
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
Learn moreThe West & Open Spaces
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.
Learn more
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!
Learn more
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
Learn more
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!
Learn more