Where the L Matters Most

Written by Heather Bode • Photography by Jinny Jandron

“We humans owe these creatures of God that perform at our bidding, our greatest respect.”

This eloquent statement, a salute to the horses they breed and race, graces the indoor arena owned by Gary and Dee Hoovestal of Helena. The image conjured by the words suggests a rider bowing to his steed- an appropriate gesture for all who know and love everything equine.

GETTING STARTED

Gary Hoovestal hails from Sanders, Montana, between Hysham and Forsyth, where his father owned Hoovestal’s Country Store. While his dad assisted customers, Gary was out back building and practicing in his own rodeo arena. “My dad always had horses and we had a few cows, too, on rented land on Sarpy Creek,” he says. By the time he was 9 or 10 he owned his first horse and still has the boots and spurs to prove it. “I broke horses when I was young and did rough stock and roped calves in rodeo.”

A Sweet Industry for North Central Montana

Text by Suzanne Waring and Photography by Penny Smoot

A honeybee flits from one flower to another in your garden. Instead of waving the bee away, step back and allow it to do its work because bees are important to our livelihoods. According to the American Honey Producers Association, bees pollinate one-third of the food we eat. Without bees we wouldn’t have that food. For us here in North Central Montana, the good news is that the honeybees at Smoot Honey Company, Inc., are here. They arrived back in Montana from their winter home the first two weeks of April.

Written by Heather Bode, Photography by Jacqui Smith

What do the Mall of America and Japanese mustard spinach farmers have in common with Valley Farms in Helena? They all utilize ladybugs as biopesticide. And lots of them.

Valley Farms owner Dennis Flynn says, “We were looking at a way to control insects late season without insecticides.” Since their initial use in his greenhouses three years ago, Flynn has been so impressed with the results, he’s never looked back.

(and 4 Other Questions You’re Afraid to Ask)

Text provided by Stacey Freed, HouseLogic.com

It’s a marathon house-hunting day. As you check out listing No. 5’s brand new windows, it suddenly hits you: “Oh man, I have to go to the bathroom.”

Should you, or shouldn’t you?

Navigating do’s and don’ts can be totally awkward, so we asked the pros everything most buyers secretly want to know.

Pioneer Dentist in Central Montana

Written by Suzanne Waring

During the first decade of the twentieth century, you could have counted on your fingers the number of Montana women credentialed as physicians, dentists, or lawyers. The attitude about them is indicated in the instance of Lottie M. Conyngham who was a trained dentist. People and newspapers generally used the title of Mrs. instead of Dr.—or both in reference to her. Regardless of the title, when those living in Central Montana needed a dentist, they gratefully submitted to her gentle touch.

Written by Suzanne Waring

North Central Montana farmers began using water wheels as soon as they took up homesteads along the Teton, Marias, Sun, and Missouri Rivers before the turn of the 20th Century. Water wheels had been used in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, especially by the Dutch, for eons, and the concept had migrated to the United States. It was only natural that those farming the bottom lands along Montana rivers on the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains would attempt to use water wheels for irrigation in a region where it rained only around fifteen inches a year.

The two major types of water wheels used in the United States were “overshot” and “undershot” wheels. Overshot wheels were built mainly for the purposes of milling grain and sawing wood and were powered with water that came from dammed mill ponds and entered from the top of the wheel forcing it downward into rotation.