38th Stop - Special K Ranch (MT)
After Craters of the Moon, we stayed one night in Dillon, MT and then started our long drive to Special K Ranch, about 30 miles west of Billings. In order to break up the long, monotonous drive, we decided to stop at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. Apparently, Montana didn't appreciate us calling it boring, since while we were driving, something flew in through my open window and hit me on the neck. I thought it was just a rock until my neck started burning. Then something started wriggling inside my shirt. After a brief freak out, I found a bee had blown in the window, stung me, and fell down my neckline. It didn't make it...
We made it to the Museum, which was full of exhibits of dinosaurs, old cars, and all sorts of critters you'd expect to find in the Rockies. Fun fact: Juvenile Triceratops horns face down as they mature, then they shift upwards as they become adults.
We didn't have a ton of time to explore, but the kids loved looking at all the skeletons and replicas and playing in the kids room upstairs. They could go "fishing", build a dam, dress up as owls and butterflies, and climb a treehouse.
We finished at their Living History Farm (pictured at the beginning of the post), which had a beautiful garden, full of butterflies and flowers. There were workers in costume reflecting the age of the early Montana settlers and ladies working on hand stitching projects, making dough, and other household chores. One lady had just closed up their café and was handing out free donuts to the kids. The kids enjoyed pumping water from the well to fill watering cans to water the garden.
At last, it was time to head to our actual destination: Special K Ranch. Why we came out to the middle of Montana is a story that begins about 4 years ago.
During Gary's last mid-life crisis (or maybe the beginning of this one), he looked into working ranches. Most of them were for singles or couples, but we finally found one that that was suitable for families. And that one was Special K Ranch.
Special K is not a typical ranch, but a home and community for adults with disabilities to live with the opportunity to work, learn life and trade skills, and be a part of a Christian community that fully understands the needs and capacity of all its members. They live in homes with a "Ma" and "Pa", who are hired couples that help guide their small group of residents in their daily tasks, get to any appointments, and work together to have a clean home with good homemade food.
Gary and I chatted with them a few times and ultimately decided that it was not quite what we were looking for at the time, but they invited us to come and visit if we ever made it to Montana.
So, about 3 1/2 years later, we finally made it to Special K Ranch. And what a truly amazing experience it was. The Director of the Ranch, Marvin, invited us to join in the various activities around the ranch. We first took a tour of the facilities, which included a greenhouse full of tomatoes, a mechanic workshop, a garden, a multi-purpose craft/utility room, a packaging center for their produce, and an activity center. The property sits along the Yellowstone River, which we enjoyed exploring, catching frogs, and floating down. They had a large field with a flock of goats and sheep, which D tried to pet. My personal highlight was catching a large mouth Bass in one of the ponds!
Q's tan from his shoes
Each morning we joined the devotional where all the adults who live there joined in a group prayer for their families and for each other at the ranch. Our first morning there, I had a young woman brusquely approach me, give me a big hug, then walk away. Another man was so excited to see us. He would constantly flag us down and ask us questions, usually about the characters he was coloring in his books. One guy's sole ambition was to tell us a joke that we had never heard. There were so many sweet spirits there. Some very high functioning, others who needed a lot of guidance, but could hold their own once they started their assignments. The assignments were given to each 'family' and they went off to their various activities. Some packaged and priced items (like jewelry) for local businesses. Some made cases to deliver their home-grown tomatoes. Others could work in the mechanic shop.
We followed one group out to the garden to help harvest their vegetable crop. One man was mostly blind, so Gary and I took turns guiding him to each bean cluster so he could help harvest. The kids all participated as well, grabbing different varieties of cucumber and beans. The Ranch used to be able to sell their produce at farmer's markets, but unfortunately bureaucratic red tape got in the way, so now they just eat it themselves at the ranch.
Tomato World
One of the host families invited us over for dinner (twice, actually). We ended up having kids the same ages, so they all played down in their epic backyard sandbox and we got a front row view into the life of a host parent. It is incredible the work that they do to raise their own family, as well as be a support to these special adults. Some homeschool, some go to the public school. Some have been there for a few months, some had been there for 14+ years. In the end, Gary and I decided we made the right choice to not work there as a Ma and Pa, but it was so good to be there in person and we definitely walked away with new ideas and determination to be a similar force for good and serve our community, wherever we end up.
One of our favorite experiences at the ranch was harvesting honey. The ranch had already taken the hives from their boxes and it was time to spin. Spinning is a hot and sticky mess, pun absolutely intended. They heat a room to about 95°F to get the honey soft enough to spin. We took a honey comb to break the wax caps in each tray on each side. The tray is inserted in a spinner (centrifuge / extractor) which spins all the honey into a drip tube. The honey is collected in a bucket and then poured through a highly sophisticated DIY strainer, made with a couple of 5 gallon buckets, a nylon stocking, and a handy frame to hold it all together. Straining was a very hands-on process, squeezing the honey through the nylon to separate the wax from the honey.
This was a whole community ordeal. We worked alongside Marvin, house parents, and residents alike. That freshly spun honey is incredibly delicious and so aromatic! The Ranch was so kind and generous and gifted us a massive container of honey, which has lasted about as long as it has taken to write this post!
We absolutely enjoyed our stay at Special K. It will hold a dear place in our hearts, as well as all those who work so hard to create a safe and understanding community of growth and dignity.
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