I spent the last two weeks away from Montana, climbing in Yosemite with old friends from my search and rescue days, and meeting new friends at a Farm to Crag event in Chattanooga, run by Kate Rutherford and Juli Obudzinski at the incredible Sequatchie Cove Farm.
I loved moving across the vertical landscape for hours on end in Yosemite. I loved asking open-ended questions about people's work and passions and having the space to really listen in Tennessee. I loved that we had a wide range of backgrounds and yet shared climbing and food. I loved laughing and learning, hugging and eating.
Back at home, I wanted to keep listening and investing energy into these things.
And today, I had the chance to do so when I led an online brand strategy workshop with Heather Bilden of Coulee Creek Ranch for a group of people working in food systems across Montana, from Missoula to Wolf Point.
I'm grateful to Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer and Barb Holliday of Hopa Mountain, a nonprofit that works with tribal and rural communities, for bringing us together and showing me how to do this work at home in Montana.
In Barb's words: "The more we come together and listen and make those connections, the more it seems we can accomplish anything."
