Arts + Culture + Reflection

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On a Winter Day

Somewhere in

Montana

A REFLECTION ON LAND, LABOR AND THE QUIET LIFE

Words by Haley Miller

ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION

ISSUE NO. 01 | WINTER 2026

Darkness envelops the land as I make my way out of our warm bed. Wool socks first, then chore boots. An excited dog nudges my hand with a wet nose as I layer on my overcoat. Apparently, I am not moving as quickly as I should.

The bite of the morning air nips at the tip of my nose and my fingers. I exhale into the quiet, tendrils of steam clouding my view. There is nothing quite like the quiet of the country, where the beating of a heart and the whisper of wind through dry grass converge into a subtle orchestra. The stillness, the solitude, the beauty - it fills my heart with gratitude.

I make my way to the barn, frozen grasses crunching beneath my feet. The sun begins its ascent, and the heavens slowly open. The view is staggering: wide-open and glorious, with colors dancing across the sky.

The hens cluck their approval as I open their coop and greet them in the new light. A quick check of food and water assures me they have everything they need for the day. I can feel the impatient stare of our mule mare as she paws the ground. I suppose mules wait for no one. I turn the horses and mule out to their breakfast, receiving a gentle nip on my shoulder in thanks as they stroll past.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HALEY MILLER

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THE SEASON'S PROVISION

ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION

ISSUE NO. 01 | WINTER 2026

A blanket of snow covers our once-industrious garden, the earth taking a well-deserved rest after a season of beauty and growth. That garden was a source of incredible provision, the result of a labor of love shared by a handful of women with a common goal: growing healthy food for our families.

As I gaze out over the rows, I still can hardly believe all that garden gave us. Food, yes, but so much more: friendship, kinship, knowledge and wisdom shared, belly laughs and tears, sorrow and joy.

We planted. We weeded. We prayed. We weeded again. We harvested. We canned. We preserved. We grew in spirit, body, and mind. We gave our hard work, our time, and our effort to the land, and the land transformed those offerings into an abundance of good food, stored away for the long winter ahead.

I once came across a quote that stirred something deep within me:

Our grandparents lived lives that

were hard on the body but

comfortable for the soul. We live

lives that are easy on the body but

heavy on the soul.

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FROM THE ESSAY

Small moments,

remembered

A newborn calf warmed after an April storm. The mule waiting at the gate. Ordinary details that make a life feel rooted.

ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION

ISSUE NO. 01 | WINTER 2026

Those words sparked something in me all those years ago: a soul-deep longing for a simpler, quieter, more fulfilling life. What that looks like is different for everyone, but for me, it meant working with my hands, raising animals, growing food, cooking from scratch, and homeschooling my children. It meant living in rhythm with the seasons and spending my days in the wide-open spaces of this place. It meant pushing myself to learn the skills of self-sufficiency while building a small but mighty community to fill the gaps where I could not do it all alone. I came from a big city, a place where sound and light converge in a near-constant thrum, so different from this place. Back then, I couldn't have imagined the life that awaited me here. I didn't know I would build miles of fence alongside my husband or wake to the bellow of cows ready for breakfast. I didn't know I would sit in an old pickup with a three-hour-old calf in my lap, warming her after an unexpected April snowstorm. I didn't know I would come to relish the harvest of an elk and the work of processing and storing the meat for the months ahead.

I didn't know then that my soul was weary, calling me toward a different way of life.

But I know now. My soul has found its home in the quiet beauty of this place. At the end of the day, I may be exhausted in body, but my soul knows the comfort of a day well spent.

PHOTO: LAUNA PENZA PHOTOGRAPHY | LAUNAPENZAPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF HALEY MILLER

Journal page 46 · View the designed page

CONTRIBUTOR

Haley Miller

Haley writes about motherhood, growing food, self-sufficiency and the quiet rhythms of rural Montana. Her days are shaped by family, animals and the work of stewarding the land.

ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION

ISSUE NO. 01 | WINTER 2026

It is time to head back to the house, but I pause to lift my face toward the sun, to feel its warmth even in the midst of winter's slumber. Soon it will be time to feed the cows and begin crossing things off the never-ending list of ranch chores. There is always more work to be done, another task waiting, another need to tend to.

But for now, I take a moment to fill my heart with gratitude for the day ahead and the work entrusted to my hands. I look out over this land we are privileged to steward: the rolling foothills, the breathtaking timber, the vast expanse of plains stretching toward the horizon.

And I pray that, for all the days of my life, I will always be somewhere in Montana.

PHOTO: LAUNA PENZA PHOTOGRAPHY | LAUNAPENZAPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You

should mind your own business and work with your

hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may

win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not

be dependent on anybody.

1 THESSALONIANS 4:11-12

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ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION | MAKER PROFILE

Makers Profile: Bacci Roots

HANDMADE IN THE TOBACCO ROOT MOUNTAINS

SEE WINTER GIFTING | BACCI ROOTS

One of a kind, and built to endure a

rugged life.

Bacci Roots is a small Montana company shaped by the landscape of the Tobacco Root Mountains. Working primarily in leather and fur, the maker brings together tactile materials with distinctive stitching, beads, stones, antler findings and other elements drawn from nature. The work moves easily between vintage, bohemian and Western influences, but its character comes from individuality: each piece is made by hand, built for a rugged life and intended to become more personal with use. The hope behind the work is simple - that someone finds the piece that rings true to them.

PRODUCT PHOTO COURTESY OF BACCI ROOTS

PORTRAIT COURTESY OF BACCI ROOTS

bacciroots.com

Instagram: @bacciroots

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203 S. Main Street

Sheridan, MT 59749

Phone: 406-842-7488

Fax: 877-801-0024

beaconbus@gmail.com

Monday - Thursday

9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Friday

9:00 am to 4 pm

www.beaconbusinessctr.com

Journal page 49 · View the designed page

ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION | PERSONAL POETRY

the between

A POEM BY REBEKAH CLARK

i watch as the trees dance,

the limbs bending and swaying,

as if the wind might pull them from the earth

and carry them away to forgotten places

i find my solace in papered palms,

between words inked on pages,

and if i listen closely, i can hear the wind whisper

what it once knew of these stories

i wonder if the wind might be able

to cradle a dreamer’s soul such as mine,

and sweep me away to those leather-bound worlds,

to root me in a strange kind of magic

i can feel the snow skitter across my skin,

the cold wrapping me in a gentle winter’s embrace

and softening the edges of reality until the turning page

and the wind become one and the same.

rebekah clark

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Rebekah Clark

A published author and Animal Science M.S. student at Montana State University,

Rebekah brings together writing, agriculture and life in rural Montana.

REBEKAHCLARKWRITING.COM

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PHOTO: CARSON CLARK

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ARTS + CULTURE + REFLECTION | MOVEMENT

Dance lessons are life lessons

SAPPHIRE DANCE THEATRE | ENNIS, MONTANA

From first movement to the stage, dance becomes a practice for life.

Sapphire Dance Theatre, located in Ennis, Montana, is a small private dance studio that offers a wide variety of lessons to children and adults. On any given afternoon at Madison Square, located at 5 Sunrise Loop, you will see tiny dancers bouncing across the parking lot holding their parent's hand going to dance class. With a spring in their step as they enter the door these children are all smiles as they prepare for dance class. Giggly-wiggly dancers arrive in proper dance attire with their hair up ready for their lessons. But the excitement doesn’t stop there! With their teacher they explore movement and music that inspire them to leap, spin, and wiggle to the beat. With props like coloured dots, ribbon dancers, tambourines, bells, and wings, dance comes alive for the youngest of dancers at Sapphire Dance Theatre. At three years of age dance students may begin their studies with Creative Movement. From ages four to six, Ballet based lessons in Kinderdance and Preballet follow.

The next group entering the dance scene at Madison Square are slightly older, perhaps a bit more focused, but nonetheless charged with enthusiasm to learn! Eight-year-old budding dancers head to the barre to learn proper beginning Ballet technique. Dancers learn the language of dance with correct definitions for the new French terminology they are continuously exposed to by maintaining a dance journal. Leaping now becomes a grand jeté, spinning is now called pirouette. Pony gallops become chassé and rise on your tiptoes is now called relevé. The real excitement culminates when you, beaming with pride, see them perform by themselves on stage in their beautiful costumes. The makings of a well-trained beginning dancer are all there before you in the spotlight. We individually nurture their dance talent as you watch them grow and blossom through the season.

Stock photograph by Daria Nekipelova via Pexels.

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SAPPHIRE DANCE THEATRE | THE DISCIPLINE OF BECOMING

From the barre to the spotlight

ABOUT SAPPHIRE DANCE THEATRE

A private studio in Ennis offering ballet and jazz for dancers ages three through adult, with seasonal performances and rotating Floor-Barre and Silver Swans classes.

SAPPHIREDANCETHEATRE@GMAIL.COM

As dancers mature physically they begin pointe work. Nothing is more exciting than the first pointe shoe fitting and finding the right shoe for your dancer’s foot! Dancers must be physically and mentally ready for the discipline that pointe work requires. The first year of pointe work is mostly spent at the barre and dancers do not perform on pointe. Beginning the second year of pointe work, dancers maintain their regular pointe class as well as two other ballet lessons. One of these ballet lessons is taken in pointe shoes so dancers begin to coordinate their barre and centre work. At the end of the season dancers will perform their first dance on pointe in the spring. Is there anything more beautiful and satisfying than seeing that giggly-wiggly girl who bounced across parking lot holding your hand to attend those first dance lessons become the beautiful ballerina floating across the stage?

Dance lessons are life lessons. Not everyone who dances becomes a professional dancer. But from Creative Movement to Ballet V dancers will learn more than just how to dance. They learn cognitive flexibility, problem solving skills and sustained focus. Resilience and perseverance, a solid work ethic, and receptiveness to feedback are all part of the soft skills instilled in the dancers at Sapphire Dance Theatre. For their emotional and physical well-being dancers experience body positivity and confidence and find dance as a stress relief all the while instilling poise and posture. By attending class dancers develop social and teamwork skills, accountability to others and themselves, develop empathy, experience collaboration and cultural awareness. These are skills your children will take with them and use for the rest of their lives. They learn to live as their word. Many become patrons of the arts out of a great love for dance. Sapphire Dance Theatre offers lessons in ballet and jazz for dancers ages three through adult. Classes that rotate through the schedule upon demand are Floor-Barre and

Silver Swans. Floor-Barre is a ballet class done on the floor while lying on the back, side or stomach to eliminate stressing the knees, hips, and spine. Silver Swans, created and certified by the Royal Academy of Dance, is a ballet class that includes barre and centre work modified for those who are fifty-five and older or anyone who needs modifications in ballet technique. Sapphire Dance Theatre offers two performance opportunities annually, one in December and one in the Spring for all students who wish to participate. The next performance, The Snowflake Gala, is December 12th at 2:00 at the Madison Theatre in Ennis. Original choreography and dances from the Nutcracker are part of this magical winter performance. In the springtime The Mice of Brambly Hedge will be performed with dances representing each of the books in the children’s literary series by Jill Barklem. Past performances include Mimi and the Madison Dragon and Peter Pan. For inquiries concerning tickets or to register for dance classes please email: sapphiredancetheatre@gmail.com.

Stock photograph by 3938030 via Pixabay.

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