Nine Mile Community Center
Introduction
2020
A year of unknowns. While the world is affected by the Pandemic, life at home in the Nine Mile seems to remain unchanged, other than the closure of Kreis Pond to the public. Outside the Nine Mile is a very different story. COVID-19 affected every individual’s life in some way shape or form. From this pandemic, many small businesses closed down, some temporarily, and others permanently. Of the small businesses, non-profit organizations were generally hit the hardest. How does a Community Center raise money for building maintenance, repairs, and basic operation expenses, when events are unauthorized? Through brainstorming, watching others, and input from the community, we have overcome this immense mountain presented before us and have not only continued to fulfill the requirements of the NMCC mission, but also brought the Nine Mile Community just a bit closer. As we navigated through regulations and restrictions, we discovered new methods and processes to accomplishing the same tasks as in the past. We have been blessed with a refocus on what it means to live in the Nine Mile valley, and in Montana in general. While time seemed to stop, it very much continued to go on. and at times go by at lightning speeds. People moved out of the valley and people moved into the valley. There were questions about the valley’s history, recipes, where to hike, where to go hunting, where to pick huckleberries and morels (though, this is top secret material, and limited locations will be published...), what is the Ninemile Wildlife Work Group, what is the Nine Mile Community Center about, and so many more. That is when the idea hit – let’s make a documentary of the Nine Mile for current, new, and past residents alike. The format of the documentary is still under discussion. Do we print it? Do we keep it electronic? Do we do both? Do we continually update the documentary? Excited to at least get the information compiled, we, on the board, decided to figure out the details as the documentary developed. And, yet, even as I write this documentary, I have an idea…could be dangerous ha, but it is an idea…a continuous document that all the community may read as it is being developed and contribute at any time…the website! We will build a page specifically for the Best of the Nine Mile Valley!!! From the Pandemic, the Best of the Nine Mile was born.
Happy reading!
Julie Van Hise
If you would like to add or change any information contained in this documentary, please send us an e-mail.
History
Wildlife
Did you know?
By Steven King
Did you know, through very unofficial tracking of seasonal hummingbird arrivals to the Nine Mile, that the little buggers get here around the 3rd week in April?
And you know what? As always, the hummingbirds arrived the 3rd week of April to the Nine Mile Valley. There were reports of the hummingbird arrivals in Frenchtown, Huson, and Alberton the week prior, but not any in the valley until the 3rd week.
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Recipes
Betty Oleson’s Famous Corn Bread
Betty Oleson, former resident of the Nine Mile Valley, made this delicious corn bread for all Community Center events that called for corn bread; specifically, the Old Fashioned Christmas Craft Fair held the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year. In 2019, she and her husband moved out of the valley after many wonderful years living in the Nine Mile. Betty was unable to volunteer for the kitchen duty, and hence her corn bread did not make an appearance. There was corn bread there, plenty of it…however, throughout the day, long time attendees and vendors requested Betty’s corn bread with their soup lunch. So, it only seems fitting that Betty Oleson’s Cornbread is our first recipe in this documentary. And, we will make this delicious corn bread to serve with our future soup and chili events.
The original recipe comes from a restaurant in Phoenix (they also have restaurants in Austin, Texas). Since Betty was only cooking for two people, years ago she had calculated a two-thirds version to fit an 8” square pan. Betty and Jim have a son who lives in Scottsdale, AZ with his family – they took Betty and Jim to Z’Tejas years ago, they loved the food, and brought the taste home with them.
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