May Newsletter 2012

Not sure why I never thought of this before - monthly newsletters will now be posted on the Flying Squirrel blog! So, subscribe to the feed! Or send us an e-mail at info@flyingsquirrelcafe.com and let us know if you'd like to get the newsletter as an e-mail. It's the best way to keep up with the specials and happenings at the Squirrel. So, here is the newsletter for May 2012.

Hooray for May!
The snow is finally almost gone. I heard cranes flying overhead yesterday and saw some very bright red branches on wild blueberry plants. I just can't wait for the leaves to pop out this year to give us all some much needed green! There are so many awesome things going on in early May that it makes my head spin...

Got Veggies?
Speaking of green, here is my annual plug for Brian's Talkeetna Grown
CSA vegetable shares. He's trying to increase the number of shares being offered, so if you love Alaska grown veggies (more variety than you might think), want to help support and sustain a small, local family farm and you don't have time or space to plant enough of your own garden, please consider buying in. You will receive wonderful, bountiful vegetables from late June to mid September - and when you come to pick up your weekly share, you can stop in at the Squirrel for some bread or pizza! Forms are available at the Squirrel and bulletin boards around town, or call Brian at 733-7885 for more info.

Got Coffee?
Want to learn more about coffee? Coffee politics? Coffee growing and coffee making processes? Flying Squirrel coffee? The first weekend in May, the owner of K-Bay Caffe Roasting Company in Homer will be here at the Squirrel! Saturday, May 5 from 11am-2pm stop by to taste coffees from around the world, meet Michael McGuire, purchase coffee beans by the pound, and view The Passionate Harvest about coffee from seed to cup. Also, we'll be showing a fascinating film at 7pm on May 5 at Birch Creek Center (1/4 mile down Birch Creek Blvd). BLACK GOLD tells the 2003 tale of one man's mission to save 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse Meskela travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price. Find out why you should care what kind of coffee you buy.

Got Books?
The Snow Child is a newly released debut novel written by Palmer, Alaska author Eowyn Ivey. Ivey will do a reading from her book, answer questions and sign books at Flying Squirrel on Thursday evening, May 10 from 6:30-8pm. Books will be available for purchase. Special thanks to Tales Told Twice for helping with this event.




Got Art?
This month's Second Saturday Art Opening will be held on May 12 from 3-5pm. The show, entitled Earth's Rhythms will feature paintings, prints, digital photographs and batiks by Talkeetna resident Bekah Mathiesen. Her work will be on display until early June. If you or someone you know like display original artwork or photography at the Squirrel, we are looking for exhibits monthly beginning in August. Please contact Anita for more information.

Got a Mother's Day present?
Bring your mother (and/or yourself) to Mother's Day Brunch at the Squirrel for a real treat on Sunday, May 13 any time between 10am and 2pm. It's bound to be delicious, decadent and delightful! The menu is still in the works and will include a full service brunch with two special treats to make Mom's day even better: 10 minutes of chair massage and a lovely potted plant to take home. Reservations suggested.

Got summer?
Please note our new summer hours beginning May 1!
SUNDAY: 8am-5pm
MONDAYS*: 7:30am-7pm
(*CLOSED MONDAYS IN MAY & SEPTEMBER, NOT INCLUDING HOLIDAY WEEKENDS)
TUESDAYS: 7:30am-7pm
WEDNESDAY: 7:30am-7pm
THURSDAY: 7:30am-9pm (Pizza Night: 4-9pm)
FRIDAY: 7:30am-9pm (Pizza Night: 4-9pm)
SATURDAY: 7:30am-9pm (Pizza Night: 4-9pm)

Please say hi and introduce yourself to the new faces behind the counter and in the kitchen: Kelly, Nate, Jessica, Morgan, and Anne! And look for some fun summertime additions such as Alaska Barley Bread, Rustic Sourdough Bread, grilled sandwiches on our new Panini grill, breakfast wraps on weekdays, travel mugs and more.

See you on the bike path!
Anita

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Forward

Melanie Gould was found alive on Saturday, June 11, 10 days after her disappearance from Talkeetna consumed friends, family, and, it turns out strangers all over Alaska and beyond. Here's an interview with her very positive, warm brother Glenn.

Some might use this saying: "All's well that ends well." Maybe. We are, I am, of course, overjoyed that Mel emerged seemingly unscathed from whatever she experienced in the wilderness. There was never a doubt in my mind that Melanie was, is and will continue to be a strong, vibrant, smart and skilled person capable of much more than some might give her credit for, including herself. Yes, all's well. She survived!

However, there is no "ends well" here. Maybe some or all of us will hear her story one day, maybe not. But this is certainly not the end. Neither is it the beginning. Melanie's life continues. My work and the sweat and tears and joy and fullness of every minute here at the Squirrel continue. The journey does not end. It is always moving forward, moving on.

I wonder if that's what it's like to mush dogs....





















Here's wishing everyone, especially my friend Melanie, peace, rest and many more adventures to come.

Photo: Melanie & my son Oliver at Birch Creek Ranch, March 2011

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Melanie on My Mind

Sunday, June 5 was my birthday. I spent the morning crying, trying to get through my 6th day of work without Mel’s 40 hours she would have worked last week, getting hugs from friends, family, staff and customers.












I spent the second half of the day at Birch Creek Ranch, my in-laws' farm where Melanie transplanted nemesia flowers a couple of weeks ago and where my husband, Brian is planting veggies for this year’s Talkeetna Grown CSA. It was a relief to get my hands in the dirt, be outside in the open space, smell the freshness of grass growing after a good hard rain. I agree with everything Sharla posted on the Facebook site for Melanie's search this morning. Go outside. DO something. That’s what Mel would want. Most certainly she would be dumbfounded and mortified at all this attention on her.

Meanwhile, I have so many thoughts in my head about all this and keep seeing images of Mel as an Iditarod musher which is, in itself amazing and inspiring since the Iditarod is such a male dominated sport. What Mel has always answered when asked why she ran the race: "I just love being out there." To us folks who have called Mel a friend, she is so MUCH more than a musher...





















Melanie Gould was one of the first friends I made when I came to Talkeetna about 11 years ago. I may know her about as well as anyone. She is missed and loved and whatever the outcome of this crazy time, I will continue to throw love into the air in hopes it reaches her wherever she is. I don’t have specific stories about Mel. I have a wide, broad picture of a beautiful person, a wonderful smile, incredibly blond hair and fair skin, strong hands and a thoughtful heart. I have a picture of a “doer” who deeply respects other doers – folks, like her, living an Alaska life, striving for independence, self sufficiency, simpler living, connection to nature, and the determination that gets you through every hard day’s work.


































Mel and I have been tied to a tree at the edge of the Copper River dip-netting for salmon together. We have cleaned clams in Ninilchik around a campfire until our fingers were numb. She has been my landlord, my massage therapist, my waitress, my co-worker and my friend. I skinny-dipped in the sphagnum pond once with Mel on a hot summer day. She jumped right in, dogs and all, and I had a hard time with the weird spongy uncertainty before the freezing shock of water. Mel held a “wedding sauna” (I’m not a shower kind of a girl) for me at her place. And she sat among my Talkeetna friends and family on a sunny September Sunday when Brian and I exchanged wedding vows in the middle of a grassy field at Brian’s parents’ farm.

I went to every Iditarod Restart that Mel participated in. Except in 2006 when I went to the Official Start in Anchorage. That year, I was 9 months pregnant. One of my first questions after 24 hours of labor with my son laying across my exhausted body on March 15 at about 6:20pm was, “Did Mel cross the finish line yet?” Yes, she had. About 10 minutes ago – her best Iditarod finish. It was as though we were both struggling to get to the finish line while the moon was still full on that Ides of March. Kind of amazingly, Mel was mushing to work at the greenhouses at Birch Creek Ranch this spring and in all the springtime melting mayhem, she managed to give my now 5 year old son Oliver a spin with the team on the hayfields.

Most recently, Mel has been working for me during the tough first years of a new restaurant business. Flying Squirrel Bakery Café just outside of Talkeetna town is the realization of a long time dream for me. Mel has always encouraged me, as a friend and as a lover of delicious, healthful food - to go for it. She was a front counter server for about a year. And for the last few months, she has been a baker-in-training, traipsing to work at 5 in the morning from her cabin up on the hill sometimes by bicycle just for the exercise.

As I have been thinking and thinking about her almost non-stop this week, it has struck me how incredibly good she is at everything she does. Set your mind to it, and you can learn just about anything. And once you learn it, you can always improve. From 64th place in 2000 to 18th in 2006. From front-of-the-house waitress to learning in 2 months how to bake artisan breads in a wood fired oven. Practicing guitar when no one was looking then surprising us all with a strong and unique singing voice one winter at the bar. Remembering so many different flower names at the greenhouse. Always looking for the tightest muscles that need the most work. All while caring for dogs, chopping wood, hauling water, scaring off the bears, and somehow always making it to work even in 20 below. One tough chick that still manages to have a way better hippy-skirt wardrobe than me.

On Sunday, May 29, just before she disappeared, Mel worked at the Squirrel from 5am until noon. She seemed fairly pleased with how her scones, cookies, sandwich breads and bagels came out that day. After work, she walked down the driveway to our house to help Brian put up the rest of the road kill moose we had gotten a week before. She was taking the scraps home for her dogs and just trying to help us out wherever she could. She likes to say she just wants to help me because I work too hard. She left around 4pm tired from a long day. I don’t remember if I said good-bye or thank you. Dang girl, I hope you are ok. I want you to come back so I can tell you to your face that I love you and I thank you for all YOUR hard work.

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Flying Squirrel Bakery Cafe Receives New Business Award

I always thought it was an insult to be called a Cheechako. I guess I was wrong.

Suffice it so say, I was very surprised and honored to receive this year's Cheechako Award from the Mat Su CVB. Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce board member, Kathy Stoltz had hinted that I might want to try to come to the Annual Meeting held yesterday on Friday, December 19, and she stopped in the day after the meeting with the award and a copy of the humbling speech that was presented during the awards ceremony. I truly appreciate the recognition - especially at this challenging time of year for all Talkeetna businesses!

Although I have never seen the Flying Squirrel specifically as a tourist business, I am tickled every time a visitor to Talkeetna either stumbles upon our little cafe in the woods or is told not to miss it (literally and figuratively) by someone they've talked to in Talkeetna, Wasilla or Anchorage.

Taking the leap to open a small business in a small town, especially a food service business, involves so much risk and sacrifice. This award is, well, validating in it's formality and it's intent. Someone besides my sister actually stood up in front of a bunch of people and said, "Wow. Flying Squirrel Bakery Cafe in Talkeetna. Great idea. Go there!" Thanks to Justin at Mat Su CVB for his persistent, friendly and personal salesmanship that persuaded me to become a member just a few months ago! I am sure there are many other new businesses in the Mat Su Borough that are equally deserving of this award for following their own dreams and taking the same leap my family and I did over a year ago. Today, it sure feels worth it. Let me also say simply that this award honors me as an individual, but more so the Squirrel as a business. It might have been my crazy idea to begin with, but I could not and would not be doing it without the unbelievable help and support of the staff and my family.

In my short ten years as an Alaska resident, in my even shorter year and a half as an Alaska business owner, and in my only days-old status as Cheechako Award winner, I can't help but wonder when the term cheechako will no longer be the moniker I wear (now with some pride). Most likely, it's one that melts away like winter snow with hopes for an "easy break-up."

Following is the very nice speech that was read at the awards ceremony, in case you're interested:

CHEECHAKO AWARD

This year's Cheechako Award goes to one of our new members in Talkeetna. Nobody is arguing the fact that Talkeetna has it all. But about a year and a half ago somebody looked at our bustling community and found a unique way to fit in.

It's no secret that good cooking draws a crowd faster than a moose standing in the holiday line at the post office, and this person has culinary skill in abundance. Just see for yourself. As an ace of social media, she shares pictures on Facebook of her tantalizing gourmet masterpieces from her own wood fired oven. You can almost smell the flavor ... almost ...

To really get a nose-full you absolutely must stop by and experience the full effect in person. From the moment you step off of her hiking trails and into her bakery you are greeted by the warm aroma of fresh bread. The variety of delicious, healthy foods from her kitchen will keep you coming back again and again.

Besides, you have to come back to see which local artist is featured on her walls each month. And don't forget to bring the kids out to her Christmas Gingerbread House class! Clearly, this person's involvement in the community has made her a true asset to Talkeetna. She has done a fantastic job in her first year of business and we wish her continuing success into the future. It is my honor to present this award to the proprietor of the Flying Squirrel Bakery Cafe, Anita Golton. Continue reading »