Hang on Helena!
What started as a plan to stay two nights in Helena turned into five and so much more thanks to Deb Schwartzkopf and the willingness of Adam Field to take a chance on some strangers. Despite sending multiple messages to WWOOF hosts, arrangements to work on a farm in Montana did not align. Thankfully, sister Deb is connected in amazing ways and reached out to Adam Field to see if he needed some help around his pottery studio (Deb spent 2 years at the Archie Bray Foundation, located in Helena). Adam invited us to stay at what is referred to as L3 (level 3 of the pottery studio), in a studio apartment that he recently finished.
Adam had a large project deadline lurking closer and closer, as such Rene was able to put his pottery skills to use. (Did you know Rene was a double major in art, ceramics, and Japanese Studies?) Over the next several days Rene was able to help wax, load and fire both a bisque and glaze kiln among other things.
During this time, Johanna pulled some weeds, cooked lunch for those hard at work in the studio, kept Queso occupied and put several layers of wood conditioner on the new butcher block countertops.
We also met the amazingly talented Kristy Moreno who is a summer resident at the Archie Bray Foundation/studio assistant and Spencer who is out from Philadelphia area to also assisting Adam Field.
Below are photos of the Archie Bray Foundation campus. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Helena. There are additional food posts on the Machen a Mano instagram page.
And as always, if you want to buy us a tank of gas or contribute to groceries PayPal: gojojo81@gmail.com or Venmo @jojolocal
