OLLI
Belgrade Community Library & Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Belgrade Community Library is once again to host a season of free community events with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at MSU.
These programs are made free and open to the public thanks to generous sponsorship by Belgrade Community Library Foundation.
Registration is optional but encouraged for these events. There are links below for registration for each event, but once you’ve created an account you can register for all three at the same time. You will be asked to create an account if you do not have one already, but there is no charge for this event and it is open to the general community. While you’re there, please browse through the other great OLLI @ MSU offerings and consider joining them for more events as a member (a cost of $45 per year).
If you have questions about these events please call the library at (406)388-4346 and ask for Liz or email [email protected]. If you have questions about OLLI @ MSU in general or need help registering for these free events, please call them directly at (406) 994-6550.
Event Information and Descriptions
Sept 21 from 6:00-7:30PM Jack Riesselman presenting “Montana Crops: Past & Present.”
Register for this event
Changing markets have had a huge influence on what crops Montana producers grow. In the pre-prohibition era there were numerous local breweries in Montana that depend on barley grown in Manhattan and Townsend, Montana. With prohibition that changed and new crops replaced barley such as sugar beets which were grown for years in the Townsend valley along with spring wheat and alfalfa. Post prohibition saw the rise of major breweries and barley reappeared as a major crop but in different areas of the state. Now with craft breweries in the picture local specialty barleys are again being grown in the state. There are many other examples of markets driving what crops were grown in the state including carrots and canning peas in the Gallatin valley, Flax in N.E. Montana, mint and dill oil in N.W. Montana, safflower in our eastern counties, hemp a world war 2 crop which has reappeared in central Montana. Those are but a few of the many crops that have been grown commercially over the years that changing market needs have affected.
Oct 19 from 6:00-7:30PM Joseph Shelton presenting “From Chaucer to Centerville: the Long, Tasty History of the Pasty ”
Register for this event.
The delectable meat-filled hand pie we call the pasty is an ancient invention, first mentioned in Chaucer and a staple of many working-class European and immigrant diets every since. But it was in Butte, America (arguably), where it was perfected. Once a mainstay of miners who would throw the crusts into the mines to appease the Tommyknockers lurking there, it remains the favorite food of the Richest Hill on Earth - and just maybe the rest of the state, too.
Nov 9 from 6:00-7:30PM Erica Droge presenting “Grain to Glass: Local farm’s process from seed potatoes to potato vodka ”
Register for this event.
Join us for a twist on local farming as Erica Droge from Dry Hills Distillery shares her unique story of how they transformed their farming business into a thriving distillery. Dry Hills Distillery is a family-owned farm that grows seed potatoes and mixed cereal grains, and through skills learned at Moonshine University, they have utilized their oversized potatoes to create a line of handcrafted spirits. Learn about their value-added farming as they move from farm to bottle.