Organizers of the Montana Folk Festival in Butte are gearing up for their seventh annual event which promises to be the biggest music festival yet.

This year's folk festival will include 21 musical groups performing on six different stages around the Uptown area.

Crews were already getting tents and staging areas set up this morning for the three-day music event that begins on Friday and also features arts, crafts and food. Event coordinator George Everett said the free festival will include a wide range of roots-style music.

"Traditional genres, so there's blues, there's Cajun, there's zydeco, there's reggae this year, we haven't had since 2008, there's all kinds of different music and somethings, Mariachi music with an all-female Mariachi band that's going to be a lot of fun," said Everett.

The event is expected to draw about 150,000 people from around the region and Canada. A list of performers can be viewed at the Montana Folk Festival website.

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Angela Jamison is a native Montanan and she grew up in beautiful Bozeman. I'm the mother of two girls and write a blog about our life here and taking in the simple pleasures of family and food.

The time has come.  The garden is in and thanks to a warm June is growing happily.  The Bogert Farmer’s Market fills the park on Tuesday evenings while the Gallatin Valley Farmers Market takes Saturdays.  Local produce is popping up at the grocery store and food is getting colorful.  We may not get a long growing season here in Bozeman, but we take full advantage of the months we have.  And with planning and taking the time to preserve your harvest you can be eating zucchini and tomatoes months past the growing season.  Nothing makes a cold December day better than opening the freezer and using garden tomatoes in your pasta sauce.  It has taken some time, but we have found a way to eat only fresh, local produce during the summer months. 

It began when my husband took an interest in gardening.  The first year was a couple tomato plants on the side of our deck.  The next year it was moved to a bigger part of the yard and cucumbers joined in.  Each year the garden has doubled as has the variety of produce.  And, we didn’t stop there…raspberry bushes and strawberry plants joined in on the fun.  We tried blueberries, but they didn’t dig the cold winters around here so it was replaced with an apple tree.  Thanks to the husband our garden produces an abundance each summer.  Our kids stop mid-play to run over and grab a few peas or a handful of raspberries to snack on.  In the fall we have enough pumpkins to share with cousins and friends.  And of course we save a few for pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. 

Gardens are funny things…once you start you are no longer satisfied with vegetables that traveled miles to get to the grocery store.  You can taste the difference in a tomato fresh off the vine and one that was ripened in a box.  Suddenly waiting for our garden to produce wasn’t good enough.  We wanted it sooner.  Luckily, Bozeman is awesome and there are several CSA’s with greenhouses where shares begin as our garden is just being planted.  CSA’s are amazing things…you get a share each week with what is freshest at the time of picking.  It’s a surprise every week and this makes cooking and eating creative.  I never knew until our CSA how delicious brussel sprouts could be or what an amazing vegetable kale was.  I never knew there were so many things you could do with cabbage and what a garlic scape was.  It was a whole new world of vegetables and I was thrilled to be exploring it. 

This year is the first we decided against a CSA.  As much as we love them our garden and that of some family has grown enough we are hoping for an over abundance without one.  Luckily, in the meantime we have the choice of two fantastic farmers markets to go to.  And going to the farmer’s market becomes a family event.  Tuesday nights at Bogert are filled with dinner at the park, live music and ice cream while picking out our veggies for the week.  I hold this farmer’s market close to my heart because I have been going since I was a child. 

We may not get a long growing season here.  And we may long for the taste of a fresh tomato in the middle of February and sadly know we are months away from it.  But the one thing we do is make sure to take full advantage of the months we have.  And that makes it taste that much sweeter. 

Triple Creek Ranch in Darby has been ranked as the top hotel worldwide by the Travel and Leisure Magazine’s reader survey.

The five-star luxury resort located in the beautiful Bitterroot Mountains offers world-class accommodations, fresh elegant cuisine and year-round outdoor activities.

“We are so excited to have been named the No. 1 Best Hotel in the World by Travel and Leisure this year, and the No. 1 Inn and Small Lodge in the Continental US for the fifth year running,” said Jennifer O’Donohue, Triple Creek marketing and sales director.

Coming in second to Triple Creek Ranch is Nayara Springs in La Fortuna, Costa Rica (a luxury resort in Arenal Volcano National Park in the Rainforest) and ranking third over all is the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, Budapest, Hungary (a rejuvenated palace originally built in 1906).

Triple Creek Ranch is owned by Craig and Barbara Barrett.

“This prestigious endorsement from well-traveled, discriminating readers confirms our belief that today’s sophisticated traveler is looking for active getaways offering upscale accommodations and thoughtful food in inspiring places,” said Barbara Barrett. “We don’t feel like we own Triple Creek Ranch. We believe we have temporary custody of a national gem with the responsibility to conserve, improve and appreciate it.”

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1:32 a.m. A Bigfork woman found one of her rings at a local pawn shop. She suspects that her friend stole it, and probably other things, when she was over for dinner.

3:19 p.m. A Hungry Horse man saw another vehicle cruising around with what looked like his missing wheels.

3:28 p.m. A Bigfork resident is missing a saddle, some tools, and an auger.

3:43 p.m. Someone on Foxtail Drive found a chocolate Lab and locked it in their garage.

4:07 p.m.  A woman on Lone Star Trail cannot find her horses. She suspects that the neighbor has taken them.

4:11 p.m. A Blaine View Lane man reported that two stray retrievers just ran through his yard.

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While Glacier National Park offers visitors a suite of gentle hikes and bikes, a panoply of beach sides, car rides and campsites accessible to all comers, many of its most prized geological features, its grandest two-mile-high views and its steepest headwalls, lay off the beaten path. They are best experienced away from the crowds, high above the roads and the riff raff, off-trail and in the midst of the Crown Jewel’s wild, inhospitable terrain.

These hikes and climbs are neither for the faint of heart nor the ill prepared, and this list is by no means a guide. Interested parties should consult a guidebook, procure a map from the ranger station, and travel with experienced hikers.

But in the immortal words of Edward Abbey: “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

During the summer any excuse to get out on the river is a good one whether it is for fishing or perhaps a national competition.  Some 25 miles past Bonner on the Blackfoot River was the site for the Open Canoe Slalom National Championship.

The sport of canoeing is alive and well as the event got underway Friday and will run through Sunday.Over 70 competitors from all over the globe were riding the rapids along with a "citizen's class" that got to experience the river Saturday.  Some go in tandems, others will ride solo; either way you're guaranteed to get wet as the high water level along with the difficulty of the course is presenting quite the challenge this weekend.

"The general consensus with most people is this is pretty big for them," said race coordinator Brandon Salayi.

"It's definitely challenging the competitors and pushing them to different levels and getting them to try things. Its been really fun, there's been a lot of action there's been a lot of really good paddling, a little bit of chaos here and there, but its really fun to watch," Salayi concluded.

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Researchers conducted a study of the new technique from 2007 to 2012. The new method, called patch occupancy modeling, uses deer and elk hunter observations coupled with information from radio-collared wolves. The statistical approach is a less expensive alternative to the old method of minimum wolf counts, which were performed by biologists and wildlife technicians. The results of the study estimate that for the five-year period, wolf populations were 25-35 percent higher than the minimum counts for each year.

“The study’s primary objective was to find a less-expensive approach to wolf monitoring that would yield statistically reliable estimates of the number of wolves and packs in Montana,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of research for the wildlife division in Helena.

Counting predators in remote and forested areas is notoriously difficult and expensive. FWP submits a required yearly wolf report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on the exact number of wolves observed through tracking by FWP wolf specialists. Biologists track wolves with on-the-ground and aerial surveys, radio collaring and denning confirmation. The minimum count has hovered around 625 for the last three years.

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 The Beartooth Highway, often considered one of the most spectacular drives in the country, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Sixty miles of the 68-mile winding and twisting US-212 highway linking Red Lodge, Montana, with the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana, and the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park was officially named the Red Lodge - Cooke City Approach Road Historic District. The designation was made May 8.

The scenic highway is nationally significant as an example of road construction which substantially increased recreational development and tourism in Yellowstone and the region. The road is also nationally significant for its distinctive engineering and the methods of high-altitude road construction used in its construction. It is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet).

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover withdrew the Beartooth Highway corridor from settlement and sale, and reserved it as an approach road to Yellowstone National Park. Construction funds from the newly passed National Park Approaches Act, which became law in 1931, were used to build the road.

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The USA's most expensive hotel is located in Montana. That determination is according to a recent survey from Luxury-Hotels.com that compared the 2014 summer rates of all luxury hotels located in the United States.

Specifically, the rate for the most affordable double room in each luxury hotel was established for the Memorial Day to Labor Day time period. With an average rate of $2385 per night, the Ranch at Rock Creek, located close to the historic mining town of Philipsburg, Montana, leads the list.

Coming in second most expensive is the Point Resort. Situated within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park close to Lake Placid, this luxury hotel has an average overnight rate this summer of $2138. Rounding out the Top 3, also located in Montana, is the Resort at Paws Up. To stay there this summer visitors will have to spend an average of $1847.

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Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation, then moving to Bozeman where she owned a downtown retail anchor for eighteen years. These days she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Energetic Healthcare, hosts a monthly movie night, teaches and writes about many topics. 

Afternoon on a gloriously warm summer day and the steam that can obscure your view of Yellowstone's geysers and hot pools dissolves, unveiling the varied palate of colors that define the basins. That same summer heat impacts the temperatures of the thermal features, nurturing the growth of seasonal bacteria and plants. Bugs skim the surface of the water. Sunlight gets caught in the steam from exploding geysers. It's a photographer's paradise.

A little bit of footwork and preparation can make a big difference in how your exploration of Yellowstone’s thermal features unfolds. To choose which geysers you want to visit, stop by one of the park visitor centers. Find out when and how high they’re predicted to erupt. That information helps as you organize your outing so that you have the right equipment at hand, at the right time. Too often once-in-a-lifetime photographic opportunities pass visitors right by while they fumble for the right lens or filter. Remember to pack along an extra camera card and be sure your camera’s battery is charged.

When you arrive at your chosen destination, position yourself to separate a geyser’s explosion of steam from white afternoon clouds, and so that you’re not downwind from the geyser’s eruption. You need to keep the steam, silica, and acid water that's so pervasive in the geyser basins off your optics. Marsha Phillips of Bozeman's F-11 Photographic Supplies says it's most important to have a protective filter for your camera lens, and clean that often with a standard lens cleaning cloth. Wipe steam from the exterior of your camera and lens with a micro fiber towel. Then, to protect all of your camera's parts, Phillips suggests a product developed by Op Tech USA, a Montana-based manufacturer: the Rainsleeve is a clever, low-tech clear plastic sleeve will keep moisture off all kinds of your gear.

In the field, you’ll find that some geysers and hot pots can only be seen from the boardwalk. In that case, an ultra wide-angle lens allows you to capture the entire feature. To isolate enticing details, use a telephoto. In the Old Faithful area you have the option of hiking to an overlook. From this and other park overlooks, your telephoto will allow you to separate a specific feature or two; your wide angle will embrace the grand view. Use your lens hood. It reduces glare and protects your optics.

The bright, starkly white mineral deposits of thermal basins and terraces can throw your camera’s meter off. Your digital camera’s histogram is the only accurate gauge of proper exposure and can be a real image-saver. Make sure you know how to turn on the histogram, and that you know how to use the “plus” and “minus” exposure compensation to correct any problems. Don’t forget to bring the camera’s instruction manual.

While you’re standing on the boardwalk setting up for your photograph, be sure to leave plenty of room for other visitors to pass by. Courtesy goes a long way during the park’s busiest season, and you don’t want anyone knocking over your equipment.

You’re about to discover that in Yellowstone spectacular photo opportunities abound. Prepare yourself to enjoy them.