Fred W.
Yelp
Written by Fred Weeks November 2019
A Thanksgiving Story
which actually began in the month of May, 2018 at a small Trading Post Café located at Crow Agency, Montana.
Crow Agency is adjacent to the Little Bighorn Battlefield which is a National Monument to those fallen on June 25, 1876, and was formerly known as Custer Battlefield.
Crow Agency is the home for the Absoroka (Crow) Tribe which heavily populate that part of southeast Montana.
In May 2018, Susie and I attended my granddaughter's graduation from Montana State University and after graduation everyone else had departed and we found ourselves alone. We had an extra day before our flight home, so we decided to revisit the battlefield. We have been there several times over the years and each time it has been a different spiritual experience. The vastness of the sky and the endless rolling prairie combined with the deafening stillness of everything except the wind blowing and waving the tall grass......it is awe inspiring. (The off-season is the best time to visit for the quiet)
As we were leaving the battlefield, just outside the main gate is a small Trading Post & Café. We were hungry and thirsty after our walk over the grounds so we stopped to look and maybe find something good to eat. Lots of very nice locally made Native American arts and crafts....
and the Café.........
THAT's the reason for this story.
The Fry bread tacos were very good and for desert we ordered home made Cherry Pie. When the waitress brought it out and set it on the table, it looked like a double serving ....a huge piece of pie about three inches thick and just oozing cherry juice....with a flaky, golden crust....baked to perfection! It looked like a Norman Rockwell Illustration of the ideal piece of Cherry Pie! One bite of that and
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. my goodness....... it was sooooo good.
Who would have thought... that in such an out- of -the- way little café.... in rural Montana....one would find such a culinary delight! There are very few things in life that are memorable and I never thought Cherry Pie would be one of them.....but here it is!
Fast Forward....to a couple of weeks ago........I asked Susie what she would like for Christmas....Jokingly she replied "I'd like another piece of Battlefield Cherry Pie".....and my response was..."We'll have to do that for sure....the next time we are in Montana"!
A couple of days later I searched and found the Battlefield Trading Post on line....and thought ..."Why not for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas."
So I called, not sure that they would even be open this late in the season.....but they were. It seems that because of the good food they have a large local customer base.
I explained to the lady who answered the phone that I would like to have them send a Cherry Pie to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. I could hear her chuckle as she thought it was a joke at first and after I told her the story of our experience there last May.....she says.."You're gonna have to talk to Joyce, the lady who makes them, and she will be here later this afternoon.
So I called back and talked to Joyce and after retelling the story and reason for my request...she is very pleasantly amused and considered it a high compliment that I would want her to bake a Cherry Pie for a Thanksgiving in Arkansas ....but is not sure she can do this...... "I will try to figure out how I can get this done and not have you receive a mushy mess.........I'll call you back" she says.
A couple of days pass and it is on Thursday, one week before Thanksgiving and Joyce calls me back......
She says "I'll give it a try...I'll bake tomorrow, freeze it over the weekend and mail it to you on Monday" ...and I am thinking..."Thanksgiving is Thursday so it probably will not get here in time.....but it is THE Cherry Pie.....and so what if it is not here till Friday....it doesn't matter....it is THE Cherry Pie!
Joyce was a very pleasant lady and I could hear the smile in her voice as she says "You gotta call me back and tell me all about this". I assured her that I would, thanked her for being so wonderfully accommodating and our conversation ended.
Baked on Friday,
Shipped on Monday,
Arrived on Wednesday.....
Just in time for Thanksgiving.
Along with a note from Joyce....wishing us blessings on Thanksgiving Day.
and YES.....it WAS just as good as we remembered!
Final Thanksgiving thought:
It seemed bizarre that a thanksgiving meal, served in Arkansas was prepared in Montana .... and also ...so appropriate that a Native American woman was the central figure in this blessing.
Thank You Joyce Elherd....of Crow Agency Montana
and yes......I did call her back