Raising money in the hills of Idaho

Generally speaking, folks who live in Idaho are pretty inventive when it comes to being self-reliant. For example, I know plenty of Idaho hill folk who earn their living by hunting through the forest for critter horns which are then sold to the critter horn buyer, who then makes furniture, chandeliers and silverware handles out of them. I also know plenty of Idaho hill folk who earn their living by cutting down, splitting and hauling wood for people, as well as berry hunting in the summer/fall.

There is really tiny town in a very remote part of North Central Idaho called Elk City, population 198 (if you count the 10 cows and 28 horses). When this town started dying several years ago after the lumber mill pulled out, a very smart Elk City woman came up with a plan to create a business incubator for their area called Framing Our Community (FOC). Their mission: Framing Our Community serves the Elk City Region by providing integrated programs that create jobs, improve forest and watershed conditions, and increase educational opportunities. You can visit their site to shop for the above mentioned things for sale, as well as a plethora of other homemade wares: http://www.framingourcommunity.org/ Very clever way for these hill folk to earn a living.

So how do the Idaho hills younguns earn money? Here is an actual account of what they do:

As I am making my way down our mountain road in my car, two of our neighbors' little girls waved me down. The little girls are adorable, the youngest is a 5 years old redhead, and her older sister is about 7 years old. The little sister comes around to the drivers side of my car, I roll down my window, and we proceed with this conversation:

Me: Hi there!

LS (Little Sister): Hi, wouldja like to buy a paper? (at this point I have visions of the Sesame Street character who sells alphabet letters which are inside of his overcoat).

Me: A paper? Like.....what kind of paper?

LS: (as she is going through a stack of papers in her hand) Well, me and my sister drew up a bunch of pictures to sell.

Me: Really? Wow, lemme see whatcha got.

LS: Here! (handing me a piece of paper that used to be a blank form letter from the place that her mom works at...but has a great drawing of a rainbow on the other side in blue ink. The caption over the rainbow says, "cut out the ranebow and culer it. for children. it is fun.")

Me: That is the best rainbow I've ever seen! But I have a problem. I have two granddaughters who live far away who love to color, and so I'll need to buy TWO papers.

LS: Ok! Here you go! (as she hands me a second piece of paper. This piece of paper has a drawing of a cyclops cat with the body of a weiner dog, labelled 'cat'. The caption over the cat says, "Stay in the lines. for little kids. it is fun to learn.")

Me: Wow, my granddaughters will LOVE to color these papers. How much are you selling them for?

LS: (no answer, as she sways back and forth with her hands full of papers behind her back)

Me: How about a quarter?

LS: (holding out her hand) Sure!

I think that is a pretty clever way for little kiddos to earn money, wouldn't you say? After all, how else are they supposed to pay for the buckets to put their horn hunting treasures in some day.