Scroll down for Glenn’s weekly story and updates from the ranch this week!

A QUICK SUMMARY OF THIS WEEK’S FEATURED CUTS:

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This week on the ranch…

One mountain range over, in the Lemhi valley some of our beeves are enjoying deep albeit frozen green on lease pasture. Glenn snapped this photo just after moving onto a fresh paddock. It’s the brief time of year that offers a blanket of white across the hills, bright yellow and orange in the river bottom and a stark green pasture. If it wasn’t for the vibrance of autumn, it is a scene that could easily be mistaken for spring.

Oldest daughter Melanie took the above photo of Jeremiah and border pup Teddy over in the Lemhi valley. Jeremiah and Melanie hauled some of the herd from lease pasture onto our newly acquired ranch, where they will continue grazing. Our goal is to keep a day of loading and hauling low stress (for both people and animals). This means working as efficiently as possible without being in too much of a rush.

A winter approaches, animal checks all around become more frequent. Melanie manages our (now over 40) horse herd, making sure everyone is in good health with plenty to eat. Some are young, just yearlings, and a few are older, seasoned horses, now retired after putting in many years of hard work for us. A number of them were on the range with us last summer, helping to manage our herd and carrying us miles on horseback. Melanie continues to work with some of the more wild of the bunch.

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Quote of the Week

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

—Edith Sitwell

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Dear Friends

It was probably 15 years ago that she showed up on the ranch. She was one of the last on the semiload of purebred black Angus pregnant mama cows that I bought sight unseen from a cattle buyer acquaintance in Montana. She made a grand entrance, fairly launching out of the endgate and nearly flying over the unsuspecting cow in front of her.

And I noticed three things, along with her wild, half winged-cow demeanor. First, she was white. With red spots. Second, she was longhorn, not Angus. There was likely not even a drop of red, black, brown or white Angus in her bloodline. Third, she had owner’s marks all over her. In other words, she had been sold over and over again. As many as 7 times, as near as I could tell. And that spelled trouble. She would always be rogue.

I was furious. I immediately stalked into the house and grabbed my phone (no cell-phone, then–those were the days!). “David?!? What is with that English longhorn white abomination you sent me?”

“Oh…her? Yeah…I thought, maybe….you’d like her.”

“What!? What do the words ‘black Angus’ mean to you?”

“Look, Glenn. I’m sorry. Look. What did you pay for her? Six hundred? Let’s split the difference. Let’s go $300.” Long pause. “Can we call that even?”

“Yeah. I guess. $300. I hope she don’t kill one of us. She’s mean as a hornet.”

When the kids saw her, it was love at first sight. “IT’S REET!” Abby said.

She had an uncanny resemblance to Reet, I thought. For those of you wondering who Reet is, read this summary of one such literary classic On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

Summary Author: RJ Mallien
Out in the prairie beyond the stable there was a long gray rock the girls would play on and watch butterflies, birds, and the grasses. The girls never went on the rock in the morning or in the late afternoon because that was when Johnny Johnson went by with the herd of cows. Johnny did not speak English so the children never spoke to each other. Late one afternoon Pa called the girls from the creek to look at the herd of cows. Mary stayed close to Pa and Laura was excited to go on the long gray rock to watch the herd. They watched to cows pass by and then they saw a very pretty cow. She was white and had red ears, a red spot on her head, and a ring of red spots on her side. Laura told Pa that the cow looked as if she had a wreath of roses on her side. Pa helped Johnny single out this cow and told the girls it was their cow. They ran home to tell Ma. Pa explained how he traded work with the Nelson family for the cow. Pa put the cow in the stable and Laura grabbed a tin cup and began to milk her. Everyone was surprised that Laura knew how to milk a cow because no one had taught her how to do it. She had watched Pa and figured it out. Ma told her she should milk cows always from the right side otherwise they would kick. This cow did not kick her. She filled up the cup and everyone drank fresh milk. Ma was very excited for they now had fresh milk and could make butter. Ma asked Pa the cow’s name and he told her ‘Reet’. Pa explained he tried to find out the meaning of the name but Mrs. Nelson kept saying a “reet of roses”. Laura realized she meant a ‘wreath of roses’. They all laughed and then began talking about when they lived in Wisconsin they lived among Swedes and Germans. In the Indian Territory they lived among Indians and here in Minnesota they lived near Norwegians. They agreed all their neighbors had been good people. Then Ma ended up saying the name of the cow was going to be Spot.

Looking at our new white spotted cow with a semblance of her own wreath on her side, I knew we would keep her on Alderspring until the day she died. We were stuck with her. And she would be ‘Reet’ from that moment in time forward.

And to this day, I have not one regret. And I think that the old girl finally began to feel at home with us. Loving us would be way to strong. But we got along, and she found a forever home. She wouldn’t be sold again. Read on by clicking the link below to learn about one day I’ll always remember about that one white cow with red spots.

Happy trails!

Read the story on our blog by clicking below!

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And that’s it for this week!

Thanks again for partnering in what we do!

Glenn, Caryl, cowgirls and cowboys at Alderspring.

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We’ve been crafting our pastured protein here in Idaho’s Rocky Mountains for nearly 30 years and delivering it direct to our partners for nearly as long. This is wild wellness, delivered from our ranch to your door.