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Recent Photos From the ranch…

It was wedding week last week, but that didn’t bother the beeves! They grazed on quite content…though I think they may have been a little curious about all the traffic going past them down the driveway. And we did have one bull come by to check out the wedding from his pasture across the fence from the reception (wannabe wedding crasher, perhaps?). It was Maddy and Wesley’s first dance, and Mr. Bull added some of his own musical talents to Dave Stamey’s Campfire Waltz. We think it improved the song.

Here are some of the bridesmaid bouquets, photographed by wedding photographer and daughter Melanie. Besides the orange roses, everything in the bouquets was free. We picked some flowers that were generously offered from a neighbor’s yard down the road, then daughter Annie collected an array of grasses, fall wildflowers, and other wild plants to make up the rest of the bouquets for both tables and bridal party.

Glenn escorted Maddy to the wedding aisle in a somewhat unconventional entrance…on horseback. It seemed fitting, since Maddy and Wesley’s relationship pretty much started horseback as they got to know one another last summer while herding cattle on the range together (Wesley came to work for us last summer and the rest is history). The couple rode away together at the end of the ceremony.

Taken by Melanie on the range about a month and a half ago now of Wesley and Maddy together on the range. Riding out here in the high country for 2 summers is a pretty good way to get to know someone. Our girls have always said that they wanted to marry guys who could still be smiling after several days of pouring rain, long days and little sleep out here. Wesley certainly passed the “range test” with flying colors.

The bride and groom! Photo by Melanie.

Glenn and Maddy and the father/daughter dance.

There was lots of other dancing as well! Despite the fact that it’s October, it was a warm night even after it got dark. Many of the people you see here are Alderspring employees (past and present). We had several crew members from the past few years here at the wedding. It was great to see them all!

Here’s the new & improved Elzinga family! Left to Right: daughter Abby with her son (her husband Ethan didn’t make the photo–he was doing an emergency diaper intervention for their 3-month old offscreen), Dillon with wife Becky (they got married this July!), Glenn, Caryl, Abby & Ethan’s two little girls, Annie, Maddy, Wesley, Melanie, Linnaea, and Emily.

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This week’s story is a repeat from 2018, as Glenn was presenting at the Real Organic Conference at Abby Rockefeller’s Churchtown Dairy barn in Hudson, NY (near Catskill).

The conference was fantastic, with real organic producers from all over the country presenting, and thoughts about how to keep the USDA towing the line in following National Organic Program standards (Real Organic Project website). 

All in all, a wonderful conference of making friends, sharing ideas and creating vision of how to make food better for our world and our future.

This week’s story is about the rigors of weather in the Rockies. We’ve seen our share this week on the ranch already. It can be challenging, and keeps life on the land far from boring!

Happy Trails!

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The weather flipped to fall. Snow blanketed the high country over the last few nights, and the aspens and cottonwoods are gilded with gold. The air is thick and clear. I love this time of year.

I fired up the wood stove for the first time this year with daughter Emily yesterday. She was the wood loader of the big four-foot logs. Lest you think I am a mean dad making my daughter do the heavy work, know that she was willing. It was because I returned from the range yesterday on my dirt bike nursing a chest load of cracked or broken ribs (I flipped the bike off a cow trail on a steep canyon side while hunting my neighbor’s stray cattle). So now, the house is warm, and if I lift my right arm onto my desk, I can type fairly pain-free. I’m thankful for willing hands in the kids still around home. It’s not the first time my ribs have been busted; horse rollovers and airborne bucks into rock slides worked their malevolent magic on my chest several times before…

Continue reading 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.

Your partnership with alderspring directly supports our mission to improve soil health, wildlife habitat, and animal and human wellness through regenerative ranching practices.

Here’s what we’ve accomplished with your help & support in just the last 12 years!