I yanked on the stubborn cheater bar to no avail in an attempt to open the rickety gate in the barbed wire fence. Caryl would just love this gate, I thought. The cobbled together fence marked our property line with the BLM; it was probably easily over 60 years old. Many hands had fixed on it over …
Range Riding Realities
It's hard to be inside on a day like this. The wind has picked up, and there is a fresh breeze that streams in rivers down off the rocky heights. Big cumulus clouds roll like tumbleweed across a canvas of deep azure. A tiny tinge of green can be seen out in the pastures that still bear the patina of …
Gaming Grassfed
Thomas, the nicely coiffed young man behind the meat counter smiled amicably as he asked, "What can I help you with?" His near-spotless white apron portrayed clean, as did the well organized and shiny surfaces of the newly minted meat department behind him. I could trust him, I found myself …
On Earning Trust
"It's locked," said Tim as he shook the big padlock that joined the scrap of rugged log chain around the gatepost. A confusing, yet high functioning conglomeration of barbed and woven wire vaunted up the steep and rocky hill from the steel gate. On the downhill side, the same tangle of rusty wires …
On being a Chef – for Cows
Aboard my buckskin mare, I broke the crest of the high ridge and surveyed the scene below from the promontory. The herd of 250 head were scattered like pepper across the broad plateau below, under the capable hands of Melanie and Linnaea. I jumped off, tied my mare's mecate and lead rope end to a …
When Economy of Scale becomes Loss
July heat levitated in visible waves from the black pavement and buffeted us through our wide open pickup windows. Caryl and I were in the outback now, up in the broad headwaters of the Lemhi, clipping along at 60 MPH, skimming across the wide open sagebrush ocean of high desert Idaho. Caspar's 6 …