The wind blew our half mile long lane to the main valley road shut with drifting snow again today. This is the second day without mail; we are effectively stranded. It's a good morning to put some observations to paper about life on earth as I see it. As a rancher, things can sometimes look pretty …
Coons, Pigs, Corn, and Cows
It was in the late 1980's and Caryl and I were in the Midwest so Caryl could work on her Ph.D. It was late fall, and I was looking for a little harvesting work in the corn belt while she finished up her research and dissertation. Now, Midwestern October weather wasn't exactly what we had gotten used …
Snowbound Beeves
Hat Creek Range: 47,000 acres. It's a big chunk of country, and in 2005, we certified all of it as organic. In fact, even today, in 2016, one acre out of every 100 acres of organic land in the United States is part of Alderspring. More exactly, 1.4% of all organic land in America is on Alderspring …
GMO’s Aren’t the Only Problem with Alfalfa
I rested my arm a moment while Allan pounded the next stake. We had been setting concrete forms for three days in what was often solid rock, and swinging that 2 pound head continuously with my right arm had my fingers locking in a cramped hammer handle position. My finger bones ached with a dull …
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Guilt Under the Guise of Grass Fed
Summer is officially gone, and winter steals its way into the high Pahsimeroi. The barren peaks were pounded with a foot of icy white last week, and autumn colors wend through the river bottoms. It's lovely most days, with temps in the 60s, but nearly every night brings frost, making grasses a …
Raising the Steaks Outside the Feedlot Fence
I'm sitting here with my office window open on this fall evening in the high Pahsimeroi. I take notice of the quiet outside in the thick evening air left by the rain that fell on the ranch last night. The summation of sound is crickets making that last ditch late summer effort at finding that mate, …
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