Organic Beef Matters
News from Alderspring Ranch, with an occasional rant about American agriculture
The large lean-to tarp flapped in the cool night air and the Coleman lantern cast a warm orb over the cook tent. I eyed my crew as we sat quietly eating supper off the camp stove and grill. They were catatonic as they chewed dinner, and looking slightly stupefied. It was near midnight, and I've seen …
With the rain increasing in intensity, I gave my mare, Natalie, her head as she picked her way across the steep, slick and rocky mountainside, bent on catching 25 recalcitrant cattle that clambered high above us near the peak of the volcanic dome. They had cut from the main herd, in search of what …
Twelve thousand men were in serious trouble, despite the onset of spring in 1778. The Continental Army was already in dire straits after several brutalizing defeats through the autumn of 1777. Most lacked uniforms, and some walked barefoot, wrapping rags around their frozen feet. They were sorely in …
Little Hat Monkeyflower Springs. It's what my two girls, my trail partners for today, called the secret place where ice cold clear water bubbled out of the steep mountainside the rugged trail traversed. In the heat of that July day, we slid off our sweaty mounts, and grabbed our cups and canteens …
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 …
"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 …
