Haying season...

When you look out to the greener part of this field, you can see a darker purple/green shade and then a lighter green shade in the hay that is mowed.  This field yields strong to alfalfa, but also has crested wheat grass mixed in with it.  The purple shade is the flowers from the alfalfa being mowed in that direction.  The lighter shade is the mowing on the trip back.  This is some of the best hay EVER cut and baled on this ranch.  We've never seen hay like this in years -- maybe ever.  Hubby's dad, an 87 year old Grandpa says he's never seen hay like this in all his years and he has lived here his entire life.

 The green grass and alfalfa in the foreground was cut and baled a week or so ago and look at how much has grown back!  We do not usually get a second cutting of hay except for the very low, wet patches here and there and that is rare. 

 On the way out to the hay field today, I saw from a distance what looked like someone's jacket or a towel left on the cross bar of the fence brace.  As I got closer, I could see that it was not that at all, but instead it was a swarm of bees.  We have several boxes of bees on the ranch this year.  The folks that put them on us and lots of other ranchers will have a good honey year since we have gobs and gobs of sweet clover.  I guess these bees decided to go pioneering and find a new place to call home.

Here's a close-up photo of the bees.  Maybe they'll be gone tomorrow.  Who knows? 

The baby birds are here and there in the back yard and front yard and in the pastures.  I saw the baby hawk as I drove past the swarm, but didn't have my camera ready for it.  Our world is alive with so many things growing.  It's wonderful to see and to be right in the thick of it.

Owlets

 

I found another nest of owls early this spring

up by the Lambing Shed,

and they have since fledged the nest

and are on the ground as they are still not very good

at flying yet.

 

One of the parent owls was with them at first on the ridge

but when I came along, it flew to the power pole to keep watch.

The babies walk-flew to different places and I followed

one of them to the fence and got a little closer.

It's been so fun to see this owl family grow up

before our eyes.

 

We are officially In the Hay Field.

Hubby is mowing and I went for a few rounds with him

in the tractor this morning.  The good thing about ranching is that I

can hop in and go with him -- we get to work together each day.

The hay is very wet so it'll be a couple days before it can be raked

(turned over) and dried enough to bale up.

 

The hay is so thick and tall and good, Hubby called it a

Once-In-Every-15-Years Event.

It's so exciting to experience once again.

We are blessed.

 

Hello!

Hello!  It's me.  I'm here!

 May snow

 

The winter and the spring was long and cold and snowy for us and we just got so busy and worn out that I chose to stop blogging for a while.  But here it is, June!  I'm so thankful that we are in June now. The winter snows and spring snows and rains have made everything green and beautiful.  We had snows all through to the end of May and our June has been mostly cool too.  The trees didn't even leaf out until June.

Bringing cows and calves in right by our house.

We've got the sheep all lambed out and the calves branded and out to summer pasture.  There's so much grass that the cows and sheep will never keep up with it.  What a blessing it is to see our prairie so green with thick grass and wildflowers.

The winter snows have brought up flowers of all kinds.  The prairie is just beautiful and we are seeing wildflowers that we have not seen in years.  CarpeterSon brought me a wildflower bouquet from the pastures as he was out checking cows and calves today.  He is so thoughtful.

I didn't get my garden in until June and I'm always amazed at how quickly the seeds germinate and come up when the ground is finally warm.  For me, it is never a good idea to plant my garden seeds until June 1st or so.  I put in lots more flowers this year and I'm excited about that.  I mixed several kinds of annuals together with some fine sand and planted them in rows.  I'm looking forward to some summer bouquets for the house and some to share with friends.  There will be cosmos, zinnias, larkspur, Bells of Ireland, marigolds, and sunflowers.  My shrub roses are full of buds and I can't wait to see them in full bloom soon.

The grandkids and I are keeping our lists of birds again this year.  It's so exciting to see all of the migrant birds come back to spend the spring and summer with us.  We are constantly sharing our bird sightings and encourage each other to keep a watchful eye for the newest bird arrival or for nests and baby birds.

I hope you're all enjoying spring where you are. 

Fencing project...

 I don't know where this bucket came from, but we use it for clips and markers.

 

 

 Fencing supplies

 

Black Swallowtail

photo by: Kenneth Dwain Harrelson

 

 Rubber Rabbitbrush

 

 Steel H-braces should last a long time

 

 Fencing completed with white sage grouse markers.

 

The men have been working super hard these past weeks on new fence.  They've been tearing out very old woven-wire fence in order to put in 5 barb fence that will not only keep livestock in or out, but is also beneficial to wildlife.  The smooth wire on the bottom will allow antelope to duck under the fence without being hurt and the white markers you see on the fence are there to protect Sage Grouse from flying into the fence and being harmed.    This is a big project that will be worked on over seven years, and we are pretty excited about it.  We live in an area where there is a population of Sage Grouse that has been diminishing over many years.  There has been much debate about why, but our state is taking  a pro-active approach to protecting the birds in case the federal government would list them from being "protected" to "endangered."  In that case, our ranching situation could greatly change.

My job is somewhat small, but still important.  I help with clipping wires onto the steel T-posts.  It's one of those "up and down" jobs where I stand upright for a short time and gradually go into a squat in order to clip each of the five wires down on the post.  And let me tell you, there are a lot of steel posts to clip.  I don't do this job alone, and in fact, I decide when I've had enough of the job as my 56 year old hands and knees tell me it's time to stop.  I also help with putting the sage grouse markers on the fence.  That is a much easier job that just requires walking the fence and pushing them on in between the fence posts.  It's like putting the last finishing touches on a Christmas tree. We will work for the remainder of this week on the project and then the men will start on building a shed.  There is a lot more fence to do and I think they hope to move to another area to fence, but at the moment, the rattlesnakes are worrisome since there is tall grass in the fence line that they want to remove and replace.  It'll cool off soon enough this fall and then they will commence on that project once again. 

As I walk along out there on the prairie, I am reminded of how very blessed I am that God transplanted me and put me here.  It is a hard land, a land of extremes, and a rugged place for man and beast to live, and yet there is a beauty in it all.  I love this place, I love this land, I love all that I am surrounded by, and I know that it is all a gift from The Creator.  I say to Him, "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

Thanks for stopping by today!  I have been quite absent from the blog lately, but there is so much to do right now in the last days of summer and the beginning of fall.  They are days that seem so full.  The garden is ripening and requires  attention and canning projects.  Salsa is the "product of the day" out here.  The DILs and I have been putting up a beautiful salsa recipe with all the tomatoes and peppers.  I'll share it below.  It's really so delicious.  It reminds me of the salsas that are served in authentic Mexican restaurants. 

Salsa 

10 cups chopped tomatoes
8 jalapeno peppers chopped (or as many as you like)
3 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped green peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (opt)
1 1/3 cups vinegar
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 tsp. cumin

1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
3 Tablespoons pickling salt
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

I blitzed tomatoes in the blender, then did the same with the onions, peppers, garlic, vinegar.

Simmer all ingredients for 1 hour.  Try to cook off as much water as possible.

Ladle into hot jars & seal.  Process in hot water bath for 10 to 15 min.

Late summer happenings on the ranch...

The hay is put up and much of it has been hauled in.  There is still some out in the fields to fetch, but this time of year when we get dry lightning, it is best not to have all of our hay in large stacks until threat of fire is mostly past us.

The men have started back on the fencing project and have accomplished quite a bit.  Together they are the epitome of a working team.  They each know their job and can work without saying a word. 

The February lambs were sorted off and we kept 70 head of replacement ewes and shipped the rest to the sheep sale barn.  We weaned the late May lambs and will let them gain more weight on the regrowth of the hayfields before we sell them this fall.  We will also pick more replacement ewe lambs from the May lamb bunch to put back into the herd.

This past week we worked all of the cows and their calves through the barn, vaccinating all of the calves and pouring insecticide on cows and calves and turning everything out to the far pastures to graze.  We are so thankful that this summer turned out to be a fairly cool one with rains interspersed throughout which made the grazing excellent.  Even though the prairie has turned golden brown, there is still a little green underneath which keeps the cows working for it and grazing off the dry grass along with it. 

The gardens are producing well too.  I've dug up a few potatoes-- just enough for our suppers-- and leave the smaller ones connected to the plants to continue growing through the fall.  Oh, a fresh potato is good!  Do you know how many pesticides and anti-sprout chemicals are on grocery store potatoes?  Ugh!  I realize that potatoes grown commercially will go into storage for who-knows-how-long, so they must be treated, and not many of us would buy a bagful of sprouted potatoes at the grocery store, but golly, there is a lot done to those spuds that I don't do to mine, and I keep my potatoes through much of the winter.  I do have to snap off a few sprouts though. 

I'm just now getting ripened tomatoes despite their curling leaves, and what a treat they are!  The cucumbers are plentiful and the zucchini too.  I pulled up a few carrots a couple days ago and they are just beautiful in size and shape, and the taste is oh-so-sweet.  Just like you want them to be.  I always think a cold snap or a freeze in the fall makes them even sweeter.  The green beans keep on coming and there are just enough for Hubby and I for a meal each time I pick.  I planted lettuce a few weeks back and it is coming along nicely.  I'm looking forward to fresh lettuce again.

 

I'm still all about bird-watching and this little cutie showed up around the house this past week or so.  We think it's a female Rufus hummingbird or an immature male.  It's so fun to watch it flitting around the sunflowers, petunias, and larkspur.  We've also had the Blue Herons as guests on our stock pond next to our home.  They are quite huge and intimidating when flying over.  NumberOneSon says they look like prehistoric pterodactyls flying over.  He's so funny.

 

I hope you're enjoying the summer days.  I know many of you are experiencing terrible heat and others are wishing for sunny days.  We are in the middle of that, but are having many gray sky days due to smoke from nearby forest fires.  I hope for rains upon them soon.  God bless you and thanks for stopping by. 

Wild & Domestic...

The Wild Ones

 

Persicaria amphibia

Water Knotweed

 



 

Prickly Pear cactus blooms and Yarrow

 

 

Pussytoes

 

 

Showy Milkweed

 

 Prairie Coneflower

 

The Domestic Ones

 

Non-stop Begonia, Geranium, Wave Petunias

 

Lilies

Clematis

 

Potato blossoms

 

Summer is in full-tilt now and we are feeling the hot summer days.  I'm tending to my flowers and veggie gardens, doing lots of gardenhose watering.  We've had a couple half inch showers in all of June so I can't say we haven't had any rain, but just a few miles to our south, east and north, folks have been showered with loads of rain -- inches and inches -- that they'd like it to stop.  Some have had tornadoes, tennis ball sized hail, and flooding.  I really don't want any of that.

 

With these sunny, warm days, we are in the hay fields working, and we've also been doing a lot of barn work.  We are breeding cows artificially and so that requires quite a bit of barn work and moving cows from pasture to pasture.  After the 6th of July, we will be done with all of the AI-ing and can turn the cows and calves and bulls out for the summer and finish up the haying.

 

Despite the dry spring we had, the hay looks very good.  It's the snow that made it.  Anywhere that the snow laid in deep, the grass and alfalfa is excellent.  We are making hay in draws and in ditches and feed grounds where we've not hayed in years.  That little shot of rain we got in June stimulated more growth, and it feels like it's going to be a decent Hay Year after all.  You must know that we live in arid country where our average rainfall is just 11-15" a year, and that is counting snowfall.  So the beauty of living here is that a little rain does us a lot of good!

 

My garden is doing just OK.  The fenced in garden is being overtaken with tree roots which makes it hard for growing anything with a deep root system.  It is also fairly shaded due to the same trees.  The garden on the bank beside it is doing terrific.  It has no tree roots and it has full sunshine.  The potatoes are there and so are the squash and pumpkins along with a couple of tomato and pepper plants.  That is where I plan to do ALL the veggie gardening next year, or I may prepare a little spot below the bank. 

 

So far I have picked lettuces, radishes, and zucchini.  My Kohlrabi are close to picking and the broccoli is forming heads right now.  The tomatoes look terrible -- at least the ones in the fenced garden.  Their leaves are curling.  I think it could be the tree roots or shade or the cool spring and then sudden heat or all of the above.  I'm hoping that the few tomatoes I planted on the bank will at least give me some tomatoes for eating fresh.  I'm sure my daughters will have good tomato crops so I won't worry if I have a tomato crop failure this year.  The girls are good about sharing.

 

Well, it's time for me to head back out to help bring cows home.  Today we have another afternoon of barn work with the cows and then back to the hay field.  Summer is good.  It always feels so short to me, so I'm enjoying every little bit of it.  The sunflowers are blooming at the side of the gravel road and my dear Hubby cut a handful for me this morning.  I have to say, I do think sunflowers are my favorite.  They say "Summer" to me.  I hope you're summer is going well.  To my fellow Americans,  I wish you a Happy Independence Day! 

 





 

Haying and a few flowers...

 The old equipment and the modern

 

 Chives

 

 Prairie roses

 

 My shrub roses

Blue flax and yellow yarrow

(Achillea millefolium)

 

 Poppy

 

Columbine

 

Crossbill

 

It's feeling more like summer every day.  The days are lengthening, flowers are blooming, the grass is growing, the temperatures are warming, and it's time to cut the hay.  What we gained in heavy winter snowfall, we sorely lacked in spring rains.  We only had .9" of rain in May and just received .9" this past week.  That means the alfalfa hay is flowering and the grass hay is heading and beginning to turn brown underneath and it's time to cut, although it's early for us.  We have to get it while the gettin's good.  Hubby started mowing hay on Thursday and the sons rolled up just nine bales today to see how it would go.  Tomorrow will be a bigger day and I think I'll be in the field raking while the sons bale and Hubby continues to mow.  The hay looks pretty good, and this little shot of rain might help to hold the other hay fields over until we get there. 

 

My flower beds are all a-bloom with flowers -- all volunteers from years past.  The rose bushes are really putting out and I've cut several bouquets to bring indoors and to share with my girls next door.  The rose scent is wonderful.  I put a vase of roses in our bedroom and was so pleased to walk in this afternoon after church and smell such a lovely fragrance.  The prairie roses are a very plain, single rose.  They are prolific this year and in full bloom now, but ever so quickly they will fade away. 

 

In one flower bed I had a little clump of chives growing and I thought they were so pretty that I just let them stay.  Now they have filled up a good corner and I like them so much that I will let them ramble.  I like it that they are useful as well as ornamental.  The columbine spread like crazy too.  I love them, but I must continually yank a lot of them out year by year or else they would take over every open spot of earth.  The poppy is a favorite who comes up with her large sticker-y leaves and stems and then goes all soft and silky in her rich, red bloom.  My peony is very close to blooming.  I can't wait!  I've been really babying her along with extra water and a bit of fertilizer since she didn't do anything last year with the dry, dry spring we had.  It looks like she's going to really put forth her all this year. 

 

We've had a pair of unusual visitors to our bird feeders -- the Red Crossbill.  I realize this one isn't very red (or orangy colored) but I'm thinking it's a female or perhaps a juvenile which have shades of yellow on them.  Crossbills are usually found where there is coniferous forest and we sure don't have any pine trees or any other cone trees around here, but they are helping themselves to the sunflower seeds and appear to be doing well.

 

I'm looking forward to climbing in my old, open-air tractor tomorrow and raking hay again.  It's mindless work that allows me to spend hours thinking my own thoughts,  praying for people, and singing to God as I roll along.   It's amazing how many songs come to mind when you make your own music.  I could put my ear buds in and listen to something, but I just never do.  I like taking in the smells, the sounds, and the scenery right where I am.  What are the smells and sounds and the sceneries  where you are today?



 



Sunday drive...

 Gumbo Lily

 

 Can you see the Killdeer nest?

 

Killdeer eggs close-up.

 

Sons fixing water gap in border fence.



I love taking a Sunday drive with my Honey.  It's usually a drive over a familiar trail out in the pasture, but to me, it is always new, always changing, and there is always something to see that hadn't been there before.  I love the Emerson quote which I posted recently:  "To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture that was never before seen, and which shall never be seen again." 

As we drive along, my eyes catch movement -- the movement of birds and their flight patterns, of grasses and wildflowers waving colors in the breeze.  I see deer and antelope and I look to see if there might be any fawns or kids near them because it's almost time for them to give birth.  Then my eye catches sight of a steel spool for barb wire laying in the fence line.  It fell out of the Ranger last summer while the men were fencing there.  We stop to pick it up and throw it in the back. 

Initially, we went North to check on cows and calves and to see the sheep, but there are so many things to see this time of year.  Spring brings such color and beauty to eyes that have been a long time looking at snow and gray skies.  For instance, there is greengrass which is different from the grass any other time of year.  Greengrass comes in the spring.  All grasses that come up in the spring are greengrass.  Yes, they all have their individual names, but together in the spring it is greengrass because it is very soon when the greengrass matures and turns brown and stays that way until snow and until the next spring.  Because of the winter's heavy snow, we are seeing a wildflower explosion!  There are flowers that we haven't seen in years because there was not enough moisture in the ground to bring them up; or the plants may have come up, but there was not enough moisture to bring forth blooms.  I pictured the gumbo lily, commonly called white evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa)  which is just coming out now.  It is one of my favorite prairie flowers, and this blog is named for it.  The gumbo lily always comes up here because its tap root is very deep, and in our clay gumbo soil, there is moisture down deep.  Right next to the gumbo lily is the yellow flower that is one of the very first to come out on the prairie.  We call it wild parsley but it is also called Desert biscuit root.  It's leaves look similar to carrot leaves and so it is also called carrotleaf lomatium.  The deer, antelope, and sheep love to graze on these and the wild onions which are some of the first forbes to come on in spring.  History tells us that American Indians ate the wild celery's enlarged roots raw or dried and ground them for flour (therefore, biscuitroot).  This reminds me of how the early settlers would pick dandelion leaves in the spring to eat for greens.  Can you imagine how hungry they would be for fresh, green foods?

As we drive along, I see a Killdeer on the ground playing hurt, dragging a wing.  I know that trick to lure us away from her nest.  We drive up and sure enough, there are four eggs in a sort of nest of stones and pebbles on the ground.  Did you notice how all the egg points point toward each other in the center so they won't roll away?  How do they know to do this?  God has given them that instinct.  There were Curlews and hawks and killdeer and coots all out and about today.  We even found the cows and also the neighbor's cows in our pasture.  Hubby radio'd the sons to come up with a couple of steel posts so they could fix the big hole in the fence where the water was once high and moving and now has receded.  It's one of those Sunday chores that happens on a ranch.  I remember many Sundays when our family would be heading to church down the gravel road and find the bulls out and have to turn around to go home. 

I hope you got a chance to enjoy a little spot of time in nature today.  Tell me about it if you did.

Moving sheep and cow/calf pairs...

 

 

The last couple of days we've been moving the ewes and lambs to fresh pastures and today we will work through them, sorting out the lambs and giving them a dose of de-wormer before sending them out on the range to graze.  They've come through the harsh winter and spring and are finally picking up and looking much better than they were.  Look at that big baby sucking his mama.  Most of the time they get down on their knees to nurse.

Tally:  179 ewes, 289 lambs

We're getting down to the last 100 head of cows left to calve and in the meantime, we have been taking out pairs to larger pastures.  Gradually, we will work each bunch back to the barn to brand and vaccinate calves.  We branded one big bunch of calvies this morning. 

It has warmed up here and we've had some gray, drippy skies.  The moisture has been light, but still, we welcome it and are thankful for it.  The grass is slow-growing at present, but a few warm days should really bring it up.  The cows and sheep are really loving this fresh grass.  It feels like spring has finally arrived.

A Big Year...

 

 

If you are a bird watcher and you've never watched this movie, you should.  Even if you are not a bird watcher, I think you would enjoy it.  The Big Year is about three men's quests to find and count the most bird species in one calendar year.  The adventure takes them all over the USA and requires a few uncomfortable situations in order to find what they are looking for, and as it turns out, as they are looking for birds, they each come to realize what they are REALLY looking for in life.  It's a good movie that you can even watch with your grandma or little kids.

 

I'm a novice birder myself and after watching this movie, I was excited for my grandkids to watch it too, because I'm gradually converting more and more of them into bird watchers.  It's quite contagious, I think.  After watching the movie, I asked the kids if they'd like to do A Big Year with me.  And the eldest of the grands said, "Yes!  Are we going to travel all over the world?"  I told them we would do our Big Year wherever we are this year.  We won't chase birds much although we might chase a little, but we will be very observant right where we live and wherever we go.  I plan to have a special prize for the one who counts the most birds.  We've got our lists and our field guides at-the-ready and with the spring migration, we are adding to them almost daily.

 

If you want to watch the movie, The Big Year, you can find it on DVD on Netflix or you can stream it on Amazon.  I'd love to hear if you decide to do a Big Year where you live.

 

 

(same calves, different lighting inside the barn)

 



We took a morning this past week and branded and vaccinated about 100 head of calves -- the first bunch born to first-calf heifers.  They are really nice calves.  We are still in the midst of calving our herd and I believe we have about 100 head left to calve out of our 500 head of cows.  We've finally lost the majority of our snow and so it's turning spring up here in the north country.  Snow can still be found in the draws here and there, but for the most part, it's gone. The grass is slow to come because it has been a very cold April, but these last couple of days our temps have shot up into the 70s so that really helps to bring up the grass.  We've had a lot of run-off from the snow and every reservoir, creek, wadi, and dip has been filled up with fresh water.  What a blessing!  This evening as I type, there is thunder rumbling and a few lightening bolts and a little bit of rain is sprinkling down.  It sounds like we have good chances of rain in the coming week, so that's encouraging!

Tomorrow I will go to town and get my chickies.  Two of my grandgirls want to go along with me, and three others will likely meet us at the Feed Store.  It's very exciting you know!  Peach, the eldest, is getting two Silver-laced Wyandot pullets and one rooster while the rest will be Pearl White Leghorns which in my humble opinion, are the very best egg layers. 

I hope spring is treating you well and blessing you with sunshine and rain.  We've got to have some showers to bring up the flowers!