Oh December

December is here.... the proof is in the white stuff that is falling from the sky. I spent the morning chasing, catching and leading my sheep from their summer pen into what used to be the pig pen.  It has a nice shed and power for the water tank de-icer. There's a big storm setting in today and the ungrateful buggers will be much more cozy in their new pen. 

The first five were pretty easy to catch and move.  Some even got to ride with my big boy in the back of my SUV.  The last two were the hold outs.... They refused to go into the catch pen no matter what!  If they did go in, they ran right back out as quickly as possible!  They didn't want any part of a new, cozy shed and ice free water! So Hired Man Jim and I headed out this morning with a plan.  We set up a temporary fence that was in the shape of a funnel that went to the catch pen.  Sort of like they used to build to trap wild horses.  Once that was set up, we were able to run them in there and shut that gate.  Then it was my job to put a rope on them to lead them to their new home across the farm.  I found it was easiest to catch them after they jumped into their water trough in the corner of the pen.  Then I had nice, muddy, soggy, ticked off sheep on a rope.....

I'll bet you all are wondering why I didn't just herd them across the farm to the new pen.... Well let me try to explain.  I have seven lambs left.  They are all young and not very bright.  The minute a person tries to herd them anywhere, they scatter like ping pong balls on a concrete floor.  Like my Grandpa says, "It's like trying to drive a pig on ice."  Ain't gonna happen.  So they either got to ride in the car, or they got a little lesson on how to walk on a leash.  The hand walking was more like a lamb rodeo than a stroll.  Jumping, running, laying down refusing to cooperate really at all.  So we sort of lead....drive.... drag them along until we reach our destination.  Quite a work out for us and the sheep!

At least we were successful. The sheep are tucked in nice and cozy.  The alpacas and horses have a nice warm barn and Prairie Granny gave them all hay.  The calves are munching their hay under their lean to.  The chickens have their heat lamps, heated waterers and plenty of layer mash to keep them happy.  We are ready for this first, December storm..... Now it's time to drink my coffee and eat some pumpkin pie.

Bye for now,
PB

We Are The Champions

 

You guys all know that I am not a sports writer.  Like at all.... I hardly know anything about any sports that don't involve horses.  But I'm learning.  I've learned that sports are really, really important to the kids in this town and many other little towns like it.....

 

Saturday was probably this BIGGEST day of the year for our little school in our little town.  Our beloved, six man football team made it to the state championship game.  Our co-op team of Geraldine/Highwood played the co-op team of Stanford/Denton/Geyser.  The other team only lost one game all year.  The game they played against our team.  They were worthy opponents and everyone knew it would be a very good game.  The other team comes from the little towns that are Geraldine's "neighbors".  So it was also a hometown rivalry. 

 

When I pulled out of Geraldine to head over the mountains to the Highwood field, Geraldine was already a ghost town.  Nobody was here! I am certain Stanford, Denton and Geyser were also ghost towns.  I drove the dirt roads over the mountains to Highwood because it cuts off the miles and it's such a pretty drive.  So many people had done the same thing that there was a hazy cloud of dust all the way through the hills. A dust cloud of hope and anticipation. 

 

11-Wyatt McKinlay, 22-Dawson Baroh, 34-Jordan Lafontaine, 32-Darren Malek

 

When Payson and I arrived at the field we found it was standing room only on the side lines of the field.  Well, actually there wasn't even much for standing room on either side of the field. Some folks had even parked one of their vehicles in the "perfect spot" next to the field, days before the game to ensure they'd get a good view.

 





17- Jeremiah Hinkle, 21- Sean Bronec, 28-Devin Leistiko

Our boys started the game by getting some touchdowns right out of the box.  From then on you could feel the hope in the chilly late fall air....

 



Coach Tweet with the boys.  55-Ben Rayner, 17-Jeremiah Hinkle, 56-Braden Urion

Mr. Tweet has been the coach at Geraldine for 32 years. His teams have won the State Championship in 1989, 1997, 2001 and 2003. He was inducted into the MCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009. Everyone I have spoken to speaks of his fairness and ethics on the field.

The boys maintained the lead for the length of the game. At one point the other team rallied and made us all hold our breath for a bit....

25-Sam Bronec, 32-Darren Malek, 34-Jordan Lafontaine



7- Jake Malek, 25- Sam Bronec, 34- Jordan Lafontaine

 

Our boys were not about to let the opponents get a lead.  You could feel their determination building.

3-Riley Kurtz gets tackled.

22-Dawson Baroh    He catches it....
 

and is tackled.

The end of the game arrived to find us with a score of 50-18. The "blue side" of the field erupted with ten years worth of exuberance.

"Good game."

We are the champions again....

Congratulations to our Rivals!  Geraldine and Highwood could not be more proud! 

 

 



This post was written with the intent to share these photos with the parents and families of our players.  Please feel free to copy and save any of these photos and use them as you wish.

Bye for now,
PB

A Weather Report

One of the things we deal with living in this part of the country is some rapid changes in the weather.  We get sudden storms.  We get "Chinook winds", that are quite a phenomenon. This is the Wikipedia explanation.

 " The reference to a wind or weather system, simply "a Chinook", originally meant a warming wind from the ocean into the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest of the USA. A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature, often from below -4°F to as high as 50-68°F for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels. The greatest recorded temperature change in 24 hours was caused by Chinook winds on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana; the temperature rose from  -54 to 48°F.^"  

Then there's the cold, fronts that blast us from the North.  Like yesterday.  We the kids and I went out to do chores it was 38 degrees.  But there a thick bank of fog forming to the North and the air was thick with moisture.  A couple of minutes later the wind shifted and came rolling in from the North and it was cold!  We hurried to feed the calves and by the time the hay was in the bunk it was 21 degrees.  We had taken my car down to do chores so the little ones could stay warm.  It also has a very handy temperature gauge.

By the time we got to the barn, about 4 minutes later, it was down to 18 degrees.  A twenty degree drop in less than ten minutes. 

 

I love how that camo coat is doing it's job in this picture.... Where's my boy?

 

The fog thickened and the temperature dropped some more.... After supper we were at 11 degrees.  Almost a 30 degree drop in about an hour. 

 

This morning we have a lovely 8 degrees and snowing steady in the form of teeny, tiny little snowflakes.  The horses were kicking up their heels to stay warm.  Well, Fancy Pants was....

 

I think I'll be staying inside today....after the chores are done of course.

Bye for now,
PB

The Hardest Part of Farming

This is something that is on my heart....

I absolutely love what I do.  I am beyond blessed to be able to live my dream and raise my sons on this little piece of heaven.  Most days are enjoyable to me in almost every way.  Rewarding, challenging, interesting and fun. In the last week there has been a few days that were not fun.  Those are the days we butcher the animals we have produced.  We raise them with a very holy purpose.  To provide my family and others with clean, healthy, ethically and humanely raised meat.  We love our animals and enjoy the process of raising them.  When I say "we" I mean my sons as well as myself.  They are a huge part of this even at such a young age.  They're right there with me every day.  Helping fill water tubs, carrying buckets, gathering the eggs....

The other day I hauled some lambs to town.  That was quite a story, as you all know....(Check it out here if you missed it!)  I didn't have to participate in their processing, but it was very hard to walk away, knowing their fate.

Yesterday we butchered our three hogs.  One for my family, two for other families.  I was an active participant in the processing this time.  Just me and one guy from the butcher shop.  I'm thankful for the respect and kindness Chris showed towards my hogs.  He came to the farm, which greatly lessens the stress for the pigs, since they don't have to be gathered, loaded in a trailer and hauled to town.  We now have an abundance of wonderful, organic pork for our freezers.  But the necessary events to get them into the freezer, are with out a doubt, the hardest part of farming. 

I write this to shed some light I suppose.  Just because you can buy meat in a neat, tidy little package at the store, doesn't mean it was without cost.  Please respect what it takes to put meat on the table and if at all possible, buy meat that was ethically raised.  Get to know your farmer!

Last night we were able to enjoy a meatloaf made from our own grass fed lamb.  It was delicious, lean and healthy.  Absolutely worth the hardest part of farming....

 

Bye for now,
PB

My How They've Grown!

So, yesterday morning it was 10 degrees when I left the house to haul the replacement lamb to town.  This morning it's 60 degrees!  I am actually writing this post from my sunny back porch! I've got a great cup of coffee and some home made pumpkin bread. The sun actually feels hot on my black, polka dot t-shirt. I also have a 120 pound dog laying on my foot....

 

Remember these rascals? I wrote about them on "The Judge and Jury" and also here





Well now they're each 120 pounds of fun!  They really are both amazing dogs and I am very, very glad I have them.  The coyote problem here is a major one.  I'm certain that with out the dogs I would have lost more than one lamb to them.  They do an awesome job at holding them off and alerting me so I can jump on my four wheeler and chase them away! I try not to leave them to deal with a pack of coyotes alone.  Prairie Momma Trish lost a dog to coyotes and I'd hate for my pups to get torn up.

They also behave perfectly with humans.  They are leery of strangers and bark to alert me if someone shows up unexpectedly.  However, when I am there with them and tell them someone is "Ok", they completely respect it just chill out.  I have socialized these dog's a LOT more than most people socialize Livestock Guardian Dogs.  I really didn't want them to be human aggressive unless there was an obvious issue.  Judge did hold the city water man in his vehicle once, while I was gone.  But he just sat and stared as long as he didn't try to get out of his car.

 Jury has had some issues. I call her the naughty one.  For a while she was really after my chickens and killed a few.  Just when I thought I had her broke of it, she killed another one two days ago. It makes me so mad! So she's back in boot camp. She also has more of a tenancy to chase things.  I have to watch her with the alpacas and the calves.  She's usually good, but gets to running them once in awhile.  There was also the day she took after the sheep....ugh.    But for the most part I do see improvement in her behavior so I haven't given up on her.  They are just exactly a year old this month, is the puppy phase gonna be over soon?




With my kids these dogs blow my mind.  Especially Judge.  I love that dog so much! He is an absolute gentle giant.  His favorite thing is in the world is to lay down and let the kids snuggle up with him. Jury is not quite as calm with them and really wants to play all the time.  She can be a little too rambunctious but I know she would not every act aggressively towards them what-so-ever. They also adore little Miss Gwynne and even though they could almost swallow her whole, they treat her like she's the queen!

I hope you enjoyed the doggie update!

Bye for now,
PB

The Difference A Day Makes

Yesterday was such a peaceful day on the farm....  Today was not!  This morning I was up extra early to take two lambs into Fort Benton to be processed. It snowed during the night so everything was extra cold and icy for my trip to town.  Twenty seven miles of solid ice.  Both ways.  With a trailer.  Sounds fun right?  I would've rescheduled but those boys at the meat shop are very busy this time of year.  So I crept into town and pulled up behind the shop.

 I hopped into the trailer and caught the first lamb, the one I'm keeping for our freezer.  After I put a rope on him and handed him off to one of the guys, I went to catch the lamb I had sold to a nice gal from a neighboring town.  I jumped in and told the nice young man to please hold the trailer door.  Which he did.... for a second or two.  Then he got distracted and stepped away from the door.  Just then it swung wide open and that lamb took off like a bullet and was gone in .5 seconds flat.

Have you ever seen how fast sheep can run?  They are fast!  The fastest thing in the world if you are trying to chase one down while running on a sheet of ice.... while it runs amok all over town.

The butcher shop boys jumped in a 4-Wheel Drive an sped away after the lamb.  I had a big ol' trailer on, but tried to follow and keep sight of the lamb.  That lamb was like a ghost, there one second and gone the next.  It ran up Front Street.  It ran behind the Grand Union Hotel.  It ran past the Police Department.  It ran all the way down river and disappeared.  Old men were out standing in their driveways laughing and shaking their heads.  People out shoveling snow where wondering if they really did just get passed by a sheep....

The city cops tried to help.  A sheriffs deputy tried to help.  I lost track of the butcher shop boys and the sheep and gave up.  I figured it left town and would be on the next Greyhound to Florida.... But low and behold!  The butcher boys showed up with the lamb on their lap.  After it's two hour jaunt around town, the lamb got to come with me.  All that adrenaline would not make for tasty lamb chops.  So I unloaded the naughty lamb and tomorrow I get to do it all again.... Hopefully minus the icy roads and two hour marathon around Fort Benton....

Judge thinks we work too hard....

On the up side, it's a gorgeous day.  The snow makes everything so beautiful!  And I'm certain that nice young man will never walk away from an unlatched trailer door again.  Like.... ever.

Bye for now,
PB

The View From The Porch

It's a very cold, damp day here today.  But it's also very peaceful.  I thought I'd show you how peaceful....

Now that my big boy and I gathered up the calves from their overnight adventures, they are peacefully munching grass where they belong....

Rhett and Fancy Pants are cozied up....

The alpacas are chillin' up close to the house....

and the chickens are really enjoying their new, winter digs.....

I took all of these shots, standing on my porch in my pink, fuzzy slippers.  Now I'm gonna enjoy this Sunday with my kiddos.

Bye for now,
PB