Farm Fresh Blog

We just returned from a nice extended stay at the ranch in North Texas.  Even though it's still unfinished inside, we moved into the cabin.  A cold front moved in and we went through a lot of cord wood in the woodburning stove. It would help if we had finished out all the insulation, but everything in due time. It seems that no matter how much time we spend up there, it's never enough to get everything done, so we adjust.

Pleasant surprises:

* We get really decent cell phone reception in the cabin! (2 or 3 bars!)

* Electricity is wonderful. You haven't experienced true love until you spy those electric poles in the ground.  Yes, yes, I do still want to go solar too, but there's something about electrical plugs that work which just makes my heart go pitty-pat.

* Mesquite wood is not only plentiful, but burns really hot in a stove. Our woodburning stove also has 4 burners and most meals were cooked inside.  It can get quite toasty even in an un-insulated cabin.

Unpleasant Surprises:

* Yes, mesquite wood does burn hot . . . as long as someone is awake to put the wood into the stove. When both persons stay underneath warm down-filled sleeping bags, not even the brightest of dogs can be convinced to put more wood on the fire.

* And speaking of wood piles and bright dogs.  Do you know what an indoor well-stocked wood pile is to a Labrador?  A toy box.  I'm just sayin'.

* Copperheads. Freakin' copperheads.  Did you know that despite the fact that it got down below freezing at night, when temps warm during the day, the little red bastards come out? We killed two this weekend.  Other Half beat one to death with a metal t-post. I was most alarmed to discover that when I thought it was too cold for snakes to be out, this snake was quite fast and very un-sluggish. Thankfully no grandchildren or dogs were hurt.

The kids and grandkids were up the first weekend and it's always a delight to see the world through the eyes of a toddler.

 This would be 'a clue' to the wily horse. Fortunately, Joe is easy to catch, and Grandpa finally caught Scout, who later decided that this was indeed, his kind of work.

 Kids loaded on ponies.

 Kid soon unloaded from pony. Apparently feeding ponies is much more entertaining than riding ponies. This was fine with the pony too.

 But other members of the family have decided that they are ready to ride the big horses now.

 This is a determined little girl. This horse who doesn't like to be caught may have met his match in this child.

And when she was finished with one horse, she loaded up on the other one.  This pony is a little more her speed anyway. He seems to genuinely enjoy the company of people.

When she dismounted, Lilah made sure to thank Joe and Scout for their time. Scout shrugged and walked off, but Joe stayed to hang out. He's a good horse. (Joe knows that he is the 4th horse in a 3 stall barn. He's making sure that one of those stalls has HIS name on it.)

And true to form, on that morning I found this at my feet.

Not only do we have lots of turkey, we have quite a few hawks and they have finally given the property a name. Other Half decided that the ranch needed a new name that combined my farm with his cattle ranch.  The very first day I photographed the place before we put a bid on it, I found a hawk's feather at my feet, and that was my sign that this was "the one."

So when we needed a new name for the property, we decided upon the Red Feather Ranch.