News from Alderspring Ranch, with an occasional rant about American agriculture
Christmas Dinner. Just those words evoke images of red and green table cloths, sparkling china (the best) and candles amidst greenery at the centerpiece. Maybe a turkey, ham or prime rib roast with all the trimmings as the main course.
What about on Alderspring?
This year we had Christmas dinner at our older friends, Gordon and Auntie [...]
Glenn, a kid, and Amos prepare to feed cattle with “Red” and “Snap”.
Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season, however you celebrate it. We celebrate a pretty traditional Christmas here on Alderspring.
It starts with the tree, about a week before Christmas Day. We get ours high up in the mountain forests that surround our [...]
It was a late and very balmy fall so far, especially for the Idaho mountains in mid-December, but the weather forecasters began to speak about payback time. They talked about an Arctic air mass bearing down on us like a freight train from the polar regions. The rail cars were carrying a payload of glacial [...]
Springtime in the Rockies is not what its cracked up to be. At least not on idyllic Alderspring.
But we finally got a break with some warm weather–nice break from one snow squall after another. And the wind quit instead of continuing to feel like Kansas (started wanting to call our border pups Toto). It’s [...]
The pyrenees are important employees on the ranch. In our remote valley we have predators such as mountain lions, coyotes, and wolves. The pyrenees are effective protection for the calves and kids that roam our ranch.
They’re also beautiful, kind, gentle, and regal. Can you tell I really like them? They’re also the cutest thing in [...]
Alderspring Ranch is a wheat-free zone. Most of us in our family of nine are gluten-intolerant, and so we have a completely wheat-free kitchen.
We really don’t miss wheat much anymore. Our 11-year-old daughter has risen to the challenge of recreating the snacks and desserts we used to make with wheat. She is very intense and [...]
Last week I had a town trip planned. Town trip days are a big deal because we live over an hour from town, and a town day pretty much shoots the whole day.
I like to plan ahead, but Glenn often can’t…so, as happens not infrequently, he told me the night before the town day [...]
You might think running Alderspring Ranch is about rural bliss: kicking back with a tall, cool lemonade, watching kids play in the spring sun, listening to bees buzzing in the apple trees. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to kick back in the spring! Here’s what we did last week:
Started up the [...]
A big project we’re working on this spring is a complete irrigation upgrade on the ranch. The project closes a long irrigation diversion ditch that sourced out of the Pahsimeroi River that we shared with about 4 neighbors. All of us have agreed to close the ditch to better ensure sufficient flow in [...]
Spring on the ranch is the busiest time of year! Fields are being readied for spring, fences being mended, irrigation systems are upgraded, and new calves are being born daily (we are averaging 5 new babies a day). They take a large amount of time as we carefully monitor their health, as well [...]
