Organic Beef Matters
News from Alderspring Ranch, with an occasional rant about American agriculture
Like many in the West, our lives are defined by fire. AUGUST 3: 1600 HOURS. There a massive column of smoke erupting from behind the Moose Creek ridge. I can see it from headquarters, even though the ridge is 15 miles away, and is a little obscured by the haze caused by distant wildfires in […]
Horseback, I had just pushed through a long thicket of nearly impenetrable young Douglas-fir trees. They were twice the size of Christmas trees, but no less branched. I could hear the cattle I herded in front of me, but there were times I could see nothing except the soft branches that swept my face and […]
At the crack of dawn today, I discovered myself a victim. I recognized this feeling. It was a weaker manifestation of the same sensation I had when I discovered that several antique firearms I had on display on my wall in the ranch house had been stolen. It wasn’t until the perpetrator was apprehended, confronted […]
I watched Sarah, our cowhand from Redding, draw that cinch tight around Teri’s barrel shaped midsection. The indomitable and somewhat bitchy roan mare broke her stoic demeanor for a second and grunted in response to Sarah’s firm pull. It was tight, but not too tight. Sarah’s experienced hand got it just right. And then I […]
Ol’ Snake Bite has come up missing on this, the 4th of July. The little steer, still on the mend from a near-fatal strike from the western diamondback rattler he encountered in the low country, was a little trail weary from the 7 mile hike up to the cool meadows of the high country. Every […]
I was the Forage Scout yesterday. What that entails is getting my 56 year old rear end fastened to a dirt bike for a rough and tumble journey of 140 miles across hill and dale and mountain and canyon and seeing what the grassland situation is across all of our wilderness range. There’s some old […]
