Newsletter from May 5, 2015 There’s new snow on the rocky crest of the Lemhi Range today. It’s a fine landscape to watch the sun rise over as we are below normal on both mountain snowpack and rainfall. Our grass does look great, as do our ranges, but many folks in the west are in […]
Under our Feet
Newsletter from April 17, 2015 Our rocky soils are thawed, though still cold from winter. We did some water line excavation yesterday with our ancient excavator (the first of its kind from 1966!) to get at a leak that developed over the winter, and found that there was soil life far deeper than we imagined […]
Sustainable Ag Musings
Caryl and I drove to Montana last week and noted that big tractors and other farm implements have commenced to turn over some farmed ground up there. We passed truckloads of chemical fertilizer headed up to some of the remotest ranches in Montana along the way. These chemical haulers are becoming fairly ubiquitous in […]
Great Grass Fed Beef: A 20 Year Quest
We’ve been raising grass fed beef for over 20 years. We’re still improving. I got an email this morning from Claudia, one of our regular customers: “We had two of the ribeyes last night, and they were absolutely wonderful! My husband was duly impressed, so much so that we ordered more, as well as some […]
Roundup Ready alfalfa is back
According to Wikapedia, “Roundup is the brand name of a systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide produced by the U.S. company Monsanto and contains the active ingredient glyphosate.” (Read more). (Read more.) In 2007 a federal court ruled that the USDA failed to adequately address the risks and banned the planting of any additional acres (thousands of acres […]
Fish-friendly Irrigation at Alderspring Ranch
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 the river […]