I remembered my blog and looking back is so interesting.  This really is a good way to journal what's happening on the ranch and in our lives.  So believe it or not, some changes have occurred in the 8 years since my last post.  

My kids are all grown up: two are college graduates and one is going into his second year of college. Emma studied hard for the LSATs and got into UC Davis Law, but is deferring her enrollment while she decides what she really wants to do. She is a total rockstar on the ranch.  She runs every piece of equipment and is learning a lot about mechanicing.  Will is also a farming rockstar and is studying Computer Science at Southern Oregon University, where he got a 4.0 his first year.  Ben worked his way through college and graduated in June with a degree in Biology from Southern Oregon University.  He worked as a counselor at Kidder Creek Camp this summer and is headed to the Ukraine to do a rebuilding mission.  So it turns out being a slacker mom didn't hurt them too much :-).  

We have gone through some changes on the ranch.  We started growing seed crops for a company out of Central Oregon.  We started with carrot seed and are now growing blue grass.  Jim is always willing to try something new, even in his 60's.  I wish he would take a break now and then, but I am very proud of what a hard worker he is.  

During the Pandemic we hosted two proms in our barn, let some high school kids build a mountain bike track on our property, made a lot of progress completing the big shop and converted the old shop into a woodshop.  By we I mean Jim and the kids.  I am now teaching English full time at the high school, so I don't do much on the ranch.  Okay, I never really did but now I have a decent excuse.  

The shop has been a life changing, amazing addition to the ranch.  There is an office with AC and enough room to hold several pieces of equipment at once.  Jim and Mark Peaty did 90% of the work themselves, converting an old barn into a beautiful, usable space.  It has been a long process over several years, without much money spent. That has been such  a good lesson for me to see the value of having a vision, plugging away, using your resources, etc.   

Sadly, my Dad passed away in 2019, one month after being honored as Siskiyou County Cattleman of the year.  Jim made his casket with pine boards milled off the ranch and sealed it with his brand.

In other very sad news, my brother passed away this summer at the age of 59. We had a very nice memorial honoring him in the city park.  

Despite the hard times and sadness, we feel incredibly blessed to live in a beautiful place surrounded by wonderful people.  I didn't think I wanted this life, but it turns out it was the best one I could have.  God really does know best.

So a few things have happened since 2010 :-).  It's hard to believe it's been that long since I posted anything, but I kind of forgot about the blog.  Looking back, I think this was a good way to keep track of life on the Bryan-Morris Ranch, and it's amazing what all has changed in what feels like a relatively short period of time.  We started growing sunflowers in addition to wheat and hay in 2013.  We have a contract with Sunfield, a subsidiary of Syngenta, to grow hybrid seeds.  Hay prices went through the roof last year, which is good for us, not so good for some.  That's one of the hard things about farming, sometimes you benefit from the struggles of others.  I guess it all works out in the long run.  When I first started blogging we were barely recovering from the 2008 financial crisis and not sure if we could make it.  This year , things are definitely much better and we were able to put in a pivot above the ditch.  That gives us more options for growing different crops, such as sunflowers, which need pivot irrigation.  In 2010 Emma had just won the "Imagine This" writing contest with her story "Late Night Lambing".  It turns out the beef industry has been equally good to her as she earned a spot on the 2013-14 National Beef Ambassador team in September. That meant her Senior year of high school was crazy busy with traveling across the country representing the beef industry in addition to applying to colleges, looking for scholarships, playing volleyball, completing her Senior Project, serving as officers for ASB and FFA, being a finalist in the state FFA speaking competition and maintaining good grades and an active social life. Whew! She's been to Arkansas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado with the beef ambassadors and is on her way to New York right now.  In two weeks she is off to New Jersey, which should be her last trip before she starts Cal Poly in the Fall.  

The boys are also plenty active with their animal projects, sports and working on the Ranch.  Ben is raising a steer again and Will is raising a lamb.  Ben plays football and basketball; Will plays basketball and baseball. They will probably miss their sister next year, though I'm not sure they would admit it.  Will is headed to camp on Sunday, Ben will be at Football Camp and Emma on a trip with her mentor, Melanie Fowle, president-elect of American National Cattlewomen.  I guess I will get a taste of the empty nest. 

The Tragic Tale of Pooki and Patti

We made it through another Fair. Everyone made weight and prices were pretty decent. Will showed his Black Giant rooster to much amusement at the Poultry Show on Wednesday. It's quite hilarious to see a small 7 year old boy wrestling with a chicken half his size. Emma's steer did not bring a great price, but price support brought it up to the profitable range. (Thank you Shasta Valley Billionaire, whoever you are.) Overall, despite the exhaustion, stress, blood, sweat and tears (and I mean that quite literally) the showing of animals at the County Fair appears to be a wortwhile endeavor. Sorry if that isn't quite a ringing endorsement. Ask me in a few months when the memory has faded a bit.

In an earlier post,I mentioned Pooki and Patti, the home-schooled lambs. Theirs is such a tragic and potentially cautionary tale, I thought it should be elaborated on. For never was there a story of more woe than this of...Pooki and Patti. Okay maybe not, but it is pretty sad. Enter Chorus: Two households both alike in dignity, in fair Etna, where we lay our scene.. Our dear "citified" friends, the Fleeners have whole-heartedly jumped on the farm life bandwagon and chosen to raise animals through 4-H and FFA. Being chefs from Seattle, their experience with livestock was limited to how to cook them. (And I might add I have never had better beef than that prepared by Bob Fleener.. it's like buttah!) When their daughter, Allyson, decided to start a sheep breeding project through FFA, they naturally turned to us as mentors. We happily delivered two bummer ewe lambs to be raised at their home and then returned for breeding. Four months with Halli and Allyson left our ewes a little, how shall I say, socially challenged. I should have known something was amiss when they would come storming onto my front porch, follow me into the house and bleat incessantly to be hand fed. Pooki and Patti were never able to adjust to the rigorous social hierarchy of the flock, and instead spent their time with each other or following me around, giving me a new appreciation for the childhood nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." This would have been relatively amusing (except for the constant cleaning of sheep manure off the front porch and carpet), had it not ended in tragedy.

The realities of ranch work don't leave as much time for fence maintenance as we would like. Hence, our sheep were able to break out of their pasture into the alfalfa field. Alfalfa is a highly rich plant that can cause bloating in ruminent animals. The other sheep seemed to be aware that alfalfa was an appetizer, not the main meal, and would only stay out for short periods of time. Pooki and Patti, having been ostracized from the group, apparently did not get the memo. Maybe they weren't on "Sheepbook." Anyway, they stayed out grazing in the alfalfa for too long before we spotted them. Despite our best efforts, Pooki (or maybe it was Patti) succumbed to the effects of bloat. Patti (or was it Pooki) went into a state of depression at the loss of her best and only friend. The good news is, we repaired our yard fence and she was forced to assimilate with the flock.

The end of the story is even better. We attach a device to our bucks that has a crayon-like marker on the belly. This allows us to know which buck has bred which ewes. Imagine my surprise when I noticed Patti (or Pooki) had a suspicious red mark on her back. Which just goes to show you...well, I'll let you draw your own conclusion.

Poop Happens

I have to confess something: I'm kind of a slacker mom. I'm not talking about truly shocking maternal behavior. I'm not a meth addict, I don't strip on the internet or gamble away the grocery budget. Nor am I one of those drunk mommies who downs a bottle of wine before breakfast, carts her kids off to school three sheets to the wind and then passes out in her bed for the rest of the day. But when it comes to certain aspects of mothering, I just tend to fall short. It's not that I don't want to do well, it just sort of escapes me as to how to get it done, especially when it comes to the area of health. I'd like to think of myself as a health-conscious person, but realistically I'm not.

Maybe it's my heritage. I come from a line of people who live extremely long, healthy lives, despite their atrocious habits. I grew up hearing the four basic food groups were Beer, Beef, Bacon and Bourbon. My great-grandfather was one of a relatively few centenarians when he died in 1967. His second born son followed his lead and died just a couple months after his 100th birthday. My grandfather died "young" at 86, having lived on a diet of well- marbled beef, eggs and potatoes fried in bacon grease, buttermilk and a fifth of whiskey pretty much every day of his adult life. That doesn't include the pack- a- day smoking habit he maintained for close to 50 years. My aunt and grandmother were well into their nineties when they passed as well, although both had quit smoking in their eighties. It's not like they were overweight, confined to wheelchairs, carting around oxygen tanks or bed-ridden either. These were people who maintained their mental and physical capacities well into old age. My great uncle rode a horse in the Rodeo Parade at the age of 98. My grandmother played bridge, cleaned her own house and kept up her yard until shortly before her death. My grandfather worked on the ranch, cut firewood and helped us with our animals until he was hospitialized with cancer. My 74 year old father seems embarrassed that a 16 hour day of packing and fighting fire is just a bit too much for him lately.

So when it comes to my kids health, I've taken a, shall we say, "laid-back" approach. Once, when my kids were little, we went to a lake with Jim's sister. She has children that are a few years older than ours, so she viewed herself as the parenting expert. There she sat, laughing hysterically at my lack of concern when my one year old baby was eating sand. I remember thinking, "that's a problem?" Well, who is laughing now? Now that her children have grown into extraordinarily good-looking, hardworking, intelligent, polite, gifted young adults and my sand-eating baby is...well, nevermind.

Oh, I try to pretend that I maintain a rigorous standard for nutritional intake. For example, the other day I found myself loudly proclaiming "We do not eat chips for breakfast!" at the sight of my 7 year old with his hands and face covered in an orange goo reminiscent of fire retardant. He looked up at me with one brow cocked as if to say, "Well, clearly that is not true as it is not even 8:00 a.m. and I've already consumed 1/2 a bag of cheetos." I know, I know I shouldn't even have cheetos in the house, but they are just so ...yummy!!

So it was with a sense of pride and relief that I read of a health-related practice I have unwittingly followed. It seems that the great increase in food allergies and asthma that is sweeping our nation's children is directly related to the extreme sanitary conditions we pracitice in the United States. Our lack of exposure to germs and bacteria is actually causing poorly developed immune systems. Here is where my slacker house-keeping skills turn out to be a benefit. Specifically the article mentioned exposure to animal, uhm, excrement to be helpful in building a healthy immune system. Score! We have no less than 7 forms of poop within a 100 foot radius of our house on any given day. Between our vain peacocks who love to see themselves in the front windows, Will's "free-range" chickens, our home-schooled lambs, Pooki and Patti, the dogs and our neurotic cat, we've had all types of droppings on our front porch, which inevitably get tracked into the house. That doesn't even include my daughter's show steer, my Dad's mules, our herd of well-fed deer and the random raccoon/fox/possum/skunk that shows up in our front yard from time to time.

So there you have it. I can see myself on the lecture circuit, touting my book on the health benefits of being a slacker mom and a daily dose of poop , sand and cheetos as the key to longevity. Someone call Oprah.

Getting Ready for Fair

Ah, so much has happened since my last post. In June, we made it to New York and back and had a blast. I'll have to wait to post pictures until I get them from Veronica as my camera wasn't working.

In July, Emma was a feautured author at the California State Fair, where she sat for two hours signing autographs. (I don't think the acclaim has gone to her head.) We were also able to make it to the poultry building, so Will got some tips on how to show Jack, his Black Giant rooster.

A couple of weeks ago, Emma, my Dad and I went for a ride up to Russian Lake to clear trails with the Back Country Horsemen. We had a great time, despite my literally passing out cold when I got off my horse, and a flat tire on the pick-up on the way down. Fortunately our delays meant we stopped back at the BCH campsite just in time for a delicious tri-tip dinner!

Ben was able to spend a few days at Shasta Camp above Lake Siskiyou with his friend Eli. Maddie, our blue heeler, had seven puppies and our Pea Hen had four chicks. Two of them have survived so far. As Will says "Everything has a baby!" (Except me, thankfully!)

Earlier this week we had the FFA and 4-H Beef project kids out to fit their steers and heifers. It's hard to believe the Fair is less than two weeks away. We'll be busy with a chicken, a lamb and a steer!

In the ranching world, we've started cutting 2nd crop. The transformer on the pump went out, which means we are completely without water. I made a quick trip to Medford to pick one up, so we're just waiting for it to be installed. It sure makes us appreciate running water when we have to haul water to the animals. I'm also waiting to mop my floor, which is suspiciously sticky. So life on the ranch is essentially back to normal; something is broken and awaiting expensive repairs.

See you at the Fair!

Tractor Tipping, Chicken Plucking and Cable

While Emma has been in Montana, we've been busy! We've cut all of 1st crop on the east side of the river. Alex took the swather over to the westside at the whopping pace of 5 mph. Fortunately our neighbor lets us use his bridge, so it cuts the distance in half. Everytime we move equipment I think of that Craig Morgan song " I'm a God-fearing, hardworking combine driver,hogging up the road in my p-p-p-plower, chug-a-lug luggin 5 miles an hour in my International Harvester". The line "I make a lot of hay for a little pay" is sadly appropriate as well. Basically, that song describes our life.

Since we're making so much hay, someone has to haul it and that would be Jim. (He also rakes and bales; a multi-talented farmer!) Thursday, the cable on the balewagon broke, tipping him straight up in the air. It reminded me of the movie "Cars" when Lightning McQueen goes "tractor tipping" with Tow-Mater. I was sent to town to get a new cable, as in at 4:25 I get a call : "Can you go to town (30 miles away) and get a cable before the shop closes at 5:00?" No problem. Of course I'd been working in the yard all day and hadn't showered for who knows how long. That is why God invented baseball caps. Thankfully, parts guys don't seem too judgmental about appearance. We also stopped at Wal-Mart, where anything goes as far as appropriate shopping attire. I realize when most people say they are going to get cable, they are referring to something else, but our cable only cost $7.47 and should last for some time.

We also processed 20 of Will's broilers. And by processed I mean we cut off their heads, dipped the carcasses in boiling water, plucked all the feathers, clipped their feet and necks off and stuck them in freezer bags. Sorry if that's too graphic for non- farmers, but this is how we get our food, people! Will was a little upset at first, but he got over it when he realized we weren't going to kill any of his Black Giants. Ahh, life on a ranch... so very glamorous. I will get a little culture next week, though as my friend Veronica and I and our two boys head off to New York for a broadway play (Lion King) and a Mets game. More about that in a later post. Until then, Happy Ranching!

Graduation Week

8th grade graduation was on Thursday. The decorations were beautiful and the kids looked amazing. The next night was an emotional high school graduation(two members of the class had died) and then Emma was off to Montana for a mission trip with members of her youth group. It's been an

exhausting, but great week. Summer finally arrived, with blue skies and temps in the 80s and we are cutting hay like crazy.