Sheep and Teenagers

My friend, Amy, and I and two of our children went to San Francisco last weekend with 60 some 8th graders and parents. First we went to a Giants game (they beat the Diamondbacks 5-0), then rode Hummer Limos around SF for 3 hours. The next day we drove down to Pier 39, had lunch and then took a boat out to Alcatraz. As you can tell from our sunburned noses, the weather was beautiful. It took us almost an hour to get from the parking lot at Pier 39 to the Bay Bridge. We are just not used to city life! (Getting flipped off twice on our entrance into the city should have been a clue!) The kids had a great time and the parents are almost recovered.

Today Jim & I took our lambs to the sale in Orland, a 3 hour drive. I'm becoming quite familiar with that stretch of I-5. Unfortunately the sale is not on Tuesday, but Wednesday. Jim had called the day before, but, in typical male fashion, asked "Is the sale still on?" Not, "Is the sale still on for tomorrow?" The person on the phone, undoubtedly a male also, responded "Yep." Not, "Yes Wednesday is lambs and goats and Thursday is Beef and Pigs," as the female receptionist informed us usefully today. While we were standing in front of her. After getting up at 5:30 to load lambs and get our kids to school. Fortunately they penned our lambs and will sell them for us tomorrow. We took 61 lambs and 3 cull ewes. We hear lamb prices are up, so we're hoping to get a decent price.

Interestingly, hauling 64 sheep is actually quieter than hauling 5 8th graders.

"Imagine This" Winners

Here are the winning authors and illustrators from the 2009"Imagine This" story writing contest . This was taken in Arnold Schwarzneggar's office (although he wasn't there). We had a great time touring the Capitol, meeting with our representative and attending Ag Day on the Capitol lawn. We also attended the CFAITC (California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom) fundraising dinner, where Emma and one other girl read their stories. The little girl with the blue hat is the 7th grade winner. She was re-diagnosed with brain cancer in the Fall. You can read about her at the following website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ciarachiesa. She had just been released from the hospital following a 12 hour brain surgery the day of the Awards Ceremony. She and her family are quite an inspiration.

Steers and Stillettos

Abby & Allyson came over to take pictures of Allyson's FFA projects. They were so adorable, I had to post some. What is it about Scott Valley girls that they can be gorgeous and glamourous and still jump in a pen with an angry steer or a pen of just-weaned lambs and hold their own? Not only can we raise great hay, cattle and sheep up here in the mountains, but some pretty great kids as well :)!

Christmas in April

Here's a picture from the 4-H Live Nativity Scene back in December. I'm having a hard time getting pictures to download; my computer keeps kicking me off the internet. Guess I'll have to get our computer guru to come help me out! (Luckily one married into the family recently :) )

Emma is now a published author and her story was beautfiully illustrated by some high school students from the Sacramento area. We got to see Arnold Schwarzneggar up close. He's surprisingly small! I think he's shorter than me.

We had a wonderful "White Easter" with my sister Michelle and her husband Orlin out from New Jersey. Then we celebrated her birthday the next day. Right now it's sunny, but who knows what's coming? Life in the mountains is always unpredictable! A sunny Christmas and a snowy Easter just doesn't seem right.

In other Ranch News, we sold some cull cows/heifers and one bull. Hay has been moving somewhat steadily and Jim is getting ready to plant wheat in a field we are rotating out of Alfalfa. He is also meeting with our Farm Bureau attorney and local farmers/ resource managers about a disturbing Fish & Game regulation which is now being enforced. We'll see how that goes.


Until next time,


Happy Ranching

Siskiyou County Farm Bureau Dinner

Emma read her story, "Late Night Lambing" at the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau annual dinner. Despite a cold, she did a great job! The dinner was well attended and raised a significant amount of money for future scholarships. CFBF president Paul Wenger spoke about the need for farmers to band together and make their voices heard in Sacramento.

"Eat Lamb, Wear Wool" ... and "Eat Beef, Wear Leather"

We're up to over 100 lambs now and I've had several in the dining room. Two ewes appear to have quadrupled, which is pretty rare! I decided to include a picture of branding from last spring, as we do have cattle too. Our acquiring the sheep is a funny story. We were at a California Ag Teachers convention in San Luis Obispo a few years ago and they were giving out door prizes. There were some cool prizes like flat screen TVs, power tools, vacations etc. Jim ended up winning license plate covers that said "Eat Lamb, Wear Wool." So we put them on our car as a joke, (after all we're cattle people!). Two months later we purchased 40 ewes. We took those license plate covers as a sign from God that we were to go into the Sheep business. :)

Farmbook

My daughter and I attended the Siskiyou County Cattlewomen luncheon/meeting today where we we were encouraged by Jeff Fowle to join the agricultural social networking craze (who knew?) and I remembered that I had started a blog. Facebook and Twitter are still beyond me. It turns out there is actually a name for what people like me have: " Facebook Anxiety Disorder" or FAD. I'm serious. Blogging seems a little more my pace. Well, considering it's been 5 months since I've posted anything, maybe I'm exaggerating my skill in this area. But I was encouraged to know that keeping a diary of ranch events online is actually a "thing".

So what's been happening on the Bryan-Morris Ranch since August? First, I have to brag slightly. My daughter, Emma, was attending the SCCW luncheon with me because she is the 8th grade California State winner for the "Imagine This" writing contest. You can check out her story, "Late Night Lambing" at http://www.cfaitc.org/. The fun aspect of her story is how authentic it is. We got the ultimate seal of approval from Melanie Fowle, who told Emma she could tell she really knew about lambing.


So speaking of lambing, that's what we're doing right now. The first set of triplets came last week and we're up to 23 lambs already. So far no fatalties and I don't have any lambs stinking up my dining room. We band the tails and that smell of rotting flesh curbs even the heartiest appetite. I grew up on this ranch, but livestock in the house is still a bit much for me.


The cows made it home from the mountains looking better than ever. I'm jealous of how our cows get to spend their summer: up in the Marbles overlooking the valley, with a view of Mt. Shasta no less! No wonder they look so good when they come out. If happy cows come from California, then ecstatic cows come from the Northern California mountains!


We sold our yearlings at the Cattlemen's Sale in early January and got a fairly decent price. Hay is selling better than last year (although that isn't saying much), so things appear to be looking up in the ranching world.

Emma is switching to beef for her Fair project this year, so she and some friends were just out working with their steers. The boys just took their dogs to shut in the sheep and now are back to playing X-Box. Sometimes I'm so amazed at what we take for granted living here. There are plenty of times I wish I lived on concrete, next to a mall and a Starbucks, but then there are days like today when I realize there's something special about ranch life and it seems to get inside of our kids in a way that can't be replicated anywhere else.



Hopefully I'll remember to blog more often. Until then, Happy Ranching!