Garden Visitors~Snakes in the Grass!

Look close!

#MLAChallenge day 8

How's your summer??!! 

Full Strawberry Moon tonight and the Summer Solstice on Friday!

We have 1st cutting done!! Yahoo!! Movin' on to irrigating 2nd.

In Health & Love~ 

 #DoLifeBetter 

 gtyyup

Good Monday...Spring Has Sprung!!

 Happy Monday everyone!!

A new find from the landfill...who would want to through
away a perfectly good flower pot?!?

Spring is rolling fast and furious around here. What little varmint reduction we got will just be what it is, the fertilizer is on, the irrigation is running, and the hay (along with all the weeds) is growing!! 

We seeded orchard grass into more of our alfalfa last fall, so we'll have a lot more alfalfa/grass mix to sell this year.

Alfalfa, orchard grass...and a few weeds. It'll make good feed this winter!

My trip to Paleo f(x) in Austin TX was exceptional...the number of speakers, vendors and events were "brain exploding!"

My Team! #PFX19

The main stage with a panel of health professionals talking
about how the brain and the gut biome are connected.

Did you know that the brain and the gut are connected? It's actually very facinating...and having a healthy gut changes your whole body!!!

Ryan, me and Sprinkles...yep, I'm short!!!

#PFX19

So, how's your gut? Consider taking the free health assessment!

#JTTA

I hope everyone has a very blessed week!

In Health & Love~ 

 #DoLifeBetter

 gtyyup

Self Care ~ Animal Care ~ Everyone is Important!

I'm almost afraid to say it...but I think we're past any chance of snow...well, that'll jinx us now!! But it's been the longest, coldest, wettest spring anyone can remember. In the high desert here we should never complain about precipitation in whatever form it comes in...but it's been hard on the ranchers and farmers.

My Man is dragging the hay fields...Rastus is a bunch of help of course!

Tax day has come and gone (thank goodness that's done with for another year!), and another year of poisoning the ground squirrels (we call them sage rats) in the hay fields. Because of all of the rain, we couldn't get the bait out in a timely manner, so the percent of dispatch wasn't as good as other years, but we got what we got.

Easter too has come and gone...but the memory of the sunrise service is fresh in my mind. It poured rain the day before, and we wondered it we would need to shift to plan "B"...but the day broke with some clouds...just enough to get a beautiful reflection as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. It was perfect!

Easter sunrise service in Crane Oregon...it was spectacular!! Fitting for our King~

This week I'll be flying to Austin Texas for a huge event...Paleo f(x)...I'm so excited to be selected to go with my team and learn a ton of new stuff...building my knowledge on Paleo and Ancestral Health. I'm pretty sure I'll have a bunch to share when I return!

Until then...have a quick listen to my latest FB live video.

Self Care~You're Important!

In Health & Love~

#DoLifeBetter

gtyyup

Celebrate National Agriculture Day!

March 19 is National Agriculture Day..."so what" you say?

What Is Ag Day All About? (from the agday.org website)
Ag Day is about recognizing - and celebrating - the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to:

• Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
• Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
• Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

My Man and I contribute just a tiny bit to the agriculture industry, but we are proud to produce a quality product so you can have good, safe food on your table!

We do a lot of this...

(usually from May through early September)

...to grow as much of this as we can...

(three cuttings June, July and September)

...most of which is trucked off to Willamette Valley dairies...

(200 tons)

...so you can go to your local grocery store and buy milk, butter, and cheese!

What alfalfa we grow that isn't good enough for dairy cows, we feed to our own cows to raise a few of these...

(Early Girl - a 2013 calf)

...who, when old enough and fed right, will be available to you at your local grocery store.
Beef - That's what's for dinner!

Just think of all of the food products that are available to you in one place...at your local grocery store...those products didn't get there by chance or by magic. A lot of sweat, joy, heartbreak and tears goes into each of those products by farmers and ranchers all across our nation...and the world.

You gotta watch Ranching Awesome!!



And you can't forget Farmer Style!!




Say THANK YOU to a farmer or rancher today...celebrate with us National Agriculture Day!

Love That Sweet Smell of Hay

Not much can beat the sweet smell of freshly mowed, curing in the field alfalfa....ahhhhhh~

Ann Mare drives a pretty mean swather ;~)

First cutting is on the ground...good to see the results of all that irritation irrigation.

Green hay and blue skies...crossing our fingers that the clouds stay parted.

We had visitors last evening...looks to be a bunch of yearlings. There were three spikes in the bunch. They were eating weeds in the barn yard while the field of newly mowed alfalfa was just behind them...eventually they moved on to the alfalfa. Can't stop 'um!

Evening Visitors

Rural Thursday ~ Haying is Around the Corner

When you farm or ranch, the year goes by on a different measurement of time than a January through December calendar...it's the life cycle of crops and livestock.

First cutting of our alfalfa is just around the corner...next week...there are just a few blooms out. Too many blooms means it's past its prime for dairy quality hay (high in protein and other valuable nutrients and food value) for the best production of milk. Ten percent bloom is about right...hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Alfalfa bloom...almost time to mow the field!

Last year, we only ran our wheel lines 5 days before 1st cutting...it was a very wet spring. This year, it's been pretty dry, and we've had to water quite a bit. We got a really good soaking at the beginning of this week, and the blooms are coming on. Mother Nature always does a better job at irrigating than man!!

So it's time to quit watering and let the ground dry out enough to get the equipment across the field.

I'm anxious to see the bales on the field and then stacked up in the stack yard...waiting for the truck to haul them to the dairy. The cycle goes on...

Red, head of Quality Control, inspects the field...he's givin' it two paws up!

Check out other rural activities and photos across the globe by visiting Rural Thursday!

Farm Photo Friday~Hay & Hollyhocks

Come along on the Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday Linky Party!!

With the dry weather, it took a few days longer to get the hay baled...no moisture. Yea, I know, folks say that they usually have too much moisture...not here on the high desert. We pray that the night or the morning brings in enough moisture to get some baling done.

Cindy Sue says "I love farmin' wiff  my mom!"
As I drove the backhoe stacking the big bales into twos,
Cindy Sue has to co-pilot of course!

We were extremely lucky that Hay Man Rudy was able to get the baling finished on Wednesday. My Man and I got the big bales off the field that same day, and Rudy came over with his hay wagon yesterday and picked up the two-string bales and got them stacked...just before a huge storm came through!

It started with distant thunder...then we could see the lightening coming in from the east...and then it started coming in from the west...the wind took off blowing huge clouds of dust (quick...close all the windows in the house) and then the rain followed that...and it rained for a good three hours!

I know there were lots of ground strikes, but no reports of fires yet...hopefully the rain put them out. But a hay stack was hit and burned...bummer.

Second cutting...two-string and 3x3 bales in the field.

My Man and I got all the wheel lines up and running before the storm came in too. So, we're back to the early to rise and late to bed schedule...only one more cutting to go!

Then there's my pretty Heirloom Hollyhocks. And I'm calling them heirloom because I found them in the alfalfa field close to where the old farmstead used to sit. I dug them up and transplanted them to spots around the house.

Heirloom Hollyhocks

They look gorgeous at this angle...but then look at the whole plant...

They're dying on me!!!

It started about two weeks ago with these cobweb type things encasing the shorter plant tops...and then the leaves started dying. It's slowly working its way up to the top of the plants.

I've looked for bugs and didn't see any, but I sprinkled Sevin on them anyway. I hope the problem doesn't kill the plants forever.

Does anyone know what the problem is? How did you treat it? Thanks for any info you can give me!

We're off to the last cutting show tomorrow...see ya! Have a great weekend and do lots of fun stuff!!

Early Mornin's at the Rough String~Post #500

~No man can know the thoughts of a woman.~

~Martha Austin 1899~

Unbelievably to me...this is my 500th post! I had no idea how much enjoyment I would get out of blogging...or the number of wonderful people I would meet...or how much I had to say! I started in October of 2008 when a Dogster mom friend mentioned her blog (an awesome artist and her sidekick Rat Terrier Cloud)...I hadn't a clue what the word "blog" even meant!

Well, it didn't take long to figure it out and because of all of you it's been quite a ride!

I want to thank everyone for stoppin' by and reading about my snippets of life here at the Rough String, and I truly appreciate your comments! I will try harder to respond to your questions (I'm very bad at following up in that department and apologize). I've really enjoyed the photo aspect of blogging too...telling a story through photos...well, it's probably 'cause I'm a lil' more of a visual person.

But...


Really what I want to say is...

I'm glad you're along for the ride!!

Well, it's Friday again, and I've enjoyed posting the past few weeks with a couple of blog hops that focus on farming/country life living/ranching. One is Dandelion House (but her blog has disappeared...I hope she finds her way out of the internet black hole pretty soon), and the other is Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday ~ Link Party. Please visit her blog...good food recipes and farm life abound over there!

So...on with today's post!!

This mornin' before the sun came up, we woke to the wonderful sound of a tractor and the squeak of the rake. There was moisture in the air and the heavenly smell of alfalfa filled our home. Ahhhhh...life doesn't get much better than that!!  We hope to be stacking bales out of our field on Sunday!! Second cutting is gorgeous...beautifully green...those dairy cows are gonna LOVE it!

Hay Man Rudy's wife is at the helm...along with three dogs in the cab!
Now that's a Farm Girl!!!

As I make my way out of the house with a cup of coffee in hand, I enjoy the droning sound of the tractor and squeak of the rake at the end of each row, deeply breathe in the aroma (I'll need to remember these days when it's 0 degrees and the snow is blowin' sideways), and watch the sun come up over Hat Butte. The barn is the first stop...I let Colt out of his stall/run to graze on pasture for the day and clean up the manure.

Then I head for the garden. I know there's peas to be picked and hope they're not too ripe. I'm sure glad My Man and I worked so hard at expending the raised beds this past spring...I had room to spare for more plants...OK, next year I'll do that!

The new section of the garden has bush beans, zucchini, tomatoes
cabbage, bell peppers and hot peppers.

Oh good...the peas look like I'm not too late!

A basket full of peas with a cherry tomato on top!
I picked that one tomato before the birds ate it like they did the first few!

Walla Walla Sweet Onions...my best crop of them yet.
I have another section just like this one.
We're gonna have onions comin' outa our ears!

A volunteer onion from last year popped up,
and it has these beautiful seed buds on top...
guess I better pull that onion, it's ready to eat!

Yesterday was another yearly mornin' too...up at 4 AM to get Colt fed...myself fed...the dogs fed...get Colt saddled...Ty would be there by 6 AM to pick us up to help move cow/calf pairs.

Ahhhhhh....it sure felt good to be out movin' cows again!

These pairs are grazing on BLM allotments. They are rotated between three allotments so they don't over graze the land. So, we gather up everything from one field and trail them to the next one. Proper grazing management is essential for the continued healthy growth of grass for years to come. These allotments cover thousands of acres and gathering and trailing by horseback is the only way it can be done.

Colt loves his job!

As you can see by Colt's head gear, I'm still riding him in the two-rein, but am working more and more off the bit. He's doing well...I've got to have him straight up in the bridle by September...just a month away!

Colt 'n I have a lil' bunch moving west. Ty was off on our left pushing more
pairs up to us...our bunch kept getting growing.

One happy, cool Cow Dog! There are water troughs through out
the BLM allotments. They not only supply water to cattle but to
the native wildlife too...and occasionally a hot dog or two!

The view across the valley...Steens Mountain is on the horizon on the right.
Riddle Mountain begins with the rolling hills on the left.

We rode back to the ranch house and arrived by 1 PM...and it was plenty hot by then. Colt got unsaddled and put into a paddock with Ty's horse Cole for a good roll and some cool water. Then a tasty lunch and a cool drink ended another good day in the saddle.

Thanks for ridin' with me...have a great Friday and a fantastic fun-filled weekend!

SkyWatch Friday

~When I'm finished with a man, I never look back.~

~Virginia Barry 1900~

Alfalfa hay in bloom.

We're getting close to begin our 2nd cutting of hay. For the dairy quality that we strive for, it's best to have no more than 10% of your plants in bloom. This year we just aren't getting the 90-95 degree days that are normal. We've yet to hit 90 I believe! I'm not complainin' 'bout the weather at all...I like these 75-80 degree days, it sure is strange though. But, what the cooler weather means is that we're way ahead on irrigating, so we've stopped...we'll see how much it continues to grow in the next week or so.

Hope everyone has a great Friday and a super weekend...and go on over and check out some other sky photos from around the globe at SkyWatch Friday!

Just Another Week

~If you always tell the truth, 

you'll feel good about yourself.~ 

~Mabel Wheeler 1878~

Participating in:

SkyWatch Friday

FarmGirl Friday Blog Hop

Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday

It's been a busy week...but that's typical of course for summer. Moving irrigation wheel lines twice a day...over and over again...

But, when you're up with the birds, you get to see gorgeous sunrises!

Mornin' Flight

And, at the end of the day as the sun begins to set, the views are just as spectacular as in the mornin'. Pivots and wheel lines all across the valley are running 24/7...growing alfalfa to feed hungry cows who in turn provide us with milk products and beef.

High Desert Farmland

This photo of our 1st cutting bales was taken on 6/26/11 (just 12 days ago). We started irrigating this field that evening.

Stacked in Two's

It's amazing what a lot of summer heat and good water will do...after just 12 days, the alfalfa is over the tops of my rubber boots...and I had damp jeans this mornin'! Grow alfalfa grow!!!!

When the Wind Blows

Tomorrow, My Man and I are headin' into town for the annual Harney County Ranch Hand Rodeo...a day to relax, visit with friends, eat good food, and watch a bunch of great buckaroos and horses do what they do best...brand, rope and ride!

What are your plans for this beautiful summer weekend? Whatever you do...have a great time doin' it!

Stackin' Hay 'n Cuttin' Cows

~I wonder how many more times I'm 

goin' to fall for the same kind of cowboy.~

~Bell Floyd 1900~

Yesterday was a busy day getting the 1st cutting out of the east field and getting the irrigation goin' again. Hay Man Rudy ran out of moisture by mid mornin' and wasn't able to finish the west field. But, he did get it finished today...so guess what My Man and I'll be doin' when he gets home from work tonight?!?

Me 'n my co-pilot!! I drive the semi truck while My Man loads the trailer.

A lil' bit of mirror action.

The backhoe was had a bad hose, so we had to borrow Hay Man Rudy's
tractor...it was terrible for My Man to have to sit in the AC
with the Sirius radio goin' ;~)

Oops...look what got baled up! It wasn't a rattlesnake, just a bull snake.
He did not survive the accident.

Cowboy 'n Bella Jo were snoopervising...they did a good job too!

Even though the hay got rained on (about 3/8 of an inch), it dried out
just fine...and the dairy can't wait to get it. We were very lucky.

I climbed up toward the rim in search of owlets and
thought this made a pretty picture.
We're almost into July...it's never been this green in
the 6 years we've been here!

The thirsty alfalfa plants are glad to get a drink. So, we're back
to changin' wheel lines twice a day. 

We did find a rattle snake in Colt's irrigated pasture when we were adjusting the hand lines. Of course Colt was dying to stick his nose on the dang thing...we escorted him off of the property!


Join Fresh from the Farm's "Farm Photo Friday!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Saturday, the local cutting club held their 2nd cutting of the season. We missed the first cutting, and we haven't had an opportunity to practice herd work, so I was pleased with Colt's performance even though we lost a pushy cow. We haven't done this since last September!

Enjoy your week!