Who do you s’pose?
May 17, 2012 § Leave a comment
Spray-painted on a door that leads down to a root cellar. Lots of old jars on the ground. Nebraska.
A return to grazing
May 17, 2012 § Leave a comment
It’s happening. Slowly. Because some of us stand behind it. Those who have learned by experience and those who are convinced by others’ experiences combined with ecological evidence. It needs to happen.
Let’s get down to this business of replacing cornfields with pasture, instead of the other way around. Let’s be putting ruminants out on that pasture where they belong. Okay?
Remember when I went to visit my friend Mae Rose at the ranch where she’s working in Nebraska?
Here’s the article that came out of the experience: Learning Mob Grazing on the Nebraska Sandhills.
It has a few opinions in it. We are of the opinionated sort. But I hope you read, learn, think, and enjoy it just a little.
Herding dog
February 13, 2012 § Leave a comment
Meet Muñeca.
Muñeca is my friend Mae Rose’s canine companion at the ranch when she goes out to see to the sheep. The 8-month-old border collie could scarcely hold herself back as we approached the herd – though, good girl, she stayed with us on the four-wheeler until bid otherwise. This is the look she gets on her face: sheer determination. To her, sheep must be herded, and by golly, she is the one who should do it.
Want to see her at work?
And then my car broke down
February 8, 2012 § 1 Comment
It’s true. We got stranded on Highway 20.
Do you know how many times I have joked about my fear of being stranded in the middle of Nebraska?
Fortunately, this wasn’t quite the middle. Rather about 3 hours from my parents’ home in NW Iowa. I called my father, as I tend to do in these situations. He said, calmly and kindly, “I guess I’ll have to come get you.”
Then he spoke with his brothers, and it turns out I was only 80 miles south of them. All Dad’s family lives in South Dakota and I never felt so glad of it till now! Two uncles came to get me with a trailer in tow. I spent the night at Grandma’s surrounded by all her familiar things and was grateful.
The other nice part is that while we waited to be rescued on Highway 20, we happened to be right next to a recreational trail. So T and I had a good walk, appreciated Nebraska for a little longer, and tried not to think about The Blue Belle’s demise.
But she is, in fact, done for. At least in regards to me! It isn’t a fix I can make or afford, so she’s up for sale (for the mechanically inclined).
Time to save. Well, first to get a job. Then to save. And to think about the possibility of a pickup.
Kinds of Honey 