Finally Friday!

What are your plans for the weekend?

If you are anywhere where the sun is shining please soak some up for me!

We have lots to do on the ranch in anticipation of the sheep coming home on Tuesday and shearing which begins Thursday!

I'll be helping J as much as I can, but I have lots of spring cleaning to do (even if it does decide to snow) since our senior, Morgan will arrive on Wednesday!

The next two weeks are quite busy for us and I am looking forward to blogging about all of it. For now, it's time to meet my best friend for lunch!

Have a lovely weekend!

Read this Ewe's story here.

Wordless Wednesdays - Mama knows best.

Spring has sprung and the sheep are comin home!

My mother in law was always so happy when everyone was home at the ranch and I never understood why. Well, last fall I learned why and now I'm right beside her with a big grin this time of year.

Everyone and by everyone I mean all of the sheep, all of the dogs and all of the herders are home only two times a year - in April for shearing/lambing and in September for the 'loading of the trucks'!

The large herd of ewes, our two herders (one was away for the winter and the other was on the winter range with the big herd) and 5 dogs (Wito, Embre, Gringo, Sage and Chili) will be home from the winter range on Tuesday evening and I have goosebumps thinking about it. Their trip home will take about 5 days total and these mamas are going to be so tired. All of the ewes are pregnant and due in May so Pop and J make sure the trek home is spread out and as peaceful for them as possible.

When the sheep came home from the summer range it was a wonderful event! It’s a feeling of accomplishment - another season of success. It's also nice to know everyone is safe. A large part of this success is owed to our wonderful and hard working herders of course. Our herders stay with the sheep for months on end working from sun up to sun down and they always have a smile when we see them. I'll be blogging more about our herders soon.

I’ll be working at my office job 2 of the 5 days of their trek home but I'll be getting at least one good day of trailing in this weekend which I'll be sure to report on! I'm actually quite sad (believe it or not) that I can't help trail like I did in the fall when the sheep came home from the summer range. For those of you that missed my post about the summer trailing you can read about it here, but you have to promise not to laugh. 

This is from fall trailing last year.

So the next few days are busy ones for J and Pop. It's 7:40 pm on Tuesday right now and they are still out working on things. This is a huge event I tell you!

On top of everyone coming home J and I are participating in a Senior Field Studies program. This is a program that allows a Denver area high school senior come help out on the ranch.  Our student will be with us for a week and he will learn all there is to know about the operation. I emailed with him today and he's excited to be here during one of our busiest times of the year - shearing!

Needless to say I'm excited for everyone's arrival and I think I'll make a celebratory cake! Woo hoo!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * 

Here are some questions about "trailing" I'll be answering in the next week...
If you have any questions please let me know via the Contact Me tab! 

Are the sheep actually on the road? 
Have you ever had a sheep get hit by a car?
Has a Ewe ever gone into labor while on the road?
How long is the trip?
How many miles do you trail in a day?

Mutton Mondays - Spread the word of ag.

Colorado's agriculture industry generates approximately $20 billion annually and provides more than 100,000 jobs and Colorado's lamb industry is the 9th largest commodity in Colorado. It's no wonder more and more people are paying attention to the industry and asking where their food comes from.

We need to keep this trend going as far as I'm concerned.

I love the The American Farm Bureau Foundation's attempt to spread the word of ag to the younger generation. The AFBF has launched an online interactive game called My American Farm.

Prior to meeting my husband I honestly thought large ranches were only in the movies since in my hometown all we had were small dairies. Heck! I didn't even know that people could make a living from raising animals and/or crops until I met my in-laws.

Ask any farmer and rancher and they will all agree the goal in their community is to educate, educate, educate and what greater way to educate our younger generations than through the online environment. Although I'm new to the ranching lifestyle I can say confidently that the industry would love to have more young farmers and ranchers choose to get into the industry so in 40 years the hard work put in by past and present farmers/ranchers doesn't fade off into the sunset. That would be a shame.

The online game is a great tool for educators, students, and families. Even though there are age suggestions for each game I had fun while playing and learned a thing or two!

You can visit and play My American Farm here.
Have a wonderful week! 

Ultimate Blog Party 2011

Hey there!

I am taking part in the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 (at 5 minutes for mom), because it sounded like fun and I want to meet more Bloggers! If you've popped over from there, hello and thanks for visiting!

A little about me and my blog:

I was born and raised in the city and I am not where I am today because my plan went the way I hoped but because of unexpected events. I've learned that is what life is...just a bunch of unexpected events. Nothing ever goes to plan. And for me that has turned out to be a blessing.

In August of 2010 my father-in-law had a bad fall. He tore ligaments in his shoulder and was put in a sling until surgery could be performed. While in a sling he felt a lump in his breast. Cancer. Between the shoulder injury and chemo treatments it would be months maybe years before he'd be able to work on the sheep ranch again. The ranch he built from the ground up.

His parents asked us if we would take over the sheep operation. They want to retire and enjoy life after they kicked this cancer's a**. J and I always knew there was a possibility we would be asked to take over the operation but never thought it would happen this fast (or at all). Within weeks J and I quit our jobs, packed our things in a horse trailer and headed south.

From all this I’ve learned that it’s not about the things you have - your house, your car, your clothes or how much money you make. It's about what you have in your heart, the love that surrounds you and the view you have from your front and back porch window.

Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in the country while learning about agriculture and sheep along the way! 

A Rancher's Wife

Puppy Progress

Remember these two puppies?

Duke

Nell

Well, they are growing and starting to herd. They still have some learning to do, but we think they will make great herding dogs!

Nell

Speaking of puppies - I've updated some photos on "The Animals" page. Let me know what you think!