Six months begins NOW...

Today marks the beginning of my sixth month here at the ranch.  I am impressed by Time’s ability to pass.  The past five months have been packed full of experiences, but I’ll sum up my current understanding of my experience so far.  Raising cattle in the San Luis Valley is very challenging and is becoming even harder with drought, climate change, and many other economic factors.  My experience here is palatable, real, and thought provoking.  A life in agriculture is not only hard, but also a grand experiment in many ways. 

I still feel extremely fortunate to be here—learning on the ground and breathing it all in one hour at a time.  

I’ve just reviewed my photos from the past month.  I have found my photos are in many ways my journal.  I go through my day often thinking of my most recent observations, and I want to write about them when I get back to my trailer, but find often they have fleeted away or my energy level at nine-o-clock is not gun-hoe about spending it writing.  In many ways, I would like to find my reserve energy and change that but small steps at a time. 

  

 July has offered moments to smell the sweet scent of clover, time to be soaked up to the waist in ditch water and laughing through it all, watching cows embark off of semi trucks into fresh pasture, saving a baby rabbit from the jaws of the house cat, rainbows, cooking good food (tongue and peach pie to name a few), having good friends visit, calf scratches, sunsets, time to brainstorm interests and action steps, rendering tallow, hikes, a grazing workshop, and building more fence…