Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2019 i Farm and Ranch Living

For the Wee Ones 1 HOW THINGS GROW Tadpoles grow up to be frogs. Oak trees sprout from acorns. How Things Grow, a board book from beloved children’s author Eric Carle, will engage kids’ curiosity and encourage them to explore the natural world. barnesandnoble.com  $8 2 BREYER RED STABLE SET Horses, racing barrels and a three-stall stable make this set from Breyer, a perennial favorite, a delightful introduction to the brand’s entire equestrian line. It’s a galloping good time. breyerhorses.com  $30 3 LITTLE BUCKAROO BELT BUCKLE Sporting this buckle with its fancy western filigree, your little cowpoke’ll be the best-dressed kid at the rodeo. montanasilversmiths.com  $22 4 ART OF THE TRACTOR A coloring book for tractor…

HOME ON THE RANGE Horses pasture at the base of the Three Sisters, a grouping of volcanic peaks in central Oregon’s Cascade Range. The “sisters” (called Faith, Hope and Charity by early settlers) are part of a federally protected wilderness area that writer Barry Lopez has called “gorgeous, innocent country.” With its glacial lakes, waterfalls, abundant wildlife and alpine meadows, the region nurtures the human spirit and grazing animals alike.…

FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, up until May of 2017, my 1947 Dodge truck had been kept at our ranch near Fossil, Oregon. In 2015 I contacted Stacy Hunt, who has an auto body and repair shop nearby, and asked if he’d consider restoring the truck. He accepted the challenge gladly, but he could work on it only during slow times in his shop. He normally keeps very busy repairing cars and trucks that have hit deer and elk on the local country roads. It took two years to complete the project. Stacy’s shop is only about 10 miles from our ranch, so I got to see the truck when I traveled there from Texas each June. One of the difficulties Stacy faced with this restoration was getting parts, such…

One of my best Christmas memories had nothing to do with a pretty tree, a homespun family gathering or a perfect gift. It all goes back to our hatching Guinea fowl eggs for a science project. Despite an earlier resolution not to interfere with nature, Mom helped the first hatchling when it had some trouble. The little keet’s legs were bent, so she gave it physical therapy, picking up the chick several times a day and gently straightening out its legs. Knowing Mom, I’m sure she did a lot of praying, too. To our delight, the bird grew up to walk just fine. We were sad when our Guineas had to go live at a friend’s farm, but when we moved to a rural home in Virginia years later, one…

ASH BREED: Great Pyrenees AGE: 3 years HOME: Vanceburg, KY JOBS: Guardian, friend STRENGTH: Gift-giving ELLIE BREED: Great Pyrenees AGE: 3 years HOME: Vanceburg, KY JOBS: Friend, guardian STRENGTH: Watchfulness Great Pyrenees are guardians by instinct. Our dogs Ellie and Ash are both 3 years old, and they patrol our farm each night, keeping us and our farm critters safe from coyotes, red-tailed hawks, raccoons, opossums and even the occasional bear. During the day, our dogs follow my four children wherever they go—from creek to pasture to barn. They are fierce protectors, ever alert for danger and ready to unleash the deep, resounding bark the breed is known for. We originally brought them home to protect our chickens from a neighbor’s dog, and it worked. They have a softer side,…

My family owns and runs the Ozark Valley Christmas Tree Farm in Southwest City, Missouri. Our farm has been around since 1866, and my children are now the seventh generation to live on this land. My parents own a farm next to ours where they run a corn maze and pumpkin patch every fall. Jon, my husband, and I help my parents on their farm and they help on ours. It’s a good partnership. We’re busy all year, even if our trees aren’t purchased until the holiday season. In January we have to clean up and take down the equipment we used during selling season. We spend February cutting the stumps out of the fields—they have to be cut off at ground level to prevent harmful bugs from making homes…

DAZZLING DISPLAYS At the Bar Horseshoe Ranch in Mackay, Idaho, an old farm wagon stands glowing at the foot of the Lost River Range. These mountains, part of the Rockies, are the tallest in Idaho; when covered in snow they are a stunning embodiment of the season. COZY LITTLE CHRISTMAS Christmas is such a beautiful time of year, and a touch of snow (top left) makes things magical. DESHA UTSICK JIM THORPE, PENNSYLVANIA HOLIDAY HOSPITALITY Every year, I take out my Christmas decorations and admire my elf (bottom left). He is 60 years old—a gift from Mom—and I love to put him outside with a peanut. The most frequent visitor is a tufted titmouse. It sits next to the elf, then flies away with the peanut. I originally put the…

Our 1957 Farmall Cub was a gift for my son, Levi. I found it online in 2016, and Santa helped get it home for Christmas. Levi, who is 10, loves his Cub. It seems not a day goes by that he isn’t on it. It had been sitting for a number of years, so we’ve had to do some work on it. We overhauled the carburetor to clean out years of varnish and clogged passageways, and that got it running. After a while the charging system felt questionable so we installed a new voltage regulator and overhauled the generator. We stuck with the 6-volt system—it worked for 60 years, it’ll work for 60 more. A few months later the Cub developed four stuck exhaust valves, but after a complete valve…

Q: “How do I start a farm blog?” is a question we’ve heard from readers over the years. Below, one reader shares how she started hers. A: It’s 2018 and many farmers and ranchers are branching out, diversifying to gain new customers while shedding light on what they do. One way we do this is through our ranch blog. We chose to use the popular website Wordpress to set up ours. You can use other websites to build your blog, too. A lot of options are out there. To start, decide what kind of online audience you want to attract. Do you want to connect with other farmers and ranchers? If that’s so, what type of agriculture are you in? Do you want to reach the nonagricultural community or potential…

THE BARN ON MIKE CONNOR’S PROPERTY has been a part of his family since 1920. When Mike’s father, Joe, and uncles purchased the property where the 1895 barn sits today, a 1900 house (which is also still used) and the barn were both part of the deal. It housed horses at the time, but these days Mike and his wife, Ellen, use the barn as a garage, workshop and storage facility. Mike snapped this photo shortly after Christmas 2016 with some 32 inches of snow on the ground. Go to farmandranchliving.com/submit  to show off your barn in a future issue of Farm & Ranch Living.…

Carving Out a Winter Wonderland The annual Snowscapes event in Driggs, Idaho, begins with the construction of 8-by-8 forms, which are then filled with snow. The real fun begins as the community gathers for a snow-stomping party, where volunteers compact the snow under their boots in preparation for a friendly sculpting competition. From Jan. 15-18, spectators watch the magic unfold, and kids are invited to hone their carving skills on a block of snow set aside just for them. driggssnowscapes.org OVERHEARD A Texan was visiting Niagara Falls when a New Yorker asked him, “Do you have anything like this in Texas?” “Nope, sure don’t,” he said. “But I know a plumber in Texas who could fix it.” BOB OCHTERBECK Magnolia, Texas Making Spirits Bright The Northwoods Harness Club of Ashland,…

Gingerbread Cutout Cookies The smell of these cookies makes me think of going to Grandma’s house. My boys always linger around the kitchen when I make them. —CHRISTY THELEN KELLOGG, IA PREP: 30 min. + chilling • BAKE: 10 min./batch + cooling • MAKES: 5 dozen 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 large egg, room temperature 3/4 cup molasses 4 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp. ground ginger 11/2 tsp. baking soda 11/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 tsp. salt Vanilla frosting of your choice Red and green paste food coloring DIRECTIONS 1. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to creamed…

Jeff Chase, a lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army, remembers the first time he got the chance to read to his kids while deployed overseas. That was in 2009, after he heard about United Through Reading and signed up to record a video. When the time came, he headed for the USO tent, picked out two books and sat in front of a camera to read to Campbell and Caitlin back home in the States. “He went from military mode to Daddy mode, reading Olivia and Corduroy, and then it was back to the war,” says his wife, Lauren. “Later, he said it was one of the best memories he had.” Campbell, now 12, remembers how the experience eased some of her worry. “Just to see my dad—to hear his…

Seattle Washington: A clinical study on a leading acid reflux pill shows that its key ingredient relieves digestive symptoms while suppressing the inflammation that contributes to premature aging in men and women. And, if consumer sales are any indication of a product’s effectiveness, this ‘acid reflux pill turned anti-aging phenomenon’ is nothing short of a miracle. Sold under the brand name AloeCure, it was already backed by clinical data documenting its ability to provide all day and night relief from heartburn, acid reflux, constipation, irritable bowel, gas, bloating, and more. But soon doctors started reporting some incredible results… “With AloeCure, my patients started reporting less joint pain, more energy, better sleep, stronger immune systems… even less stress and better skin, hair, and nails” explains Dr. Liza Leal; a leading integrative…

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE the role my dad’s 1947 Dodge truck has played in my life. It’s held an outsize place in my family longer than I have. Two years longer, to be precise. Since the truck rolled off the line in Detroit 70 years ago, made up of postwar optimism and steel, it has known only two owners, but just one of consequence—my father, Melvin Long. And in every way the truck is an extension of him: tough and capable of carrying surprisingly heavy loads, but better defined by a gentle expression, evident in the design of its headlamp “eyes.” When I was small, I’d sit on the floorboard next to the heater and fire an endless string of questions at my dad as he and I rattled…

NORTHERN FARMERS AND RANCHERS WELL KNOW THE challenge of keeping their animals’ water sources free of ice in the winter months. Sara Karras, a horsewoman from western Wisconsin, solved the problem of frozen hoses with a simple system. Sara uses a pipe long enough to reach between the water pump and her bucket, affixed at a slope, so fresh water can drain into the bucket before it freezes. “You have a foolproof way to keep your horses watered all winter long,” Sara says. Her process is simple: Sara attaches a PVC pipe elbow to the end of a length of PVC pipe. She secures the elbow to the spigot on her pump with a piece of twine, using more twine to keep the other end of the pipe in place…