Ms Cowboy--Dawnnell Holmes

Ms. Cowboy's Fried Chicken

2012-01-16T20:33:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is. The long awaited (didn't know you were missing out, did you?) how-to of Ms. Cowboy's Fried Chicken. Why should you care? Well, this is, after all THE dish that won the heart of Cowboy Cody. Sealed the deal.

And now I'm going to tell you the secret. But it's really not that much of a secret. I know several other people who fry chicken like this. But we'll pretend, anyway.

The recipe I used is adapted from my most favorite and worn-out copy of Texas Home Cooking. I'm not much on actually measuring things out, so keep that in mind depending on how big your bird is. I usually fry up a 4-4.5 pound bird.

The first thing you need is buttermilk. When I have it, of course I use the buttermilk left over from making butter from my raw Jersey milk. Mmm. Butter.

Of course, if you don't have real buttermilk, you can cheat a little by adding a bit of lemon juice to the milk to sour it.

Ok, here's the secret to the best fried chicken.

Yep. Tabasco. Shake a good amount of tabasco in the buttermilk. This adds a good scald and helps the chicken turn out nice and crispy.

After you've cut up your chicken, you want the pieces to sit in the buttermilk mixture for at least 2.5 hours prior to cooking. It can set up to 12 hours if need be. Just place the pieces in the buttermilk, cover and refrigerate until about 20 minutes or so before you plan to fry 'em up. Once in a while, I only fry up the white meat pieces and save the rest of the chicken for Rainy Day Chicken & Dumplin's.

While the chicken pieces are coming to room temperature, mix up your flour mixture. This will be around 1-2 cups of flour, a generous amount of seasoned salt, an even more generous amount of fresh ground black pepper and a spoonful of baking powder.

You can mix the ingredients in a pie pan, as I've done here, or the real Texas way to do it is to mix these ingredients in a brown paper bag. Then you get to shake the stuffin's out of that chicken!

Here's another important thing for me when it comes to frying chicken. I never use anything but my deep cast iron skillet. Nothing makes a good fried chicken better than good, used cast iron. Another thing I just won't do without for fried chicken is my own rendered lard from our pastured pigs. Now, I know not everyone has access to real lard, so a good thing to use, though I hate to admit it publicly, is Crisco. Lots of folks out there will tell you that you can't fry chicken unless you use Crisco, but I disagree. I love my lard.

You'll need enough in the skillet to fry the chicken on one side, not deep fry it. You don't want it to drown, or it will just soak up all that excess oil.

Melt your lard/shortening over high heat until it starts to bubble on top.

A good way to check if your lard/oil is hot enough is to sprinkle a bit of flour into the skillet. If it bubbles up like it's frying, it's ready to use. At this point, lower your heat just slightly.

Now for the fun part.
If you're using the whole chicken, start with your dark pieces. Take them one at a time out of the buttermilk marinade and place in your flour mixture. Shake the bag, if using, or dredge them covering all sides well.

Once coated thoroughly, gently place in the hot oil in your skillet. Repeat until all pieces are snug in your skillet, continuing with the dark pieces and ending with the light meat pieces.

If you choose to use the pie pan method, you end up with a ginormous amount of batter on your fingers. Lovely, isn't it?

Reduce your heat to medium, cover the skillet and fry the chicken exactly 17 minutes.

Reduce the heat slightly again, remove the lid, and carefully turn the pieces over gently using tongs. Fry uncovered for another 17 minutes.

Remove the pieces with tongs and drain on another brown paper sack, paper towels or a kitchen towel. The chicken should be a beautiful deep, rich brown. Serve with smashed 'taters and gravy.

Now, go get your cowboy.

The Dancing Rooster

2012-01-09T17:37:00.000-06:00

Chickens are really funny creatures. Around here, we have such an enjoyable time just sitting back and watching the critters and their habits and natural actions.

A while back, I happened to catch one of our roosters, a Barred Rock, doing a little jig on the "balance beam", the railroad tie bordering my herb garden, which has turned into a ginormous dust box for the chickens.

He gave quite a stirring performance.

Moving this way and that.

Flapping his wings just so and strutting his stuff.

And then a little shimmy, shimmy shake going on!

With a final strut of his stuff in front of his girls,

he turned to take a bow, thanking his flock for their appreciation.

One final flap showing them who's boss.

Cocky little thing.

Ms. Pyromaniac

2012-01-03T22:00:00.000-06:00

I may or may not be a pyromaniac. Ok, probably not so severe, but fire and I have had our relationship come and go through the years.

Like the time I caught my boyfriend's kitchen on fire. When doing the dishes. While eating a PopTart.

Taylor and I were driving home from farmers' market one evening a couple of summers ago and came across a tractor on fire in a field. We called 911 and made sure the farmer was safe.

And there's the time several years ago when Cowboy Cody called to tell me he was stranded on the side of the road after our Dodge Ram farm truck burned up while driving down the highway.

Or the time we were in the middle of our Cowboy Gathering, our biggest event of the year at the ranch, where I'm the cook for the week of 3 meals a day for several hungry cowboys and cowgirls. This one particular day, Cowboy Cody had started a fire in our huge concrete smoker, lovingly dubbed The Crematorium. I was to watch the pig and lamb smoking in The Crematorium for the evening's meal while preparing the noon meal and whatever else I was doing.

I had to run up to the house, about a 1/2 mile away, for some things from the kitchen, and told my mom, who helps me for the week, I'd be back right quick. When I came out of our house, which sits on the hill above The Barn, where our dining hall, kitchen and storefront are, sitting in a huge bottom ground area, I thought the whole valley was on fire! It felt like the whole Ponderosa was going up in flames, just like the map burns across the credits of the show. Well, it was only the lid of The Crematorium, which was mistakenly made of plywood instead of metal. It's since been replaced. But the pork and lamb were protected by none other than Reynold's Wrap Aluminum Foil and were absolutely delicious.

And we shouldn't even mention the time I was mowing the paths through our Hay Bale Maze made of big, round haybales when we hosted a Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch for school aged kids and there was this one winding path that I couldn't drive forward into and turn around. I had to back in, while mowing, and drive out. No problem. I've been on a lawn mower all my life. You just stop when you back into a big haybale. No big deal. Unless the exhaust on the lawn mower catches a big, round, bundle of dry grasses on fire. And it's connected to about 400 more big, round, bundles of dry grass. Then it's big. VERY big.

Life's full of surprises.

This one happened just tonight.

Many of you know that we finally got a wood stove for our cozy little home this fall. We love it and are using it like crazy. We even got a coal bucket for Christmas from my mom. You know, the old-fashioned kind, shaped like an egg with a little handle on the back for dumping.

When we empty ashes out of the wood stove, we set the bucket on the porch until the ashes have cooled enough to dump them out back, in my old raised garden spot behind the house.

Well, today we had all been gone and when Taylor and I got home, there were only coals and ashes left in the wood stove, so I thought it a perfect time to clean the ashes out of the stove. I put on my coat, headed to the front porch, got the bucket of old ashes and took them to the garden and dumped them. I then proceeded back inside where I filled the bucket with hot ashes and put the bucket on the porch. I then built the most beautiful fire in the now ash free wood stove. We promptly warmed up and continued with our chores, unloading the truck from our trek into town, preparing to fix dinner, deciding what movie to watch and arguing playfully about what time the chickens would be in their coop. All the while it was nearing dark and Taylor headed out to lock up the chickens.

That's when Taylor ran back inside and said, in a fairly calm manner, "Mom, did you know your garden's on fire?"

Holy smokes! No pun intended, but, "Where in the world did that come from?" is what I was thinking! And, how? I threw on my chore boots, grabbed my coat and headed outside. After I grabbed my camera. Priorities, you know.

Taylor, bless her heart, grabbed the water hose, which was mostly frozen, only releasing a small trickle of a stream, then ran in the house and got a pitcher of water, leaving me standing with the hose and the trickling stream. She then ran to get a bucket, we only have about 487 sitting somewhere around the house and milk barn, and wouldn't you know she got the ONE with a crack in the bottom. So, by the time she got back to the burning coals, she was as wet as the puddle my trickle was making.

Oh, that sounded bad.

I'll just leave it alone.

Anyhoo, we proceeded to put out our burning embers, after of course, taking a couple of photos. These are moments to blog about, after all.

Stop. Look. Listen. Not just at the Railroad Tracks.

2011-12-19T22:24:00.000-06:00

It's been forever since I've posted anything, and any of you that have read my previous few posts probably know I'm a huge picture taker. I love to tell stories with my photos, but my camera lens has recently gone bad, and I'm waiting anxiously to see if Santa is bringing me a new one for Christmas this year. :)

With the marketing of our Real Farm Foods Premium Meats, I compose and send out an email newsletter each week. Along with my camera lens, our main computer's operating system went out last week, so I've lost access to all my previous emails and my photos stored on that computer while it's being worked on.

Anyhow, without whining anymore, I was not in the mood to even do anything with the newsletter today. Blame it on the weather; it's been raining and cloudy most of the day. Blame it on me being female; that one should be obvious. Blame it on Monday, I just didn't want to sit down and write. But I did. And below is a tweaked version of what I put in our newsletter this week. Once I was finished, I realized it was a great blog. Even without the photos.

It's a dreary day here as I write this, not really in the mood to do anything but curl up with Taylor's cat and take a nap or get lost in the twinkling of the lights on the Christmas tree. And then I think of a friend's post on Facebook yesterday. She asked, "How do you find joy in life?" My comment was: "Stop. Look. Listen." One of those right from the gut remarks. You know, when you just talk (or type) before thinking.

Funny how we preach right to ourselves before we even realize we need preaching to.

I've been bummed since I learned this morning of a wonderful man's passing last night. He was always cheerful and always had a good story to tell, a wonderful Christian man well known in the community. Though he has been fighting health issues for a time, I am heartbroken for his loving wife, even more so that it is now just 6 days prior to Christmas. After all, this is supposed to be joyous season.

Some of you may not celebrate the holidays as we do, and it makes no difference what time of year it is when we lose a loved one, the hurt and loneliness abound. But it makes me wonder about my friend's post yesterday. Where's the joy now?

I still think my answer, railroad-y as it may be, is the right answer. Whether in the midst of utter happiness or complete depression, I believe it is so important for us to stop and wait on God. I'm not sure this can be done in the middle of a shopping mall or any other place or time which demands your preoccupation. I'm blessed that I am able to go for miles in any direction on our property and just sit in the middle of a field of sheep, a paddock of cows or the woods full of pigs and just stop and get away from my busyness. And wait. On God.

One of my favorite things to do is to go out to the sheep flock and find my girl, Holly. Holly is our one-eyed Great Pyrenees sheep dog. I love to lay out in the field with Holly, and soak everything in. The soft sounds of the sheep grazing, the baas of the little ones who've lost sight of their mother, a passing bird overhead or a chattering squirrel nearby. These are the things it's hard to see unless we stop.

Once we stop, we have the ability to look. And see. There is a difference. I think we look at things everyday. But do we really see what we are looking at? I find a great realization comes over me when I am truly seeing things. I am often filled with the reality of how small I truly am in this great big universe. Yet God sees me. Once we can see, we can look at all of God's creation in awe and wonder. Maybe similar to what the shepherds saw in that beautiful star over Bethlehem. Awe and wonder. Are we seeing God?

And with looking, comes listening. Notice I've not said anything about talking, singing, yelling, whispering. I believe it's in these quiet times of waiting on God that we actually are able to hear Him. He speaks to us through all of His creation. The cry of an eagle, the bubbling spring, the soft rain falling out my window. Reminds me of the old saying about God gave me two ears and one mouth for a reason. I think He also gave us two eyes for a reason. We need to take the time, especially in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, to stop. And look. And listen.

May you all have peace, His peace, this Christmas.

Ms. Cowboy's Chicken Cutting 101

2011-02-01T16:55:00.000-06:00

We've gotten so used to being able to eat what we want when we want that we've lost the ability to truly prepare meals from scratch. Sure, modern foods have a convenience, but is it worth it? Anyhow, I won't harp on that soap box today. This is a blog about cutting up a chicken. But, before I forget, thanks to Cowboy Cody for helping out with the photographs so I didn't get chicken slime all over my camera.

We sell pastured poultry through our Real Farm Foods and it's a very common thing for women of all ages (once in a while a guy, too) to ask how to cut up a chicken. I think it's become a lost art that nearly all homemakers used to know back when things were geared a little differently.

So, let's start from the beginning.

This is a chicken. A pastured, free range, grass and bug eating, sunshine enjoying, wing flapping, happy, cackling chicken. Well, at least she used to be. Now she's going to make me cackling happy. To keep it simple, you're looking at the top of the bird, the breast side.

If you're wanting to cut up all the parts of the chicken, start here. Just want the thick, white breast meat, skip a few steps. For a whole fryer, the first parts I cut off are the legs. Start by slicing the skin and the meat around where the leg meets the thigh on the top part of the bird.

Now, we call it cutting up a chicken, but let's get real. There's a whole lot of grabbing and breaking going on. Doesn't hurt a thing, but it's a whole lot easier than trying to slice through a joint with your best kitchen knife.

So, grab the bird in one hand and the leg in the other after you've sliced all the way through to the joint, and bend the leg down away from the top of the bird.

The joint will pop apart and your leg will be seperated.

Continue cutting the meat apart from the thigh where you just broke the joint.

You have a leg. Now repeat on the other side. Other side of the bird, that is.

Now for the wings. Cut around where the wing is attached to the side, similarly as you cut around the leg.

Here's some more grabbing and breaking. Grab the wing in one hand, the bird in the other and snap backwards. The wing joint will pop apart, just as the leg joint did.

Finish cutting any connecting skin away from the joint area.

And you have a wing. Repeat. For another wing.

And now for everyone's favorite. But, before you chicken cutting-up professionals look so closely at my pictures that you notice this bird still has her legs, let me explain.
I'm as American as the girl next door. I like the white meat. So, when I cut up a chicken, I so many times will only cut off the white breast meat, using the remaining carcass for soup and stock. The Cornish Cross variety of chicken that we grow has a lot of meat, and the breast meat alone is enough for a couple of meals for our family. So, out of habit, I started cutting the breast of this girl before I remembered that most folks wanted to see pictures of cutting up the rest of the bird.
(Keep watching for a blog on our happy Cornish Cross chickens.)

We start by cutting along one side of the breast bone from the neck to the bottom of the breast. You should be able to slice along and pull the breast meat away from the breastbone all the way down.

Continue pulling, gently! while slicing with the knife, much as you would if you were skinning or trimming a piece of meat.

Don't you love the pinky finger? So ladylike.

Once all the meat is cut away from the breastbone, you will be able to cut along the underneath side, completely removing the breast meat away from the bird.

You should have something that resembles something like this. Half a breast. Or something like that. Once again, repeat.

Some of you may notice that I did nothing with the thighs. Well, for me the thighs are as good as the wings. Ain't much to 'em. I think they're better off in the stock pot, anyway.

But, since this has about a gazillion photos, I'll do a seperate blog on frying up these marvelous pieces.

Happy cutting!

No Name Puppy

2011-01-25T22:29:00.002-06:00

Many of you who have been fans of our Real Farm Foods Facebook page know that we lost our Blue Heeler, Brutus, this last summer. In fact, one of the few blogs I've blogged had photos of Brutus and Lurch, our Great Pyrenees, whom we also lost this last year, to other reasons. Two terrible days on the ranch.

Lurch & Brutus

Brutus was a good dog, full of vigor and age. He was, in fact, the same age as Taylor, 15 when he died. That's a ripe old age for a dog. When we lost Brutus, due to old age and the natural scheme of life, we were left dogless at the house. We knew we'd need and want another good dog around at some time, but not too soon.

Brutus

Around the end of September, Taylor and I started looking for leads on good young farm dogs. With all the critters running around the ranch, we have to be pretty particular on the type of dog we have around here. Preferably not one that's a bird dog by nature. The chickens, after all, are part of our business! But, we had a conference scheduled to be at the first whole week of December. Taylor would even be attending with us, which meant none of us would be home to tend and care for a new dog. So, Cowboy Cody informed us that we would need to wait until after the first week of December to bring a new dog home.
This is what Cowboy Cody brought home the last week of November.

Puppy

Adorable, right? A 6-week old Red Heeler puppy. Perfect. Really. She would be the perfect dog for us. But, just a few days before we would be out of town for a full week? Thankfully, Taylor's best friend, Abby, talked her folks into letting the adorable little varmit stay with them for the week. They spoiled her rotten.

Well, although this cute, little adorable, yippy ball of fur is still unnamed (heaven forbid we call her Puppy forever), she's growing well and learning the ropes of being a ranch dog. But we could really use a name for this dog.

That said, this is still the view we see most from her...

She's found out which of the cats will be her friend and which won't. This is Dork, aptly named, with Puppy. Dork's a special needs cat. Ridiculous, really.

Dork & Puppy

When he walks, he reminds me of the cats walking down the path on the Disney movie, Aristocats.

Puppy has a well, puppy, that she loves to romp and play and sleep with. Here, I caught her sleeping with puppy with the plastic tag in her mouth. Didn't take long for her to chew the tag off of puppy. We really need a name for this dog. :)

She loves visiting my Jersey milk cows in the early morning. Her favorite is Anna, because she always lowers her head to let Puppy lick her nose and pull on her ears. No pictures of that, but I do have video if I ever get the hang of posting video on the web... Being a puppy, she loves to play and thinks everyone and everything is here for her sheer enjoyment. Even the milk cows' calves...

Wilbur, one of our big non-special needs cats that likes to spend as much time in the house as out, tolerates Puppy quite well. Maybe torments is a better word. They chase each other around, pulling each others' tails and more. One of Puppy's favorite things to do is to pull the food bowl away from Wilbur. That always gets a game of cat and ~~mouse~~ dog going. Then Wilbur does things like taking over Puppy's bed...

Wilbur in Puppy's bed

She's really been a good addition to the family so far, but she seems to be becoming a lap dog. Cowboy Cody tells me she'll be a 50-pound lap dog one of these days. But hey, we all like to cuddle, right? And, she's good entertainment, too. Chasing the cats, bringing her empty water bowl to us after she spills it all over the kitchen floor, bringing treasures like frozen cow patties inside, what could be more fun?

We're hard pressed for fun sometimes. We don't have television, so tonight we watched Puppy chasing the glow from a flashlight around the living room. We really need a name for this dog!

What Do You Mean, No Hay?!

2011-01-24T20:56:00.000-06:00

Ok, it's been, well, um, forever since I've blogged. Now, I'm not one to get into New Year's Resolutions. The only NYR I ever make is to never make one. But, I am determined to start blogging again. I suppose I've just become a Facebook junkie and thought I could reach everyone that way. But, just today, as the weather was warming enough to melt a lot of the few inches of snow we've had on the ground and make mud, a friend posted on my wall and asked if our ranch made it through the snow ok.

A typical MO snow

Snow? What snow? In our case, a little snow really doesn't make any difference in the way we manage our livestock. Any of them. In fact, we've found that your animals are generally like your kids. The more you give in, the more they push. Spoiled little brats.

While most folks have been doing this for months, now...

Unrolling hay for cattle

...we have yet to even begin feeding any hay this winter. With our system of Holistic Planned Grazing, mob grazing, tall grass grazing, whatever you want to call it, we plan on forages being available throughout the year with our management.

Tall Grass Winter Grazing

The cattle are fat and happy and look great, even for the dead of winter. Slick hair coats, plenty of back fat and they're not bawling every morning for the hay truck to come into the field.

They're satisfied. And they know how to forage.

Cow grazing in winter snow

Now, keep in mind that this is a long time coming. We've been working on this system of management for 10 years now, and this is the first winter I remember getting this far into the winter without supplementing with hay. Our goal? No hay ever. Don't yell at me, yet. Those of you in our region of Missouri know that we sometimes get some of those wonderful ice storms that stay around for weeks at a time. Naturally, we would feed all of our animals some hay or balelage during those times. The ice is a totally different story.

But, if you train the animals to forage, really forage, they will learn how to eat in nearly every situation.

"HAY! There's grass under here!"

Even the pigs enjoy foraging through the snow! He's not upset OR hungry!

Rainy Day Chicken & Dumplin's

2010-09-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

Ok. If you've seen some of my recipes posted on my blog or website, you know that I'm not much on measuring and exactedness (is that a word?!) when I'm cooking. I grew up with a mother who said things like, "Just throw it in 'til it looks good." Doesn't help much when you get to Home Economics in school. The teacher doesn't have a sense of humor or appreciation for your ability to throw ingredients together until it looks to be the right consistency or color.

Anyhoo, based on that mentality, I cooked up a great pot of chicken & dumplin's on this very rainy day. Normally, I like to take step by step photos, but didn't this time, so, you'll have to settle for the boring step by step instructions with only a finished product photo.

Take a beautiful, grass-fed chicken, place in stock pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for about an hour, until chicken is cooked through. Allow to cool.
Remove whole chicken from stockpot; I put it in a big pie pan, and pull all the meat off the bones and return to the stock pot.
Turn on the heat to simmer. Add quite a bit of raw milk to the stock pot--this will make a good batch of dumplin's.
Add a generous amount (there's my exactedness!) of Helen's seasoning mix. (This is another exactedness of mixed dried herbs made by my friend Helen with whatever was growing at the time.)
Cut up a few carrots into bite-sized pieces and toss into the stock pot. Celery, too.
Allow to simmer for a while...until carrots are tender.
To thicken, make a paste of flour or corn starch and water and add to the pot until desired consistency.

Ok. Now here's the part where I cheated. I didn't really make the dumplin's. When I feel lazy, this is what I do. After all, a rainy day is a lazy day, right?

Take a refrigerated can of pizza dough out of the can but leave in it's round tube shape.
Cut into slices, then quarter each slice.
Add to the simmering pot of chicken. Stir.
Dumplin's will fluff up and taste like you spent hours slaving in the kitchen!

Enjoy! And be comforted on your lazy, rainy day.

Easy as Pie Meatloaf

2010-05-03T12:18:00.000-05:00

Just in case you didn't realize, a big part of what we do is sell premium meats. Our Farmers' Markets have started up for the year and we are getting into that extremely busy season of going, delivering and marketing. But, I wanted to let you all know of a new product we have this year and it is soooo good!

Our Prepared Meatloaf is actually easier than pie to make, because all the prep has been done for you! It is prepared with our Real Farm Beef and Real Farm Pork and full of yummy veggies and seasonings. A great bargain for those busy nights when you need an easy meal!

First step is to turn the oven on to 350 degrees. There's no need to wait until it's preheated. Yea!

Take our Prepared Meatloaf in it's handy little package out of the freezer. Don't you think the light in the freezer accents my milking muscles?

Remove the Prepared Meatloaf from it's handy plastic packaging and place on a cookie sheet or shallow pan. Don't forget the paper instructions on the bottom of the meatloaf pan. I always forget to remove it!

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and 45 minutes if straight from the freezer. If you happen to thaw it out first, it will only take about an hour to cook. Drain the grease (yes, there will be grease because of the pork sausage that's in the meatloaf, but, oh! how the grease flavors the meatloaf!)

Remove from oven, slice, add to mashed taters and cream gravy with a yummy veggie and voila! Dinner is served! Enjoy!

Cooking Grass-Fed Meats

2010-04-24T15:39:00.001-05:00

We have lots of folks that have never had enough access to premium, grass-fed meats that often have trouble preparing them. We get lots of questions at farmers' markets and delivery points on how to prepare their purchased product. So, I have come up with a few pointers that we have available at markets for folks and I thought I would post them here for you, too.

Grass-fed meats cannot always be cooked like conventional meats. Grass-fed meats are lower in fat and more flavorful than traditional raised meats. If cooked too long or over too high of a heat source, grass-fed meats can quickly become tough. And, by using abundant seasonings, grass-fed meats can also quickly lose their distinctive flavor. Cooking grass-fed meats is not hard, but requires a few basic principles when cooking.

1. Use a lower temperature. In other words, turn down the heat on your stove, oven or grill. Grass-fed meats are generally lower in fat surrounding the muscle, as well as throughout the meat. Cooking at high temperatures causes the fat and natural juices within the meat to melt away and evaporate, causing the proteins within the meat to toughen. Although I'm a huge fan of searing things, totally cooking grass-fed meats at high temperatures can quickly lead to an undesirable meal.

2. Learn which method of cooking is best for each different cut or type of cut of meat. In general, there are two methods of cooking meats: dry-heat and moist-heat. In dry-heat methods, fat and water are cooked out of the meat to the desired doneness, producing a firm, yet still juicy, meat. These meats include cuts from the rib, loin, and sirloin areas of the animal which produce the better cuts of meat. Examples of these cuts are rib eye steaks, porterhouse steaks, t-bone steaks (Taylor's favorite!), chops and tenderloin cuts. Types of dry-heat methods include pan-frying, broiling, roasting, stir-frying, grilling, and sauteing.

Moist-heat methods are used for cuts of meat that come from the muscles that do a lot of work and are generally tougher cuts of meat. Examples of these cuts would be from the shoulder and round parts of the animal: hocks, roasts, shoulder steaks, round steaks, brisket, skirt and flank steaks, as well as ribs. These parts of the animal that work hard develop collagen throughout the muscles, making them naturally tough. When cooking, you want to break down the collagen in order to tenderize that cut of meat. Moist-heat methods include crock-pot cooking, boiling, stewing or braising.

3. Go easy on seasonings and sauces. Grass-fed meats are typically full of natural, intense flavors. Excess seasoning of grass-fed meats can cause them to lose their unique flavors. Grass-fed meats should be seasoned subtly in order to enjoy the robust, natural flavors of the meat. Keep in mind, though, that cuts of meat suited for moist-heat cooking are generally more robust in flavor and can sometimes handle more generous seasonings, though in moderation.

4. Toss the timer. Because grass-fed meats are so much leaner than conventional store-bought meats, using a timer can be detrimental to cooking grass-fed meats. Instead, get a good, digital (my preference) meat thermometer and be ready to put it to good use. The only way to ensure that grass-fed meats are prepared to your taste is to toss the timer and use a meat thermometer. My friend and grass-fed guru, Shannon Hayes, has a great magnet to aid in cooking grass-fed meats as the ideal internal temperatures are lower than the internal temperatures set forth by the USDA. You can find her Don't Over-Do It! Magnet here.

5. Butter it up! Because grass-fed meats are so much lower in fat, it is a must that you grease the skillet. My preference is butter. Natural butter from unpasteurized raw milk from happy, grass-fed cows. You get the idea. I also use lard recklessly. Lard from our acorn-finished pork. But, as so many may not have access to either of these items, you probably want to keep a good, quality unrefined olive oil to lightly grease your cooking pans prior to cooking your grass-fed meats. This mainly applies to the dry-heat methods of cooking. If you don't, you'll be scraping it off the skillet.

Now that you've got your pointers, cooking your grass-fed meats should be easy as pie. Or, steak! Enjoy!

On Being a Milk Maid (or, The Family Cow)

2010-03-26T20:46:00.008-05:00

I've been called everything from a hippie to a dork, but really never thought I'd bear the title of Milk Maid. Apparently there are those out there who don't refer to me as a hippie or dork who think I'm somewhat of a professional Milk Maid. Just this week I had two more folks ask about having a family milk cow. There's such a movement of folks concerned about their food and either moving to the country on several acres or homesteading a little piece of heaven just outside the city limits. Either way, the vision of the family milk cow somehow gets fixated in their minds and they envision adding that piece to their borderless puzzle. Picture Ma Ingalls, in a clean barn built by her husband with her gentle cow chewing her cud while Ma happily milks her by hand, joyfully bringing the fresh, warm milk into the house to her gleeful children awaiting a glass of warmth for their bellies. Ma skims the cream off the cooled milk, making butter, buttermilk and then using the milk to make wonderful cheeses and treats for the family.

Ok, it's not exactly like that, but it can be what you make of it.

There are really several things to consider in having a family milk cow. She's not a dog who will stay on the porch and chase her tail, though she may lick you when she sees you. (Come to think of it, I have had a cow find her way to stay on the back deck during a night time winter storm.) Having a cow means you really need to have a place big enough to keep a cow. And I'm not referring to barns or buildings. Preferably, you'll need lots of lush pastures with different kinds of forages to keep your cow happy and healthy. Keep in mind I'm a grazer. A hippiefied grazer. No chemicals, anti-biotics, no excessive inputs, equipment, etc. Just God-given natural stuff. In my opinion, cows are happiest when they have access to clean green pastures. By access, I mean that's where they live.

The first step is finding a cow. This is usually easier said than done. We've found the best way is just by talking to folks. Ask the farmers drinking coffee at the local cafe'. I found my last cow just by striking up a conversation with a fellow who had a Jersey steer in a stock trailer in the parking lot of a hardware store. Some folks use internet sales sites like Craigslist. I've recently seen cows on there going for anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. You can probably expect to pay something like this for a family milk cow. I would not recommend going to the local sale barn unless it's a complete dispersal sale, and even then I recommend using caution. Cows at the sale barn are cull cows. They've been cut out of the herd for reasons varying from ill-health to bad dispositions. There are also several breeds of milk cows to choose from. Jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, Holstein, or a crossbred of these breeds and others.
Another thing to consider is how you are going to milk. By hand is generally the most reasonable for one family milk cow. I recently just purchased a portable machine, only because I told Cowboy Cody that 4 cows was my limit to milk by hand! But, machines take electricity and can be costly. Mine cost as much as a really good milk cow. Yet another thing to consider is buildings. Barns can be overrated. For those 4 years of milking by hand, I milked my cows in the open pasture. The girls and I braved the elements together! You won't mind snuggling up next to your favorite cow in the dead of winter! I do appreciate my barn now on days when it's raining or sleeting!

This is one lazy calf.

Another thing to know is whether or not you will feed anything during milking. Most cows will stand more still if they have something to munch on. We feed alfalfa hay and a little powdered molasses in the barn. Sometimes I'll use an alfalfa pellet, but we choose to not feed any corn or grain products. We have studied where these products not only change the genetic make-up of the cow, but have an effect on the milk as well. Not feeding grains cuts down on the quantity of the milk we get, but we feel the quality is better. Another bonus to not feeding grains is it also cuts down on the amount of poop in the barn! Rarely do my cows poop while they're in the barn. But if they do, it's shovel time.

Having your own fresh milk to drink is unmatched by anything you can get from the local grocer. Unpasteurized and raw, milk is full of health benefits to help anything from a sniffle or allergy to the so-called uncurable diseases. And the products you can make for your family are fun and enjoyable, too.

Check out the amount of cream in this pitcher of milk. See the slightly darker shade at the top of the pitcher? That's all cream. It can be skimmed off the milk for coffee creamer or to make butter. A lot of folks just stir or shake it up and drink it in their milk.

Fresh butter, cheeses, yogurts, kefir, the list goes on and on of the products that can be made right in your little homestead kitchen from your raw milk. Likely, with even one family milk cow, you will have excess milk. Cows can give anywhere from two to five gallon in a day and most families, even with a lot of kids would have to work hard to consume that much in a week! You have to know your state's legislation whether you could sell your excess milk. It's allowed, sometimes with restrictions, in around half of the states. If not, it may be possible to make some product from your milk and sell it. Just be sure you know what your state's laws are concerning raw milk and raw milk products.

Another option, if you're truly homesteading a little piece of heaven, is to feed your excess milk (or whey, if you're making cheese) to a pig or backyard chickens. They both love the milk and you can fatten them both out to end up in your own freezer or sell the finished product to your friends.

Something else to consider if you're going to have a family milk cow is bull power. Your cow can't have a calf each year as she should without some sort of bull power.

If you want your own bull, there's the breed to decide upon. (As well as for your cows, too.) We prefer Jerseys. The cows are generally very gentle, will adopt an orphan calf within days, and the milk is high in butterfat, resulting in lots of cream. Now, I never trust a bull 100%, and Jersey bulls are no exception to that rule. But, my experience has not been that any of our Jersey bulls have turned mean, they are just so used to being in close contact with us that they don't think they have to listen and do what we want, but only what they want. Kind of like teenagers.

Another option is AI, or artificial insemination. Lots of commercial dairies use this practice. It's sometimes an easier way if you're concerned about having or keeping a registered herd of cattle, but can also be pricier and time consuming for you. Remember, I'm a hippie. I like things done naturally.

Either way, you should end up with one of these. A baby calf. Our preference is for the calf to be born naturally, without interference from us, out in the pasture. Generally, we don't even know our cows are calving unless we just happen to be in the right place at the right time. And when you get a calf, it's time to start milking! Don't take any away from the calf, though! But, you won't really want to drink the milk for a few days because it's all colostrum, which is the mother's way of passing all those natural antibodies and disease fighting good bacteria to the calf. Since we have more than 1,000 head of cattle on our ranch, we will milk out and freeze the excess colostrum that the calf doesn't suckle for those rare times when we have an orphan calf.

Then you have the dilemma of what to do with the calf. I consider myself a lazy milker. I allow my cows to raise their calves until they're weaning age, usually at least 9 months old. When they're newborn, they don't take all the milk the cow can give, so we share the cow. Once they hit the toddler stage, I start pulling the calf off at night (keeping the cow in a seperate paddock is easier than moving the calf), milking the cow in the morning and then turning her back in with her calf for the day. Once they hit adolescence, I have to pull the calf off earlier in the day, generally around noon. For the teenage stage, I usually keep the cow off for about 3 days in a row, still just milking once a day, and turning her back in with her calf for just a couple of hours once every 3 days. The calf still gets the benefits from the milk, but I can get the majority of the milk. And, if I have to be gone for overnight or longer, I can always turn the cow back in with the calf and no one suffers.

Which brings us to the dilemma of what to do with the calf once he's past the teenage and weaning stage. If it's a heifer calf, she can be added to your milk cow herd, expanding your work, but also your product. If it's a bull calf, he can be kept to breed back to your cow. Ok, I know I'll get slack for that one. Remember the hippie thing? We believe in linebreeding, too. I'm thinking that God implemented some sort of linebreeding a long time ago. There's always the option of the calf being raised for butcher. I know, I know, sounds so cruel. Wait 'til you see the next picture. But, it's a legitimate answer. We try to keep a rule that we never name anything we're going to eat.

Meet Beauregard. Even Taylor agrees that he was mighty tasty.

But think of the educational aspect of keeping a family milk cow. We have hosted thousands of school-age children on our ranch and it always amazes us, even though we are in a rural area and host lots of kids living in rural areas, that so many don't realize where their food comes from. It's great for us to be able to have those kids, and our own children and grandchildren here where they can learn what nature is all about.

This is our granddaughter, Isabel, when she was four years old, helping me milk Fancy Face. She's never forgotten that!

Another thing Isabel's never forgotten and another thing you have to consider is what to do with all that poop from your family milk cow. Being as we have oodles of acres, we ensure that our cows are spreading their droppings throughout the ranch. Since we use no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, anti-biotics, growth hormones, etc., we believe the cow's manure and urine is the absolute best fertilizer around. It's natural!

And where there's poop on organic soils, there's dung beetles! These little guys are amazing. But that's another blog.

I hope I've helped answer some of the questions of having your own family milk cow. I'm sure I've left details out, but there really could be an endless amount of details to be discussed.

Josie, my longest milker

Being a milk maid is a joy and is in essence, an out for me. I enjoy my time with my girls whether in the barn or lying in the field looking at the stars.

Annabelle

I was just chatting with my sister-in-law about our kids and telling her that I don't think anyone is ever truly ready for the blessings and trials of having kids. The same could be said of having cows. It's one of those experiences that you don't really get until you try it.

Pumpkin, my newest addition

Headbutt

2010-01-25T20:19:00.004-06:00

Our sheep are Katahdins, a meat breed. They are very docile and lots of fun to be around. Like any other species, each has their own unique personality and traits. The ewes often have twins, sometimes triplets and are very good, attentive mothers.
Also, like any other species, they like to have a little fun. On this particular day, I was able to catch a few photos of the sheep butting heads.
Here they're picking their challenge.

A step forward--they don't run at each other, but the impact is still a big one!

Getting closer...and...

KABLAM! That would hurt any ordinary person. Especially me!

And the bounce off. Not sure if this indicates the victor or not.

Thinking about gearing up for another go at it.

When a third contender steps in!

Encore!

Meet Lurch

2010-01-16T11:50:00.009-06:00

Dogs are an important part of ranching. And raising livestock. Here at the ranch we only have 3 dogs, but each has an important job.

This is Brutus. Brutus is a Blue Heeler stock dog. He's had his share of black eyes, sore jaws, and missing teeth from being kicked by cows. But Brutus has definitely earned his keep. At 14 years old (that's 98 in dog years!), he still REALLY wants to tag along when moving cattle, working calves, walking out to check the sheep or just a jaunt into town in the truck, although it's getting harder with old age creeping up on him. Brutus is considered a big dog breed. Not quite as tall as a German Shepard, but larger than the more common smaller Blue Heeler breeds. Notice the missing canines.

This is Lurch. He's one of our Great Pyranees sheep dogs. He was just 12 weeks old in this photo.

And, like Lurch on The Munsters, he's always eager to greet you!

This is Lurch in the early winter of 2009. Growing up a bit, he is!

And still eager to greet you!

But your really want to watch out for that nose! Often times there are huge drips of drool hanging around, too. You gotta be careful!

Just the other day, Lurch came for a visit. Generally, Lurch and Holly, our 4-year-old Great Pyranees, stay out in the pastures with the sheep protecting them and warding off predators. We go out to find them twice a day to check the sheep which are now lambing and feed the dogs.

On this day, Brutus met Lurch. Remember, Brutus is a big dog. Lurch is an elephant. Brutus is usually pretty defensive when it comes to meeting new dogs, but I think he realizes what the combination of his old age and the size of Lurch mean when they're added together.
Friendly enough banter.
Brutus is letting Lurch sniff around without too many defenses rising up. Although he wanted to get defensive! After all, this was HIS turf and Lurch was visiting.
Then, Lurch was ready to head back up the hill to his flock of sheep. Enough visiting for one day.
Eager little ball of fluff.

Lambing

2010-01-03T09:08:00.000-06:00

We left the ram in with the ewes this year thinking we'd lamb around September/October. Apparently the ram didn't get to work when we thought he might, so we're just now lambing. In the winter. And the snow. But these sheep are so hearty and really don't seem to mind the weather. They've got good hair coats and plenty of fat to keep them warm. And that fat all comes from what they find foraging in the pastures. Grasses, legumes, berries, leaves and brush.

This is one of the 2nd set of twins born Jan 1, 2010. Love the black on his ears and nose. What a cutie!

This is the momma of those twins protecting her babies. The sheep rely on the guard dogs, but still like to show their apprehension for the dogs coming too close to their new babies. Notice her ears and her stance.

Here she's stomping her foot. That's her defense. Putting her foot down while saying, "I mean it! Don't come any closer!"

You can see Lurch was really scared away. It's amazing to see how the dogs will hover right over the new babies after birth, especially when the momma's are still giving birth. They're very protective.

Snack time!

This is our first set of twins born this season, on December 29, 2009. All white.

Got an itch!

This poor girl's gotta be close to lambing. But, saying for sure when they'll lamb is like a watched pot that won't boil. You really can't guess who'll be next. Those little legs look like toothpicks holding up a watermelon!

This is a ewe lamb born last February. We aptly named her "Fifi" in honor of Pepe le Pew's cat girlfriend.

Another ewe lamb born Feb, 2009.

This is one lucky fellow. This is Vindicator, named after the Hereford bull in the Jimmy Stewart movie, "The Rare Breed". He's lucky because he's the only boy that got to live. And his legacy is now living on, being born this year. This pic is last spring; he was born Feb, 2009, and is all grown up now.

This is Feb, 2009. We had lots of snow and ice and would put some hay out for the sheep to bed down on.

Snuggled up with momma!

Our first set of twins born Feb, 2009. This little ewe thought she was a nurse maid.

Say, "Cheese!"

Our first ewe born on the ranch, Feb 2, 2009, Groundhog Day. We looked out from the house and thought she had to be dead, being born on ice and sleet.

We helped dry off and thaw out her little ears and tail.

And she was good to go! Breakfast!

Raising the sheep has been a great experience. We started with 30 bred ewes we brought home in January and they all lambed within 27 days during Feb, 2009. We now have over 50 ewes and hope to keep doubling our numbers each year. The chops, steaks, ground lamb and lamb sausage is wonderful. We hope to really have several hundred sheep roaming the Rockin H one of these days!

Where it ALL began...

2010-01-01T20:50:00.000-06:00

Okay, ya'll. I promised a while back I'd tell the story (my version, anyway) of how Cowboy Cody met Ms Cowboy. But to really understand, we need to go WAY back to where it ALL started...

Aww, isn't she sweet? The pony, too. Her name was Princess and that's me on her back. The boy holding the lead is my big brother, Danny. Boy, was he a proud 8-year-old to have an annoying little sister!

By the way, LOVE his plaid pants!

What a good big brother he was, taking care of his annoying little sister (me!) and her pony. That's Princess with her momma, Cochise.

This was probably around 1974...wow.

Ooh--here's ma and pa on Cochise and Sundance. In the front yard. Don't all cowboy folk saddle up in the front yard? Love the '70's cowboy hats.

Oh yeah, the red stocking hat? Yep. That's me. Ma was one of those overprotective types.

Hmm. The whole family. Pa on Sundance, Danny on Tom Thumb, yours truly on Cochise (check out the retro blue straw hat!) and Ma on Pye Wackett. Please, do not comment about that poor horse's name. I really have no idea. He was Princess's daddy, by the way.

Yea! My first birthday! We always got to sit on the kitchen table for our birthday! It's getting a little harder to get up there these days, though.

What a good big brother, helping me blow out the candle on my cut-up-cake made by Ma.

Remember the Fisher Price record player? Got one!

And now we go back in time several years...this is Cowboy Cody with his younger sister Connie and his new baby sister, Patty. Those two girls didn't have a chance!

Cowboy Cody with Connie, Patty, and his Ma. And their station wagon parked in front of their spacious little trailer. Good times in Arizona!

Here's Cowboy Cody with his sisters and his dog, Porky, helping out his Pa.

Aren't the old pics the best?

Don't worry. This is only the beginning. We'll skip a few years and get to the good stuff soon...

Charlie's "Papa's Pockets" Blanket

2009-12-26T20:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, I promised some of my Facebook friends I'd blog about the baby blanket I've made for our grandson, Charlie. I actually came up with the idea and cut about 7 blocks out 2 or 3 months ago, but, being the procrastinator I am, finally decided to get it done this past week for Christmas. I started Wednesday. Christmas was Friday. But it got done on Christmas Eve and my stress level really wasn't abnormal. Until I broke my last sewing machine needle I had...the stress level increased a bit.

Anyhoo, here it is from the beginning to the end...

This is the pile of blue jeans that I stole from Cowboy Cody's closet. You know the piles. It's those stack of jeans that you can't quite get into anymore, but you're going to get fit and trim and be able to slide right into them again. Yes, he had one of those stacks. Not anymore!

I stole the stack and took the scissors to them the same day!

First thing was to cut out all the back pockets. Those cute Wrangler butt patch pockets. All in a stack.

Once they were all cut out, I laid them out in a very nice quilt pattern. I think this is just called a Patch Quilt or Block Quilt. Very basic. But when it's Christmas Eve Eve, you want basic. Otherwise you don't have a Christmas present.

At least not for this year, anyway.

I purchased some baby blanket flannel material and cut out blocks of the same size for the backing and laid them all out in another very basic, yet very colorful and distinct pattern.

This was to be a Rag Quilt, which means all the seam allowances are on the outside of the blanket making it kind of fluffy and giving it a different look than a typical quilt. First thing to sew was each individual jean patch to an individual blanket backing patch.

Then each patch would be sewn to make a row keeping that perfect pattern that was laid out earlier. Yeah, right. Who needs a blanket in a perfect pattern, anyway?!

This was about time that I broke my third and last sewing machine needle I had in the house. I love living in rural America, but I was very thankful on this Christmas Eve that my local Wal-Mart store was open for procrastinators like me. Although I've never seen our local Wal-Mart so busy as it was on this Christmas Eve. Thankfully, they had sewing machine needles. I bought 3 more packages. And toothpaste. We were out of toothpaste.

All the rows are then sewn together, making another lovely pattern different from whence we started...but, a lovely pattern all the same!

I chose to put a few random blocks of the backing material on the front of the blanket, as well.

Next step was to carefully cut all those seam allowances sticking out on the front and sides of
the blanket to allow them to fringe and get fluffy.

Cowboy Cody even got in on the fringe cutting! What a great Papa!

After all the fringe was cut, I then threw the blanket in the wash to fluff up the fringe and make it super soft.

And, voila! A Wrangler Pocket Patch blanket.

You won't find one of these anywhere else. You won't find any of Cowboy Cody's Wranglers anywhere else.

Oooh--those Wrangler patches!

Here's the blanket washed and wrapped and ready for gift giving.

And here's one happy Baby Charlie on his new Papa's Pockets blanket!

Who could resist?! Is that precious, or what?

Lamb Steak--ooh la la!

2009-12-20T19:23:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, we actually once in a while get tired of eating beef. Did I just say that? A cattle rancher and his wife tired of beef? Well, you can bet that the cowboys on the trail would've LOVED to have a Leg of Lamb Steak to cook on the fire once in a while! When we feel the need to feed ourselves a great meal that is sooo satisfying, and yet light, we go for lamb steak or lamb chops (the best!).
In this case it was lamb steaks, being as we are nearly always sold out of lamb chops. Kinda like bacon, sausage, and filet mignon, the lamb chops are the first to go!
Here's how I cooked these inside, since my Big Green Egg (the world's best smoker and grill) is still down at The Barn, our store and cafe'.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron.

2. When the skillet's nice and hot, throw in a juicy lamb steak and let 'er sizzle.

3. Cooking our lamb is the same as cooking deer or any other wild meat. You do not want to overcook it; it's very, very lean and will cook quickly. Let the steaks sizzle just a few minutes on each side. I like a hot skillet to sear the juices in.

4. When the meat is cooked to your liking, sprinkle on some Worcestershire sauce and let the steak sizzle a few seconds more, soaking up all those tasty flavors.

5. Serve up your lamb steak with some Spinach Tejano' and buttered noodles. What a treat!

Spinach Tejano' for Barry

2009-12-16T11:55:00.000-06:00

I love to cook. And I love to cook with fresh, real foods. After all, that's what we grow here at the Rockin H Ranch. Real Farm Foods. Real beef, pork, chicken, lamb, raw milk, eggs, honey, and seasonal produce. Makes me want to get in the kitchen right now.

Except my stove is going out. I think I'm going to ask for one for Christmas. That's not too much to ask, do you think? Especially since it took an hour and a half to cook a frozen pizza the other night. (I know, frozen pizza doesn't fall into the "Real" category, but I have my downfalls. Pizza is one of them!)

Anyhoo, my friend, Barry, has a hoop house he has vegetables growing in all winter. I should really talk to him about getting some of those organic veggies! So, here's a recipe he asked for that we love at our house.

Spinach Tejano'

1. Melt butter in a skillet. (I don't measure well--I'd guess it's about 3 Tbsp.)

2. When butter is melted, sprinkle in a generous amount of chili powder. A very generous amount! (Maybe 4-5 Tbsp?)

3. Let it bubble until your kitchen smells heavenly. This won't take long--don't let the butter burn!

4. Add spinach, preferably fresh. I didn't have fresh, so I used a bag of frozen, 1 lb.

5. Saute' until well wilted and the spinach has soaked up all the butter and chili powder. Heat through.

6. Salt with sea salt and serve immediately. What a dish! (The cook is cute, too!)

Ice Milk

2009-12-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

Wow! What a blustery day, as Pooh would say. It was 9 degrees this morning when I headed outside to milk. I am milking in a milk barn these days, though for the first 3 years of milking, I milked my cows outside in the pasture. I think this morning I would've rather been outside sitting in the bright sunshine. My little barn isn't heated and it really holds in the cold air when the temps get so low at night.

This is Annabelle being milked and Molly is patiently waiting. I'm smiling because this picture was taken in the spring. When it was much warmer than 9 degrees.

You wouldn't have seen much of my face this morning. A cow's normal body temperature is around 102 degrees, so when it's 9 degrees outside, you snuggle up real close to those cows! They don't mind. And I don't mind as long as they haven't laid in poop overnight. Uck.

Oops. I mentioned poop again. Cowboy Cody tells me that most folks don't talk so freely about poop. But we're very proud of our dung beetles. (You can see one in the photo above!) So in the warmer months, I can be seen crawling around on the ground following the cows taking pictures of poop. And dung beetles. They're really very helpful and interesting little creatures. But that's another blog.

Back to milking.

The barn cats didn't even offer to keep me warm this morning. They were at the door enjoying the sunshine.
Most folks have to get up and go to town to go to work in the mornings. I get up, put on my insulated coveralls and go to the barn. Oprah would love to do a makeover on me, I can guarantee it!

But I enjoy my cows. And we love the raw milk and the products we make from the raw milk. Cheeses, yogurts, kefir, butter, and the best homemade ice cream and whipped topping!

So, I'll continue to get up and head to the milk barn, even on days when it's only 9 degrees outside.

Small House Thankfulness

2009-11-26T20:27:00.000-06:00

Okay, ya'll. I activated this account a while back and haven't posted a blog yet. My husband has actually been after me for a LONG time to start a blog, write a book and clean the house. The book's been started, although he really doesn't have a clue about that and the house is clean today because it's Thanksgiving. The house always gets cleaned for a holiday. That's about the only time. Not really, but living on a ranch, we live out loud in our house. It's a small farmhouse with no mud room or back porch, so we often have the smells of cow poop hovering near the back door.

But I am thankful for my small house. Instead of wishing everything I owned would fit where I wanted it, I try to just be thankful I have a house. And make it a home.

After all, this is a beautiful sunrise image from the back door of my little ranch house.

And this is a view from the front porch of my little ranch house.

Yes, I have much to be thankful for.

On to the blogging. Well, this is my first post. My goal through this blog is to let you all know about life on a ranch. A real live working cattle ranch. We, as a family, all live, work and play together on the ranch. And in our little ranch house.

Yes, we have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day. Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!