This is my soapbox....be prepared for me to be stepping on it frequently

I haven't been posting much about my opinions lately.

This is my SoapBox

I will be stepping up onto my soapbox HERE on my blog.  In more ways than one.

As usual, I try to think before I speak, but it IS my blog & I will say what I want.  I do have several posts in draft for me to tone down. : )

Hang on to your saddlehorn, we're going for a run.

GreenRanchingMom

Simplicity

So, my friend Diana @ Spain in Iowa has a fun Blog hop about simplicity in our lives.

This has me thinking, how am I simple, how can I make our lives more Simple?

I'm in  list making mood, so here it goes...

Simple things we do
Grocery shop once a month - less trips to the store means less junk comes in the house & less diesel to travel
Live in the old house (rather than build a new one right away)
Feed us and our animals REAL foods (whole foods that are recognizeable for what they are)
Keep something until it wears out (or beyond)
We use old machinery (& keep fixing it)
We only have the truck as our family vehicle (the diesel gets great  {15-20mpg} fuel economy too)

Areas we can improve upon
I think that this winter, we'll to NOT buy ANYTHING the month of January! 
Do more canning this summer (even though I once again killed my garden)
Keep working towards growing ALL of our cattle feeds
Work towards year round grazing so we don't need as much hay (thus reducing the need for using the tractors)

What do you do in your daily life to make things simple?

Junior Nationals

Right now we're up in a little northern Iowa town for the Maine Anjou National Junior Heifer Show.  The girls brought 3 heifers. We are lucky enough to borrow my parents (new to them) camper & stay at the fairgrounds.  So wonderful to have a place to nap Wyatt & cook (if we want) & get cleaned up during the day.

Well, the weekend up here was great!  We had tons of fun relazing & camping & playing & napping.  Then Sunday came.  Check-in welcome party, more work, a little more play. 
Sunday Night & Monday............well, they just weren't fun.  I ran (5 hours) home to haul my piggies for 5 hrs & then came back up.

Today (Tuesday) we had a Fitting Contest.  A.Cowgirl was in it with 2 other girls from Iowa.  They had so much fun!! I had TONS of fun watching the 3 dads!! 

 Poor guys just couldn't take it as the girls were doing their best job (but it wasn't "right").  They were cringing, shaking their heads & trying not to let the yells under their breath get too loud.  The girls were smiling & working & having fun!!

So far its been a great week!  I'll try to keep you (kim) posted as the week goes along

Puppies!!!

I think that I mentioned about 7 weeks ago via TWITTER that Rosie & Chilli had a litter of Puppies. 

And now is the time when I show you cute puppy pictures so that you will be enticed to have one for your very own!

You can see from this picture how cute and colorful the black tri's are!  We have 2 boys & 1 girl Black Tri.

This little guy is a lover, but I think he's going to work too!  He doesn't like anyone coming under his tire (on the semi-trailer) to get him for bed.  So cute when he barks & gets all ruffled up!

Remember, all of these puppies have great dispositions! 

This little boy is a cutie that wants to work!  He will heel the girls & play

We have 3 Merle's Left.  2 boys & 1 Girl.  All three have beautiful colored eyes.  Both Blue and Brown in each eye.  Rosie's eye's are split down the center and half blue/half brown.

We are starting to learn their personalities, and some will be great working dogs, some will be wonderful city dogs & pets.

Tallow Rendering

Here is our Tallow

Choices & Perspective

Last night Honey came home & talked about a family he met at the co-op.  They were a couple in their 50's-60's with their 20 something son. 
They were traveling in a covered wagon. 
From Arkansas to Nebraska. 
They left home in November.
They stopped in to buy some corn & hay for their 3 horses.
They did stop for a while in Illinois this winter & work.
The horses were in good shape (not skinny).
The people were clean, nice & happy.

Of course after they left there was quite a bit of "shop talk".
WHY would you do that? 
Just BUY a truck.
CRAZY?

I was really impressed that Honey had quite a few questions in return for the guys.
Why NOT?
What if they just WANTED to?
It would be neat to REALLY see the country like that?
What IF they couldn't afford a Truck?
The wagon WAS really nice.  It had a completely enclosed (clear plastic) front that they had some Amish make for them.
Don't you think it would be really nice to just live that simply?  No bills & debts?

Hmmm, wow, we have come a LONG way in the past 2 years in our way of thinking!  Today, we ran the truck to get some new tires before Honey had to go to work.  We traveled only 10 miles west, and we saw them setting out for the day (8 or 9 miles west of where they were at noon yesterday).    Indeed 2 big paint horses pulling a covered wagon & leading a third paint horse.

I know that we get LOTS of questions about why we have chosen our way of life & finishing cattle.  I am constantly defending my choice to harvest our calves younger & at 1000# instead of the 1300# (FAT) cattle.
It is wonderful that Grass-Fed & Pastured Beef is becoming more widely known!  (Even our Banker yesterday knew about grass-fed beef!)

If I had to make choices again about downsizing & completely changing our operation 2 years ago ...... Would I do it the same?  YES!!!  I might change some details, but the BIG picture would stay the same.  We'd still be in debt, but, we'd still be cattle ranchers.
We'd still have to have off farm jobs.
We'd still be moving towards more grass & less corn.
We'd still be working towards raising ALL of our own feeds (but we'd still buy our outside feeds from our neighbors)
We'd still have our wonderful Maine-Anjou cows!

And yes, Freedom would still get loose on a regular basis, no matter how many new knots we tie on her *locked* gate.  (She was in the front yard again this morning)


I'm off to work on our website & get some prices up, so drop me a note ebersolecattleco(at)yahoo(dot)com if you're interested in learning more about our fall GRASS-FED beef & setting up a payment plan to reserve your beef!

I hope you have a great day!  The sun is shining & we're off to go play in the barn.
GreenRanchMom

Fall Calves

Fall calves are being weaned.  Its nice when you wean fall calves this time of year, they've mostly weaned themselves.  Not much bawling, or crying, because they've naturally weaned themselves.  They've been on grass & hay all winter with their cows, so they are great foragers.  We like to keep them on the cow through the winter to help them learn to forage & keep drinking from thier mamas.  The extra protien from the milk keeps them gaining a little weight & be healthier calves.

I LOVE our fall-calves.  They don't take much work when they're born & are quite easy to wean.  Another reason that they get along great after weaning is because they will stay on grass.  We try to keep all of our Fall Calves for 100% Grass-Fed Beef.

We don't have a big group of Fall-Calvers, but they're a nice little group.  This year we have 12 extra Fall calves.  So..... I'm having a special on our Grass-Fed Beef.  If you reserve your Grass-Fed Beef now, you will recieve a 5% discount.  These calves will finish in Late November.

I encourage you to keep checking back.  Each calf that is reserved will be updated with their growth & progress on this blog.  By reserving your beef now, you'll get to watch your calf grow & see the beautiful pastures where they reside.

I look forward to talking with you!!

Now for the ranch update. .....
WE LEFT THE RANCH FOR A NIGHT!!! 
Wow, such a long time since we've all spent a night away from the ranch!  We had to do some paperwork in the big city, so Honey had to leave the ranch.

Now, this may seem small to you, but it is a BIG day when I can get Honey off the ranch & out of the truck when we go into town!  He'd rather be my driver & "watch the truck" when we go to town.  After all of our paperwork was finished, we dropped off Squeak @ Grandpa & Grandma's.  We were then VERY brave & took the girls to a movie.  (Did I mention that we worked a full day on the ranch first?)  So, we took them to see "How to Train A Dragon" in 2D at....9:30.

All of us really enjoyed the movie, J.ust a Cowgirl was a little worried & scared at parts (she's really tenderharted).  So, we enjoyed a late night off the ranch & spent the night in the Big City.  On Sunday, we even went shopping.  Honey lucked out, & Squeak was sleeping, so he didn't have to go inside the (GASP) Mall.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!! 

Sorry for the bad picture, it was taken @ dawn this morning.