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Twenty eighteen was a long, unforgiving spring. Around early April, I was eyeballing my garden plot, planning the rotation, envisioning what would go where. On a warm, hopeful weekend, I splurged and bought a much needed disc for breaking up the plowed ground. Prior to this, I was simply going over the garden with a […]
When it has been cold and snowy all winter long, Midwesterners start to seek inspiration to get them through March and April. These are months of mud and brown. Some start looking for any green. A dandelion. Crocuses. I dream of a vibrant June hay field and the aroma of first crop alfalfa. At this […]
The Importance of Type in Rocky Mountain Horses D. Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD “Type” is a difficult concept to define, but is an absolutely vital one when talking about breeds of livestock. One definition of type is the conformational peculiarities that separate one breed from another. It is safe to add that “type” almost represents […]
There is an open sore on the face of my farm; a place where the soil is open and eroding. It started as an old jeep trail that ascended straight up the bluff. Unlike the other roads on my farm, this trail ignores all topography and defies common sense. It is a prime example of […]
Last week I had cut down a large ash tree that was shading out one of my white oaks on the south side of the bluff. I figured the white oak had a year or two before it finally died off from the shade. So I killed two birds with one stone: I saved my […]
It is deep fall now. The dramatic color of the sugar maple, red maple, red oak and quaking aspen has long been shed, leaving a muted landscape. Brown becomes the dominant color, accented by shades of gold in the harvested corn fields and the olive green of pasture grasses, which never seem to go entirely […]
Much is made about the fall. Romantic notions abound. Perhaps we have held fast to our hopes over the summer, and we see fall as the season when they ripen, ready for harvest. Authors pen about the golden glory that is the harvest. A pregnant moon rises slowly over the horizon, perhaps a little too […]
Weather and work conspired to delay getting my garden in this year, but we finally were able to break ground. Soon we will be planting. It has taken some doing, getting to the point were I could plow solo with my team of horses. I bought a restored Oliver 12″ walking plow from Tommy Flowers […]
One of the stories my Grandfather would tell was of his first farm as a young man. He was renting a small farm, and like any rental farm it came with its own unique terms. The unique terms on my own rental farm, was that there were a half dozen cats living here (six down […]
I wanted to place this famous picture of J.B. Smith of Decoy, KY and his outstanding stallion right at the front of this post. Why? First- this is one of the greatest Rocky Mountain Horses that ever lived. Smith’s Ginger had it where it mattered– gait, temperament and conformation. Second- He put some awesome horses […]
