Thursday, August 27, 2009

Long Silence

Sorry for not posting in a week. Much has happened that needs to be discussed!

Friday, Ev and I built fences and moved the herd around. We found a calf that had fallen off a ledge and was trapped. After about an hour of balancing on fallen trees, scrambling through poison oak and stinging nettles, and hauling the calf up an steep bank, we managed to rescue it and return it to its mother.

Sunday I went over to Ev's family's ranch for a branding. His dad had about 50 calves that needed to be branded. It was a good time with good company. Ev's family ranch, The Sparling Ranch, is about 30 minutes from San Juan in beautiful country hills. I was glad I got a chance to see it.

Tuesday, Joe and I went up to the Swonton Pacific Ranch - a ranch owned by Cal Poly. Joe was there to teach a class of 15 grad and undergrad students about low stress herding and some holistic practices - I was there to listen. It was great! Joe is a great teacher and the day spent in the classroom and out on the ranch was incredibly informative.

The past couple days have been used to get ready for next week - building fence ahead of the cows and thinking about our grazing plan. Everett's heading on vacation next week and I will be with Joe on the ranch. I'll be house sitting at Ev's so I'll have unlimited Internet access and TV!!! Wow!!!

I'll be putting up some new pictures soon - so watch out!