Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

Author: Amy

  • It’s A New Year!

    I was going through all my past columns on New Year’s Eve and came across this column I wrote about the New Year in 2013. Just had to share and thought it could easily apply to every new year. Wishing You a Happy List of Little Stuff in the New Year   The New Year…

  • One of My New Favorite “Little Things in Life”

      I’m big on acknowledging the little things in life that make me happy. One of my favorites is the moment after I’ve sat down in a comfy chair or our couch with a cozy blanket on my lap and I open the pages of a brand new book to start reading. I love the crispness and…

  • Will Chase After Food

    Awhile back I’d written a column about how our food was hard-earned and how sometimes we’ve had to chase it down. That column was inspired by an event that happened with our butcher critter. He’s been kept separate from the heifer calves by a corral fence and an old cattle panel my husband custom fit…

  • A Perfect Afternoon for Book Reading

    I caught my husband Art re-reading parts of my book this afternoon after he returned from checking on our cows up at Pringle. Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who’s shared posts on Facebook, showed an interest in, and purchased my first book, A Ranchwife’s Slant: Cowboys, Kids, and Ranch Life….

  • Let Your Home Inspire You

    Sometimes it takes leaving home for me to appreciate where I live. This happened recently when I went on a week-long writer’s retreat in St. George Island, Florida. I deliberately picked a retreat in a location that was totally opposite from the environment where I live, hoping to trigger my censor and become re-inspired as a writer when…

  • It’s Officially Released!

    It’s been a long haul; spending every free moment when I wasn’t writing, chasing, feeding, or checking cows, to work on this book. It’s been the cause of numerous sleepless nights and mornings up at three or four a.m. to squeeze in extra time, pressure to put forth my absolute best, and the occasional family,…

  • A Simple Alternative Christmas Gift-Giving Idea

    Photo credit: Reneé Kirk The time to do Christmas shopping is upon us. Are you ready? I know I’m not. I’m one of those people who dread Christmas shopping. I dislike how this annual holiday has become Retail Christmas, whereas the true meaning of Christmas is hard to find amid all the merchandise beckoning me to buy for…

  • SNOWBOUND

    *NOTE: My family does not have cable or local television for regional news, but since posting this earlier today, I learned from friends who traveled across the state and from relatives, the devastating toll this weekend’s snowstorm took on ranches and livestock. I had no idea how severe the storm hit other areas. I have not been…

  • A Thing of Beauty

       photos by Amy Kirk  A lot of the pictures I take on our ranch are of our livestock, but this summer I’ve enjoyed seeing photo opportunities of our hay. As you can see we don’t have an abundance of these round bales sitting in our hayfield, but compared to last year hay crop these…

  • Preserving a Favorite Summertime Tradition

    One of the greatest pleasures of living in the country is picking berries and preserving them in jams and jellies to savor all year.  Nothing says a country summer like a therapeutic couple of hours walking around on sticky floors from making batches of wild berry jams. And there’s nothing more gratifying than opening a…