Ranch Wife's Slant

Tag: Black Hills

  • Bringing People Together, Sharing a Meal, & Benefitting Ranchers Affected by Storm Atlas

        A Senior Project Success: When our son Myles said he was thinking about putting on a steak feed to benefit the Rancher Relief Fund for his Senior Project (a fairly new requirement for South Dakota high school graduates), I was very proud that he came up with that particular idea all on his…

  • 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…

  • Photos of Our Baby Calves After A Spring Snowstorm

    Earlier this week we received around 10” of snow over the course of two and a half days. Since the storm finally broke by daylight yesterday, I remembered to grab my camera and got some photos of my favorite calves. Getting the day’s forecast is an important part of our cow feeding routine. We like…

  • Moving Cows to Callon Spring 2012

    Thursday we moved our cows to the other unit that we lease from the Forest Service. It turned out to be the perfect day to do it. It was overcast and the temperatures were in the low 70’s, unlike the steady sunny 90 degree days we’ve had most of the summer. We had a great…

  • My Morning View Over Coffee

      I love it out here first thing in the morning. It’s kind of a sanctuary where I like to come and absorb nature while I have my coffee. The air is fresh and crisp and damp. I like the way it smells; earthy, sweet, and damp.    Every morning, usually around 6 or 6:30 a.m., I head…

  • Sale Day

    Some of our steers (Technically, Friday is the day I normally use to post about stuff that’s gone on in the past week that’s worthy of mentioning but we had a busy Thursday and Friday).  Thursday morning was a big day for us–we sold our calf crop in Belle Fourche. Our help showed up before…

  • Rose Quartz: The State Mineral of South Dakota

    Pink is not a color I particularly care for, but I do like Rose Quartz. I have a few big pieces in my flowerbeds. My father-in-law had collected a few tractor tires full of different sizes that are kept down at our junk yard. They occasionally get raided for our yard or to give as…

  • Setting the Record Straight

    Reading about the “Pringle Compound,” or the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) compound disgusts me. Pringle does not have a compound! We have excellent food, a pool table, and beer at the popular Hitchrail (of which owner/award-winning Chef Dennis Boitnott, recommends making reservations), a sand plant, the Pringle Poacher Car on…

  • The View Outside My Office Window

    During the summer I spend a good chunk of my time looking out the window while I work…and think.   Sometimes I let other noises besides my inner voice like the radio, break into my long train of thoughts. I absorb enough news on the radio to last me for another whole year when I’m…

  • Signs of Summer

    After a long Black Hills South Dakota winter, the thought of spring seems like a dream and summer an illusion. Too many times we’ve been fooled by wonderful spring weather only to get clobbered by a late spring snowstorm to remind us that Mother Nature’s in charge of when it’s spring and summer. That’s why…