Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

Tag: ranch life

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Getting Cows Out to Summer Range

      {Silly me, I took my good camera but forgot to put a memory card in it so all I had for a camera was my phone.} A few weeks ago the family moved cows to summer range. It’s been over 15 years since we moved cows to summer range from the Reed Place pasture…

  • The Peanut Butter Pie Branding Day Tradition

    This past weekend we had our branding and much to my disappointment, I didn’t get to spend any time up at the branding corral. I had so much to tend to in the kitchen, the only time I was up there (it’s within walking distance from our house) was to bring coffee and cinnamon rolls…

  • 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…

  • There’s More Than One Way to Pack A Calf to the Barn

    When a new calf seems chilled or a little slow finding its grub, we sometimes opt to intervene and move the cow-calf pair to the barn and out of the elements so we can assist them better. Packing a new calf even 100 yards to the barn can wear a person’s arms out quickly (and…

  • The Modern Day Ranch

    America’s ranches may have gone through some changes over the last 150 years but ranching is still going strong and continues to be a great part of western Americana.  From the start of most of America’s ranches, hardy women have been a crucial part of the operation and women have contributed in numerous ways. I…