Welcome to our ranch near Canada's west coast in Beautiful British Columbia's West Chilcotin mountain region. Where calling the vet means hollering back at the house to bring your kit, new friendships are formed from the back of a horse and true fun for a five year old is getting a machete for Christmas. Where 'cutting the dinks off' has a totally different meaning than what first comes to mind, Muck Boots are a household name, a hand shake still means something and the coffee is always on.

Sunday 25 September 2016

Quite the summer

Greetings all!  
So what to say?  Momma says if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all.  
Okay, fine.
Then I won't complain about the amazingly wet weather that just won't go away.  Or not for more than three days at a time anyhow.  I won't mention our ground that is so saturated any new moisture just sits on top.  Or the acres and acres of hay that is laying over and now composting.  Or the reality that we are not going to be able to put up enough hay to feed our herd and will have to sell down and/or send some out for custom feeding.  It's been quite a year.  
There is nothing nice to say there, so let's move on.  We are all healthy and finding things to laugh about, so really, it's all relative.  We will get through this.  

Some winrows of hay, ready to be baled.  Quickly now, before the next storm hits.   Trust me, there have not been many days like this one, with not a cloud in the sky.  Or not many in a row anyhow.

After getting back from the last trail ride at the end of the month, I spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen, preparing food for the hunts.  I quite enjoy the cooking actually, but usually try and spread it out a bit more.  The first group (caribou hunters and moose hunters) headed out and are all doing well, which is great news.    

Smoking roasts for the hunting camp lunches.  Yum!!  



We are not really 'rounding up' yet as we have limited pasture since our hay is not yet off the meadows.  And we still have our fingers crossed for some sort of miracle that we can get it.  (HA....they are predicting snow showers this weekend!!)  Anyhow, we are just moving the cattle to closer ranges (and have been pulling bulls) and there is one great thing to say about this terrible weather.  There is more feed than ever and the animals all look outstanding.  It's nice to see how much those calves have grown.  

Thankfully, this is not this years photo (no snow on the ground yet), but it's fun to see these big babies by their mommas!

Saturna Lake from the top of the Moose Haven lookout.  Only brave and hearty adventurers can swim those waters!    

The trail riding season for 2017 is already looking like another full year.  I've just started contacting people about the possible ride dates and it sure looks like we are going to fill up quickly.  Seems funny to be working on it already when it feels like we just got finished the last one.  :)  But all good.  

Cheers for now,
Punky