I have been negligent in my writing. As with everyone these days, life has been very busy and demanding. We had some exciting new developments here on the ranch and all the hustle and bustle has kept me hopping.
First off we had a new experience with interns working with us on the ranch. Boy was this an education for us. We had 3 interns in all this summer though only one was worth the effort for us. I hope all our interns learned something and were able to build on the experience they had with us. Our intern quarters are crude and only just now being developed so these first pioneering souls had a tough go at it, to be sure. However, as our loyal readers know, I am accustomed to some discomforts and so wasn’t the most sympathetic host. We decided that we would not welcome anymore interns to our ranch until we had a little more comfortable lodging or were simply blown away by the candidates vigour and compatibility.
One of the most exciting developments for me personally was the completion of the WELL. As I watched the first muddy water come pumping out of our new hole in the ground my husband remarked that my face looked as excited as if we had struck gold. Gold! Pagh – water is SO much more valuable! As with all we do, the development of our new source of water has been slow. Our current set up includes a 1200 gallon holding tank a little elevated from the well. We pump the water into the tank using a generator and then have lines running down and across to the house. Just before the house we have a ‘T’ and valves. One line runs into the house. YES! I have hundreds of gallons of gravity flow water into my house now! No more noisy pumps or 50 gallon loft tanks. Oh the joys of seemingly endless water. Now if I can only get rid of the grey water bucket. At the ‘T’ another line runs to the sheep paddock and into buckets with float vaulves. This small but steady source of water keeps their water fresh and clean longer. We have less wasted water when we have to dump out the bucket to clean away the gunk and algea. This system will only work for the summer, but we have made plans to be prepared for the winter. One step at a time. I’m sure some people are cringing at our slow pace – but come on folks. We’re on a farm, the idea is to go slow and enjoy each step of the way.
The ranch is growing and we now number 63 head of sheep, 11 chickens, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 boys and 2 adults. Our marketing campaign has been showing signs of success and our production has been increased. One new development is the inclusion of another subsidiary ranch. We found a wonderful couple that live on the other side of the mountain. It was an accidental encounter, but one that may prove advantageous to everyone. They are happy to work with us to supply us with a certain number of weanling lambs that are then raised and pasture finished at Walking Water Ranch. This is our first year of trying this out and we are excited to see if we are able to produce a consistent product. This would reduce the number of breeding ewes that we must maintain on our ranch and decrease the impact. Something we are always looking to do.
We had 2 other new and exciting events this summer, but you’ll have to check back later to hear about that
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