Rachel's Pumpkins
We have been referring to these as "Rachel's Pumpkins" as she took the lead on planting them this spring. Today the whole family got together to harvest pumpkins and gourds. Mark it on your calendar... there will homemade pumpkin pie from "The Patch" at the annual Rainbow Bible Ranch Pie Auction just before Thanksgivin
6:26 AM
As I left the house for the tractor between 4:00 and 5:00 this morning, I looked into the darkness of the night sky and I was greeted by my old friend, Orion. Now, I realize constellations are not human, but in my imagination, just as people of centuries ago, I have allowed Orion the Hunter to take on a personality. It is somewhat easy to understand as you are surrounded by darkness as we are and can see few or no other objects other than the "lesser lights" of the night. I climbed into the John Deere tractor to go and bale sudan. It worked great. We are so grateful to have feed to put up this year. And then at 6:26 A.M. as I turned on the far edge of Northfield, I caught the first glimpse of the morning sun. It was beautiful. I wished for a moment that I had the camera and I even had the thought that maybe I needed a "smartphone" so that I could capture the scene. I continued my rounds until I needed to go and get some baling twine as I was running out. I directed Danny and Caleb to go get the machines ready for the day and then as I am talking to Robin, she says, "Oh, I took a picture of the sunrise." .... I smiled.
And remember, "It's a good day to be alive.... Glory to God. "
DIGGING SPUDS
Took a break from our morning chores and harvested our potatoes.... We were quite pleased. Around 350# dug and sorted. We even picked out a batch to use for the Steak Feed at our upcoming Men's Day event on September 29th. This was a pretty efficient system in digging spuds. We have three different gardens... The Pathfinder, "Robin's Garden" and this one is called "The Patch".
WORKING COWS & CALVES - GREAT CREW (FAMILY)... BLESSED
Gathering Cows - Preconditioning Time
"OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY..." AUGUST 28, 2018
2018 WEANLINGS ARE GROWING AND SHOWING "OFF"
WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING SOME OF THESE FOR SALE TO THE PUBLIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE. CONTACT MOLLY FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.
MOVING COWS TO NEW PASTURE
THE QUESTION...
The question many of you are asking....
Why doesn't Julia have a black and white outfit as well?
The question many of you are asking....
Why doesn't Julia have a black and white outfit as well?
PUTTING UP SWEET CORN
We are so grateful that we were able to have sweet corn. The last years of extreme drought proved too much for gardening. What is amazing... we did not have to water this corn at all. Along with what the family processed yesterday, "The Patch" also provided sweet corn for a couple of meals at Rainbow Bible Ranch.
RACHEL AND JULIA REINHOLD AND THEIR PAINTS.
GARDEN GALLERY 8/15/18
FROM DAYS OF PAST
On the return of our Saturday afternoon fire run, we also stopped at the Old Buell (Buhl) Place. For a short time, this was the location of a Post Office called Grashul. Grashul post office was located in several places in past years and is no longer in existence.
The "winter' route of the Ft. Pierre - Deadwood Trail passed near here coming across the Cheyenne River to the east and passing on the top of the breaks of our ranch before it dropped over the breaks down toward Alkali Creek to Ft. Meade and Sturgis before heading to Deadwood.
The barn roof is still visible, even though the building collapsed many years ago. Dad told of an occasion when he found a horse that had been locked up inside, whether intentional or not, nearly dead. He let it out. The shelterbelt around the old homestead is still in quite fair condition. Mostly Elm, Caragana, Russian Olive with a few Hackberry, Cottonwood and Plum Thickets.
FROM MOLLY REINHOLD...
"A little life lesson I've learned from this horse » don't quit, and always do it all with HEART." MOLLY REINHOLD AND ZIVA
CHOKECHERRY HARVEST -
CELEBRATING JULIA'S 13TH BIRTHDAY... A WONDERFUL DAY WITH FAMILY AT THE RANCH.
MOISTURE CONDITIONS GREATLY IMPROVED
Saturday evening... we enjoyed our supper around the picnic table. To the south, there was alot of rain and we only received a trace. We are still praying that our ponds and reservoirs will fill up, however the rains that we have received have done so much for the subsoil moisture reserves.
In this heavy clay soil (Gumbo) we can really get dry. It takes a long time for moisture to get down. Water will run off quite easily, because it takes so long to permeate. The rains in June and July have been, in most instances, just right. I will say that our subsoil moisture is better than it has been at anytime since the beginning of the century
2000 - 2007 were dry years. It took six to seven years for our big dam to dry up. 2008 - 2011 were heavy snow years and some hard rains. I do not believe the soil had a chance to replenish completely. 2012 and most of 2013 were dry... and then Storm Atlas... which provide much moisture, but again did not get deep. And then this region was extremely dry in 2016 and 2017. Our big dam went dry in just two years. That had never happened before. 2018 started out somewhat bleak as well. We did receive some snow, but most of it was very dry. All said and done... these rains in June and July have been amazing. We are counting our blessings. The good thing about gumbo... when it is soaked up... it does not dry out very fast either. And sometime that can be tough as well. But when you rely on grass as your main crop. ...
