This family reunion photo was taken in 1927 at my great-great grandpa’s Morgan horse ranch in Sawyer Kansas. My branch of the family tree led to Colorado where I grew up on a small fruit farm working with my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
The work was hard and the pay was terrible but the reward of living in the seasonal cycle of farm life inoculated me with an urge to return to the farm. Multiple twists eventually led me to a partnering on a horse rescue project, which led me to the need to grow hay, which led me to my ranch. I still sell horse hay but diversified to grassfed angus about 5 years ago.
Growing a herd has been slow and expensive but like farming in general filled with rewards that are, like the advertisment says, “priceless”. The natural cycle of the ranch, the birth of the calves, the greening of the pastures in the spring, the first snow fall of the winter, the return of the Marsh hawks, even the bitter sweetness of harvest day remind me that I am a part of an amazing interconnection of natural forces that are much older and much wiser than me.