Talk of the West » On the Ranch

Richard and Siri

Alicia — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:58:07 +0000

Richard, my husband, is a late arrival into the cell phone age. Among his many reasons for refusing to use a cell phone were: they don’t float in irrigation ditches; there’s no reception on the ranch; he couldn’t hear on it; and the tiny keyboard didn’t fit his fingers. All that changed when iPhone 4s and Siri entered his life. He totally fell under her spell. Before I knew it, she was going everywhere with him as his personal assistant. But, even Siri has a learning curve. For example Richard took her with him to check on the cows the other day. When he spotted a sick cow who needed doctoring, he said: “Siri, make a note to doctor Green 2.15.” And, Siri dutifully wrote: Dr. Green 2:15. Obviously, she’s a city girl who doesn’t know about cow’s ear tag identification. Lucky for me, she too has a thing or two to learn about agriculture.

Government “Helicoptering” Creates a Wii Farm Generation!

Alicia — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:37:04 +0000

Along with a roomful of friends and neighbors, I attended the Agriculture Appreciation Days dinner sponsored by the Harlowton Chamber of Commerce. The speaker raised some issues and cited statistics that left us all disheartened. While there were plenty of boots under the table and cowboy hats on the rack at our dinner, we were told that less than 2% of Americans are engaged in agriculture production. This translates to fewer and fewer adults and children with any first-hand knowledge of where their food comes from or what it takes to produce it.

When the speaker told us about the The Department of Labor’s proposed regulations limiting the kinds of work children can do on farms, I became truly concerned. As proposed, any children under the age of 16—unless they live on an unincorporated family farm—can not work around livestock or operate any farm equipment.* While the Department describes these regulations on kids and agriculture in terms of safety, farmers and ranchers view them as an attack on the rural way of life.

The result—whether intended or unintended—would drastically alter a farmer’s ability to pass on his store of knowledge and passion for the farming/ranching lifestyle to the next generation. Under the guise of safety, the ‘hands on’ learning–so essential to becoming a farmer or rancher–would be taken out of the farmer’s hands. “We taught these children to be safe,” stated a farm wife and mother. “We taught them … how we did things on the farm, and we also instilled the passion for the farm. So the family farms are not dying, that we would continue to pass them on.” *

I left the meeting very worried about this misguided regulation. Will an over-zealous governmental concern for safety, coupled with a lack of understanding of farm culture, rob our children of the chance to fully experience farm life? Will our extended family be excluded from spending summers working at the ranch? My concern was underscored when the following email hit our ‘InBox’. It was sent by my husband’s ‘city cousin’, now in his seventies:

“Tonight I somehow was led to describe for Chris the root [cellar], across the alfalfa field from the Moe Ranch- a memory from my childhood. Then my first arrival on the train in the middle of the night, probably in 1945. The milking of the cows, the shearing of the sheep at the Vestal place in the mountains. Big breakfasts, I was forced to eat liver. Riding horses with a purpose. Fishing in the river. I googled. Amazingly here it is together with this beautiful picture of Audun and Carol and the Stone House itself. I am in tears, good tears.. J.”

The Moe Ranch, thankfully, is still intact and being operated by my husband, who learned the rudiments of his profession at his father (Audun’s) side. Soon, his son will take over, having learned in the same way. But what of the city cousins—the 98% who don’t live on a family farm? The experiences cited in the above email, plus many more, would no longer be allowed under the proposed regulations!

What a shame if a Wii farm simulation becomes the only way that our next generations can gain an understanding of agriculture and the rural way of life!

*For complete text, go to: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/28/144385356/proposed-child-labor-rules-could-alter-farm-life

Rompin’ Runaway Rodeo – A Numbers Story

Alicia — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:25:46 +0000

What’s it take to return one 2-day old Romping Runaway to his Moo-ing Mama?

2 cell phone calls
1 text message
2 4–wheelers
1 car
1 tractor
1 spotter
1 messenger
1 seeker
1 Border Collie
1 finder
2 hours

Which adds up to…

One Happy Ending!

The Cow Jumped Over The Moon :)

Alicia — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:35:14 +0000

We had a cow jumping over the moon incident last night that I wished I’d captured on camera. The scene is our corral which has a 10 foot manure mountain in the center of it. The cow started calving outside and Richard and I were trying to get her into the barn. She wasn’t having any of it, racing around the corral rather athletically for a cow in the throes of birth. I went behind the manure mountain to cut her off when she suddenly sailed up and over it. We stood looking up rather in awe. If there’d been a moon out, it would have been perfect. She got her way and calved outside and then we took the calf into the barn. This morning, we took extra help plus a camera, determined to get her into the barn. Luckily, she reenacted the feat before she headed in to take care of her calf. Both cow and calf are now in the barn, out of the snow and cold.

University of Montana “Food, Agriculture, and Environment” class

Susan — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:54:07 +0000

Back in June a group of University of Montana graduate students visited us at the Moe Ranch and Cream of the West. One beautiful rainy evening, the fields refreshingly green, the skies dark and gray, we were treated to yummy, natural ranch-raised beef burgers at Richard and Alicia’s. Blessed with great company, we visited the night away on the screened porch of the old stone house.

A couple of the students enjoying the rustic swing and lovely view of the Musselshell River, snaking it’s way east just on the edge of Moe’s lawn.

Unbelievable views of the Musselshell River and Crazy Mountains following a cleansing, June rain.

What better place to set up camp than on a grassy lawn on the banks of the Musselshell, right outside a beautiful house with indoor plumbing facilities?

Beautiful Maya, Richard’s and Alicia’s granddaughter, happened to be visiting as well – and she had no trouble charming the socks off us!

The next day, the group aquiesced and donned hair nets for a tour of our plant in Harlowton (good sports that they are!).

Neva Hassanein, Ph. D. (far left) led her “Food, Agriculture, and Environment” graduate students on an eight-day tour of Montana. Making a loop from Missoula, all the way east to Glendive, north around Malta and Great Falls, and back, the group visited several Montana businesses taking advantage of sustainable agriculture practices and principles. Cream of the West was lucky enough to be one of their stops.

The course description for the Environmental Studies class states, “According to Wendell Berry, “eating is an agricultural act.” But most of us know very little about how the food we eat each day is produced or how it reaches our plates. Food is central to our lives, and it has the capacity to profoundly connect us with nature and the place where we live. In this course, we will explore the premise that the sustainability of the food and agriculture system requires practices, policies, and social arrangements that balance concerns of environmental soundness, economic viability, and social justice among all sectors of society. We will look at the conditions created by the dominant, “industrial” food and agricultural system, as well as investigate emerging alternatives – such as “sustainable agriculture” and “local food systems.” The purpose is to introduce you to some of the central contemporary issues in the study of food and agriculture in the U.S. and to demonstrate an approach to broad, interdisciplinary study and practice. Through a research paper or a project, you will also have the opportunity to improve your research, communication, organizing, and presentation skills.”

Along those lines, the students let go many tough, yet insightful questions of us (the owners). We had lengthy conversations about what it takes to get our food from the farm to the table, and Cream of the West’s role in that endeavor. Here at COTW, we do believe in the concept of sustainability, and live it every, waking day. Four of our owners (Richard, Alicia, Steve and I), are full-time, local ranchers, producing natural, ranch-raised beef and grain. Two of our owners (Tom and Beth) own and operate our local grocery store (and stock every one of COTW’s products, of course!). Two of our owners (Tom and Trudy) own and operate Rocky Mountain Cookware. And two of our owners (Keith and Janet) deliver irrigation water and clerk for the district court. Most of us have lived here our entire lives, and all of us contribute mightily to not only our small community’s sustainability, but to the promise to deliver natural, healthy, and delicious food to our customers.

The maroon UofM van delivers and it takes away. So long, thanks for a lovely stopover, and we look forward to seeing you again!

(photos by Susan)

Rainy June morning

Susan — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:08:47 +0000

Rainy, snowy June morning

We woke up to this beautiful view yesterday morning after 1 1/2″ of rain the night before!

Things are happening at Cream of the West today…we have a group of graduate students from the University of Montana visiting. They’re on an eight day adventure, touring central and eastern Montana studying a diverse group of businesses and their roles in sustainable agriculture!

They’ll be setting up tents in Alicia and Richard’s yard, so tonight Steve and I will join them for a bar-b-que and tomorrow they will tour the plant.

Spring Rainfall

Alicia — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:27:33 +0000

As a newly-minted farm wife, I used to be faintly amused when my farmer-husband took spring rainfall—more specifically, the lack of it– so personally. I’d watch him turn into a Glum Norwegian as the rain clouds passed over us to dump on the neighbor’s fields. Now that I’m a 13-year farming veteran, I too have become personally connected to the rain. I get mad at the brightly smiling weatherperson who announces: “Looks like another sunny week!” I’ve been known shake my fist at the gathering clouds and yell: “Ok! It’s our turn!!” And when I hear one farmer ask another: “Getting any?” I know the reply— “Not a drop!” “Trace” or “Close to half inch” –reports the amount of recent rainfall on the place. Today, after ten days of sighs, downcast faces and dry fields, it’s sunny inside at the Moe Ranch because it’s “making puddles” outside, which means we’re getting “more than a tenth”.

Buckwheat – Montana Style

Alicia — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:45:10 +0000

Whitetail deer in wheat field.

Richard in his beautiful wheat field.

Richard’s started harvesting our spring wheat which, thanks to plentiful rain and no hail, stands hip-high and golden. He took the camera along this morning and captured a shot which gave a whole new definition to BuckWheat! Maybe that should be a new Cream of the West product.

Starry, Starry Night

Alicia — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:03:52 +0000

“We’re sleeping outside tonight so we can watch the stars before it gets too cold,” Richard announced. By dusk we were packing a mattress and sleeping bags from the attic to the east yard to set up our star gazing post. Although we’d planned to share our backyard adventure with our dog and cat, they stood with their noses pressed against the door until we relented and let them inside to sleep in the comfort of their own beds. We, however, treated ourselves to an incredible show. The Milky Way stretched above us and Mars glowed on the horizon. Together we located the Summer Triangle formed by Vega, Altair and Deneb as well as the Big and Little Dipper, the Swan, the Eagle and Orion the Hunter. Topping it off, we counted at least 5 shooting stars. Since that night, we’ve been avidly studying Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey (the best star book we’ve found yet!) in hopes there will be a September night in the dark of the moon when it’s warm enough to sleep out under the blazing sky.

Cream of the West, A Branded Product

Kendra — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Branding is a common practice that indicates ownership. Using brands as marks of identification has occurred at some point in all countries and civilizations. Ranchers have been branding their livestock for hundreds of years making them easier to separate at round-up time. Brands consist of letters, numbers, characters and symbols. Brands are not just used for animals, however; they are also found on products. Many manufacturers try to build their brand so it gets an image and is easily recognized. For example, Cream of the West uses the cowboy image and is renowned as the ‘cowboy cereal’. In Harlowton and the surrounding areas, farming and ranching is the way of life, and also what supports Cream of the West. A few brands from the region are:

Moore Livestock and Partnership:

John Whelan:

The Winnecook Ranch:

Lauretta Berg:

David Pump: