Stronger and Better with Music

Mike, Mike and Ashley at Lone Pine Saddle

In early April, we hosted Zenger Farm supporters, Ashley Sherrick and Mike Terepka for a ranch stay.  We donate a weekend at the ranch as part of the fundraising auction for Zenger Farm in Portland. Ashley and Mike won the bid and we had a great weekend together, swapping stories of far-away travels and sharing yummy meals, including my favorite experiment of the weekend -- mushroom-laden gravy on slow-grilled polenta.

Another Mike of many songs

With two Mike's who love music, we were treated to singing, and banjo/guitar playing into the wee hours (long after I went to bed). We also had a lovely night-walk downriver along the old driveway trail, each of us hanging onto our partner and bumping into an occasional boulder in the pitch black. The stars in the moonless sky were spectacular. We stood on the edge of a rim above the rushing river and looked for familiar constellations overhead. Ashley knew the most, naming off possibilities I'd never heard of.

"You are here"

I love the relief map we have on the living room wall. It gives a sense of the vastness of the canyons and is a great way to orient visitors to the lay of the land.  I like to use it to point out the many special places we have lived and worked over the years.

Palisades picnic

We lucked out on the weather and picked a sunny day to drive to Cactus Mountain and hike part of the Ni Mi Poo trail. The barrel cactus weren't blooming yet, but the canyon was starting to green up and we saw pink phlox, yellow sunflowers, purple penstemon and white yarrow.

Looking south, towards Magpie Ranch

After Ashley and Mike left for home, we got back to fencing.  Well, I shouldn't say we - because even though my arm is getting stronger and better all the time, I still can't do hard labor. I did help lug material up the steep part of the fence line, but I can't quite hold a stay and pound in staples yet. 

Fence around old sheep ground 

 

Mike and Ben finished the fence around the historic sheep bed ground above the barn, so it's ready for restoration seeding and rehab. It will be interesting to see what kind of results Mike will get with the restoration. He has collected baseline data on it for a while, but now he'll start experimenting with ways to get more diversity of plants growing on this degraded area. 

Chester at the mouth of spring draw

Ben and Mike also fenced the area around the spring box. Chester had his first experience packing fence material. Mike said Chester didn't like the loading process, but once it was all on there, he did okay. It was a challenging fence to build in the steep narrow draw and I was glad Ben was there to help. 

Rock jack at spring draw

When I think of all the projects on the ranch over the years, I see the faces of the people who helped us do that work. Luke with his bobcat digging out the back of the barn. Zeke running a chain saw prepping for prescribed burning. Pete dismantling rotten corrals. Prairie peeling poles for the new corrals. Julia digging thistles. And so many many many others. Thank you. 

From Sara at Magpie Ranch, home of Bunchgrass Beef