A vistior for the day

Ryan Goodman from Agriculture Proud is asking today for those of us in the farming and ranching world to share, honestly, how we would do things if someone who was not a farmer or rancher was to follow us around for a day. Wile I would hope that the answer to that question would be we would do nothing different, that is sadly not always the case. I can say for us though we do nothing different, other than go a little slower and explain a lot, when we have visitors to our ranch.

For those that don't know we are located in Northwest New Mexico and we run a commercial Hereford/Angus cross beef cattle ranch. It is not a big ranch by many standards, we are only around 30,000 acres and have 150 head. My husband is the 4th generation on the ranch and that makes our two girls the 5th. We do all the daily work with just our selves and one wonderful man, Alan that works just as hard as we do. When time comes for us to gather, brand or ship that is when we call in reinforcements, mostly family to come and help fill in the extra spots.  It is not always family that comes and helps though as we have hosted some exchange students from Germany and Korea one branding and this year two of our local missionaries came and helped out during shipping time.

Here are our two missionaries. Elder Totten, on the right had never before been around cattle so this was truly a new experience for him.

Elder Hunsaker had never helped work cattle before, but it did not take long before he was an old hand at it though

Even Elder Totten got in the spirit of things before the end of the day

Working cattle in pens and corrals is not the easiest thing to do even with a group of experienced cowboys, add to that two young men who have never worked cattle before and you could be in for a world of trouble. But we look at it as a way to share what we do on a daily basis with someone who would otherwise never have that experience. Showing those outside the ranching industry just what we do on a daily and yearly basis is important. It lets them understand what goes into raising and growing healthy, good quality beef cattle. It also gives us another voice to share our story with those that we may never meet, but they too have a better idea.

I love having new people come around and show them our ranch, it is something I am very proud of. I love answering all their questions about why we do this and why we put cattle in certain places. The answers are always honest, they are sometime hard for people to hear, such as when can't always save every animal that is sick or injured. One thing that I can't wait to start is once I have my own elementary classroom is having the class visit the ranch and see first hand us working with the cattle and sharing with the kids just where it is that the beef they see in the grocery store comes from.

I am proud to be a rancher's wife and I am proud to say that when we have in the past shared that with people we change nothing that we do from when they are not around.

Make sure and stop by Agriculture Proud for a continually update list of other blogs writing about this topic today. We are happy to have you visit!

A quick peek at what I have been busy with

Well I have been busy around the ranch lately. The oldest was off on her first deer hunt last weekend, it was a long 5 days filled with snow, cold weather and mud and not a buck to show for all her hard work. But I am proud of her as she was excited from the hunt and ready to tackle it again next year.

She was so tired by the last day that she fell asleep in the back of the truck waiting until evening to hunt again.

That girl was up at 4am every morning of her hunt and would not quit until the very last of the shooting light had faded. It was not through lack of trying that she did not get a buck. While there is no fresh venison in our freezer this year I could not be more proud of her.

I have also started back to school myself. Only 6 more classes and I will be ready to student teach. I'm ready to be done taking classes. Enough about that though.

What has kept me the busiest is getting everything lined out for starting my own business. I am starting an on-line store where I will sell handmade, custom purses, totes, home decor, baby items and blankets. I want to thank everyone who submitted names for the store. The winner was Celeste Settrini with her suggestion of Twisted Stitches. As a reward for coming up with the winning name Celeste is getting a custom made tote in her choice of material.
I thought I would give everyone a little peek into some of the material that I will be using to make some totes and baby items to sell in my store. If you see anything you like let me know and I will be more than happy to put together the item for you.

Here is one of the western prints that I have to use to make a purse or tote

Another western print, I love this one.

Pretty blue and brown for another purse/tote

I think I will make a purse out of these for myself too! The center material is a faux tooled leather that I just love.

This set and the next will be made into burp clothes. Nice big ones 16"x21 backed with terry cloth seems like good thick ones are hard to find anymore. The material is a nice soft flannel.

Just thought the print on this was too cute and great for boy or girl.

Another burp cloth set in flannel also.

And the close up of the print pattern

Here is one of the burp clothes all completed, both sides shown.

The flannel side of the burp cloth

Up close of the pattern

 I have more western material on order that will be here next week and I will get pictures up so that you can look through that also. I also got some new material at the store today, but have not had a chance to take pictures yet, the ones above I got taken this morning. Then the hubby showed up with a new orphan calf this afternoon and we have been trying to get her to eat... so the picture taking has gotten delayed.


Christmas is just around the corner you know and I will also have some handmade ornaments and hand-painted ornaments for sale also. If you are interested in anything that you have seen here e-mail me at twistedstitches.wilhelm@gmail.com with any requests or questions. I'm getting everything set up for the on-line store and will let you know when it is up and running and you can order from there.

Thanks to everyone who had encouraged me in starting this business and I look forward to watching it grow.

Love this time of year, oh and ribs too!

It is surely feeling like fall here. Not only in the sense that it is hunting season but the fact that the fireplace is going everyday, I'm wanting to bake everyday, soup is back on the dinner menus and it is by oldest birthday. The hubby is strange in the fact that he only wants or will eat soup and stew during the fall and winter. Me I could eat a big bowl of chili any night of the week!
So just what has been cooking in the kitchen? Today is brownies and Crock-pot pork ribs. It is my oldest daughter's 14th birthday today. She requested her favorite of BBQ pork ribs cooked in the Crock-pot and I was all ready to share with you photos of all the steps, but the camera went with the hunters today and has not returned. I'm hoping that means that they have a buck down and will be coming home with pictures and meat!
So I will give you the recipe and you will just have to use your imagination for the picture part.

Easy Crock-pot BBQ Pork Ribs

1 rack of ribs (around 5 lbs)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
BBQ sauce

To keep the ribs from making a mess in the crock pot, line it with aluminum foil. Put in two pieces of aluminum foil cross wise and this will keep everything from sticking in the pot and make clean up a breeze.
After that split the rack of ribs in half, salt and pepper to taste, put in the crock pot pour in the liquid smoke and a small amount of BBQ sauce and cook on high heat for 3 hours. After 3 hours turn to low heat and continue to cook until the meat is just ready to fall off the bones.
Now you can finish the ribs in different ways. If the weather is warm and nice I fire up the propane grill and baste them with the BBQ sauce that way. However if the weather is like it is today I put the ribs on a cookie sheet spread the BBQ sauce all over them and put them in under the broiler for no more than 15 min or until the BBQ sauce is cooked on the ribs.
Serve this with your favorite rib side dishes and don't worry about the clean up, because you lined the pot with aluminum foil.
Stop by the linky party with Fresh from the Farm recipe swap for even more great recipes.

Help me and get a prize!

Okay I'm having my first give away. I'm working on starting an on-line store to sell my sewing and crochet items and I'm in need of a name.
This is where you come in. Leave me a message here on my blog or if you are on Facebook, stop by my page there Tales of a Ranchers Wife and leave me a post with your ideas. The deadline is Wednesday the 9th to leave an idea or suggestion. I will take the top three and post those on Thursday and then pick the winner from those three on Friday the 11th. The winner will get a hand-made tote in their choice of material.
I have a few ideas for names from friends so far and Meg with Hook, Thread and Create is in the lead. So stop by and help give some ideas and win yourself a pretty new tote.

The one pictured here is one that I just made for my oldest daughter and gives you an idea but I will work with you so that you get one that is just perfect for you.
The size is 13 inches wide and 10 inches high with pockets on the inside and out if you want.

So start thinking of ideas and be sure to share them! I'm looking forward to seeing all the different names come through, the hard part will be picking just one!