Enter at Own Risk

Winter arrived on the ranch this week. The Bag Lady did not take pictures of the snow. She has taken many pictures in the past, and snow pretty much always looks the same, doesn't it? Cold. White.

She has been pondering and ruminating about an article she read in a "farm" paper recently. Those of you who reside in cities and towns probably don't realize that rural residents receive several free publications aimed specifically at farmers and ranchers. The Bag Lady uses them to start the woodstove doesn't usually read them, but the Rancher does, and he was outraged enough that he had to share this particular article with the Bag Lady.

There is a "movement" sweeping the nation (and probably the continent, too) that has the Bag Lady slightly worried. It takes several forms, and encompasses all of us in ways that are yet to be revealed. She refers to the burgeoning preoccupation with the multi million dollar industry of safety.

Yes, our society has become obsessed with safety. The Bag Lady is uncertain where this obsession comes from - did it start with the infamous McDonald's coffee incident? She has heard that there is a company that once manufactured perfectly good ladders, but stopped because there was not enough room to print all the safety labels that would have been required.

From bubble-wrapping our kids (cutting all the limbs within 8 feet of the ground off trees in daycare centres.... no hard balls such as soccer or basketballs on the playground in schools...) to forcing workers to take a multitude of courses in order to have the required tickets to go to work, we seem bent on completely eradicating risk from our lives. Whatever happened to natural selection? If you're not smart enough to recognize a potential life-threatening situation, should you really be allowed to procreate?

How does this affect the Bag Lady, you ask? Well, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture has implemented a safety program. As far as the Bag Lady understands it, currently it is voluntary, but she is sure the government in it's infinite wisdom will soon force compliance. Here are a few of the high points from the article that the Rancher pointed out to her:

Establish clear visitation rules and post the rules in writing in a visible location.
--- This one cracks the Bag Lady up. She is already working on a sign, really.

Show visitors where you keep the fire extinguishers, first aid kit, eye wash station, and other emergency supplies.
---Eye-wash station? Really?? (Do any of you 'city folk' have an eye-wash station? You'd better start planning one, 'cause the Bag Lady doesn't want you to be caught flat-footed when the Safety Police come to your door.)

Clearly establish safe on-farm attire such as shoes instead of sandals, long pants, no loose strings, sleeves, etc. Provide water, insect repellent and sunscreen.
--- If you come to visit the Bag Lady, don't wear sandals. She would hate for you to drop a beer bottle on your toe.

Inform guests of the location of all restrooms and hand-washing stations on the farm.
--- plenty of trees around the Bag Lady's yard, and, depending on how dry the season is, there are a couple of dugouts, a hydrant by the barn, garden hose by the house. You may not want to wash your hands in the stock waterer. There's usually a lot of cow slobber in there. An alternative, of course, is to not pee on your hands. Or..... you can go to the house. It's pretty modern, and has toilets and running water that anyone with common sense could find.

Oh, wait.... there is no common sense anymore. As evidenced by this article, visitors to a working farm or ranch would have no freakin' idea where to find a bathroom.

Yes, the Bag Lady is poking a bit of fun at the Safety Industry, but she is also deeply concerned about its gathering momentum. What ever happened to personal responsibility? She knows in her heart that most adults would be aware of potential hazards on a farm or ranch..... wouldn't they? Stay away from those big machines with all the moving parts (and huge freakin' wheels!), don't try to pet that enormous bull snorting in the pen, and keep your fingers and toes out of places they don't belong. How simple is that?

The Bag Lady worries that she doesn't have enough ink in her printer to produce all the signs she would have to post, so, after much discussion, she and the Rancher have come up with what they think is the perfect solution, and plan to post this at the end of their driveway, right above the box containing the waiver forms.....

DANGER.... EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD..... REALLY.

Introducing....

The newest addition to the ranch.



Isn't she cute?

Getting Ready

Winter is coming. The Rancher and the Bag Lady have been getting ready. The Rancher came home with this.....(which is half of the stock trailer, so that pile is about 10 feet long.)

With him splitting and the Bag Lady stacking, they spent a busy afternoon and turned it into this......


(which is two rows deep, although it's a little difficult to tell from the picture)
That pile is now a little bigger, because they weren't quite finished when the Bag Lady took the photo, so she spent a morning splitting and piling the remainder by herself because the Rancher was busy elsewhere.

This will definitely help keep them warm for at least part of the winter!

Autumn Re-cap

The Bag Lady composed a fabulously witty post whilst lying in bed last night waiting for sleep to come, but now that she's awake, she can't even remember the title. Sigh.

It's been a very busy autumn season around the ranch. Because of the cool wet summer, a lot of the regular ranch work had to be postponed. The last several weeks have been cool but dry, so she and the Rancher have been playing catch-up. On top of the regular fall work, they have been doing some maintenance that could easily have been done earlier in the summer.... if it hadn't been raining.

It's hard to believe that it's almost Halloween! What passed for summer this year passed pretty quickly. She and the Rancher winterized their holiday trailer yesterday, which feels like the day after they un-winterized it.

They sold their calves this week. She marvels at how fast they grew, because it feels as though they were just born about three weeks ago. (Oh, wait, one of them was! And no, he didn't go to the sale with the others.)

Amidst all the work these past few weeks, they did find time for some fun and entertainment. They had an out-of-town visitor who is quite an accomplished musician, so spent a fun weekend making music. Their visitor was even able to teach the Rancher, who has never actually played a musical instrument other than a stereo, how to play a few chords on the banjo!



(And they were having so much fun making the music that the Bag Lady forgot to take pictures, hence the rather odd photo of the instruments that were being tortured played.)
Have a wonderful weekend.

Photo Finish Friday - Firepit

The Rancher and the Bag Lady were invited to a barbeque recently. Their friend had just purchased a fire surround for his firepit.

Here is a picture of one panel of the surround.

Happy weekend!

(Photo courtesy of Harold)

More Kitchen Stories

So. The Bag Lady made her stewed tomatoes the other day - here's a picture of all the yummy ingredients in the pan. Aren't the colours pretty?


She has been digging the last of the carrots, and wanted to share this carroty hug with you!

There have been some really strange-looking carrots coming out of the ground! Because of all the rain earlier in the season, she didn't get around to thinning the carrots as she should have, which has resulted in some closeness, obviously. And some of the carrots have grown strange-looking side shoots, probably due to the hard ground. But regardless of how funny they look, they taste wonderful. She just wonders what she's going to do with all of them. She has, so far, filled two 5-gallon pails, and still has half a row in the ground. Carrot soup, carrot cake, carrot souffle? She gave a huge bagful to her mother-in-law to share with her friends, but still has more than she really needs. Maybe next year she'll remember not to plant quite so many!

Out the Kitchen Window

The days are noticeably shorter, and the Bag Lady has been busy. Even though her garden, for the most part, drowned because of the deluge it received early in the summer, she still has enough produce for a lot of the canning she does. Although she had to buy garlic and onions, her tomatoes and peppers produced very well. She has already made one large batch of salsa, and has enough ingredients for another batch. Unless she decides to do something different..... She grew celery this year for the first time (bedding plants because the growing season where she lives is a little short for celery.) She has been amazed at the hardiness displayed by these plants.
It has dropped below freezing several times in the past few weeks, but the celery does not seem to have been affected in the least. And the flavour? Fabulous!

So.... she has quite a lot of celery to use, and has been pondering canning stewed tomatoes rather than making another batch of salsa. She could still use up the onions, garlic, some peppers, and, of course, all those tomatoes.... and she does already have a lot of salsa.

The stewed tomatoes combined with her home-grown beef would make fabulous spaghetti sauce, wouldn't it? Okay, that's what she'll do. She's glad she had this chat with you!

Oh, and here's the view from her kitchen window this morning!