The Rancher's Wife - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Doing Scary Things- Ranch Wife Style

February 18, 2025 by admin Leave a Comment

The comfort zone- a place of ease, perceived control, and little stress. Let’s be honest, we all want to operate inside our comfort zone where we can keep anxiety at bay, feel confident, and know what we are doing. We fear failure so we ensure success by only doing those things we have already done. But experience teaches that the most growth and learning happens when we step outside that comfort zone. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do something everyday that scares you. These small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do.”

Life on the ranch tends to give us all plenty of moments outside our comfort zone that we can either embrace and learn through or shy away from and stay stagnant. I’ll admit that embracing those moments feels especially hard when my failures are out on display for so many others to see. It’s ok for my growing children to learn from failure, but as a grown adult, I too often feel like I should just know, well… everything.

Just last week I took the opportunity to do something new and outside my comfort zone. For some, this might seem like a simple daily chore but for me, it was a whole new experience- feeding cows solo. Now I go out and help feed often, sometimes daily. I know the routine, what to feed, how much, but I’ve always been the crew that opens the gates, cuts the net wrap off and such.

What I haven’t ever done is be the guy in the tractor behind the wheel. If we had to choose between my very capable husband and myself in the seat, we choose him because we want to get the job done and move on. And, really, why should I do it when he is there?

Eventually the day rolled around when all of the usual feeding crew were gone. The roping that was supposed to get done with plenty of time for the ranchers to get home and feed, went long, lending to one of two possibilities. Either they would have to feed late after getting home or I could jump in and try to do it myself. I pulled on my big girl coveralls and jumped in the tractor seat, sure that I could feed three bales of hay without disaster striking.

There were a few things I knew I had on my side as I set out- first I had the basics of tractor mechanics down so that I could drive faster than at a snail pace and move the loader in all the necessary directions. Second, if I had questions, FaceTime put me just one phone call away from help. And third, cows don’t care how pretty the feeding is, they just want the hay out.

Getting to the stackyard I found the right hay, and through a little trial and error, managed to get a bale on the forks and grab one with the three point bale squeeze on the back. It wasn’t as smooth and easy as when the guys do it, but I was doing it. I headed up the hill to the hungry heifers, planning in my mind how I was going to go about feeding. I would set the first bale down, cut the wrap off, tip it over, send it rolling down the hill and that would keep the cows out of the way while I put the other two in bale feeders around the pasture. Easy enough.

Everything started off according to plan until it was time to send that bale rolling down the hill. What seemed like a simple little push with the forks was hardly so and because it was taking longer than usual, the cows were now starting to get in the way. To complicate things even more, it was suddenly dark outside.

I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but also so in the thick of what I was doing that there was no quitting.

Scooping up the bale I had intended to roll down the hill, I put it in the first feeder and opted to try again with the second bale, learning from my earlier mistakes. It took a little trial and error but bale number two was finally rolled out and the cows were content to leave me alone while I fed the last bale.

Heading to the feeder, I saw that it was on a hill and while I might be in a tractor, I had better be smart about how I went about getting there. Between the snow and mud, the hill was slick and in that moment, a distinct memory of a teenage girl failing to turn a tractor up a muddy hill came rushing back to me.

Putting the tractor in the low, snail pace gear, I carefully headed down the hill, making sure I had a clear plan out of there after dropping my load. All seemed well as I made my way to the feeder until I stopped the tractor to pull off the net wrap and noticed the tractor continued to slide. I quickly turned the wheels and that was enough to keep it still. I knew I could dump the bale but I wasn’t sure how I would get out of my predicament once I straightened out again.

Four wheel drive. That was the solution. I really should have thought of that before heading down the slippery hill but at least I was thinking of it now. The only problem was that of the millions of buttons, levers and switches, I had no idea which to toggle. And I was sure that the wrong one would probably make the whole tractor implode.

Mustering the courage to make that phone call that admitted a bit of failure, I called my husband and asked for help. Without laughing at my mistakes or making me feel even more dumb than I already felt, my rancher easily helped me get out of my sticky situation. I dropped the last bale, skirted around the feeder, and headed for home quite proud of what I had finally accomplished that night.

For some, this was a simple chore, something they could probably do with their eyes closed, although I don’t recommend it. They made it seem easy but as I went through the very steps they did, it seemed so complicated and almost dauntin. I hope you chuckle about this little ranch wife willing to help even when the job is outside her comfort zone. But more importantly I hope you learn a few lessons from her.

Learn that you can accomplish far more than you think you can. You just have to try. New things are hard and scary- they are supposed to be! But, trying, jumping in with both feet is the only way to grow. Learn that people are here to help you. Asking for help isn’t admitting failure, even though it feels like it. Learn that the only real confidence in life comes from conquering those moments of fear, big or small. I might not be on the “A team” when it comes to the feeding crew, but if the job needs doing, I know I can do it. Next time, I just might have to start a little earlier and find the four wheel drive a little sooner.

A Heartfelt Thanks to a Rancher

November 21, 2022 by admin

Thanksgiving week is often the pinnacle point of heartfelt gratitude. The holiday helps us to slow down and take time to see all of the goodness in our lives. We give thanks for the families around us, the homes and careers we have, the opportunities for growing and learning and the many luxuries we have that we surely take for granted.

High on that list of thanks should be the farmers and ranchers that help feed families around the world. This may seem like an obvious choice but I wonder how many people actually realize that without the backbreaking work of the agriculture industry, their thanksgiving would look very different.

From the turkey at the center of the thanksgiving table to the stuffing and corn and mashed potatoes and even the sweet potato souffle, it all began in someone’s field. Those tasty rolls began as a small wheat seed that was cultivated, harvested, milled and prepared into the flour you used to make great-grandma’s best ever roll recipe. That sweet whipped cream started at the dairy and made its way to the shelves for you to whip up for a tasty pie garnish. That beautiful garden salad is brought to you by the row crop farmers tending their lettuce, carrot and onion fields, just to start.

There isn’t a single bit of Thanksgiving dinner you could have without the management and stewardship of farmers and ranchers. No, I take that back. In this day and age there are plenty of synthetic food alternatives and imitations that you could choose from. But synthetic foods only imitating the real flavor of a savory plate of meat and potatoes could never compare to the real thing.

Besides thanking farmers and ranchers for the foods you get to enjoy, not only on Thanksgiving day, but every day, we owe them a thanks because without them, there is so much of life we wouldn’t enjoy. Imagine if you can, a world without large operations growing masses of food products to sell around the world. Imagine what life would be like if you were responsible to grow and provide all of the food that you and your family would eat.

Tending to animals and crops, harvesting the meats and vegetables, processing the farm products into kitchen ready goods would be all consuming. Think back to our pioneer ancestors and the time they gave to butcher their own animals, church their butter and grind their wheat. If we were completely dependent on providing all our own foods we would either have very little or spend all our time growing it.

With advancements in technology came great improvements in agriculture that allowed farmers and ranchers the capacity to take on more crops and more acreage to feed more families than just their own. As people could purchase foods, it in turn allowed them to use their time and energy in other ways. People could follow their dreams and new ideas, whether it was an exciting career, traveling adventures or enjoying the arts.

Today we have celebrities, stars and popular figures that do very little to provide for themselves, but rather spend all their time entertaining us. Around the world are presidents, leaders and dignitaries that work to make our countries safer to raise our families. Our children have chances to learn more things in more ways than our forefathers could have ever dreamed of. And all of these opportunities and more are afforded to us because we have an agriculture industry that takes on the responsibility to feed the world.

This week as you count your blessings and all the good you have, remember that so much of it comes from the good men and women that labor in fields across the world. They deserve your thanks in so many ways.

The Rancher’s Wife Bloopers

February 25, 2021 by Allison

If there was a reel for this ranch wife’s time spent on the ranch, there would 100%, hands down, for sure be a bloopers cut at the end. One that was dedicated to all of the blonde moments, huh-ohs and flops that add a little excitement to our ranch life. Now don’t worry, the ranch is still standing, our marriage is still solid and nothing that had to be undone, couldn’t be done. Truth be told, once I moved passed the shame of my failures, some of them were actually pretty humorand added a little humor that we can use a bit more of.

Not a Chicken-Herder

I’ve said it before and will likely say it again and again, but I don’t like chickens. Like, really don’t like chickens. I don’t do chickens. And even less so with the herd (flock?) of chickens that we have now. These chickens apparently don’t have a personal bubble and aren’t afraid of anything because they like to get all up in my business. Anymore I don’t gather eggs or check chickens without someone to protect me, like my kids.

Super impressed with my mothering, right?

I feel like I have been plenty patient with these hens wanting to peck my hands and toes and try to fly up in my face but when they had me cornered in the coop I decided this was no longer a one mom job. Someone walking past might have thought the scared screeches and squawks were coming from the chickens, not the other way around. These days I brave the chickens with my courageous four year old taking the lead, boldly shooing away the chickens as we walk across the coop to the nesting boxes. Then I hoist him up to gather the eggs as fast as he can while I keep watch. Every time I wonder if this is the day I will have to call retreat and leave the eggs in order get out of there in one piece.

I know. Its ridiculous. They are just chickens and it only takes a few minutes to gather those eggs. I should totally be up to the task but when it comes to the chickens I have a faint heart and fall short.

Backing up is Just Like Going Forward, Just in Reverse.

The science of backing up a horse trailer is beyond brain surgery and rocket science. Ok, not really, but when it comes to this rancher’s wife there is a lot of room for improvement. The Rancher just laughs at my deficiency and reminds me over and over the backing up is just like going forward, but in reverse.

Genius.

I understand the principles of it but applying it can be a little challenging. If I’m lined up with a straight shot and all tires are straight and I’m praying really hard I can usually pull it off. Or if someone is there to tell me which way to go and shake their head when I turned the wheel the wrong way I can manage to get backed in where we need. (Why someone would let me back up instead of kicking me out of the driver’s seat kinda blows my mind…) But if I’m on my own it can be somewhat problematic.

Like the day we decided to move a group of heifers on our way home. The Rancher hopped on his horse and asked us to drive the truck and trailer around to open the gate. Sure. Easy. I am a professional gate opener. So we get there, open the gate and wait. Unfortunately the heifers weren’t having anything to do with the truck and trailer there by the gate and wouldn’t go through. That meant I had to roll up my sleeves and back ‘er up. I was doing so good, backing up with the trailer heading where I wanted it and then I turned too much this way and that and before I knew and I was taking up the whole road. Traffic isn’t all the busy down our road so I wasn’t too worried but one glance up and down the road proved me wrong and I couldn’t just wait for The Rancher to bail me out as he has done more times than I would like to admit.

Don’t worry. Common sense prevailed and I just pulled ahead enough to be out of the way of traffic and the heifers and all ended well. Something I probably should have done to start with. But my rancher’s wife ego took a serious blow. I mean what kind of ranch raised cattlewomen has such a handicap?

From Hero to Zero

Its not very often that The Rancher calls me to save the day to help him out of a pickle and I relish the chance to be the hero. More often than I would like, there are those days that my triumphant moment turns to a flop.

One of these days stands out in my mind so distinctly because I quickly turned from rescuer to rescuee in a hurry. It was a cold January morning, The Rancher was out feeding cows and was pushing to get done quickly. The ground was covered in snow and the intense wind had blown drifts in some places and bare ground in others. The Rancher had thought he would be safe to drive through some snow but realized too late that he had just sunk the truck into a well disguised drift. He gave a good effort to get out to find that he was too stuck to get out alone.

With no one else around to help, The Rancher called me to bring our truck down to see we could get him moving again. I come charging in to save the day, beaming with pride that he would call me to help (pretending that it was do more to my skill than to his desperation). I pulled up to him to get my set of directions- pull around in front so we can yank the truck out. I put the truck in gear and start to go around where I was so sure The Rancher had told me to go. Seconds later I realized that was NOT the way I should have gone and sunk my truck up to its axels in snow.

What a rescue…

I’m sure The Rancher was kind and patient and understanding at my less than helpful efforts. Maybe not, but we can’t help but be sympathetic to his situation of having not one, but two trucks to pull out when we were already running behind…

With true stick-to-it determination, The Rancher managed to first dig his own truck out, and then pull mine out. He has been brave enough to call for help again, but jumps in the drivers seat before things go from bad to worse.

Helping in the Wrong Direction

While I love every opportunity to jump in and help, I realize that there is some amount of time that I am going to need to get caught up to whatever the guys are working on. Sometimes it takes just a second and I’m ready to roll. Then there are those days that I am rolling in the opposite direction.

Literally.

On the hot summer evenings, I think that moving wheel lines is a great way to end the day. We load the kids up, enjoy riding across the field and cooling off in the sprinklers. Its refreshing, even fun! Having my own pipe-moving-experience I have no problem jumping in to help. I consider it one of the perks of marrying me, that The Rancher got a wife willing to do a little irrigation.

On occasion, he just might think otherwise.

After a few irrigating oopses, there are always two things The Rancher is sure to tell me before I head off to move any lines on my own. First which direction the wheel line is moving and second, how many turns I need to go. Even as I’m writing this I’m second guessing how many we should do. To be fair to me, it can be hard to notice which direction you are moving across the field. Sure you may go the same direction year after year and it isn’t that difficult to see what is wet versus dry. But when the alfalfa is tall, the kids are distracting and you are just trying to get the work done, you just start moving and its entirely possible you are rolling in the wrong direction.

Maybe this sort of sub par help is why we have gotten rid of most of our wheel lines for pivots. Hhmmm…

I hate to admit that some of my out on the ranch skills have gotten a little rusty. Don’t get me wrong, I am helpful, more often than not. But in all honesty, I have my days that I just can’t win. Part of my charm has to be helping the rest of the crew look good. I’m sure that if all of my time and energy was dedicated to just the ranch, I would sail along, no problem, day after day. But its not and so I will take the ranch wife flops and laughs along the way. They always say, “laughter is the best medicine.”

Photos by the great Kendra Bird at kendrabirdphotography.com

Why a Rancher Goes to College

January 24, 2018 by Allison

We just got done with an awesome weekend with the whole family. Nothing big. Just some good food, some game time, and our favorite people. Three of The Rancher’s brothers are in college right now and coming home to the ranch is their quick breath of fresh air and their means for rejuvenation before the next week of school. I totally get the need to take a break and come up for air after so many deadlines nagging at you over and over again. Over the weekend we heard all sorts of “I gotta study for this big test…” or “I have this huge assignment coming up…” and it almost sorta, kinda took me back to the days that The Rancher and I were in school.

I had two different college experiences in the quest for my degree. The first was when I was single and living my own dream and all that was on my schedule was a little bit of school, a little bit of work, a little bit of homework, and a lot of sports games. That was my life. Oh, and trying to get into nursing school… Then I got married, moved and started a new university experience. I didn’t have an apartment of girls that I had to share the bathroom space with anymore, but I had a man that needed real food, that I had to negotiate who got the car with and that I was building a life and sharing a dream with.

It was awesome.

It was hard.

The Rancher is not a sit-down-read-the-text-book-to-learn kind of kid. There might have even been some classes that he didn’t even open his book up, let alone learn from it. He is hands on, learn as you go, trial and error kind of learning guy. He learns fast and can see so quickly how to get from A to B. But sitting in a classroom just drained the life out of him.

There were a lot of times that I heard people say, “Why is he going to school if he is just going back to the ranch? He isn’t even going to use his degree anyway. Its just a piece of paper.” And when I hear those words, my blood starts to boil.

Yes, my husband was very VERY lucky that he had a job waiting for him the day he finished college. The job he had dreamed of having his whole life. He didn’t have to do scores of applications and interviews. He was qualified for the job by his experience long before ever finishing his degree. But that doesn’t mean that his college experience wasn’t a valuable asset for him as he returned to the ranch.

Here’s why.

When a grad walks away from college, we like to think it was only worthwhile if they got a job in their field or if they are able to make money using the skills and knowledge that they gained. If not then their experience was a total waste. In The Rancher’s case, it would seem that he already knew everything he would need to know to cowboy, so what was the sense in spending all that time and money on math classes and literature classes that he would never use anyway? And of course everything they would teach him in his ag classes were things that he should already know or he wouldn’t need to use. Right? It was just as wasteful as someone that went to a trade school or did an apprenticeship but changed course after getting done. Its wasted money and time if the girl that went to beauty school doesn’t open up a salon the week after she is certified or if the boy that went for diesel mechanics doesn’t end up working on trucks. Right?

Wrong!

I get that getting degrees and certificates and those kind of things cost money. I also get that we feel that there needs to be a return on that investment that is deemed worth such an investment. But the future potential income ISN’T the only returns from going to college.

There are so many life skills learned while going to college from the little things of doing laundry to learning how to problem solve from some crazy math (I will NEVER forgot the ah-ha moment I had mid-math class when I figured out the most complex problem… Never…) . Not to mention learning how to meet deadlines and pushing through to the end when you don’t want to.

You also gain an amazing network of friends and professionals in your area of study. They are the people you can work with, lean on and learn from. They push you to be better, help pick you up when you fall, and encourage you to try again. These people are so invaluable!

Taking time to step back from the ranch to learn from other people, their experiences and knowledge widens what can be a narrow view. You learn different ways, other ways, possibly better ways to work in the same industry.
If you ask The Rancher, a boy that spent all of his growing up time on the ranch, he will immediately tell you that he uses things that he learned from his classes. Especially his ag classes. Could he still ranch and cowboy without what he learned? Probably. Is he better at doing what he loves because of it? Absolutely.

The Rancher pushed through school because we both felt it was important to him. Not just for the things he learned, but for him to accomplish something that was hard, something that he thought he wasn’t made to do. We also thought it was important for the day that he may ever have to look for a job. Our dream was always to come back to the ranch, but what if that didn’t happen? What if it took years for that? What if at some point he had to look for other work? Having a degree made him marketable. It was a safety net that we needed for our family.

I am a big proponent of getting an education, ANY education you can. Because it is there that people gain valuable experience and confidence, gain life skills, net work, and find what they do and don’t want to do with their lives. You might think that this is an expensive cost to learn what they don’t want, but gaining an education is priceless. No matter what you are learning. It can be simply that you don’t ever want to be the prescribing rations of feed supplements. It could be that you learn how interested you are in genetics.

Not everyone is made for college or trade school or an apprenticeship. But everyone is made for learning. There is a whole world out there waiting to teach us is only we are ready to learn. So don’t ever think that because you or someone you know wants to cowboy or be a rancher that they don’t need to go to college or that they shouldn’t waste their time on college. Because it isn’t wasted time. Its invested time. Support them and their want to learn, their want to do something hard. They are probably going to complain or even regret it while in the thick of it all. But when it is all over, they will tell you it was worth it!

Trailing the Cows Home: If Only We Can Find the Gate…

January 12, 2018 by Allison

Its definitely winter here on the ranch. Not because it is cold and snowy, because it has actually been warm (relatively) and rainy. I’m saying its winter time on the ranch because the cows are here and The Rancher is officially feeding every morning. Slowly over the last 2 weeks we have trailed and hauled cows home, starting with the group up in Quaken Asp.

Quaken Asp is some of private ground in the mountains past our home where we pasture the cows in the fall. Its a favorite of our family’s- a place where we go up for a 4 wheeler rides, hunting, an evening drive… you name it, we do it up there. In fact, The Rancher proposed to me up there. Yep, I love it up there. When The Rancher announced that it was the day to bring the cows home from there, I immediately asked if I could come along too. I would say it was 50% me wanting to go for a ride, 30% that I needed get out of the house and do something, and a strong 20% that needed some quality time in a place that I loved.

Luckily for me, I managed to upgrade my ride from the gator, which I always plan to take because it lets me take all my little people and manage to take photos off the trail, to my horse! The Ranch Boss, my father-in-law, had shoulder surgery a few months ago and the thought of something going wrong and him coming off his horse was enough to make him call dibs on the gator. At first I thought that meant I was destined to stay home or to sit in the truck and wait. But, because I am his favorite daughter-in-law, The Ranch Boss volunteered to take my kids with him and I was free to saddle up and go.

Once we got up the mountain, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the cows were going to be difficult to bring home. We rode to the very edges and corners of the field and only gathered up a small portion of the herd. As cows do, they had managed to tear the fence down in a few places and meander far, FAR away. And not only they were few and far between, but they were also belligerent and stubborn and wouldn’t move. They would sit in the trees, head up the mountain, and no matter what we did, turn tail and run.

Ya wanna here just how stupid and ignorant and frustrating these cows were? Ok, it wasn’t the worst move we have ever done, but still frustrating.

There were four cows that I found in the bottoms, stopped in a groves of trees. Calling them trees is kinda pushing it… It was more like a bunch of overgrown bushes that left no room for a horse to move around but apparently enough for a cow to wiggle under. And there was no amount of whooping and whistling that was moving these cows. I tried coming at them from every direction and something worked because eventually they started moving (I guess I am scary… BOOM!) Of course they don’t take the easy way down and jump in with the rest of the herd but they decide to go further up the mountain, through even more brush. About this time The Rancher rides in and he followed them up and over while I kept looking for others in the rest of the brush.

Things were going pretty ok, but we could see handfuls of cows that still needed gathered in. The Rancher and Cowboy E headed out to gather in whatever they could find, while I grabbed those four cows and kept pushing them. I actually didn’t have to push all that much because they were moving plenty fast on their own. Unfortunately they kept going further and further up the mountain and away from the herd. I would get the leader stopped and headed back down just to see one take off another way. This happened over and over again. Where was a good ranch dog when I needed him?

We were headed in the same general direction as the herd and I knew that we would come out just fine, so I opted to stop fighting those old girls and just see where they were taking us. I knew that other cowboys were on the same side of the mountain as we were and that in reality, if I needed help, I could leave the cows and things would be ok. But, being the good cowgirl that I am (or at least pretend to be), I just kept going. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned when I first trailed cows was to let them take the lead. They knew the range better than I did so it was likely that they knew the best way out. I was hoping that this little bit of advice wasn’t about to fail me. After moving for a long for a while, I start to see more and more cows. Apparently this group all had the same idea to head for the same corner of field, not realizing that they had passed up the better route of going through the bottoms. About that same time, I see Cowboy Pete push a few more cows in my direction and turn around to head for more so I figured I would just take this group and move on down. We started following the fence, assuming that it would take us to the road and out. But I started to look where the fence headed and all I see are corners.

Who builds a fence with 12 hundred corners in it?! Ok… I know that the where and how the fence goes depends on a lot of different things, but still… I mean, if I kept following the fence, where was I gonna end up. I didn’t bring my map of the range so… I called The Rancher instead. He informed me that occasionally they just take the fence down and make their own gate… Oh. Make my own gate. I can do that. I rode up ahead of the cows and took the wires down. Just then The Ranch Boss called me to explain that I needed to turn the cows around, that there is a gate at the corner already opened. Ya know, the gate that we had passed already. He said it was an easier ride out so, I turned those cows around. And went back to where we had started.

No gates to be found… I might have grumbled a little.

And then we turned around again and headed for the place I knew I could get out, make-shift gate I had torn down. And that is when I saw it. A gate. Hidden in a sort-of corner (as opposed to a nice square corner) that we had passed. Over and over again… These blasted cows, that have been on this mountain year after year, head straight for the gate that THEY want to go out, and then MISS it altogether! Gah! If I was a cursing woman, I would have used all sorts of obscenities but… I held my tongue. And those crazy girls redeemed themselves by sticking to trail for the rest of the ride home.

Mostly…

Until the next ride!

The Rancher’s Wife

Thankful for the Moments

November 25, 2017 by Allison

Happy Thanksgiving! Wasn’t it a terrific day yesterday? A day full of eating and family and eating and sleeping and eating and fun! Actually, I don’t think I got an-after-lunch-nap but that’s ok.

I like my Thanksgivings best when its steeped in tradition and intentional. We can eat a turkey any day and we can over-indulge whenever we want, but to be really be Thanksgiving, this day has to be more than that.

My mom has a tradition every Thanksgiving. Its simple. Its easy. But it helps me keep Thanksgiving more than just a day about eating.

Every year my mom pulls out her hand drawn thankful turkey and carefully puts it on the wall. To begin with he looks a little sad, so bare because he doesn’t have any feathers yet. But as the days surrounding Thanksgiving pass, he is filled with colorful feathers inscribed with the blessings that we are most grateful for. Some of them say “family.” Some of them say “God.” Some of them say “my blankie.” And some of them even say, “my hot wife!” They aren’t elaborate or fancy, but they are true, heartfelt things we are grateful for.

For this first time ever, I struggled to know what to write. Not because I wasn’t grateful, but because I was so grateful for so many things I just didn’t know what to pick. We have been blessed with a beautiful home in a place that we get do what we love to do. We are constantly surrounded by good friends and family. We have so many opportunities to learn, to serve, and to grow. And while our year was so full, it was so full of blessings! I just didn’t know what to write.

As I sat there trying to decide what to put on my empty thankful feather I began to think back through this year and all the things we had done and I began to realize that what I treasure most are the moments. Those special moments you breath in deep because you know just how fleeting they can be. Those moments you pause to take it all in so you can remember the sounds and smells that wrap around you. Those moments that seem to make a place deep within your soul.

Those moments came as I stood with my kids as the heavy snowflakes drifted down from a peaceful winter storm while we were building a snowman. They came as we worked in the garden, planting, weeding and watering lending to our eventual harvest. It was in the quiet that I had those special moments when I rocked my growing baby before bed. More came as we worked together as a family to fill our yard with new grass. Some of those moments were spent late at night as we talked and laughed with our brothers and sisters.

There are so many things in this life that I wish we could have or that I could give to my family. We fill our lives with things or with moments and if I had to choose what my kids filled their lives with, it would be these moments. More than anything, I hope that they hang on to them. That they cherish them. Because all of the things that they have will slip away, but these moments are for them to keep forever.

There was no better thing for me to be thankful and to put on my feather than “the moments.” What are you thankful for in this season of gratitude? There are no wrong answers because being grateful is so much more important than what we are grateful for. If you haven’t, take a minute and look through your life and find those things that bless your life.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

From a very grateful Rancher’s Wife

The Idaho Rancher’s Wife Braves the Stage

November 17, 2017 by Allison

True to my word, here I am, telling you about my experience speaking at the ICA Annual Convention. I’m still in shock that people wanted to hear from me and ask questions about what I do. I’m also a little in shock that I am posting twice in one week! Maybe this can become a regular thing….

Tuesday I was part of a panel to speak on different forms of advocacy and just briefly describe the how’s and why’s of doing it. Speaking out about ranching and trying to connect with people is become really important these days. It is easy to become disconnected from the things that keep our world running whether it is knowing where our food is coming from or how the plumbing in our homes work.

While I was there to talk about how I reach out through blogging, there was another woman, Cheyenne Smith, there to speak on how she is apart of the ranching and beef conversation through twitter. I was really impressed how she wants people to care about us as ranchers and as people providing food for families. By sharing the tidbits from her everyday life, she helps people really see what ranching is like. If you are tweeter (is that even a thing?), go find her @JLazySAngus. Not only does she have great insight to ranching, but she has a great network to be a part of.

The other presenter on our panel was Matt Brechwald and how he goes about advocating really impressed me. A little back story… After college, he ended up living and working in the city. Eventually, he realized that he was not happy with where is life was taking him. So, he and his wife found some land that they could relocate to and start their own ranching experience. In order to make ends meet, he used his skills, machinery, and tools from the ranch to create a side job. As he was out working one day, he realized what an awesome thing he had been able to do and how he needed to share that. He started doing podcasts, highlighting his journey to what he was doing and how others could do it too. To find more about his story and his podcasts you can go to his site at www.offincome.com.

It was really a great experience sharing the mic with these people and helping to share the importance of advocacy, why we love it and how others can do it too. I’ll admit, I was so nervous to begin with. And through most of it… In fact, there was one point that the moderator asked me a question and I was in the middle of answering it with one of my stories. And all the sudden I realized I couldn’t remember what I had been saying and couldn’t even remember where I was going with it. Haha… You can laugh at me… I am! Once we were done with our two 25 minute session I was finally relaxed enough that I felt ready to start. Pretty unfortunate that it was all over, huh?

You are probably thinking that I am last person that should be telling other people to get out there blogging because I struggle in this realm myself. I can be inconsistent and unreliable, and that is a hard pill to swallow. But yesterday I realized that what I do have is that I keep coming back to it. This experience may have been more important to me that for anyone else because it reminded me why I do this. And maybe now I have recommitted myself with new a new drive and hope for what I can do here in this space to reach out and advocate for something I believe in so strongly!

Changes Going on Over Here

June 5, 2017 by Allison

I love blogging. I LOVE it! And I also hate it… Because as much as I love writing and telling stories and my photography… I hate sitting at the computer. And it is always pulling my chain. The days between posts can slip by so fast and then I feel guilty and terrible and frustrated at not being consistent and organized enough to keep things going.

But I keep doing it because I LOVE IT!

We have had this conversation before…

Usually my absence on here is due to the busy rancher’s-wife-and-little-cowboy-momma life I lead but for the next few weeks you won’t here from me for a good reason instead of my slacking.

Are you confused? Or maybe just wondering what the heck I am talking about… I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. For the last several months I’ve had big plans in the works. Actually I have been dreaming of big things for even longer and now I am pulling the trigger.

I am giving my blog a facelift! Its not that I don’t love how things look now, its just that I want to add more. I want to incorporate so much more for you and for me. Knowing me, it is actually going to go quite slow to get everything where and how I want it. But in the next few weeks you will see the beginning and I’m so excited for it.

So… you won’t hear from me for a few weeks and even though that isn’t uncommon for me, it is on purpose!

Pausing for Perspective

May 24, 2017 by Allison

I love my life. I really do. Its amazing how much joy and satisfaction I find in what we do. I get to watch my kids learn and grow and fail and succeed. They get to watch their dad work and see what it means to have responsibilities and carry them out. It is exhausting and amazing and inspiring… and exhausting.

I love our life but it is exhausting. Most of the time when life gets busy and exhausting, you pause, give yourself some space, do something new to recharge yourself, and then jump back in.

We don’t do that.

Not that we don’t believe it taking a break, but its kinda difficult. With cows, irrigating, haying, feeding, checking water, and all the other things on the never ending check list, we don’t have the time to just up and leave. Not to mention the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere and going anywhere requires plenty of travel time.

But that’s ok.

We may to be able to be world travelers or we might not have the opportunities to visit exotic places. Its all ok, because we have an entire world to explore in our back yard. We have horses and 4wheelers and mountains and trails. We really have everything we need.

What we do, everyday, is what we love. Yes, we get tired of the daily grind, but that is when we load up in the gator and go for a ride. And we take a moment to refocus on what our priorities are and then we get back to it.

I’m in desperate need for such a pause. I am feeling the weight of the work that needs to be done on our home, for our community, in the fields… There is always more work to be done than there is time and energy. Think I can talk The Rancher into taking me on a romantic motorcycle ride tonight?

Growing Some Thick Skin

April 26, 2017 by Allison

One of my favorite rancher wives once told me that she chooses NOT to work beside her husband a lot of times because she doesn’t have thick enough skin. Its not that her husband is grouchy and it isn’t ever her husband that is the problem, but to keep things happy in all corners, she just stays out of it.

From her words of wisdom and my own experiences over the last few years, I have learned two things. First, if I can’t handle what the cowboys say, I’d better stay out of the work. And second, I if I’m determined to work with them, I better grow some thick skin to be able to handle it all.

You know me… although the best way to go would be to go with the first little lesson I learned, I’m taking the harder way and following the second.

There are a few reasons a person might need some thicker skin when working with the cowboys, especially if its your husband. At home, he calls you honey and sweetheart and any other pet name I might not want to know. But those lovy names are totally forgotten once the two of you are out the door to work. All of the sudden, he sounds a little cold or distant and pretty soon, you begin to wonder if you did something wrong. Really, what has happened is that he has his rancher hat on and that is all that is on his mind. Don’t worry, he will warm back up to you when the work is done!

Now, unfortunately, ranch work can be noisy. Really, REALLY noisy. Loud tractors or pumps, noisy, bellaring cows and so much more. Hearing anybody talking to you over any of this noise is nearly impossible. So the easiest solution to this problem is just to talk louder than the noise. Most commonly known as YELLING. Yep, I just admitted it, my husband yells at me. At least that is what I used to think. That quick, “CLOSE THE GATE!” without any tender love or affection can cut a wife right to the heart if she doesn’t have some thick skin to protect her. But once ya learn that he is yelling TO you, not AT you, its not so bad. In reality, anything he might be yelling to you is probably to help you do your job better or to keep you safe. Just read it as his way of saying “I love you.”

Eventually, any ranch wife that decides to help the guys get the work done, is going to make a mistake. Its hard to admit, but we wives aren’t perfect. We try hard to be perfect because there are some pretty intense expectations of the level of work that needs to be done and inevitably we might miss the mark. And without any warning or intention, some words might slip out of somebody’s mouth and somebody’s feelings are hurt. I’ve been there thinking, “I am here helping you get YOUR work done and I am doing MY BEST and you are mad at me?!”

But in all honesty, I had made a mistake.

And I hate to admit it.

But in admitting my mistake, it actually made things better.

I’m sure that there are a lot of other wives out there that have their own stories and lessons they have learned about how to make it working with their husbands on the ranch. But ultimately, if you’re going to work with the guys, you gotta handle whatever they might say. Some of it they mean, some of it they don’t. But some thick skin can go a long way to keep things happy at home.

Because really, it can’t get more true than the t-shirt that says, “Sorry for what I said when we were working cattle!”