Retiring to the Frontier Part 3 and a Fond Adios

Liza Jane

I wanted to finish this three part post by talking about Northern New Mexico culture, but I've realized that there are multiple cultures here and many of us have picked up ways of living from all of them.

It's an appreciation of heritage, of having a connection to this place for hundreds of years. Our friend Ernest Martinez' family goes back to the 1800's. We live on a ranch that was once owned by his grandparents.

Ernesto Martinez

It's a reverence for spirituality, be it organized Catholic religion or a celebration of just being part of This Earth.

Santa Rita Catholic Church, Lucero, NM

Good Friday Pilgrims

It's a sense of community, whether it's making a quilt together, voting, or celebrating Summer Solstice.

It's doing it yourself, self reliance, and an appreciation for the animals that sustain you.

Tom staking the bridge after a flood

Bridget doing something rare: Feeding the stock

It's growing your own food, but also relying on a little help from our friends, trading this for that, sharing seedlings, and seeds, and know-how.

It's about water: What sustains our animals, our crops, and us.

And it's about querencia: The way we are connected to a particular place and its landscape. It's home. And when you're away from it, you want to be there. And this is now our home.

I hope you've enjoyed following our lives for the past 10 years, watching us adjust to a new community, a different landscape, and a new way of life. 

But we are not disappearing. If you'd like to follow us on Instagram, look for @bridgetNM510 where we will still be posting about life here at The Nickel and Dime Ranch as well as any quilting shenanigans I might be getting into. Love, and cheers, and thanks for reading, 

Bridget and Tom

Blessed Rain

For those of you who have regular rainstorms throughout summer, you are probably thinking the title of this post should be "Blasted Rain," and I hear you.

But around here, where people have been praying for rain for years, the past five days have been a blessing.

Remember this photo from back in July? Yep, that's a dry creek bed, even though we had just received a little rain and hoped for more.

 

We went out exploring and here's that same place yesterday. The footbridge touches the opposite side just to the right of the tree.

 

We haven't been out yet today, so who knows if the bridge is still there? I'll let you know.

 

 

Ms. Pearl's Labrador Retriever half has taken over and she's been body surfing down the creek. At first I was worried, but she knows where to get out.

Pearlie wouldn't hold still for a photo. "C'mon, cut the crap! There's water out there!"

Portrait of a Manic Austrolab.

A Summer Walk to the Beaver Pond

It's trying to be monsoon season here at the Nickel and Dime, and in areas nearby they've even had some flash flooding with puddles, actual puddles (!) alongside the roads. Since most of the yearly moisture  comes during this July and August rainy season, everyone has been hoping and praying that the rain will keep falling, but not so much that we get flooded out.

There was rain last week here at the ranch, so the grass is growing a bit and the steers think it's candy. Sadly, our creek isn't running, though, so bring on more rain!

Yesterday Ms. Pearl and I took a walk through The Enchanted Forest to see how the beavers are doing.

Here's our empty creek bed.

If you look closely at the photo below, you might be able to see Ms. Pearl exploring an area just above what Tom calls "Bridget's Bottom." 

 Yeah, there she is! C'mon, you goofball!

Sometimes when we're walking around I can't find her. So I'm calling, a little worried, and she just appears, usually right behind me, looking like, "Didn't you know I was here the whole time?"

You've seen the pine trees all around here, but watch where you're going because these grow here and there on the forest floor:

Prickly Pear Cactus

Nylon Hedgehog Cactus

Don't the spines on this Nylon Hedgehog cactus look like embroidery?

So here we are at the beaver dam. Not much water left, so I wonder what happens to the beavers? Do they pack up their bags and find a better place? Research is necessary.

Come on and rain some more. We want the beavers back!

What is cool, though, is a chance to see how they built the dam. That's a lot of earth moved, don't you think?

You can see that even though I have been providing fresh water in a civilized water trough for the steers, their hoof marks are visible in the mud. Don't drink that stuff, you guys!

So we have green grass, pine trees, pretty cacti, rain, an empty creek bed, missing beavers, and a chance to experience both the beauty and the sadness of nature right in our back yard.

It will sort itself out eventually. It always does.

The Lazy Boyz Want Rain!

The other day T and I were picking up wood in The Enchanted Forest and our usually shy Lazy Boyz came to watch us work.

Actually, they were looking for a handout. We've only fed them hay when the temps have been low or there was too much snow, but they remembered.

The only green and growing grass on the ranch is along the creek, but because we haven't had enough rain (yet), the rest of the place just has last year's leftovers. It's food and they aren't getting skinny, but it's dry and crunchy, not green and juicy.

And dry grass is boring! "Hey, bro!" say the Lazy Boyz. "Give us some hay!"

Seriously, ranchers with big herds of cattle are selling them early because there's not enough grass. We are lucky to have grass left over from last year and to only have a "herd" of two cattle.  To feed hay to a large herd would cost way too much.

That's why the price of your steaks is going up and will continue to go up during this drought. It costs more to feed cattle when there isn't enough grass or hay. Supply and demand and all that.


The typical conversation around here always starts with, "We need rain." And yes, we do, not only to feed the livestock and keep the rivers and creeks flowing, but also to help the firefighters who are working their hearts out to protect people, animals and property in the path of wild fires.

Pray, do a rain dance, or just send up your watery thoughts. The southwest needs rain!

Community Rights in New Mexico

Community rights is the idea that communities should have more rights than corporations when it comes to determining what happens to a local community's air, water, and land.Well, duh! Wouldn't that always be the case? Nope. In many cases big business deals trump the welfare of a community, polluting and ruining the environment with no recourse for the community members.

These posters have sprung up in our county and the counties nearby. Mora County residents have recently elected county commissioners who are strong believers in the idea of community rights and they are now the majority on the county commission. They are working to enact community ordinances which would restrict or ban gas drilling in Mora County and protect individual and community water rights.

Around here water is precious and even more so since we are still in a drought.

In Mora County, water sustains cattle, the largest agricultural product here and for many, their only paycheck. Most people in the county drink from their own wells and water associations monitor and regulate how much water each member uses from the acequias (water ditches) to irrigate their fields.

Beautiful, clear creeks and rivers flow through the ranches and public lands in Northern New Mexico and residents fear that hydrolic fracturing could either pollute the water from chemicals used during the fracking process or suck up all the water here for drilling projects elsewhere.

Either way, the ranchers and residents of our county would be screwed.

As someone most aptly put it, "We can live without natural gas. We can't live without water!"

Brrr....It's Cold!

 Brr! It's definitely cold here. How cold is it? It's so cold Ms. Pearl lifted up both front paws from the snow, sitting up even though she had never done it before.

 
It's been cold in many places of the United States, even cold in Southern California. Gotta put away the crop tops and shorts for a while, you guys. Get tough, SoCal people!

Here in Northern New Mexico, temps haven't gone as low as MINUS 33, like what happened a couple February's ago, but this morning was -12F when doggie visitor Reggie went out for a little constitutional. Ms. Pearl wanted to stay "turned in," snug under our bed's down comforter. Smart doggie.

 
It snowed all day yesterday, a light powdery 3 or 4 inches of blessed moisture.  That's our upper pasture with plenty of grass. Our two beef steers are methodically eating, one bite at a time. A USDA fellow dropped by for a cattle survey and complimented us on our grass and said we were managing it well. Well, yeah, we only have two cattle on it!

Our two steers, George and Ringo (why, oh why, do I name these cattle?) are still getting used to Ms. P and her officious behavior. "Stay together! Get in line!" are what half Australian shepherds say to both their livestock and their people.

So here are George and Ringo. They are Limousin-Angus cross breeds.

George

Ringo

They are an experiment: Limousin cattle are larger and longer than Angus, so will produce more beef. We will have a couple more Black Angus soon, so maybe we can have some taste tests. These guys are wearing their shaggy, thick fur coats and have found all the tree sheltered spots for when it gets snowy.

Usually, though, all they do is eat or lie down in the sunshine. What a life.

Looking north toward The Enchanted Forest are the mountains near Angel Fire Resort. (Whoops-Those are the mountains above Guadalupita. Sorry.) I know skiers and resort workers who will be very happy.

The creek is almost completely frozen (this photo is from December)  The steers found an open space to drink, but Tom made the opening bigger.

I think if there wasn't sun most days I might not like the cold weather, but it's amazing what a little sunlight can do for my mental health. Heck, I even consider 40 degree weather warm now, and that's what we are supposed to have starting tomorrow. Yippee!

Leave It To The Beavers

We are lucky to have a creek running right through the ranch. Sometimes it's dry, but usually we have water flowing, one of the few sounds out here in the boonies. Cross our fingers that we get some snow so the water keeps on chooglin'.

Beavers like the creek, too, and on the property next to us they have been busy. The first dam I saw, created from rock, was so tidy I thought humans had done it. And they have soldiered on, making a sizable pool. Those wires you see crossing the water are our fenceline.

Looking toward our neighbors' property, this is where most of the pond is spreading. That's a yak in the background and an adobe building behind the yak.

Beavers used to be considered pests, but they have become popular lately with ranchers and environmentalists because their dams cause water in the streams to soak into the surrounding grounds, in some cases causing the water table to rise. In arid climates like ours, that's a good thing.

This dam isn't stopping the water, so our "herd" of beef cattle, all two of them now, have plenty of creek water to drink.

Ms. Pearl likes the beaver pond, too. She calls it her swimming pool.

Sometimes she gives us her impression of a beaver.

We are happy to have the beavers move in. The water level in the creek has been low and fishing here has been almost nonexistent.

With deeper water, maybe trout will stay a little longer, if they don't mind sharing a pond with beavers, cattle, yaks, and dogs.

Temps in the '70's, and then, Bam!

K and J are visiting and brought snow. Just last week while I was hiking about in my shirtsleeves, I thought, "These little sprigs of grass are cute! I hope we get some moisture soon to keep them growing." I was feeling a little gloomy, worried that the steers would not have enough grass to last until July, which is when the natural grass-fed beef co-op buys them.

So now we have the moisture I asked for: First driving rain, then little hail pellets followed by large, gloopy flakes of snow, until we settled into something more serious. More snow is expected today.

I hope the apple buds are okay.

It's Spring in the Growing Dome

It's almost spring at the Nickel and Dime: Trees and vines have buds, birds are chirping and building nests, little sprigs of green are popping up for the Angus Boys to eat, and my outer wear is a cotton hoodie that I can take off when it gets too warm. Warm here is the 70's and I'm happy with that.

The Growing Dome has been cranking out green stuff for the past couple months, and we are racing the heat, hoping the rest of the cool weather vegetables won't up and quit.

The Arctic lettuce is doing well, the leaves tender and buttery. 

The lettuce is being shaded by the broccoli, with some sugar snap peas, radishes, more lettuce, and beets in this bed, too.

We are having a little trouble with black gnats, so I used these bug catcher papers to trap a couple hundred of them. Unfortunately, they are still around, so I sprinkled some diatomacious earth around the affected plants. We shall see.

Across the dome was the raised bed The Angus Boys destroyed last fall. They turned the dome into a cattle cafeteria when they ventured through the open door and were trapped inside for a couple of days.

So far I have a couple tomato plants, radishes, green beans, Poona Kheera cucumbers, and oakleaf lettuce planted on this side.

The blue watering can was a congratulations present to me for getting the dome done (Tom and Z did most of the work). It's a Dramm 12455 5-Liter Premium High-Grade Plastic Watering Can. The red one is a Wal-Mart product, but it totally smashes the seedlings when I water them, so I use it for mature plants. Water comes from the dome's water tank.

 Below is the baby nursery where tomato, chard, crookneck squash, lettuce, flowers and cauliflower seeds are sprouting. The temps  above the water tank are moderate, not too hot or cold.

Back on our entry porch, it looks like someone is getting ready to decorate again.

How does your garden grow?

Drought in New Mexico

Eastern New Mexico isn't the only place in the United States with severe drought conditions, and lack of rain in parts of Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida are contributing to a rip roaring fire season this year. The photo on the left shows the driest area of the ranch, with little or no greenery. 

Our six Angus steers, a.k.a. The Angus Boys, are lucky because although parts of the ranch are dry, with grass like shredded wheat,  they still have acres of relatively greener grass and oaks to browse on. Sometimes they even sneak into the yard for a little snack if we aren't looking.

The concern here at the Nickel and Dime is water. The creek is drying up. So far we still have some deep pools swimming with little fishies, perhaps baby trout. There are a few bigger fish that we are watching with interest. If they're going to drown anyway, we might as well eat them or put them in the Growing Dome's water tank.

Here is the creek last year in July,  during the monsoon season. Every year Arizona and New Mexico get almost half their annual rainfall in July, August and September. That's an average, though, and who knows what will happen this year?

Here is the creek yesterday, approximately the same spot as the photo above.

We will closely monitor the water situation and if it looks like the creek will dry up before the rains come (crossing fingers and saying prayers) we will pump water and fill up the water trough for The Boys until they get a little bigger.