A Sweet Harvest

All shapes and sizes of tomatoes in various stages of ripe line my kitchen sink window sills. I can't wait to photograph them -- mostly so I can share the excitement and wonder of this Sweetgrass Ranch harvest season.

Yesterday, Lorenzo and I nearly filled a five gallon bucket with our first crop of table grapes. There are lots of big, beautiful bunches still on the vine, a bumper harvest for our relatively new, three year-old vines.

 

That's not all... The Asian Apple Pear trees are full-on with four distinct and flavorful varieties. Thankfully, this fruit keeps well, especially once the cooler temperatures arrive. We should have pears to snack on well into the winter.

Fruits and vegetables are not our only crops. Raising a good saddle horse is an intense and rewarding project that spans many years. One of the most exciting times is when a colt or filly is started under sadlle.

For the past two days, Lorenzo and I have saddled my two year-old filly, Jetblue, and after a brief lunging session and some work to help Jetblue learn the subtle cues of the bosal and mecate, we've taken turns swinging into the saddle and sitting as "ground" handler leads Jetblue around the arena.

Yesterday was pure gold with a couple of huge milestones thrown in for good measure. From the saddle, with the mecate rein in hand and Lorenzo on the ground lightly holding the lead, I taught Jetblue to walk and whoa using my seat and legs. We switched places and it was my turn to lead Jetblue and Lorenzo over the bridge, Jetblue's first "under saddle" obstacle!

There are some exciting things happening with our cattle, too. Dr. Megan Jurasek came by this morning to artificially inseminate our Charolais cow, Daisy. In the next few weeks, Dr. Megan will return to A/I the Black Angus heifers, Libbey and Tove. This year's bull calf, Tip, continues to grow and mature. He's cutting a fine form and we hope to use him as our 2013 herd sire.

So much of life here at Sweetgrass is about sowing and reaping. Nothing is fast and everything requires patience and care. Yet for all the work and worry that accompanies rural life, there is an immense satisfaction in the production and harvest of vegetables, fruits, calves, and good saddle horses.

I'll be sure to post a photo of those gorgeous tomatoes tomorrow. There are four different heirloom varieties in the Sweetgrass garden this year.