Category Archives: Photographs

SPRING 2021

Posted on March 30, 2021 by | 1 comment 






Short-stemmed wildflowers
attempt to act normal, draw
eyes from bare hillsides.
 

							

	
			

				
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SOMEHOW, STILL LIVING


			

				Posted on March 29, 2021 by  | Leave a comment
			


				

				











                        Swirl of savage sunsets,





                        Swirl of the dead





                        Somehow, still living.





                                    – Adrian Louis (“Degrees of Drought”)










Bribed with little water,





we have enticed Redbuds





to brighten our gardens





with cardinal colors





regardless of rainfall





before they leave





green hearts in spring.










Even the bare hills





sigh and grin relieved





for the living, love us





for our generous nature





that keeps the wild alive





and close to our swirling 





yearnings satisfied.











							

	
			

				
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MARCH GRAZING UPDATE


			

				Posted on March 28, 2021 by  | 8 comments
			


				

				






Despite the welcome 1.5” of rain this month, bringing our total rainfall for the season on Dry Creek to a meager 6”, our grass is short and thin, especially on the south and west slopes of our lower foothill country.  Unless we get some well-spaced rains in April, we will wean our calves early, probably weighing 50 lbs. lighter than usual.  With limited stockwater and no dry feed to carry our cows through summer, fall and to an unknown beginning of our rainy season, we will have cull our cow herd deeply.  A strong high pressure ridge, typical of La Niña, is blocking storm activity to California and the rest of the West. Furthermore, market returns for cattle producers are stuck in an unsustainable range, in part due to Covid-19.  





After a wonderfully fun day helping Kenny and Virginia McKee brand their calves in Woolley Canyon yesterday, Robbin and I are moving slowly as we recuperate by enjoying the colors of spring in the gathering fields around us. The lush appearance of the Fiddleneck and Popcorn Flowers in the photo below is deceptive as they have little nutritional value for cattle, but they do shade the ground and help hold what moisture we have. 











							

	
			

				
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BEFORE DAWN


			

				Posted on March 13, 2021 by  | 1 comment
			


				

				





White sky,


purple frigates crash


into foothill silhouettes—




some slip behind,


compass heading east


trailing a damp cold front.




Headlights crawl


up the road, spotlight


searches sycamores




to a heavy bass beat


for something to kill,


something to eat.


							

	
			

				
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LAST CHANCE


			

				Posted on March 10, 2021 by  | 8 comments
			


				

				


















Another round of Blue Oak


from the limb droughts have cured


to fall with a crash in the yard—




after the calves were marked


and friends were fed and gone,


you and I and a bottle of wine




before the fire we cooked upon


waiting for the pillowed clouds


to collect and turn dark gray—




our forecast rain.  Tough filaree


looks like the dirt it’s hanging on,


leaves red and brown and in between—




last chance for feed this spring.


One wonders why we do this


to become the grass we need.

















							

	
			

				
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THE DEER


			

				Posted on March 8, 2021 by  | 1 comment
			


				

				







                               The deer in that beautiful place lay down their bones: 


                               I must wear mine.


                                           – Robinson Jeffers (“The Deer Lay Down Their Bones”)




Secreted within steep brush and granite


to browse the fresh and tender Buckeye leaves,


the fragile innocence of deer seems tame—




safety but a bounding leap away.


Were we so unengaged to see ourselves


as novelties, we might pause more often




to look out upon the urgencies of men


and women inventing new shenanigans


to keep us shackled to our egos




as redundant and unnecessary weight—


were we so rational. How we envy deer


their shrouded bowers where they can feed




themselves. Nearly as free as deer


in the rocky cliffs above, the doe can see


the calves we have been looking for.


							

	
			

				
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GRAZING UPDATE


			

				Posted on March 4, 2021 by  | 2 comments
			


				

				






This morning’s circle with salt and mineral for the first-calf heifers in the hills behind the house was not encouraging for the first of March.  The south slopes are short and turning fast and the heifers want, and need, hay, though the calves look OK.





The forecasters have taken Saturday’s rain away, but next week still appears to be wet.  We know that this ground is resilient, but with only March and April left as our only chance for real grass, this season’s future looks bleak and will probably require early weaning and a heavy culling of our cow herd, as there will be little old feed leftover to sustain these cows through summer and fall.





From an economic perspective, it costs around $500+ to keep our first and second calf heifers for a year, then add $400 for hay plus labor since August, an $850 calf won’t pencil out. Furthermore, with minimal snowpack and only four inches of rain this season, irrigation water will be expensive and the price for summer alfalfa high. Whether one believes in Climate Change or not, the trend for the last decade has been drought, (all across the West), the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime here, where losing money takes all the romance out of raising cattle.  Nevertheless, we’re in it for the long haul and hope for the better days. 











							

	
			

				
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MARCH 1, 2021—SHORT-CROPPED GREEN


			

				Posted on March 3, 2021 by  | 1 comment
			


				

				






When I was young I wished
for longer springs and hillsides 
painted with wildflowers,
 
grass belly-high and every canyon
running water—livestock grazing
pastoral notions, heavenly eternal.
 
I may have to stand in line 
on the trail to mountain pastures
when I shed this human coil,
 
but hope to hell that the majority 
of souls will be waiting 
at the Pearly Gates instead.



							

	
			

				
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SHE SLEEPS IN SILENCE


			

				Posted on February 27, 2021 by  | 5 comments
			


				

				






                                    The mountains 'round here look like a woman
                                    lying naked on a bed
                                                - Dave Alvin (“Out in California”)
                                                            
Little wonder, the earth is female—
the moon, a golden amulet
rising from her breast, her feet at rest
with the slope of Sulphur peak
as her long dark hair 
forever streams into the creek.
 
Apart from men, 
native women gathered here
beneath her supine silhouette
made sacred by the moon
to be a healing place 
each time she took a breath.
 
She shares her dreams:
comfort and lasting peace
beyond the ever-escalating
chaos and confusion
that rattles impatient minds
like a gourd full of seeds.

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Wagyu X Branding 2


			

				Posted on February 26, 2021 by  | 2 comments
			


				

				






We are extremely fortunate to have an excellent crew of neighbors to help us mark our calves. Yesterday was a beautiful day to brand our second bunch of Wagyu X calves, though pretty dusty near the end of the work.  Even though the hills are green, the grass is terribly short with only 4.31” of rain on Dry Creek thus far this year with only two months left of our rainy season. Furthermore, the spring forecast https://weatherwest.com/archives/8382 is quite disturbing.  





Feeding hay since August, some neighbors have already begun to sell their cows into this down market. Ideally, the cull cows will attain their heaviest weights by mid-April, however most everyone’s cows are now stressed as short feed and growing calves have kept them thin.  With little rain and a minimal snowpack, summer irrigation water will be in short supply, which translates to higher water prices in the San Joaquin Valley.  Likewise, one can be assured that with fewer cuttings, the price of hay will also be high.





The south slopes have already dried up, offering only a month of green this year.  Without any moisture in the next week, the west slopes will follow suit.  Not necessarily the amount of rain, but the timing is always the crucial variable for native feed. We carry on as if by some miracle we can keep our cows together, but time is running out for the Southern Sierra foothills.











							

	
			

				
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