The start of a new year is always a good time to review what we find to be important and what we may wish to change in our lives. My first perceived priority?….live in the moment, in the “infinite now”. I probably use 99% of my thoughts on the future and the past, where we never are. I want to make an awareness of the “now” moments 98%, then 97%….and who knows, maybe 95% eventually! After all, in the present is the only place God resides.
Schools out, and the cows will get a few bales of hay unrolled on the ground. All of the new calves will be jumping and playing around, trying to figure out what this stuff is. Snow and winter bring both a beauty and a challenge….just like life!
Balance in life is what gives us the ability to live, and thereby give, the Fruits of the Spirit of joy, peace, and harmony. It’s so very easy in life to get too focused on one part of our lives, at the expense of the others. We are spiritual first, then mental, and then finally physical. Personally, I have to continually remind myself of that. We think that the physical life and lifestyle can change our mental and physical, when the very opposite is true.
Steve Bauman, a friend and one of our main helpers at the ranch for almost 4 years, passed on at the end of 2016. A year after first coming to the ranch, Steve started his battle with cancer, and continued to work thoughout most of the next 3 years as he dealt with the disease. Steve was someone who could do most any job, and do it well. He led most of our horseback rides for the first few years, helped in all our camps and field trips, and was our go-to man for all our repairs. He will be missed.
The mild weather at the end of the year and the beginning of 2017 has all the animals thinking it’s Springtime! They shall shortly be surprised when Winter returns, but the daylight hours are already increasing. After a very busy 2016. we’ve taken a break and are working on our hopes and goals for this year. Following a year of building projects, 2017 will focus on people and our outreach programs. Stay tuned…it’s going to be a great year!
Rain, rain, rain…..the lifeblood of everything….and so far we’ve had over 13 inches for the month of May, and over an inch to start June. We haven’t been able to cross the creek much to reach the other side of the ranch….each time we fix the creek crossing up [usually a number of hours with the big 4 wheel drive tractor], its good for a few days then back to flood stage again! We had most of our places rented for the Memorial day weekend…luckily we got some breaks in the weather.
About three weeks ago, we planted three acres of corn for a fall corn patch/maze. In a couple of weeks we will put in about a quarter acre of pumpkins to go with it. We’re not sure how ambitious we will be with the Fall pumpkin festival…it depends on how much energy we have after the Summer, but we will be ready plant wise [Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, which they have been doing].
Haying season will start as soon as things dry out and the weather gets warmer. Our newest place to stay, the Livery Stable, is done. Check out the pictures at our website. http://crystalcreekranch.com/lodging-adventures/
We had about 10 field trips this Spring, and have updated our activities with a hay mountain, feed sack slide, and a tire play area to climb and swing on. This will be part of our Fall pumpkin festival, if we decide to go with it. We also have a tire zip line in the works.
