Foothill Agrarian

Drop in on a group of livestock producers in northern California (or anywhere in most of the U.S. for that matter), and the discussion will eventually turn to the challenges of ranching, economic and otherwise.  Chief among these challenges, based...

Between October 4, 2011 and October 7, 2011, we measured 1.3 inches of rain at our home place just north of Auburn, California.  With another 1.2 inches falling on October 11, we thought we were off to a great start to the rainy season.  An i...

With the changes we're making to our farming operation this summer and fall, I've been thinking a great deal about my reasons for farming.  Farming, eventually, will be the way I make my living (for now, I'm hopeful it's a way to make some income ...

The feedback I've had to my earlier blog post regarding my decision to seek off-farm employment (see http://www.flyingmule.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-continued-evolution-of-flying-mule.html) has generated sympathetic feedback from customers and tale...

sym-bi-o-sis  - noun: 4. any interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc.di-ver-si-ty  - noun: 2. variety; multiformity.We have the good fortune at the moment to be worki...

Several weeks ago, I arrived at one of the ranches we lease to find that about a third of our irrigated pasture had been mowed by our landlords.  My jaw (and my heart) dropped - as grass-fed lamb producers, we rely on a plentiful supply of healthy...

As I begin to consider the economic realities described in my last two blog posts, I am realizing that these changes represent an evolution of our business model rather than a failure of our business.  That being said, the transition to becoming a...

In our video library, we have a British documentary film entitled “The Year of the Working Sheep Dog,” which was released in 2000.  In many ways, it’s an outstanding look at the annual cycles of work on a sheep farm on the Devon coast of Eng...

We currently care for approximately 250 ewes and their lambs.  About two-thirds of these animals belong to my family; the balance are owned by friends and other family members.  To provide adequate grazing land for our sheep, we rent, graze f...

"Wild" Bartlett pears.Our part of the Sierra Foothills was once famous for growing fruit (still is!).  The first fruit shipped by rail from California to the East Coast was grown in Placer County.  Many of the folks in the generation just old...