At the Bar MW Ranch there is a 5th season of the year. It is a season that approaches with a bit of trepidation for Russ and I, “are we ready?” is a central question in our minds. It is a season that holds alot of anticipation, we are going to have lots of time with our friends and our creatures. It is a season that ends with a super satisfying feeling that all of our cows are home. Its “Chase Season” and the 2023 version began yesterday. I invited the crew to share favorite pictures of the day. Several took me up on that. Lots of captioned pictures tell the story of the day.
We kicked off the season on Truth and Reconciliation day in Canada. Jen shared this picture with me. She had a headstall made that captures a value that is very important to many on the trail this day. For Jen it starts with the fact that her Dad, of the Dene nation, lived through a childhood spent in residential schools. We appreciate having Jen’s perspective on our crew.Our friend Steve sent me this picture from the morning saddling and loading up time. It says alot.Emerson was thinking well at such an early start in the day. As the crew started to leave the yard she remembered that Elton John our donkey had not been loaded. He is an intact male and doesn’t pasture with the mares. Emerson’s Mom Jen grabbed this picture as Russ went and caught this sweetheart.I wonder what Laurie was thinking here, he was wedged into a truck cab filled with dogs and people. He always seems ready for anything. Sometimes when I apologize to him for the chaos around he says, “oh! I didn’t even notice.” I am guessing the chaos of these moments was hard to miss.Arrival at the Manor pasture. Logan sent me this picture with Jen in the foreground. The sun rising is so beautiful.My niece Brodie was here for the weekend and brought her friend Claire. We met Claire last year, so Russ knew that she was the perfect person for a job he had in mind. That was to ride our donkey (Elton John). Claire brought her adventurous spirit, her petite frame, and her determination and did a great job. Russ had contracted with her a $25 payment for the days duties. This created some humorous moments when the other cowboys jested that they too were going to line up for their pay. Jen shared this picture with herself, her daughter Emerson and Grif, ready to roll.This morning light is beautiful. I really like this shot that Jen got, there is my boy Morg in the foreground. Griff, Emet and Rhett in the back.David has a solidarity with aboriginal people that has its beginings in a story that I don’t know. However, evidence is seen here in the multiple layers of orange and beadwork he wore as the day began.The sun on Steve’s face and his posture makes me think this is a moment of inner preparation. It was kind’ve a big day for Steve. It was his first big cow chase with us after several days of helping Russ with smaller jobs. He did great. Jen took this picture.Marisol helped us so much on the ranch this summer. She was on the payroll for a couple months as she raked hay. This means we have spent alot of time together. She is super special to us. That Coffee dog is too. Russ sent this picture of Cowboy Medhi. He has a place of fame on the crew this year. Recently Medhi witnessed Cowboy Laurie get bucked off in such a way that Laurie earned an award for “the biggest buck off of 2023.” Not to be outdone, perhaps, shortly into yesterday’s chase Medhi stole that award from Laurie. It was quite spectacular. He took some Advil and rode the entire day. I carried quite a bit of worry in my heart for him.
Russ sent this video. The crew is on the trail! Its a nice review of the whole crew.Emet grabbed this picture. I like the light on Coffee dog. Emet’s dog ‘KK’ is ahead. When a sick calf was spotted on the trail Morgan got his rope going, in order to restrain it and give it treatment for pneumonia. Logan caught this moment.With Marisol on one rope and Morgan on the other Russ got in close and got the calf needled. As it turned out this was a calf named by our Swiss friend Anja when she took it under her wing back in April. She named it “Saskatchewan”. So her tag has a SK added to it.I love this nice clear picture of these two smiling faces, so important in our everyday story of ranching, not just chase season. Jen sent this, its she and David.This is what it looks like when 140 cow calf pairs are on the road. Brodie grabbbed this picture.Claire and Elton John.This is my brother in law Gary and one of the toughest cowgirls on the trail, Briella. This was her first chase without her Dad Kent there. Her Grandpa John was on the truck moving crew and I enjoyed seeing the two of them. Russ shared this picture.A wee glimpse of the lunchtime scene. With the Chuckwagon having a suspicious leak and no license because I totally forgot to do that, the Expedition was the lunch wagon. After lunch as I cleaned up the scene, the crew went by with the cows. In this picture Sharon was doing what she does all day. She was the feet on the ground that assisted with the practical things the crew needed on the trail. In this case, to help my brother in law Gary rid himself of his coat. It got quite warm over the lunch hour. Just beside Sharon is cowboy Steve. He brought 4 containers of baking with him from Estevan. His wife Treasure is quite the cookie maker. We fed 27 people taco in a bag for lunch. I was so thankful to have that baking provided.This is Auntie Mona and Uncle George, Laurie’s parents. They helped Ron and John move vehicles from the start point to the end point of the chase. A very important job. In addition Mona helped me serve up lunch and got a wasp bite as a souvenir. There was another t shirt theme on the trail, these t shirts featured here were created by my niece Brodie to make known her drone photography business, “Aerial Photography by Brodie.” Claire took this picture.Gary took a break from riding but didn’t take a break from being a great human to have on the trail. Look at that smile!Cowboy Laurie on the trail but taking care of business, getting rid of a can into the truckbox.Logan took this very cool picture as Russ was getting everyone set up for a crew picture at the end of the trail. Russ said this was harder than it should have been. But it was worth it!The group picture.The chase went quite well and when the crew arrived back at the ranch there was time to relax for a bit before having supper. Morgan gave Medhi some roping lessons.Patrick and Russ after supper.This morning some breakfast gathering happened in the kitchen. On the counter are cups of hot chocolate that Russ crafted with love. He has a “recipe” he calls “Hobbit Hot Chocolate.” Behind those sliding doors I was trying valiantly to finish the sermon for church today. It was hard though. I love having my family here so much. At one point I set the timer for 5 minutes and popped out and hung out.Tonight while I was working on the blog the dogs started barking so sharply. I knew what that meant. A car was pulling in. It was Jill. This girl rose early and worked an incredibly busy shift at Starbucks. One of her regular customers took her drink when it was ready and instead of saying “thank you” as she usually does, she said to Jill, “good luck!” As soon as work was done Jill sped over to Sterling headquarters for cast photos for their next production. Then she headed for the ranch. We had a cheesecake party when she got here. I think this photo means, “Bayliss Strong.”Russ made sure I got to be part of the strong action. I had a tricky weekend, perhaps that will be the subject of another blog. Being a human is hard sometimes.I am ending the blog with this picture of Jen and her sweater. As I think about Jen and the way she sits in a saddle but moreso the way she treats other people, the word “dignity” is on my mind. I long for every child to know their God-given dignity. I am thankful that in Canada we have this time to reflect and to honor the stories that have been lived. RusselI and I and many of our crew long to be part of a solution so that our society is one where every child truly knows that they matter.
Yesterday was a big day for many reasons. Our family observed Truth and Reconciliation Day in a way that was pretty special for us. It was also month end which meant farm business, music festival board business for me and a time to tally the stats for the Broken Bread Bakery. I have a series of captioned pictures to tell the tale.
Jill found this butterfly on the highway during the walk we took part in yesterday. It seems a good way to start this blog off. To me butterflies can symbolize transformation and they are so beautiful. The last report from the Broken Bread Bakery was at the end of July since then I have pretty much met my goal of baking and sharing one batch of buns per week, on average.This was a terrific day of baking, two batches in one afternoon happened when my neighbor Sheila came over. Baking bees like this will continue until I have seen to the baking of one bun for every child who died at residential school, some treated as entirely forgettable. This is a long term project. In August and September I was able to bake and share 362 buns. I had a couple of huge orders, 12 dozen for a trailride and six dozen to one individual. The flurry of baking for those allowed some weeks off from baking at other times.The joy of working together at the counter was literally enriched by the generosity of folks who received the buns. The donations given for the healing fund in July and August totaled $375. This figure is lower than it might be because I donated 4.5 dozen buns to a bake sale. I counted those towards the remembering of children because honestly, with thousands of buns to make I need to stay focused on this unfolding memorial instead of for example baking cookies for the bake sale. I was mindful of those children as I baked. I tagged the buns as being from the Broken Bread Bakery and I said a little bit about the project. The entire project total so far is 644 buns baked and $1,020 raised for the Healing Fund of the United Church of Canada.While in St. John’s we took in an afternoon at an amazing museum. There was a good display about residential schools within the museum. The thing that has struck me lately is how this school system impacted the parents and the grandparents. Children removed from ones life and all the everyday joys gone, in moments. It got me thinking about how much I loved bedtime routine with our kids with the book reading we shared. It was routine, the books well worn, one might say it was boring really and it was time consuming. But it was special and warm and good and essential. How would we have coped if all our routines had been taken from us?It bothered me to read that a ship that shares my last name was used to transport children away to school.I have this picture of a notebook Jill was creating in the summer, preparing for back to school. I looked at it and I said, “Jilly, even nature proclaims that every child matters.” I found the Liz Griffin pictures that she used, and a couple different ones, they are here with my interpretation of the parent child dynamic at play. The brown surroundings reflect the time of year, it was just before the spring burst of color. The cows look rough. They had just weathered winter and been thru the birthing time and they definitely needed a bit of time to reemerge in their beauty.“I am your Mama and I need to wash your face.”“We are together and so the world is at peace.”“I WILL protect you. I will not let them near you.”“Your aunties and I, we got you, stay near.” (This was a pen with three Moms who had birthed twins and were each successfully raising both calves.)“My sense of smell is going to keep you well, just don’t you worry.”“I love you”All of the things percolating in us that you read above made it important for us to be a part of the walk that was hosted by Alameda United Church yesterday. A walk for truth and reconciliation. It was about a 4 mile journey up and down highway 9. Maybe people say, “why is that important, why are you slowing down traffic?” Maybe because nothing changes until it is seen for what it is. Maybe its okay to have to slow down and think, for us walkers and for the drivers too. Maybe that creates openings for the Spirit to be at work. Having said that I am tired and a bit overwhelmed by everything in the world. I was thinking about it later….the repetition of shaping buns and putting one step in front of the other is what I am capable of right now. I don’t have space in my head for deep learning. I will trust that God will take my steps and my buns and work with them.It was awesome to have support from some folks driving by, like this flag bearing truck. The best were the semi truck drivers that blew their airhorns. We walked with friends on a beautiful fall day and perhaps made more concrete for ourselves who we want to be as individuals and as a family.My friend ordered this flag and Russ and I took a turn walking with it for a while. That created a good chance for a picture but carrying my friends survivor sign for a while to give her a break, and bearing this flag both felt like sacred responsibilities.
The color orange is being transformed in our culture. In my world it was once the color I associated with halloween. Then as I got to know some bikers it became the color of Harley Davidson, then as we built our house it became a color of energy and we chose it for our kitchen. Now it is a color that speaks of honoring. Honoring and not silencing. Honoring and not shaming. Honoring through listening. Honoring difference and uniqueness. Honoring another even if it costs me a bit. It means living out what we say when we say that every child matters. It was the color of halloween, and I see maybe like a butterfly, the color orange is being transformed, can it become a color that when seen quickens the heart, sending out a signal that ingredients for hope and healing are not far away. May it be so.
As Far As The Eye Can See 