An April to Forget

I have not been able to write this post for a month; the pain has been too great. April started like most Aprils with the anticipation of spring. It ended after the loss of three of our four horses and the realization that our lives were truly changing.

I wrote about the loss of our gelding, Flash, in my last post in early April. Flash had suffered from arthritis for several years but the last few months were much worse for him. When we realized that he could no longer enjoy his life we euthanized him. We accepted the responsibility and the loss knowing that we had done the best we could for him and letting him go when his pain became too much.

Just 10 days later our stallion, C.B., suffered a severe bout of colic. Over the last 18 months it had become harder and harder to feed him due to the poor condition of his teeth. The major part of his diet was a palletized feed made especially for senior horses; not a natural way for a horse to eat. Last summer he could graze on green grass but we could not allow him to eat any hay. I worried all last winter that we were approaching a more difficult time with him because I would find globs of “chewed” dry grass that he had grazed in his pasture but was not able to chew completely or swallow. I kept hoping that when the fresh grass of spring arrived he would be able to chew it like he had done last year. But as spring arrived, the globs went from dry grass to green grass and I knew he was no longer able to chew fresh grass either and we were on borrowed time. Then came the colic early one morning. It was obvious that the colic was due to an irreversible situation and it was time to let him go. I was un-able to locate a veterinarian at 6:30 in the morning so instead a called a neighbor who came right over and ended C.B.’s suffering by shooting him. C.B. died on the day before his 31^st birthday. He had been a part of our family for nearly 28 years and the emptiness of his stall and his pasture is sometimes more than I can take.

A week after the loss of C.B., we came home from our weekly short trip to town to find our other gelding, Duster, suffering a severe bout of colic. Again it was obvious that his condition was catastrophic and our only option was euthanasia. No vets were available so we called a friend who ended Duster’s suffering quickly. At 10AM that morning when we left for town, Duster had been out grazing in the pasture. He was gone just 4 hours later. We have struggled to understand how it could happen like that. Our horse’s environment is not prone to colic. They live a simple life with plenty to eat whenever they want and lots of relaxed exercise wandering about their irrigated pasture. Duster was only 22 years old and had spent every single one of those days with us. He and Flash were sons of C.B. and had been with us since their conception.

All three are buried on the farm. Only Mandy, our 26 year old mare and daughter of C.B., is left. We were making plans to bring in the yearling heifers from Allison Ranch within a few weeks but made a quick phone call the night of Duster’s death and asked if they could bring the heifers the next morning to keep Mandy company. Mandy has adapted quickly and seems content with the situation. In fact she is handling it better than we are.

I don’t know where we are headed in this life but our horse owning days are coming to an end. My parents gave me my first horse when I was 12 and horses have been a continuous part of my life for 48 years. I sense that something much different is on the horizon but I have no idea what it might be. For now we will care for and love Mandy and give her whatever she needs to be comfortable and content. And when the time comes, we will let her go, too.

From Fleur Creek Farm

From Beginning to End

In the 80s and early 90s, we were involved semi-professionally in the horse business. We had purchased a well-bred, gorgeous three year old stallion and started gathering really nice broodmares for him from around the U.S. During this time we showed horses around the West, sold offspring of our stallion, and stood our stallion to select mares owned by other breeders. In attempt to reduce the potential for injury to all of us (stallion, mare and us) we learned and used artificial insemination to breed our stallion to the mares. I always found it amazing that with a little scientific know how, we could produce a new horse (not to mention some semen and eggs).

We started reducing our horse herd around 1992 in anticipation of moving to the Valley and arrived in 1993 with only six horses. They included our stallion, our favorite broodmare who deserved retirement and four of our stallion’s offspring – two mares and two geldings.

Our intent was to continue riding the geldings but life (including trying to make a living and building a home) got in the way. We never really got back to riding and our horses ended up enjoying an easy life.

In 2000 a very bad bout of colic ended the life of our old broodmare. In 2009 our youngest mare developed a case of Cushings Syndrome that was resistant to treatment and we had to destroy her.

This year we are coming to the realization that the remaining horses were getting pretty old as they range in age from 21 to 31, the stallion being the oldest. Each has their own problems from missing all molars and not being able to eat hay (our stallion) to varying degrees of lameness in the remaining three.

This week our youngest gelding reached the point where his lameness was just too much for him. We had tried managing it with oral pain medication twice a day but we could tell we were losing the battle. At feeding time on Sunday the look in his eyes told us that he had grown weary of the pain and difficulty in getting around.

Monday morning we made the decision to put him down. Our vet arrived just before lunch and agreed with our decision. In a few moments it was over. As I knelt next to him on the ground I thought about how we had been with him from his very beginning when he was no more than a single cell until his very end.

There are only three left now and I suspect that before winter there will be fewer. I have had horses continuously since I was 12 years old (nearly 50 years) and I can’t imagine what it will be like when they are all gone. The pain of losing each one seems to grow and I think I prefer to end my horse owning days with the loss of the last one. It is just too hard to say goodbye.

From Fleur Creek Farm

Best Oatmeal Ever!

Several folks have asked me for the oatmeal recipe after I mentioned it in one of my last blogs. This is by far the best oatmeal ever. The key to success is using a rice cooker. We use the Zojirushi Model NS-ZCC18 Ten cup with Neuro Fuzzy logic. I know that sounds like a mouthful but it makes perfect oatmeal (and all kinds of rice) effortlessly. We just put in the ingredients, set what time we what to eat, and it does the rest.

We started with a recipe from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook and fine tuned it to our desires. This recipe makes 2 servings:

2/3 cup of steel cut oats (Bob’s Red Mill is great)

2 cups of almond milk (more about this shortly)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of honey or maple syrup

Pinch of sea salt

1 good handful of raisins

I add all the components in the rice cooker and set the timer before heading to the barn for morning chores. When we return, the house smells like cinnamon and honey and the oatmeal is ready to eat when I have finished my shower. Perfect!

I throw one extra step in – I soak the oatmeal and almond milk overnight in the refrigerator. I don’t know if this absolutely necessary but it is simple to do when I am cleaning up from breakfast.

And now about the almond milk which we make ourselves. Not that I have a lot of experience milking but I have found that almonds are a lot easier to milk than say cows, goats or sheep. For one thing they don’t care when you milk them nor do you have to do it outside in the cold. All it takes is a 1/3 cup of almonds in 4 cups of cold water and a Vita Mix 500. I whiz them on high for 2 minutes, then strain and pour into a glass jar. The strained residue of almonds is added to the weekly whole wheat bread recipe or Saturday’s pancakes. ENJOY!

From Fleur Creek Farm

Free Range Turkey

Once nearly wiped out, the wild turkey has made a great comeback in Colorado and many other parts of America. When we first move the the Valley we rarely saw them. Now they are constant homestead visitors. It is not unusual to have 30 or more stop by. I think the main reason for this is our neighbor, Russell. For many winters, he and his wife have put corn out for the flock every morning. Russell recently told me he had nearly 100 birds coming to the hillside above his home to feed. Their place is only about 3/4 of a mile (as the turkey flies) from ours. As the winter receeds and the turkeys can move about easier, we start seeing the birds at our place.

It won't be long before the jakes (Toms) start gathering their flock together in anticipation of the breeding season. In late April and early May they will strut around in full display looking just like a Thanksgiving photo. It is a beautiful scene and one that reminds me we have survived another winter and spring has arrived.

There is a lot the talk of free range poultry these days, but our local wild turkeys take it to the next level.

From Fleur Creek Farm

Winter Morning Chores

One of my favorite times of the day is early morning, just before the sun breaks over the Wet Mountains. Shortly after getting up, starting the fire in the cookstove, and programming the rice cooker to make the best oatmeal ever conceived (more about that in a future posting), we head to the barn for morning chores.

During the winter it’s just the horses that need attention and they are more than ready for breakfast. They are all getting old (ages 21 to 31) so their feed ration includes a special pelleted concentrate for old-timers with poor teeth and digestion and all the beautiful Wet Mountain Valley hay they can eat. Our oldest horse, CB, no longer has any molars so he is relegated to the pelleted feed only. He is unable to chew hay any more but otherwise he is healthy and happy. The other three horses have their own share of old-age problems and receive various supplements in an attempt to help them age gracefully.

The horses have their choice to eat inside the barn or outside as we fill the feeders in both locations. Most of the time they prefer outside unless the Valley winds are at their worst. They don’t seem to mind the cold or even snow on calm days.

We take this time to check each one for any injuries or other health problems and to clean the barn area of any manure deposited since the last feeding. If the ground is clear of snow we spread the manure out on the pasture; if not it goes to the manure pile for use when the weather improves. We repeat the whole process in the evening.

Only after the horses have received their breakfast do we head back to the house for a morning shower and our breakfast.

From Fleur Creek Farm

Recycling on the Homestead

We try to take recycling to a whole other level at our farm. Of course we do all the regular stuff like hauling our glass, metal, plastic, newspaper, old magazines and cardboard to the local recycling bins. But we also look for other ways to recycle.

One of our best recycling efforts is that of the cattle. They start by harvesting the sun as they graze the grass and deposit their manure on our land. We are compensated for the weight that they gain during the grazing season with hay from the cattle owner’s ranch. This hay contains more nutrients which are processed by our horses through the winter and deposited back on our pasture. The actions of the cattle and the horses help incorporate the nutrients back into the soil so the nutrient cycle (or re-cycle) continues year after year. We also compost some of the cattle and horse manure for use in our gardens around the house.

The care of our kitties is another source of nutrient recycling. Several years ago we switched from using commercial kitty litter to using a pelleted horse feed in their litter box. I spread the soiled litter daily and it either breaks down releasing its nutrients into the soil or the resident wild turkey flock cleans it up and then deposits their own manure in its place. And added benefit is that the horse feed actually does a better job than the commercial kitty litter and costs half the price.

Over the course of a winter we will burn 4 to 5 cords of firewood. Much of it we cut on our farm but some comes from other locations. No matter the source after releasing its wonderful heat into our home, we spread the ash and send the nutrients back to the soil. More recycling.

Rather than composting kitchen waste in winter we generally burn the residue in the woodstove. The remains go out with the rest of the ash to be spread.

I know there is more that we can do and we are always looking for recycling ideas. Our goal is to turn inputs into nutrients and return them to the soil.

From Fleur Creek Farm

Getting Ready for Winter

The fresh snow on the peaks last Monday morning added a sense of urgency to our preparations for winter. We actually get started in May, soon after the past winter's snowpack is filling the creeks with run-off.

It takes the better part of the summer to bring in enough firewood to fill the woodshed. We try to have around 6 cords of firewood stacked and ready by early fall. Since this is one my least favorite tasks, we spread it out and around all the other chores of the season.


Once the cattle have left, we spend several weeks taking down temporary electric fences, mowing areas that did not get grazed, and moving the horses to fresh fall pastures. Over the course of the previous winter, we pile up horse manure which now needs to be spread back on the grazed pastures, in the orchard and the gardens.

Our hay barn can hold around 500 bales and even though we don't normally need this much, we fill it completely in case the winter is especially hard or the following year's hay crop is down. Our barter with the cattle owner brings us hay for the horses in exchange for summer grazing for his cattle. Its a great trade and a great feeling when the hay barn is full.

There can be times during the winter when it is impossible to get out so we make sure that the pantry and freezer are full of food and medicinals. This year we put a quarter of beef in the freezer which will probably provide us with several years of tasty stews, soups and more. Throughout the summer I collected wild and cultivated medicinal plants and prepared extracts which we use through the year. I have red clover, all heal, fever few, horsetail, meadowsweet, skull cap, and mullein ready.

We also make sure that the trucks are ready for winter and are packed with emergency supplies. This year we added new tires and windshields to the preparations.

We move a lot of snow over the course of the winter and our little Kubota tractor does a fine job of it. Several weeks ago, Don changed the fluids and filters and attached the snow blade to the back. She's ready!

One of the final tasks is cleaning the wood cookstove from top (on the roof) to bottom. It is a really messy job that takes around 3 hours. Last Friday was the day and I'm glad it is done. We usually have to clean it again once during the wood season and that's even more challenging with snow on the roof.

It has been a relatively mild fall but the weather reports are calling for a major change this week. Winter is knocking at the door but I think we are about ready.

From Fleur Creek Farm