“I tried to leave many times but it kept pulling me back,” says Magruder of the family farm. She attended Willamette University to receive her Bachelor’s and Syracuse University in New York for her Master’s, but her heart remained on the farm.

When the wool market was experiencing a rough patch, threatening the livelihood of her 100-year-old family farm and the industry as a whole, Magruder took a proactive approach to the situation. Joel Pynch, a sheep producer and longtime friend of Magruder’s was the first to step up for her initiative. “Joel came up to me after a meeting I was speaking at and said, ‘I’m your man,’” says Magruder. That was the beginning of a business partnership between Joel and his wife Kay Pynch and Magruder, which led to the start of a company in 2002 called Oregon Shepherd, natural wool insulation.

The idea for wool insulation came from a committee of ag industry professionals that was assembled by Magruder and the Pynchs, including wool processors, extension service people and farm service agency representatives. The committee came up with several ideas, pet beds and weed control fabric, but wool insulation prevailed. They spent a significant amount of time applying for grants and received a sustainable research grant, funding assistance from the American Sheep Industry and a U.S. Department of Agriculture value-added producers’ grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The next few years they researched and tested natural wool insulation and how to produce it. They discovered that wool insulation is an extremely sustainable and environmentally-friendly option for homes. When they had the process figured out, they started producing the insulation in Rainier, Oregon, and were ready for sales.

“It has increased my appreciation for anything on a shelf, because it doesn’t get there easily,” says Magruder. “We’re pretty specialized, we have a small target market. It’s not what everyone wants,” she says. The product attracts consumers who prioritize a sustainable, environmentally friendly way of living.

Oregon Shepherd insulation is made from 100 percent natural wool, using wool from sheep all over the U.S., including Magruder Farms. The insulation is made from the coarser fibers that are not ideal for clothing through a very simple process. First, the wool is sent through a granulator to chop it up. Then it is moved through the system by air, and a borate solution is applied to increase flame and pest resistance. Then the wool goes through a cyclonic air separator and is packaged and shipped.

The energy required to produce Oregon Shepherd insulation is less than 10 percent of the energy required to produce traditional insulation materials. It is a sustainable and renewable resource since sheep grow a new crop every year. Wool is completely recyclable and can be remanufactured, reused, or biodegraded. Wool does not deteriorate and it holds its shape, so the insulation lasts forever. Because of the crimped nature of wool, when wool fiber is packed together, it forms millions of tiny air pockets which trap air and in turn serves to keep warmth in during winter and out in the summer.

Oregon Shepherd is proud to be the only facility in the U.S. that produces a wool insulation product that meets the building code requirements. The company has shipped product to Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont, and Canada and is popular with purchasers of “tiny houses,” a social movement where people are downsizing the space that they live in to homes as small as 400 square feet.

While Magruder singlehandedly cares for a few hundred ewes at Magruder Farms, she plans to focus more of her efforts on growing Oregon Shepherd. “We still are researching and improving and making changes to the product and the packaging,” says Magruder. “We’ve faced a lot of challenges but we continue to move forward one step at a time.”

No matter how big Oregon Shepherd might get, Magruder Farms will always be a priority. “I love what I do, I love agriculture because it’s such an important part of everyone’s life. I think food production is the basis of not only our economy but our health and safety. So I’m very proud to be part of that food production chain,” says Magruder.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like them, but come mid November it is time to send them on their way since their journey began back in late May. That’s right, over 5 months ago the process started! Who wants to think about Christmas in June? I have to because as a greenhouse operator it’s really the only crop to produce for that time frame.

Poinsettias are probably the most challenging crop we grow each year. Between the long crop time and the demands that these plants put on a grower. That darn plant can be very demanding. During the growing time, if you don’t keep the proper nutrition level, Poinsettias will actually cannibalize themselves by pulling nutrient out of the oldest foliage for the sake of the youngest growth. OUCH! Also if you let the calcium levels drop too far, the Bracs (flowers) will burn. First things first…

The myth that Poinsettias are poisonous. They are NOT! A 50 lb child would need to consume over 100 of my 6” plants to become sick. According to the American Medical Association, no deaths or serious injuries have ever been reported. This old wives tale has been around since 1919.

Yes, Poinsettias have been around a long time. The Aztec King Montezuma highly prized them. If you have ever had the opportunity to visit a tropical place, like Central America or Hawaii, you’ve probably seen them flowering in the wild.

The Poinsettia got its name from Joel Poinsett in 1825. Joel was the US Ambassador to Mexico and an avid botanist with a greenhouse. Do I need to say more? Probably the next biggest influence in getting you a great potted plant out of this big tropical bush was the Ecke family, from San Diego California. Since 1902 the Ecke Ranch has lead the world in refining these plants. Thru generations of breeding the red Poinsettia now comes in many colors. San Diego even hosts the Poinsettia Bowl in December.

I start shipping the first week of November and the majority of the 25,000 six inch, 5000 eight inch and 10,000 four inch Poinsettias that we grow are headed to 22 Metro Area Fred Meyers. Look at the sticker on the pot cover to see if it is one of ours. We take a lot of pride in the crops we grow and for two years running we’ve been picked as Fred Meyer’s best Poinsettia grower! Fred Meyer comes in with their inspector and tape measure to see if you have reached their specifications. It is always a relief when that day is over! There are a lot of days in June that something could go wrong, so it is really nice to reach the finish line in one piece.

We like to think that we are the “Home of the Happy Poinsettia”. Look for a good Poinsettia and educate yourself on what that means. A Poinsettia should have good “Brac expansion” (the colored part of the plant).The leaves should be green to dark green, healthy looking. When you get your plant home find a spot with a least a little bit of light, the more the better. Also no sudden blasts of cold air, like next to the door. Remember where this plant comes from, tropical climates. The best temperature in your home is between 65 and 72 degrees. Regarding water, you should only water when needed. Check moisture by putting your finger in the soil, if the soil is not moist, remove the pot cover and thoroughly water it, let it drain and wait until the soil feels dry before watering again. Normally yellowing of lower leaves means it has gotten too dry.

It makes all of us at Harts Nursery feel good to know that you’ve chosen to make us a part of your holiday home! THANK YOU!

In this ideal scenario, the cool nights and warm days of Oregon’s Indian Summer bring the grapes to optimal maturity and the harvest advances over a matter of weeks. The harvested grapes match the crop estimates so that each vineyard block fits into its allocated fermentation space; the grapes are clean and don’t need much sorting; finding enough pickers is not a problem; and the flavor of the grapes is outstanding–they have matured in flavor at the same time as they reached optimum sugar.

Does a harvest like this ever happen? At Sokol Blosser, we have known years that fit this pattern, but the harvest of 2011 was not one of them. The long wet spring, late bloom, and cool summer were not too worrisome. When we first started, we wondered which season would be the most critical and long ago concluded that there was only one that really determined the quality of the vintage–the fall ripening season. What made the harvest of 2011 so difficult was the timing of the rain. We expected to start harvest about October 10, but between October 2 and 15, we had only one day without measurable rain. This not only postponed harvest but threatened to dilute the grapes. We kept hoping for the glorious Indian Summer but it never arrived. October 16 to 28 continually threatened rain but ended up being dry enough for us to get most of our grapes in. Sugar levels weren’t where we wanted them but the grapes had had enough “hang time” and we hoped for maturity of flavor and lower alcohol wines. Most of the blocks came in higher tonnage than estimated so that fermentation space was continually reshuffled, always at the last minute. The theme for the year was continuous improvisation, but the interval of dry weather helped us avert disaster and we look forward to good, flavorful wines from the 2011 vintage.

When Judie’s father retired, he moved to California and the pickle-making tradition ceased. Family and friends missed their Christmas pickles, and store-bought pickles just didn’t compare. Judie decided to ask her father for the recipe and made a few batches to give away to family at Christmas time. The family was happy that the pickles made a comeback, so she continued to make them once a year to give away during the holidays. Friends told her she should go into business selling her pickles, but she worked as a Claims Adjuster for SAIF Corporation at the time and didn’t think much about it.

But Jamison’s husband who works as a director of sales persisted to plant the idea in her head until she was sold. In 2002 Jamison produced a test batch to give away as samples, along with comment cards asking for feedback. Before committing to start a business, she wanted to know if people liked the pickles enough to buy them. The family helped her make 500 jars of pickles on her deck, peeling garlic and cutting dill by hand, soaking the cucumbers in the kiddy pool outside. When she was a kid her dad would put the jars of pickles upside down in cold water in the bathtub to cool. But this particular batch of 500 jars did not fit, so they emptied the hot tub in the back yard, filled it with cold water, and in went 500 jars of dill pickles. She named the pickles “Baumgardner Pickles” after her dad’s last name, and gave the jars to coworkers, family and friends and told them to pass the pickles along to people they knew. Jamison received overwhelmingly positive feedback and became more serious about the idea of selling her product.

In 2003 Judie joined a friend who also pickled her own vegetables to sell their products together in a booth at holiday markets and bazaars. The only person who wasn’t convinced about the idea was Judie’s stepmother. “She thought that my dad would have thought we were nuts,” says Jamison.

Turns out she wasn’t nuts. Jamison sold a lot of pickles at the holiday events, so they decided to sign up for a booth at the Salem Saturday Market. They rented out a kitchen at the Methodist church inSalemand gathered friends and family to start packing 800 jars of pickles. They nearly sold out their entire stock that year. “We developed a following, and people asked ‘where else could I buy it?’” says Jamison. But she never had any plans to sell them beyond the Saturday market.

The following year Jamison and her ‘crew’ doubled production and made 1,800 jars. “That became more than any of us could handle,” says Jamison. “Family and friends said ‘I think we’re done packing pickles!’ My stepmother said she’s not cutting another piece of dill in her life,” Jamison says.

With the guidance of the USDA, they decided to start using a co-packer. It was a smart move, because that was when Baumgardner Pickling Company got its first big break. Jamison was doing a demo of her pickles at a Salem Women’s Luncheon, providing samples and talking to prospective customers. A representative from Roth’s Fresh Markets tried a pickle and loved it so much she asked her to bring in sample jars with the possibility of selling them on their store shelves. That encounter led to an agreement to begin selling Baumgardner Pickles in three of their stores. Today, Baumgardner Pickles are sold in all of the Roth’s Fresh Markets.

After that first success, calls for Baumgardner Pickles kept coming in. Tillamook County Creamery contacted Jamison for Baumgardner Pickles shortly after the business started, and they have been selling the pickles in their store ever since. Whole Foods inSouthern Californiacalled asking for the pickles on their shelves, and now Baumgardner Pickles can be found in Whole Foods Stores along the West Coast. Baumgardner Pickles are also sold at all the Lamb’s Thriftway stores and Market of Choice stores.

But selling Baumgardner’s Pickles hasn’t been easy for Jamison. “The big thing is I’m not a sales person like a lot of people are. I can’t begin to tell you the challenge that it was for me to be out demoing and selling them and calling on grocery stores one-on-one. I’m just not somebody to walk up to somebody and start talking and that’s been really hard,” says Jamison. Although her shy demeanor has been difficult for her to overcome, the relationships she has established with her customers has been a key motivator and one of the reasons she loves what she does.

The success of the business has been a true family effort. Her brother in Southern California calls and visits stores in the area, and successfully got Baumgardner Pickles on store shelves at Mother’s Markets inCaliforniaand other high-end specialty stores. Her son inIdahogot pickles on the shelves at the Boise CO-OP, and her mom, daughter, husband and granddaughter volunteer to demo the pickles at stores and events. With the whole family pulling together, Baumgardner Pickling Company sells 10,000 jars of pickles a year on average, and they are in 109 stores on the West Coast.

Baumgardner Pickling Company is proud to have an all-natural product with ingredients completely grown in the WillametteValley. Their main grower for pickling cucumbers and dill is Sonnen Farms in Aurora, and their co-packer is Dundee Fruit Company in McMinnville. This year they bought 10,000 pounds of cucumbers to pickle. All the cucumbers are ‘fresh packed,’ put into jars within 12 hours of leaving the farm. “We’re committed to having an excellent product 100 percent of the time,” says Jamison. Her next pickling project is experimenting with her brother’s persistent idea of what they call “hurtin’ gherkins.” Baby cucumbers pickled with habanero peppers. “It’s going to be hot,” says Jamison. With her family there to back her up, she should have no problem getting them onto—and off—store shelves.

We had quite an experience this month, as the “headliner” for Portland Fashion Week with our Imperial Knits Collection.  It’s very rare for a hand knit collection of patterns to be featured on a ready-to-wear runway, but we were.  The ongoing relationship between Imperial Yarn (Imperial Stock Ranch) and our knitwear designer Anna Cohen, an internationally known sustainable fashion designer from right here in Oregon, has been developing into a leading story of connecting urban and rural, fashion and craft, and bringing audiences and discerning consumers along on a journey to the source, and to the very roots of fashion…natural sunlight fibers and traditional skills.

We see people in general, shifting toward the “local” movement which is most evident in food, seeking to know where it comes from and connecting with the source.  This is growing in the needle arts arena as well… knowing where the yarn comes from and connecting with the story of the farmer/rancher and the fiber animals which provide these wonderful natural and renewable materials to us.  We are receiving more and more requests from apparel / fashion companies to connect with Imperial Stock Ranch/Imperial Yarn as a source of traceable yarns for knitwear….tending toward a chunkier texture and a return to “comfort.”  I personally think this derives from a deeper need to reconnect with the very landscape which supports us literally and spiritually.

As the finale of the Imperial Knits Collection left the runway that night, everyone began asking, “What did you think?!” “Are you pleased?!” I found myself unable to express any opinion – speechless. I wasn’t sure at first why I couldn’t craft a response that would sound at all intelligent, but my mind just seemed to be blank. It took me a few days to process the experience and realize that how I felt about those pieces on the runway was constant. They are evidence of an evolving work that has been 11 years in the making. It all began in 1999, when we lost our traditional market for wool.  Those lovely knitted pieces come directly from our efforts to remain viable as a family ranch, to preserve the presence and relationship of sheep on the landscape and to mankind, and to reach a hand across the rural/urban divide to work together for a richer future. I love those garments!

What’s really amazing, is that others appreciated it too, as you can see in the reviews quoted below. Pretty incredible.  It warms my heart to see the shift today toward “knowing where it comes from” or “the source.”  This was strong evidence that it is about more than food and wine. The fashion folks truly appreciated the fact that it was “make your own fashion”…..utilizing traditional skills.

Here are a couple examples:

“Stealing the runway, though, was the launch of the first ever, in-house hand knitwear collection by Anna Cohen, along with guest designers, and Imperial Yarn, a division of Imperial Stock Ranch. The designs, which varied from knitted sweater dresses to knitted belts and knee high socks, are the first knit-it-yourself kits, versus ready-to-wear designs, to be featured at fashion week.”

“Imperial Stock Ranch, a 140-year-old, family-owned ranch based in Shaniko in central Oregon, is known for its mindful and sustainable ranching and land-management practices, including being an honorable mention for the National Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable Agriculture.”

-Gretchen Holzgang, Sustainable Business Oregon, powered by

PortlandBusiness Journal Oct. 7, 2011

“Finally, Anna Cohen’s line for Imperial Yarn strutted down the runway and my slouched posture perked up into a proper state. The line of knitwear (non-knitwear pieces were from Cohen’s design archives) consisted of cozy, wanna-snuggle-up-inside, chunky pieces in shaped silhouettes. The line isOregon 100% with the sheep raised here, wool made, garments designed and created. That makes me love it even more.”

-EdenDawn

PortlandMonthly,  Oct 07, 2011

It really was amazing….

Kind Regards,

Jeanne

Once the sun blesses the fields with its presence the emphasis of the trees changes from growing to shutting down in preparation for the dry season. This activity usually takes place right around Independence Day, although this year it came a few weeks later. When the trees shut down they turn from the limey-green of new growth to lush dark green and the branches stiffen up replacing the droop of soft new growth with upturned branches.

Now that we have reached the middle of August and harvest is fewer than sixty days away the culturing process is in full swing. The crews are worried about getting all of the trees cultured before harvest begins. Every tree gets touched every year so there are millions of trees to be cared for. Walking through the fields of freshly sheared Douglas fir trees with the wonderful smell and the welcome mat of cuttings on the ground it becomes difficult to remain grounded; the fresh cuttings add to the fragrant air and brings to mind memories of setting up the Christmas tree, even in the August heat.  It almost seems crazy, but the thoughts still flow.  The sounds of the shearing knives whisking along the edges of the trees perfectly timed is lulling – the chatter, or the occasional singing, of the workers brings a smile to my face.

What I am really walking through is the craftsmanship of a talented group of individuals with 18-inch shearing knives perfecting the look of these trees while providing for their families.  It’s a double sense of pride that goes into these trees.  I watch as they swing a dozen times on each tree bringing out the taper. “It doesn’t look that difficult,” and “I could do that” runs through my head. Then the opportunity for me to “do that” comes along and good grief!  Why is it, when I shear the tree, the top is no longer in the center and the taper isn’t consistent?  These guys are more talented than given credit for!  Then there are the guys that do one tree right-handed and one tree left-handed all the way down the rows – very impressive to watch.

That carpet of cuttings on the ground will quickly decompose and become nutrition in the soil for the trees to use during future growing seasons.  Thus, closing nature’s ever present cycle and sustainability.

The idea of the holidays, family, friends and community that is the Christmas season is nurtured and cared for even after the last bit of wrapping paper has been vacuumed up and Valentine’s Day is highest on everyone’s list, guaranteeing a new crop of beautiful Christmas trees for families everywhere.

Henderson’s younger brother, Seth, followed in 1850, settling in Milwaukie, Oregon, where he established a commercial tree fruit nursery, and curiously, changed the spelling of his name.

According to the Oregon Historical Society, Ah Bing was Seth Lewelling’s Manchurian foreman and his close friend who managed 30 Chinese farm workers. Accounts differ as to whether it was Seth or Bing who developed the Bing cherry variety at Seth’s nursery, but the name honors the talented, tall Chinese foreman.

That recognition is especially notable at a time when some white Americans felt threatened by the growing presence of Chinese Americans in the workforce. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 halted Chinese immigration and sanctioned the deportation of legal residents.

Bing worked for Seth for 35 years, the length of his contract, and in 1889 he returned to visit family in China. But the Exclusion Act demanded that Chinese Americans who left the country had to obtain stringent certification to re-enter. Bing did not return to the United States.

But the cherry he helped to cultivate is still today the most produced variety of sweet cherry in the United States.

Something similar is happening today and is a bright spot in the agricultural scene. After so many years of people leaving farms, there is a new trend. Young people are deciding to farm and what they’re doing gives me hope for the future of farming. These new operations are still small, usually couples with young children. They have taken a diversified approach, combining crops of vegetables and fruits, often with chickens or livestock. Most are certified organic.

They have avoided the conventional commodity farming system by branding themselves–Oakhill Organics, Gaining Ground Farm, Growing Wild Farm, Greenwillow Farms–and selling directly to end users, either consumers through CSAs or Farmers Markets or restaurants. Their markets are primarily local and restaurants have started listing purveyors as part of the menu so their customers know where their food is coming from. Getting fresh, local products has given chefs better ingredients and improved local cuisine. Fresh, local, sustainable is healthier for the farmers who grow and the people who consume, as well as the health of the land.

Farming is not an easy life. Nature dictates what needs to be done and when on her schedule, not the farmer’s. These young couples are working harder than they ever would at a desk job. But the ones I know love their connection to the land, eat well, and are making a decent living. I hope they represent the future of farming

We finish one crop year in August and immediately begin working on the new crop.   Pruning, training, fertilizing and pest & disease control activities continue until the new harvest begins the following June.  During the 10 months between harvests we are subject to what Mother Nature has in store for us and we learn to manage accordingly.

Mother Nature put its first work in on the 2011 crop with an early freeze in late November of 2010.  This freeze came as most of our trees still had their green leaves and were vulnerable to damage by the cold temperatures.   Most of our orchards escaped significant damage but they were weakened by the cold. As if this were not enough, Mother Nature struck with another abnormal freeze in February, which subjected the trees to one more chance to reduce the coming crop. If you did have damage it was then impossible to tell when the damage had occurred.

In March, April and May we had intermittent frosts that further reduced the crop.  For us, most of the spring frost damage was in our later orchards south of The Dalles.  With all of the potential for crop reduction we came through with what we determined to be about 85-90 percent of a full crop, which is very good.

The cherry business can be funny in how the market fluctuates. We have had some of our worst financial years when we have a full crop and everyone else does as well.  The law of supply and demand always comes into play.  Some of our best years have been when everyone has 80-85 percent of a full crop or less.

We began the 2011 harvest on June 24, which was the latest we had ever started harvesting cherries.  The early harvest went very well with the primary challenge was trying to be patient and wait for the cherries to ripen in the latest of all seasons.   Just as we were on a roll Mother Nature took one more whack at us.  A rain storm hit on the 18^th and 19^th of July and did some major damage to the cherries that were ripening at that time.

It is now a week after the rain storm and we are beginning to work our way through the worst of the damaged orchards and looking forward to things improving the rest of the season.  We have about 4 more weeks of harvest and if everything goes well we can still have a good year.

We had a great experience last week; one of the richest kind you can have. Two charter busloads of kids from the Metropolitan Learning Center in Portland arrived on Wednesday for a day at the Imperial Stock Ranch. What a memorable day it was! And not only for the kids, but for every one of us here at the ranch. People and animals!  You’ll see why as this story develops…

I had been to their school a few months ago to kick off a very in-depth and comprehensive curriculum based on wool production from sheep. They use a curriculum design method called Storyline Design. In a nutshell, it is an integrated approach to teaching/learning. For 3 months, the students learn skills, knowledge and content in all the different areas (music, science, social studies, math, poetry, reading, writing and the arts), with everything that is covered in some way connected to a book entitled, Symphony for the Sheep. This is a poetry book that depicts the process of wool production from shearing to clothing and includes spinning, weaving and knitting, all told simply in poetry and rhyme.

I took a skein of yarn for each student as a gift from the sheep. As a part of their learning, they had one of the largest knitting circles ever. They reached out to the community, and on one day, about 100 knitters showed up to help all those kids learn how to knit. Another part of their study involved working with the Oregon Symphony to put the poetry to music, and compose an actual “Symphony for the Sheep.” And of course, the truly best audience for their symphony was the sheep! That’s where the field trip came in. “Hats off” again to our ranch family for their involvement in making this a special day for the kids.

The Imperial Stock Ranch headquarters is located about 2.5 hours from Portland.  The buses arrived mid morning and we unloaded up on top where you can see forever. They got an idea of the open space and the “sunlight story” of how we work with nature. This included an overview of our no till farming practices, rotational livestock grazing and some of the changes in thinking and practices we’ve made in recent years from a conservation perspective. We talked about how these changes are good for the land and good for the bottom line too.  Of course, we keyed in on the important role sheep play in that process and in all our lives. Many of the kids were wearing scarves or items they had knitted with the yarn from our sheep. We traveled on down to the ranch headquarters where they ate their lunches sitting on hay bales in front of the historic Hinton House (now Imperial Yarn headquarters) and were entertained by our “ranch band” who played some great old tunes from the porch (fiddle, mandolin, guitars and stand up bass with plenty of singing). The bummer lambs who live in the orchard joined in the fun and wandered around nibbling on their lunch sacks and clothes, to the great delight of the kids. Next we were all treated to Scott Cameron (ranch family) demonstrating the working ability of herding dogs. We had brought a few sheep in off the range, and using his dogs, he parked those wild range sheep right up against the kids. It was awesome. He did a great job of explaining this “working partnership” between man and dog, and answering questions from the kids.

Next, we hung little miniature bells on all the kids with color coded yarn, to split them to groups, and they went through three stations: 1) touring the historic buildings where they all got to be sheep waiting to be shorn in the little pens in the110 year old shearing shed; 2) seeing the no till drill and some of the big farm equipment, where they got to get up in the big tractors; and 3) going through the Hinton House, now Imperial Yarn headquarters where they saw more history up close and some of the beautiful garments made from the wool grown here.

Then we embarked on the culminating event. We all hiked up the creek for more than a mile to where we had contained the sheep. This is a part of the day that is difficult to capture and describe. We had to hike past the horses pastured up that way, and I had told the kids to save their apple cores from lunch for them. 130 people walking up the valley proved to be a startling sight to the horses! Oh my! The horses put on a show of wildness! They raced out of sight over the ridge, and then raced back to check out all those people. We were all stopped and quiet, but still it was an intimidating sight for the horses. There were so many learning moments for the kids with regard to the nature of animals. And off the horses would go again. Blowing!  With manes and tails flying, to circle back again and again. We decided that from there on, we would not speak, but walk the last quarter of a mile in complete silence. We approached the sheep very slowly, stopping frequently, and I quietly shared about the nature of the guard dogs who live with the sheep and protect them from predators. Several of our ranch folks moved out ahead of the kids to work on calming the guard dogs. Slowly, we were able to come in close to the sheep. And the kids sang their incredible “Symphony for the Sheep.” I cannot tell you what it was like. In the wilds of a small canyon, in the sheep’s environment, surrounded by nature, the children performed their beautiful poetry and song, written in movements, truly a symphony for the sheep. I cried. It was an indescribable experience. I love this place so much. It isn’t just its history, the old buildings, the animals, the life. It’s more. Maybe the greatest part is the silence and solitude. I hope we shared a piece of that with each kid that came to sing to the sheep, and to be in the sheep’s world for just awhile.

Amazing continued. I can’t say enough to praise these teachers at Metropolitan Learning Center. On the hike back, they spaced everyone at 20-second intervals. I led off. It was the longest single file line I’ve ever been part of. Everyone hiked back solo, down the valley along the creek, with the horses still prancing the ridge lines. And then the kids circled up and reflected on the experience. When they pulled away in the buses, all the ranch folks were feeling the same. We were so glad they came and spent a day with us. The day was filled with music and rhythms. The rhythms of nature, the pound of hooves, the movement of working dogs and moving sheep, the jingle of bells on the sheep and kids!  Lots of singing, and the “Symphony for the Sheep.”  There was definitely some bonding that went on this day.  They warmed our hearts and we miss them.

Warm Regards,
Jeanne

p.s. I understand some of the kids wore their bells to school the next day!