Sometimes folks will ask, Just how big is the Chicken Ranch anyway?” I will always smile and say, “How big do you see it?” Through the years I have posted pictures of and from the back porch. Yet, when folks I meet talk about it to me, they often see it somewhat differently than the pictures I've shown. I suppose a writers job is to furnish the colors, the music, and the script and then allow the readers to make the movie in a way that suits them; leaving it to their minds eye to create the images as they'd like. And I'm just fine with that.
What is the Chicken Ranch anyway? The Chicken Ranch is as much a brand as it is a place.
Many years ago when I was fondly remembering aloud raising calves, selling livestock feed across a couple of states, and the family farms where I spent my youth, my son-in-law looked to the hen house with the 50 or so chickens in the yard and joked, “Well, now you’ve got a Chicken Ranch!” The name stuck, and it’s been used ever since. The chickens, the many gardens, the barn cats, etc… these certainly are all part of our daily experience. And so are much of our surroundings.
We are fortunate to live in a flyover state where we are surrounded by ranches and farms that are surrounded by more ranches and farms. Many of our neighbors are some of the best crop and/or cattle growers in America. Cattle and horses abound. Just a quarter mile from us is a ranch that has a full scale rodeo style team roping corral. For those not familiar with team roping, it is a sport where calves are released running from a chute and chased by the cowboys. On horseback, two cowboys chase the calf to rope it, just like rounding up for a branding. One cowboy (the Header) tries to lasso the horns at the head, the other cowboy ( the Heeler) attempts to lasso the feet. The event is timed. It takes a great deal of skill to do it right. It's fun to do when your young... and fun to watch when aren't as young as you used to be.
We are also just a few miles from 16,000 acres of creeks, woodlands, and ponds that I have roamed, hunted, and fished on for many years. This rugged and also prairie-like land was originally purchased for a nuclear power plant many decades ago, but Three Mile Island killed that plan. The land was purchased after many years by the state and made into a state park several years ago. Some of my photos come from my many treks into that beautiful wildlife sanctuary. So, most of what I write about is from here, but our surrounding area is an inspiration as well.
The quiet of a steaming coffee cup morning, the silent explosion of a colorful sunset in all its dazzling wonder, the musical staccato of rain on our tin porch roof, the snow hanging in potential avalanches on the boughs of the pine trees... these are the things that I see and hear in my daily experience. I write about them because I love these things, these simple pleasures of life.
So, as I send these thoughts along, I hope that I can present it in such a way that you can see, hear, smell, and feel the experiences with me. See them the way it makes you happy to see them. Its just rural life in America that I write about.. the observations from under my cowboy hat.
There's magic in everyday things and there's magic in the written word. Just like fried chicken and sweet tea go together, so do events and writing. Here at the Chicken Ranch blog I just try to dish up a healthy dose of both.
