Author: ride-n-mama Sharon

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Got Milk? Get God’s Word

grafted-calf

This mother cow’s baby calf died, so a Holstein calf (dairy calf) was grafted to this mother cow who enjoys her “new” baby.

Desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.  I Peter 2:2

The Grieb girls, Wynetta, Margie and Connie for years (Connie Jr. High through college) worked as a team to raise drop calves (calves we got from a dairy).  Twice a day the many calves had to be fed milk from bottles or buckets.  We had many other chores to get done in the morning before school, in addition to feeding the drop calves. So during drop calf raising we got to drive to school rather than ride the bus. Milk was essential to the growth of these calves and our profits depended on it.

mother-cows-and-calfs

Right now, it’s calving season at the Grieb Ranch which keeps us alert and available.  The most essential thing a newborn calf needs is the colostrum (first milk) from the mother within 2 hours.  The most essential thing we need each day is the milk of God’s word.

In the devotional, Hope for Each Day Billy Graham reminds us, “Just as our bodies need food, so our souls need spiritual food.  Without it we become malnourished and weak, susceptible to every temptation and unable to do the work God calls us to do.”

Where do we find this spiritual food?  In the Bible, the Word of God.  The Bible reveals Christ, the Bread of Life and the Water of Life.  If we fail to partake of this spiritual nourishment, we will lose our spiritual vitality.

Societies around the globe do not enjoy the freedom we have to read the Bible: They don’t have access to God’s word. Yet, the problem for most of us not that we don’t have access to the Bible, it’s using a Bible-actually picking it up and reading it.

Don’t be content to skim through a chapter, merely to satisfy your conscience or because of some long-established habit.  Rather, read it as if your life depended on it.  Meditate on it, memorize it, hide it in your heart so it permeates your whole being.  A small portion well digested is of far greater spiritual value than a lengthy passage scanned hurriedly.

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Cowboy Church

cowboy-church-front

Cowboy voices united in singing country hymns such as the “Old Rugged Cross” set the tone for the Annual “Cowboy Church” hosted by Clark Ranch on a recent summer evening in Arroyo Grande. The delightful evening punctuated with Cowboy Poetry, enhanced with a devotion and highlighted with delicious peach cobbler or apple crisp drew young and old together.

cowboy-church-skit

Grieb Ranch was represented with Connie in attendance and Stan bringing the devotion. Connie’s thoughts focused as Stan spoke,

Unfortunately, on this side of eternity, things often are not right. Oh, it’s not that we don’t mean well, or intend for things to go right. Somehow, in spite of our best intentions and plans, things go wrong. Now, it’s often certainly not for lack of trying that things go wrong.

I remember putting in hours on the ranch to get a big water trough plumbed, and the float adjusted so it would fill just right. Now those cows and calves will have no problem getting water, right? Well you can probably guess what’s coming.

That night, a bear decides that my trough is its own personal water park! He tears up the float, breaks the delivery pipe, and in less than a day I’m left with a muddy mess, an empty trough, a drained storage tank, and thirsty cattle.

THINGS JUST GO WRONG!

You make the list: Not enough rain from 2011 to 2016, Too much rain a flash flood/mud slide all in 15 min. winter of 2016, Cow prices too high when you need to buy back after the drought, favorite heifer miscarried . When things go wrong, something deep inside us cries out “How Long?” How long until things go right. We long for what the bible calls righteousness.

Even when life is hard, we know that following God will be worth any trouble we face in this life. Jesus endured the greatest pain at the cross to bring about our greatest good: salvation from sin.

That is why we can claim Romans 10:10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Can our longing for righteousness be fulfilled? Yes, it can by receiving the free gift of God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ.

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Stories Remaining To Be Told : Vasquez Canyon at Lake Lopez

A dam is built, a lake appears and access to Vasquez Canyon disappears.

The back side of Grieb Ranch overlooking a very shallow Lopez lake.

The back side of Grieb Ranch overlooking a very shallow Lopez lake.

The terrain surrounding Lopez Lake, located around the bend and behind Grieb Ranch consists of steep, sharp hills. Hills which provide rainfall a quick decent into man-made Lopez Lake. The Lopez Dam was built in 1969 and is operated by the San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The year it was built heavy rains filled the basin it created and Lopez Lake was born quite quickly.

Today, water activities such as fishing, water skiing, boating, kayaking and swimming all take place on or near Lopez Lake. Currently some activities have been curtailed due to the affects of the on-going drought. Lopez Lake also serves as the primary water source for Arroyo Grande residents. Without the dam the rainfall swishing down the slopes of the steep hills would rush down the creek and into the ocean.

The filling of Lopez Lake cut off access to Vasquez Canyon a neighboring Canyon to Grieb Ranch. Exploration of Vasquez Canyon off the West arm of Lopez Lake side turns up remains of memories and activities past with stories unknown.

The Nelson Place, Routzhen Park, Girls’ Camp all hold memories which are held up in these remains still waiting to tell their story.

Does anyone know the stories these remains could tell?

Vasquez Canyon Chimney

Vasquez Canyon Chimney

Chimney Face

Chimney Face

basement

A Basement

 

Box-spring bed

Box-spring bed

Another Chimney

Another Chimney

Frog Pond

Frog Pond

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Chester Arthur Grieb

Memories of My Father, Chester Arthur, by Gary Grieb

October 6, 1911 – June 15, 1982

Married Mildred Fox

Two Children: Gary Arthur Grieb – August 9, 1936 and Edith Ann Grieb – July 14, 1944 – February 12, 2013

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Chester Arthur at 6 Months

art-childhood

Childhood

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Young Adult

An Outdoorsman

Dad seemed to really like the outdoors. If he wasn’t working hard he was going fishing or hunting. It seemed like we always had something wild to eat.

Sometimes at night Dad would take us over to Avila between the 2nd and 3rd pier.That small beach is where Dad and his cronies and of course all the families would go grunion hunting on the beach. When the grunion would come in on a wave and use their tail to dig a hole which they were ending up looking like they were standing in the hole on their tails. They would lay their eggs and then catch a wave back into the ocean. That’s when Dad would have a light on and we would see them and they try to catch them. We would get a bucket full,if we were lucky, go home and Dad would then clean them and we would have grunion for a few days to eat.

I remember one day after Dad had gone pigeon hunting he brought some pigeons and he said a cotton tail rabbit after he cleaned them. I had asked him because I was pretty young then what was that he had said a rabbit which was real good to eat. Of course I believed him but after we had eaten it he told me it was a tree squirrel. He must have felt guilty telling me it was a rabbit instead of a squirrel.

The International Truck

Dad and a bunch of his fishing buddies went trout fishing north of San Simeon. He took me with him in his International truck. It was really a fun trip.

I remember when Dad had bought the brand new International truck. It didn’t have a bed in the back, just a cab and frame. Every day after he had worked all day he would drive the truck up to Clyde Withrow’s welding shop and work on building a bed on the truck. When he and Clyde finished it looked like it came that way. To me this was how he survived being fruitful doing so many things himself.

A Family Man

Playing basketball my first year in high school. We went to Lompoc High School and Played. Dad came down in the car and watched the game. Afterwords, I got permission to ride home with Dad. I was really proud that he went all the way to Lompoc to watch me play and bring me home.

One day we were unloading our boxes of vegetable at Arroyo Grande trucking for them to haul our vegetables to LA to sell. He told me that he had driven truck hauling to LA. He was surprising me even once in awhile. He also said he was on a semi pro team here on the Central Coast and while doing this they had played the LA Rams which in those days was not a big professional team. He said in those days they were bad. They would play them in the evening under lights. He said the Rams would shove the football inside their jersey so Dad’s team couldn’t see where the football was. Would you believe he played the tackle position?

I was at the Taylor house playing with Denny in the evening. It got to be supper time and Denny and I because of playing never noticed the time.  Dad came to pick me up in our Plymouth car which had running boards on it. I begged Dad to let me stand outside on the running board to ride home. I saw he really didn’t like the idea but I sweet talked him so he drove home real slow. We were just getting in front of our house. Dad hadn’t stopped yet and I decided to jump off while the car was moving and of course I fell down on the cement road and got the wind knocked out of me. Dad slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car with a frightened look on his face picked me up and carried me into the house. He told me not to jump off a vehicle while it was moving and I could tell he wouldn’t ever let me ride like that again.

One day Dad was in the shed sorting and packing artichokes with Uncle Connie and I was out playing where I shouldn’t have and I opened the fill cap on the big gas tank and was smelling the gas fumes. For some reason Dad came checking on me because I seemed to like to get into mischief, and Dad found me up on the gas tanks laying there. I think I passed out and again I got carried into the house and Dad revived me.

Farm Life

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Dad and Uncle Connie raised pigs at Uncle Connie’s farm in Los Berros. I will never forget killing a pig, carrying it down to one of the old oak trees in the back of the pickup after they had shot it in the head. They would winch the pig up in the air by it’s hind legs over a big metal drum. The drum must have been from the oil fields because it was thick steel open on the upper half with a fire underneath and boiling water inside. They would drop the pig into the water then raise it up, then start scraping the hair off. Dad would let me help him scrape. This would go on until they had gotten all the hair scraped off. Then they would clean the pig cutting it open taking all the insides out and washing it. Usually when I was there Dad did the cutting up, then they would haul it over to the walk in cooler at Grandpa’s ranch.

When I was in the first or second grade Mom and I went down to the apricot orchard where Dad was pruning. I had seen the advertisement somewhere, this was during World War II, selling these air force hats with goggles the pilots wore in those days. I asked Dad to buy one for me and he just grinned and kept pruning talking to Mom while working. I pushed pretty hard then I think a bud or something dropped in my eye.

It hurt and kind or burned and I told Dad if I had the hat with the goggles I wouldn’t have got something in my eye. About two days later after I had forgotten about the hat and goggles Dad gave me a little package and here was the air force hat and goggles which I really didn’t need. Times were hard and I now feel Dad really couldn’t afford to buy it.

Dad decided that the ground below the Hodges house where we lived in the adobe ground needed improving. He cut down a few walnut trees, borrowed Saratoris dirt scraper and started leveling. He leveled for about a week, not having any survey equipment disked and ripped the ground, furrowed it and planted vegetables. The leveling was almost perfect which dad did by sight with the water running perfect. To this day I couldn’t believe he could do everything himself without surveyors or big equipment to level with.

One time Dad came home with tomato plants. How many I don’t know but enough to cover about a half acre. He said let’s go plant these. So guess what I did that day? Dad put an empty barrel in the back of the pickup laying it down horizontally, put a valve “faucet” in the small plug which was on the bottom and filled the barrel with water through the big cap hole. We then went across the creek over to where he had disked up and had measured of where the plants were to be planted. We planted them and dad kept them watered. The plants did well and he would pick them and put them in the shed to finish ripening, then weekly would sort them picking out the ripe ones and shipping them for sale.

Dad was driving tractor disking on Saratori’s place across from the Halcyon store. I think mom dropped me off there so Dad let me got on his lap on the tractor. We were disking along with me watching Dad pull the levers to turn the cat and keep it going straight when he pulled one lever I pulled on the others and that disengaged the clutches and the tractor stopped for a second until I quickly let go. Boy Dad was sure startled. He gave me a “little” bawling out and we kept on disking of course getting dustier as well.

The Time I Went Missing

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Art, Gary, Edith and Mildred

When I was pretty young, Dad was disking in the walnuts and artichokes behind our house on Uncle Henry’s farm on Valley Road. I got tired of riding with him so he stopped and got me off the tractor. We were about half way out in the orchard and artichokes. The ground is good and the artichoke plants grew big. I was sleepy after riding the tractor so made me a little bed inside a big artichoke plant. Dad hadn’t seen me do this, and I fell asleep inside the plant. It came time for dinner and Mom and Dad called me and of course I didn’t answer.

Dad and Mom were frantic looking for me. Dad went looking in the artichoke field, and I woke up and was getting out of inside the artichoke plant when here comes Dad looking a little shaken. He told me to be sure and tell one of them where I was going.

More Memories

One time I asked Dad why we didn’t have milk cows and he told me when he was going to school he had to be up early every day and milk and feed the cows morning and night. He had made up his mind when he went out on his own he would never be tied down milking cows.

I was talking to Andy David the attorney, dead now, one day and he told me how he would get Dad’s help in information from years back. Andy said that Dad had more true information than he had heard anywhere. Andy said when he had a case that needed information from the past he would sit down with Dad and get what he needed.

Thinking about Dad makes me think about how I believe he never stole anything or lied to anyone. I cannot think of one time that I had been with him that he wasn’t always friendly to everyone. He seemed to like to talk with people and most of the time be laughing and joking. I think he liked almost everyone and in front of me I never heard him talk bad about anyone which is better than myself.

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Four Grieb Generations: Gary holding Gary Jr., Art and Fred

 

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Wait, It’s Not Easter Yet. Why the Colored Eggs?

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Easter brings to mind colored eggs . . . and that’s just what has been popping out at Grieb Ranch lately; a variety of colored eggs! Yet we’re still a few months from Easter.

So how does an egg get its natural color?

The short answer is genetics. Connie has been having fun crossing several different chicken breeds which is producing some really lovely egg colors.

Detailed information regarding egg color comes from Michigan State University Extension

All eggs start out white in color; those that are laid in shades other than white have pigments deposited on them as the eggs travel through the hen’s oviduct. The journey through the chicken’s oviduct takes approximately 26 hours.

The shell takes roughly 20 hour to be complete. Ameraucana birds have the pigment oocyanin deposited on the egg as it travels through the oviduct. This pigment permeates the egg shell resulting in the interior and exterior of the egg being the same blue color.

Chickens that lay brown tinted eggs deposit the pigment protoporphyrin on the eggs late in the process of forming the shell. The pigment therefore does not penetrate the interior of the egg, but tints only the surface of the egg, which is why brown eggs are white on the interior.

In the case of an Olive Egger, a brown pigment overlays a blue egg shell resulting in a green egg. The darker the brown pigment the more olive color of the resulting egg.

Are green eggs better than white? Are brown eggs good?

There is no difference in edibility, health, or nutrition with different-colored egg shells. The real difference in eggs taste comes from the hen’s environment and diet.

My Pet Chicken has this to add about backyard chicken eggs:

The colorful eggs from your backyard hens WILL have much more nutrition, because eggs produced by hens raised on pasture are much healthier, indeed (and they taste much better, too).

Keep in mind that commercially produced “free range” eggs may have been laid by hens who have never seen a blade of grass, the sun or the sky. “Pasture-raised” is something different, and much healthier.

Eggs laid by hens raised on pasture have less fat and cholesterol, and more healthy vitamin A, vitamin E, beta carotene and omega-3s. You can read all about the nutritional differences between factory farmed eggs and real, eggs to get an idea of what all those people who have to eat those icky grocery store eggs are missing!

So keep this in mind the next time you are at the grocery store and brown eggs are packaged in the egg cartons. They are just the same as the white ones. Also if you get the chance to eat a real farm-raised egg, savor the experience.

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A Surprise Proposal

The ring

Shh…It’s a Surprise!

Saturday night, I (Connie) greeted Levi from South Dakota and Jessica’s and Mara’s sister Kala from Iowa at the door.  They were spending the night for the great surprise.  Shh!   Mara, the unsuspecting fiancee-to-be (who has been away from home in Minnesota staying with her sister Jessica here in California all Summer) was to have NO IDEA they were in town.

Up early the next morning Levi was amazing as he put the ring in the mason jar and picked out the “right” shirt to wear.  I was privileged enough to hear their whole love story from when they met to this moment. Levi was so hilarious because he was very nervous as he made sure everything was set up perfectly.  Next Kala and Levi headed up the Grieb Ranch Hills in the RTV to saddle horses and hang the ring tied in the tree that over looks the Arroyo Grande Valley so everything would be just right . . . and it was . . .

The proposal

What Mara Was Thinking

Proposal July 31, 2016

Saturday night my sister Jessica and brother-in-law Daniel told me that we needed to go up the hill in the morning to get some fire wood for a BBQ we were going to have on Sunday night.

Sunday morning before church Jessica, Macy my twin sister who was visiting us, the boys and I headed up to the hill to get what I thought was wood! While we were driving we saw a horse in the distance. Jessica thought that was weird and thought that we should go check it out..

It was saddled and tied to a tree. As Jessica and I were walking up the hill to where the horse was Jessica said we needed to be careful because someone could have a gun. I then became really scared and kinda followed her. When we were up there I then noticed another horse tied up to another tree. I was confused. Behind the tree I saw a person! I had no clue who it was I just noticed someone with a bun on top of their head. I thought it was an Indian stealing the horses so I tried yelling at them and then they would duck and disappear.

Macy then came walking up in the distance with Payson, I yelled down at her and told her it wasn’t safe and that she shouldn’t come up here with a little boy. Jessica said, “Look! There is a jar hanging from the tree I wonder what that is?” I then thought someone was living out there will these stolen horses. When I turned around, Levi was standing on top of the hill! I couldn’t believe it! Levi got on one knee and asked me to marry him! I said, “YES!” My sister Kala then popped out of the tree where she was sneakily taking photos of our engagement!  

Yes!

Close up together

Levi came out for a visit at Grieb Ranch this Summer. He then decided it would be a fitting location for a proposal and planned the whole event. Four of the five Van Essen sisters took part in the proposal and now all have it as a shared memory. What a great start for the young couple.

Photos: Mara’s sister Kala

 

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Grandma Gertrude’s Delicious Potato Salad

Potato salad with tomatoes from the garden

Yummy Potato Salad with Garden Fresh Tomatoes

Potato salad was always on the menu for the potluck table at Grieb family get-togethers, and at every family barbeque. The big yellow pyrex bowl filled to the top with goodness was loved by all. Aunt Ida always made a second bowl of the salad so no one went without; even with a second bowl leftovers were seldom.

Potato Salad

Gertrude Haven Grieb

  •     7 large russet potatoes
  •     4 eggs, boiled and peeled
  •     1 Tablespoon onion powder
  •     1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  •     1 3/4 cups mayonnaise
  •     4 Tablespoons yellow mustard
  •     5 Tablespoons bread and butter pickle juice
  •     Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Boil potatoes in skin until fork tender, drain and peel.  While warm cut into cubes. Peel and chop boiled eggs. Meanwhile, as potatoes and eggs are boiling, mix together onion, garlic powder, mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice, salt and pepper to taste. Mix dressing with chopped eggs and warm potato cubes until combined. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

 

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Give you Hope for the Future. . . Simple Trust

Embroidery front

My sister Margie is an amazing person in many ways and one of her many gifts is to do  embroidery/stitchery.  I thought of Margie when reading Hope for Each Day by Billy Graham and it said,

We can trust that God is doing what is best for us.  God says in His Word, “I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope for a future.” (Jer. 29:11 NIV)

As Corrie ten Boom once explained “Picture a piece of embroidery placed between you and God, with right side up toward God.  Man sees the loose, frayed ends; but God sees the pattern.”

God is in control. Whatever comes into our lives, we can confidently say, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  (Rom.8:28)

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I just pray that I am called according to His purpose.

Margie gave me this embroidery over 30 years ago. She and Aunt Lorna have created many beautiful works of hand art.

Devotion by Connie Grieb Willems

 

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Grieb Family Reunion

the whole gang

The Grieb Family Reunion July 23, 2016 was a blast! Grieb descendants from literally all over the world came to the reunion.  We enjoyed gathering with over 100 family and friends  at Biddle Park in Arroyo Grande.  We played: board games, horseshoes. We mingled: family catching up with family. We ate: lots of food, especially desserts in the traditional Grieb Family manner.

Reunion T-shirt

Reunion Souvenir T-Shirt

Special items specially created for the reunion were:

  1. Grandma’s Cookbook – Top 20 recipes of Gertrude Grieb – compiled by Marla and cousins.
  2. Fred and Gertrude Grieb’s Genealogy  of 150 decendants – compiled by Theresa.
  3. Reunion and Grieb Ranch t-shirts  by Junior
  4. A biography of each of Fred and Gertrude’s 9 children – compiled by Sandi.

A list of Historic Sites and Points of Interest for the Grieb Family in Arroyo Grande was also compiled:

  1. The Grieb Farmhouse Inn the home of Konrad and Katharina is located at 851 Todd Lane built in the late 1800’s was the first true home.
  2. The Fred Grieb Bridge was dedicated to Fred Grieb when he turned 100 years old. It is located on Fair Oaks Ave. near Todd Lane.
  3. Grieb Ranch Way has a great area to picnic near the Arroyo Grande Creek that the Grieb’s and their descents fished in for many years. This area is at the corner of Lopez Dr. and Grieb Ranch Way.
  4. The house that Teddy created from motel units in the 1950s’ Was the first home to many Grieb descendants.   It is on the Grieb ranch and is located at 4285 Lopez Dr.
  5. Grieb Ranch 4287 Lopez Dr. Originally purchased in 1916 by Fred Grieb. Now the home to Carl and Barbara Grieb.  It is located where a murder took place. Later that day  Fred Grieb observed the hanging of man responsible for the murder on the Bridge back in Arroyo Grande town. The Terrible Tragedy tells the whole story.

great grands playing

 

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Planting Olallieberries

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Ethan and “Little P” Planted Olallieberries at Grieb Ranch

Olallieberries are classified as a type of blackberry, and a cross between a “Youngberry” and a “Loganberry”. Olallieberries are shiny and full of juices that most would consider tart. Jams, pies and even wine can all be made from Olallieberries. If you live in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 9, you can plant a patch of Olallieberry bushes in your backyard. Keep in mind, however, that it takes two years from the date of planting before edible berries make their appearance.

How to Plant an Olallieberry Bush

  1. Block off a 5- by 18-foot space in a sunny location for growing your olallieberry bush. Olallieberries will tolerate a little bit of shade, but they prefer full sun.
  2. Test the soil in the area you want to plant the Olallieberries. Ideal soil should have a pH between 5.5 and 7. You can get a soil test kit at your local county extension office or from a gardening center. According to Oregon State University, you can add lime to the soil if the soil is too acidic.
  3. Erect a trellis at the back of your blocked off space. As the Olallieberries grow, they will need the support of the trellis.
  4. Work manure in the soil before planting at a rate of 2 cubic yards for every 100 square feet of space. If you don’t have manure, you can use compost.
  5. Dig out a hole to place your Olallieberry root ball in. The hole should be slightly bigger than the root ball. Wet the ground in the hole so that it is moist and then plant the root ball. Use some of the soil you removed to fill the space surrounding the root ball.
  6. Water the Olalliberry bush with 1 inch of water one time each week.
  7. Check frequently for weeds and remove them immediately.

Olallieberry picking (740x479)

Barbara the rooster lady gave Connie plants in 2016.  She got her plants from her Father who got the original stock in 1956 when he bought his first house.  Every time the family moved he/they took plants including the Olallieberry bushes.  Now after many moves Barbara has passed the Olallieberries on to Connie and they were planted at Grieb Ranch.

Yummy Berry Sauce as a Topping for Cake or Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup berries (Strawberry or Olallieberry)

1 cup water

1 cup sugar(or less to taste)

*  *  *

2 Tbls Cornstarch

2 Tbls water

Directions:

Combine fruit, water and sugar ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Mix cornstarch with the 2 Tbls water in a small bowl. Add cornstarch mixture to boiling fruit mixture and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add 2-3 cups fresh berries to sauce and mix gently.

Pour over your favorite ice cream or cake. Yummmmy!