June 19, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Whoa! Hold your Horses

Proverbs 21:23 “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.”

How does 70lbs of little person control a 1400 lb horse? Each summer Grieb Ranch lends its labor and horses to help put on an Ag Adventure Day Camp. One of the highlights for the all the campers is to learn how to ride a horse. The bridle is one tool used to control the huge animal. The rider’s position and seat and legs are another tool. When all are used together with the right balance of aids, harmony and peace are witnessed in the horse and rider.

Scripture tells us to bridle our tongues. When we are gossiping or speaking in anger, we are not submitting to God’s control. Our tongues, writing pens, ipads should more often fall silent and then be filled with thanks for the restraint God can help us with. All too often we speak our own mind and not the mind of Christ.

When we want to show others what a difference Christ makes, we may need to look no further than the restraining of our tongue. Those around us and affected by us won’t help but notice when we honor God and choose to bridle our tongue and not say something.

Connie’s prayer: “Help me, Lord, to use my words not to tear down others or build up my own reputation, but to seek the good of others first, and in so doing to serve You and Your Kingdom.”

June 5, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Proud as a Peacock is the Grieb Ranch Watch Dog

Grieb Ranch Peacock Watch Dog

Grieb Ranch has a different kind of watch dog, it’s a Peacock Watch Dog. He arrived at the ranch because someone dropped him off and he seems to enjoy his new home. Grieb Ranch has a resident peahen also, but they do not hang out together.

How is this peacock a watch dog? If you have ever heard a peacock “scream” you know that at first the scream is unnerving as the sound is quite piercing. However, this peacock uses his scream to alert those on the Grieb Ranch to potential “dangers”. He screams if the bear comes through the yard. He screams if you shut a door. He screams at any noises. He screams day or night.

Sounds quite unnerving. However, he has become Barbara’s friend as he often sits on the bench on the front porch and peers in at the them (Barbara and Carl) through the window. Barbara tells him good night every night and he calls back to her. He has become part of the family at Grieb Ranch.

Proud as a Peacock is the Grieb Ranch Watch Dog

May 29, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Memorial Day at The Ranch

Carl attending the BBQ

First Course.

Western Motif

Tools

The kids made a new friend.

As the sun set, we remembered those who gave, “the last full measure of devotion.”

Good friends, good food, good fun and remembering the sacrifices of our fellow Americans who gave “the last full measure of devotion” filled up a Memorial Day BBQ at Grieb Ranch.

“It’s Always A Hit” Salad

Steaks cooking on the grill.

Good food started with a first course of salads, followed by steaks cooked over oak on an open grill. The kids played hide and go seek and even found a new friend. Adults enjoyed each others company. A pleasant afternoon/evening was enjoyed by all.

“It’s Always A Hit” Salad Recipe

Ingredients: Romaine lettuce, Granny Smith apples, sugar-coated toasted almonds and feta cheese with a homemade mustard vinaigrette dressing.

Sugar-coated toasted almonds:

2/3 cup of raw slivered almonds

6 tbls sugar

Place nuts and sugar in a heavy sauce pan. Put over medium-low heat. Stir frequently until the sugar begins to melt. Stir constantly as sugar melts and the nuts toast. Do not leave this unattended as the sugar can burn quickly. Once the sugar is all melted and the nuts are toasted and brought to a lovely brown color, pour them out onto foil and spread to cool. Keep little and big fingers from grabbing the freshly made nuts because the nut mixture will be extremely hot! Set this aside while you make the rest of the salad.

Salad Makings:

2 stalks of heart of romaine lettuce washed and shook-out and then chopped

2 Granny Smith apples, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 8oz carton of blue cheese crumbles

Salad Dressing:

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tbl sugar

1 tbl Dijon mustard

Place all dressing ingredients in a baggie (for traveling) or bowl if serving on-site. Mix together.

Making up the Salad:

Place chopped lettuce in bowl, add the chopped apple pieces and either the entire or 1/2 (depending on how cheesey you like your salad) carton of blue cheese crumbles, and place the sugar-coated toasted almonds on top. Dress salad just before serving. If traveling with your salad add the nuts just before dressing and dress salad at destination. The apples can also be cut on-site or add lemon to them to keep from turning brown. Mix salad together and watch people devour and exclaim how tasty it is!

For more recipes by this author check out http://crazyfreegf.wordpress.com/

May 22, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Hide and Seek

Pecked out eggs.

Yes, Grieb Ranch hens are getting creative with their hiding places for laying their eggs. They are doing this due to the return of the attack on the eggs. Predators like the Stellar Jay birds that peck holes in the unhatched eggs, or raccoons who are stealing the eggs know to seek out nests in the barn (where a nest is provided for the hens) thus disturbing the nests and causing the hens to go elsewhere.

Golf balls added to the nest keep the hens laying when eggs are removed to enjoy or destroyed or stolen by predators.

As long as the eggs nests keep growing (more eggs added or not destroyed) the laying hens will “go broody” which means they keep laying eggs. Therefore golf balls are added to the nest as these won’t get stolen or pecked out and the hens will keep producing eggs to enjoy or to hatch out. The eggs to enjoy have to be grabbed before the predators get them and replaced with a golf ball. It is important to know where the nests are so the eggs can be gathered.

Just how many hidden nests can one come across at Grieb Ranch? Several. One hen discovered the security of being underneath the bench seat in the old truck. That one took awhile to discover.

The old truck made a secure hiding place.

Hide and Seek under the truck seat.

One hen found security in the garden shed. Several hens have set up house in the Gooseneck trailer and have gone to town more than once. One of the Gooseneck traveling hens ended up out of the trailer at Templeton Sales Yard and had to be caught and returned at a later date!

Why did the hen go to town? Because she set her eggs in the Gooseneck trailer and went to town!

Gooseneck trailer going to town.

Gooseneck trailer loft nest.

Once it comes time to hatch out a nest the hen and her eggs need to be moved to the large hen coop. This is best done in the dark, however demands of the ranch can keep one from doing so . . . even at 2 am sometimes there still isn’t time to move the hens!

April 7, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Mud Slides are Fun!

A very muddy Mr. T.

Getting ready to take a trip up the hill.

Getting ready for a bareback ride to the top!

“Any amount of rain is considered a blessing for this ranch,” says Connie of Grieb Ranch. 2013 was the driest year in local history and the driest one Carl Grieb has experienced in his 85 years. SLO County has been declared a natural disaster area due to the horrific drought that we are in. Here on the Grieb Ranch we are usually blessed by green hills by Thanksgiving and rain that continues to fall so that we can usually sustain the herd to produce grass fed beef with out supplementing them until February – since December is usually too cold for the native grasses to grow. Otherwise we have a “Feed Year” where we have to supplement the cattle more than usual if the rains don’t come.

This is our second major “Feed Year” in a row, so to adjust to this new way of life, we have managed our cow herd by selling off older cows and open cows (ones not pregnant). Fortunately cattle prices are high, but that reduces the stock to build next year’s herd. So with only a few cattle held back we stored hay at the top of the hill to feed them.

Recently some much-needed rain has fallen, turning the hills green again but the cows still need to be fed, even in the rain. Rain also makes the very steep hills of Grieb Ranch impassable with anything but a horse. So Connie got to ride bareback on a very muddy Mr. T who took her to the top of the hill where the hay was stored so that she could feed the cows. Once the cows were fed she turned Mr. T loose and then walked or slid down the steep hill home to tackle the next chore. Connie described her experience of sliding home like this: “Most of the time the walk/slide was a beautiful experience of sliding home except for the day of high winds – that was not so beautiful. I only had to ride up the hill to feed for 3 days, just after we got our first big rain in March. Being wet and muddy made feeding the 100+ pound bales of hay a real challenge!”

Keep praying for rain! “Even though we have had some rain and the hills may be green for the moment, we are still in desperate rain for the ground water supply,” writes Connie.

I think she just wants to go mud-sliding more often!

March 18, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Round ’em Up!

Round ‘em up! Have you ever used that phrase? Well that’s exactly what happens every year at the Grieb Ranch when it’s time to “work” the calves. Preparation for the day begins with inviting friends and family to come be part of the work crew for the event. The number of hands needed depends on the number of calves that need to be “worked”. The day begins with the hands mounted up on a horse and the group heads out to gather the cows and calves out of the hills. The cattle are found and then using dogs and horses the cows and calves are encouraged to make their way down the hill into the working pen.

Dogs help gather the cattle.

Here the calves are tallied, branded with the ranch ID and they get several shots to keep them healthy. Everyone at the round-up has a job. One person ropes the calf’s head and then another ropes the hind by catching (hopefully) the two hind legs which helps the ground crew. Next a strong, young man tips the roped calf to the ground, putting the calf in a position to be safely worked. In a matter of moments, the calf is branded, vaccinated, ear-tagged if needed, given a copper bolus to balance the lack of that element in the soil, and the bull calves get castrated. This process is the fun part as all the generations of Grieb family and friends work together to get all the tasks done. This year it was a small round-up as the drought has forced a smaller herd so the focus was on giving the youngest generation more of the work to develop their cowboy skills. Grieb Ranch had four generations working together to finish the job in a few hours one afternoon.

Josh getting ready to rope.

Roping the head.

Roping the heel.

Calf gets worked.

Once the work is done the cowboys gather at the house for a meal. Traditionally a round-up meal at the Grieb Ranch starts chips and onion dip or guacamole (made with avocados from the ranch) and walking tacos (more on walking tacos in a coming post) and is followed by a full-on Santa Maria style BBQ tri-tip with all the traditional trimmings of beans and toasted butter-soaked bread, potluck salads and finished off by scrumptious desserts. As long as cattle roam the hillsides of Grieb Ranch the cowboys and cowgirls will come lend a hand to work the calves every time there is a round-up in years to come.

The younger generations got to use their cowgirl skills

The younger generation developing cowgirl skills.

March 7, 2014 by ride-n-mama Sharon

Welcome to Grieb Ranch

Welcome to Grieb Ranch on the beautiful Central Coast of California. Come alongside us and our various activities by keeping up with the happenings this blog “The Story of Ranching on the Grieb Ranch”.

Grass-fed cattle and horses have roamed the hillsides of Grieb Ranch, in Arroyo Grande, CA, since it was established in 1878. Yoada goats make the lower hillside home while chickens peck, roam and lay eggs. In addition, fruit trees bear delicious fruit, vine-ripened vegetables provide a bountiful crop and flowers bloom decorating the landscape with bright, cheery color. Grieb Ranch is a working ranch and all these elements have enabled the Grieb family to live off products of their own land for six generations. The Grieb family continues to be dedicated to preserving the natural beauty and wildlife on the ranch that has kept the family connected to the land since 1878.