G is for Grass

Grass. In a miracle of biology it goes from something growing underfoot to a nice ten ounce steak or maybe a hamburger, if that is what your kid likes (mine does). Part of my writing in New Grass Growing and in River and Ranch is an effort to work in the day to day lives of fourth generation ranchers intent on keeping their Idaho ranch up and going in the face of long standing competitive forces that make life difficult for the shrinking number of family ranches one can still find "out west".

Grazing cattle obviously requires grass, but it also requires range land management and water. It requires some attention to rotating pastures so as to not overgraze. Vigilance concerning invasive species like cheatgrass, knapweed, and salt cedar is a daily habit.

Along with a thriving school training barrel racers and cutting horses, the family behind Dana - her mother and father and brother as well as an aunt and uncle are all part of a family effort to keep Cayuse Creek up and going in the face of modern pressures conspiring against one of the icons of the classic West - the cattle ranch.

The green mountain meadows are a backdrop for excitement and romance and maybe even some drama, but they are also part of a working ranch producing beef for sidebar-T, the family ranch that has been part of Dana's family for four generations.