Yesterday was our homeschool “clean sweep” day. Some families prefer to declutter as summer is coming to a close, but I find that bringing order to our homeschool space earlier on makes it a more pleasant, peaceful, and productive place for us to work and create throughout the summer.

Much like the television show Clean Sweep, we go through each and every shelf and drawer, pulling things out to sort into three areas of our own making: “keep”, “give away” and “toss”.

At the end of each year I archive the kids’ completed schoolwork in heavy duty 5″ binders. If there are loose items (workbooks, spirals, etc…) they are stored in magazine archive boxes.

Oral reports, posters and all other sizable or creative works are chronicled through photos taken and “archived” in clear, plastic 4×6 photo insert sheets.

Up until this year I have maintained three years’ worth of archives. However, this year I decided two years is enough proof to satisfy my paranoia, so I decided to “toss” everything from 2007-2009.

The few memorable items that made their way into the “keep” pile were immediately tucked into the kids’ hope boxes (which is what we have in lieu of hope chests).

It truly is astounding to see how much paper is accumulated over a single year.

We “filed” all of the culled work straight into the recycle bin. By the time we completed the schoolroom’s clean sweep the recycle bin was nearly overflowing.

After dealing with all the archived work, we moved on to packing up the textbooks, workbooks and literature from this past year to make way for next year’s selections.

Each kid has a designated portion of the bookshelf to house their books for the year. We pulled these to the school table, inventoried them, and then packed them away with the corresponding curriculum.

We “keep” all our Sonlight Cores until our youngest child, Kenny, uses them. Between uses the curriculum is packed and sealed in boxes before being stacked in a corner of the attic.

After Kenny moves through curriculum it is given away to a family in our homeschool cooperative. Whether kept or given away, when it comes to packing curriculum and texts, we are very purposeful.

After boxing curriculum and books we plan to “keep” or “give away”, and recycling what we choose to “toss”, the room takes on a significantly different feel.

At this point we tackle the mountain of books we collect through the year. The kids choose a few favorites and the rest are put in a box to “give away” to our local library. Some of the books go on the library shelf and others are sold by the Friends of the Library group for the purpose of purchasing more books.

With our shelves significantly lightened, there is room to unpack our new curriculum and display a few things that are important to us.

For instance, the construction paper and pipe cleaner flowers Meredith made me for Mother’s Day are arranged in a milk glass vase I keep in memory of my Grandma.

Also displayed is a scorpion Kenny sketched in one of his art classes he took at co-op this past year. At the end of the co-op year, Kenny brought home a portfolio of all his work and the easel he used in class.

Are you in the midst of your own clean sweep or do you save it for after the summer? How do you process through the mounds and mounds of schoolwork, textbooks, curriculum, and supplies?

OMSH/Heather L. Sanders is “Momma” to three kids, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. When not homeschooling, or writing about homeschooling, Heather is busy designing websites or going on dates with her husband Jeff, the love of her life.

Did I mention that?

Oh. Well, we did!

It was intentional, though.

 
We started by moving all the saddles and the rest of the tack from the old horse barn to our other barn, which is also an old barn but has never been a horse barn before.

Until now.

 
 
 
Marlboro Man had some new saddle stands made and Cowboy Josh welded a bunch of old horseshoes to the rails to be used as hooks, so there’s a new place for everything!

 
 
 
After that, it was about getting anything out of the old horse barn that we did not wish to go up in flames.

 
 
 
I have no idea what my husband is going to do with that piece of metal.

And I probably don’t want to know.

 
 
 
I made the girls gather up all these old horseshoes, which have been hanging on this wall since I’ve been on the ranch.

I’m going to save them forever.

 
 
 
“Aw, you don’t need those ol’ horseshoes,” Cowboy Josh said.

“Listen up, little buckaroo.” I said. “Yes I do!”

I sure told him, didn’t I?

 
 
 
My girls get distracted sometimes.

I can’t imagine where they get this.

 
 
 
It took us awhile to clear everything out of the two boxcars that Marlboro Man’s dad moved out here to the homestead close to fifty years ago, before Marlboro Man and his brothers were even born. He combined the boxcars and rigged them to hold and dispense feed for his ranch horses, and he built horse pens and a roof and kept on building until the two old boxcars became a barn.

That barn was Marlboro Man’s horse barn—and his two brothers’—throughout their whole childhood.

 
 
 
Marlboro Man and his dad both agree the old barn needs to be torn down. Its usefulness has slowly and inevitably dwindled. The boxcars are rusted, and the roof is in disrepair.

Its time has come.

 
 
 
But yesterday, when it all became real, I started getting emotional about tearing down the barn. It’s so old. It’s been here forever. It’s where we’ve kept bottle-fed calves and it’s where my kids have saddled their horses since they learned how to saddle.

It’s not where I’ve saddled horses, because nobody wants to ride a horse that I’ve saddled.

But that’s another story for another time.

 
 
 
Guess what? Cowboys don’t have time for sentimentality when they’ve got their mind made up that a building has to go.

And when they’re holding a container of diesel fuel…

 
 
 
And matches.

 
 
 
“Man…must make FIRE.”

 
 
 
Um, yeah. So I guess it’s a little late to reconsider.

 
 
 
At least my baby understood the bittersweet nature of what was happening. As we watched the flames grow and the smoke grow thicker, he walked up and put his arm around me, knowing I had a little bit of a lump in my throat.

 
 
 
“Mama?” my baby said. “Did you remember to move your car out of the barn?”

“MY CAR!” I screamed. “Oh no!”

Just kidding. But wouldn’t that have been an unexpected twist?

 
 
 
Because I’m a photojournalist, I actually went back inside the barn so I could get a different angle.

It was hot in there!

Ouch.

 
 
 
The already-peeling paint started falling off in sheets—look over there at those exposed yellow areas.

 
 
 
That was the first boxcar.

 
 
 
This is the second. POOF!

 
 
 
I realize all fire is hot.

But this fire was really hot.

 
 
 
This is from the other side.

 
 
 
And that’s the first stage of our saying goodbye to the old horse barn. All the wood inside is now burned out of it. Once it’s cooled down (sometime in the year 2098) Marlboro Man and Josh will cut it all up and sell the scrap metal.

Then they’ll take down the old pens inside and keep the gates, which are still in good condition, and they’ll put them somewhere…well, somewhere that needs a gate.

Just part of the never-ending job of keeping and maintaining a homestead.

*Sniff*

Community Question is a category inspired by you. Here and there readers write in with questions that are better served by the varied, experiential knowledge of those who read and contribute in the comments.

—————————————————–

The following question is from Jennifer C.

“My husband and I decided to homeschool our 2nd and 4th grade kids next year. With that decision I will move from full to part-time work at my current job so I can be home during the day. I priced curriculum I’ve read about here and on other websites and blogs and unless we purchase used it will not fit into our budget. Where do Pioneer Woman readers recommend I look to find and purchase used curriculum?

What kind of wear and tear should I expect from used curriculum; how much will its use affect the price?”

Any experiences or advice in purchasing used curriculum?

Check this out.

 
What was once an innocent french fry basket is now a jewelry holder!

 
 
There are several rows of skinny horizontal bars to hold earrings with smaller wires…

 
 
And a heavier bar on top to hold the larger ones.

 
 
The little ramekins normally used for ketchup and dipping sauces are the perfect little spots for rings and necklaces.

 
 
The best thing about it? The price. Google “French Fry Baskets” and you’ll find many choices around the $6 to $10 mark.

I love things with a dual purpose.

I have been asked a few questions about Instagram lately so I thought I would share some basic info, a few interesting apps, and how to take a screen shot on your iPhone.

Screen Shot

First of all, if you would like to take a screen shot of the image on your phone, here’s how you do it.

Press the Home and the Sleep buttons at the same time. Your camera will take a picture and save it to the Pictures folder on your phone.

It’s wonderful for saving a funny text conversation or weather report.

Tilt Shift

Here’s the picture I took with my iPhone.

 
In order to achieve this effect, I opened up Instagram and chose the picture. Then I tried the different editing tools along the bottom.

I didn’t change anything drastic from those buttons…the exciting tool to use in this case is the Teardrop that is found along the top. This is a tilt-shift tool. It lets your select your focus. You can do a rectangle or a circle. You can move it around and enlarge it and make it very small. Do this by touching the screen and dragging the tool around.

The tilt-shift is especially sweet in cities where you can be above the action. You can take pictures from bridges or apartment buildings and make the things below look like model train cities.

 
Here’s another example of Tilt-shift.

 
For this one I used the circle tilt shift tool.

I also chose one of the editing choices from the bottom of the screen. They are are all very unique and if you want to play around more you can actually purchase apps that give you even more ways to edit.

(More on that in a sec.)

 
This image was edited with Instagram features.

It’s very dramatic. I clicked on the ‘Sun’ on the bottom left of the screen.

By playing with your phone, you can easily learn what the buttons do. I have found this button is harsh and I don’t like to edit people’s faces with it. But that’s just me. I found it worked very well for this subject matter.

 
See! There’s the tear drop and there’s the sun.

Hi Ginny.

Apps

Speaking of other apps, I have two that have been fun to tinker with:

One is called Slow Shutter and the other is called Fisheye4free.

I really am just beginning to play with these but when I’m sitting in the car waiting for Target to open, I amuse myself with my iPhone.

 
This picture was taken with Slow Shutter. It’s eerie. We were driving.

I can not give any advice on how to use this app. All I can say is it is fun to try to figure out.

So much with computers and phones is trial and error. I am learning to be okay with that method of learning. Manuals are so 1980′s.

 
I did a series on Target carts this winter. I tossed in a few Slow Motion pics for variety. For this one I moved the camera.

The other one…the car was moving.

 
Here’s one of my favorite Fisheye pictures. It’s not so hot, but you should see the others. haha.

I have seen wonderful images of New York made with a similar fisheye app and they were spectacular.

Good things can be done if you are creative.

I need to get to a city.

Imagine the fun at a carnival or state fair!

***

What I love most about Instagram is that it’s easy and portable and the tools they provide help you take something that is kinda, sorta pretty from time to time.

 
Oh! And as you all know….phone self portraits…they rock.

 
I hope this helps those of you who are just learning to use Instagram.
I have been inspired by the wonderful pictures Ree has posted here in the past.
It’s a remarkable little camera. Give it a try.

Encourage one another,
Miz Boo

It’s widely known around my small circle on the Internet that I’m a fan of Canadian Ryans. Well, two in particular: Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling. So you probably are not surprised that I’ve gotten a kick out of the Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme that’s been going around the Internet since 2010.

(I can’t quite believe it’s been around for 2 years!)

If you’re not familiar with the Ryan Gosling meme, it involves people using random photos of a brooding Ryan Gosling with him “talking” to a girl about a specific subject, hence the “Hey Girl.” I’ve seen them for librarians, parents, and almost everything in between.

Now I haven’t found all of them to be that funny, but I stumbled upon Hey Runner Girl thanks to my friends over at Another Mother Runner and I got quite a giggle. And not surprisingly. The meme is usually the funniest when it relates to your own life in some way. And since I’m a runner and currently training for the Philadelphia Marathon, I got a huge kick out of it.

So when my friend Christina shared Homeschool Ryan Gosling with me, I just had to share it with you. You’ll have to take your own tour of the site to find ones that you think are funniest, but I picked out a few of my own personal favorites that I bet you’ll enjoy.

I’ve yet to submit my own, but it would probably be something like this: “Hey girl, Nice try with the lesson planner. It’s the thought that counts.”

I’d love to know what your photo of Ryan Gosling would say about your homeschool experiences.

Kristen Chase is a mom of 4, writer, and co-publisher of Cool Mom Picks and Cool Mom Tech, a popular shopping and trendspotting blog for moms, as well as 4 Kids or More, an online resource for the modern larger family. She’s a 2nd generation homeschooler, having been taught middle and high school by her own mother back when people were still using quills and ink wells, and is now a very well-adjusted and socialized homeschool mom herself.

 
 
“Let’s grab some rocks and skip them!
Let’s wade and splash and play!
Let’s go look for some turtles!
It’s such a lovely day!”

 
 
“Wait, Cow—where are you going?
We’ve still got lots to do!
Our friendship’s just beginning.
Do you not love me? Moo?”

 
 
I guess she didn’t hear me.
I’ll just come back next week.
Then me and my new cow friend
Shall frolic in the creek.

By Heather Sanders.

Summer is finally here and though our calendar is not empty by any stretch of the imagination, it is a relief to say it is significantly less jam-packed. The kids have several activities and trips lined up over the next three months, but undoubtedly there will remain stretches of days when they will need to entertain themselves. On those particular days they will fall into one of two behaviors.

First, on the exceptionally good days, they may dig into some wonderful project, build a fort from every sheet and blanket in the house, construct an imaginative outside game that takes longer to explain than play, request to rent a movie, play computer games like Minecraft, bake cookies, or better yet, nestle down somewhere with a good book.

On the other hand, there will also be days when the exaggeratively pronounced sighs of boredom will stalk the airwaves of our home and I will find them collapsed into useless heaps on the living room couch complaining that “There isn’t anything at all to dooooooooooooooo!” Admittedly, this is more prevalent in my younger two as my oldest can easily fill her non-traveling days working, writing and getting together with friends. Unlike her siblings, her friends drive–which means, they can come and rescue her.

Emerging from a summer vacation unscathed takes a bit of planning. Having a few simple, yet high quality art kits at the ready is a quick way to turn around a fledgling summer day. So, when Artterro contacted me about their eco craft kits I was very interested.

Through our correspondence, I discovered that Artterro was founded by a fellow homeschooling mother for the purpose of offering fresh and engaging art projects for parents and children to do together. Their strong bend toward sustainable supplies and packaging is at the very core of all twelve of their eco-friendly arts and crafts kits.

After reading about their kits, the girls and I requested the Bookmaking Kit which provides enough supplies to make four small, single-signature books.

Inside the kit were several sheets of long and rectangular, as well as short and square, 100% post-consumer waste decorative handmade papers.

Also included is an insert that offers ideas and prompts for how crafters can explore the materials:

“Take a look at all the beautiful paper in this kit. Feel the different textures, imagine constructing a one-of-a-kind journal for yourself. Maybe you have a story to tell, what would the cover of your book look like? Do you have special photos you want to showcase in a unique album? An event to commemorate? Maybe some artwork to display?”

The directions are printed on the next page alongside a few inspirational examples of previously completed books.

After selecting the materials we wanted to use from the kit, Emelie, Meredith, Ashton (a family friend) and I began folding our papers in half to make the square booklets.

This activity is recommended for kids ages 8 and up. Depending upon a child’s exposure to crafting and their fine motor skills, I highly suggest a parent be nearby to assist with tasks like threading a needle, pushing a needle through multiple pages, as well as tying knots to secure the pages together.

We noticed that some directions seemed to be inferred while others are stated in a clear step-by-step method. When it came to sewing the signature, Emelie’s previous experience with bookmaking helped us significantly. Though I do believe these kits are very well put together, I definitely think Artterro could make this a more independent craft for younger kids by adding photos or sketches where the directions are more detailed.

The kit also included glass and wooden beads, sequins, and various colors of cotton thread for accessorizing the front of the book.

Books can be as thick or thin as you want. I only used three rectangular inserts in my book, giving me 8 square pages inside to write on or decorate.

In case anyone is confused…”This is my book!”

Ashton decided to focus on the essentials.

From left to right: Emelie’s crinkled pop-up confused us all, but she quickly declared us unimaginative. Mine was purposefully minimalistic. Meredith made a stain glass window. And finally, Ashton decided the sparkly polka dots didn’t need much more than a few pops of color.

If you would like to see what can be created from their many other eco art kits, check out Artterro’s Inspiration Gallery. These kits would make perfect birthday gifts for friends or family members. They are also compact and lightweight enough to tuck into a bag when traveling for a bit of an art experience away from home.

COUPON DISCOUNT FOR PIONEER WOMAN READERS
Take 20% off any orders from Artterro’s online store now through the end of May. Enter coupon code: PIONEER20 at check-out.

Though they don’t compromise their creatives, I especially love the eco-friendly and sustainable emphasis behind Artterro’s kits. What do you look for in an art kit?

OMSH/Heather L. Sanders is “Momma” to three kids, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. When not homeschooling, or writing about homeschooling, Heather is busy designing websites or going on dates with her husband Jeff, the love of her life.

Last year, we had to replace the three large vertical windows on the far right. The old windows were kaput anyway, but then a hailstorm came along and put the final nail in their coffin. Problem was, when the guys went to install the windows, they found that the boards surrounding them were rotted out because, well, the windows were kaput and had let in water. So we wound up having to replace all the cedar siding on that small section of the house. I was amazed at how beautiful the siding looked—that was exactly how the older siding looked when it was installed decades ago. So we decided to put a clear sealer on it so it would retain that lovely color, thinking maybe we’d want to replace the siding on the rest of the house.

But then we realized there’s nothing wrong with the old gray boards on the rest of the house. They’re not kaput at all. They just don’t look as young and vibrant as they used to.

Hmmph. Join the club!

Then I started working on the stairs with the lovely Layla. (I should have an update soon.)

Then Marlboro Man and I started working on the old building in town.

Then we got busy doing 49,000 other things.

 
Then we decided we don’t need to replace the old gray siding on our house. It’s perfectly good siding even if it has lost its luster.

And who cares if it doesn’t match the new stuff? It’s not like we have any drive-by traffic, anyway!

And even if we did, maybe they’d think the two different colors was intentional!

Anyway, my point is that we’re not replacing the siding now.

Maybe we will later. Maybe not.

I’m so glad we had this talk.

I’ll never not love double negatives, either.

 
 
 
Los Angeles, when my sister Betsy and I landed there a few weeks ago.

It’s very sprawly.

 
 
 
Barbecue Chicken Quesadillas.

Burp.

 
 
 
I’ll never not love radishes.

They’re peppery.

 
 
 
This is a spray plane that had to make an emergency landing in our pasture after its engine blew.

The pilot is fine.

So are the cows, who were definitely wondering why that big yellow pterodactyl was making all that noise.

Never mind.

 
 
 
Long Live the Longhorn!

Moo.

 
 
 
This is the reason you should never speed down our road at night.

Moo. Again.

 
 
 
I’m going to call this photo “Corn. Interrupted.”

A certain ranch horse is definitely on a certain ranch wife’s bad side right now.

It’s going to take a long time before I can forgive.

I’ve always been a sucker for a book or a movie set in Washington, DC. Maybe it’s because I used to dream of being in the CIA when I was younger. Maybe it’s because I’m fascinated by books with political intrigue as the focus. Maybe it’s because I watched All The President’s Men on VHS when I was 15 and decided that being an investigative reporter was 74 different kinds of cool. Or maybe it’s because I related a little too strongly to Darby Shaw in The Pelican Brief when I was in college and wondered what it would be like to be on the run from bad guys with ties to rogue government officials (I could say the same for Alias, by the way).

Or maybe it’s just because I’m weird.

Regardless, if there’s a storyline that involves a high-powered senator or, better yet, the President of the United States, I am all over it. If a writer or a director can make one of the most powerful men or women in the world a sympathetic, compelling character, I will read that book or watch that movie.

And, in the case of Scandal, a new hour-long drama on ABC, I will watch that TV show.

Scandal stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, the owner of a crisis management firm that intervenes in PR disasters with the intention of getting to the bottom of various public scandals and vindicating clients before the media or the authorities can win the PR battle in the court of public opinion. Olivia is the queen of spin, a workaholic, and a boss who inspires such loyalty in her employees that the first few episodes portray her as practically saint-like. She’s smart, savvy, and utterly sincere in her desire to do everything she can for the people who hire her.

She is also, as it turns out, a former White House official with close ties to the President and the members of his staff. By episode two, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery that leads her straight to the White House – and maybe even to the personal life of the President himself. If you’re intrigued by that possibility, you might want to GET THEE TO THE HULU.COM and catch up on the episodes. There are only seven installments in Scandal‘s first season, so you should be able to catch up in no time.

For the first two episodes of Scandal, I wasn’t really sure where it was going. The plot lines were mostly self-contained, but in episode three, the season’s over-arching story really started to get rolling. And by episode five, you’d better buckle up and hold on, because a White House scandal is barreling down the tracks at full speed. It makes for some mighty fine television.

To be clear, Scandal isn’t a perfect show by any stretch of the imagination; sometimes it seems like Olivia Pope channels Julia Sugarbaker’s tendency to stand on her soap box and enlighten the members of her staff (and whoever else cares to listen) about the social issue of the hour. Moreover, the show is still working out its structure and pace, (though episode six was much better in that regard). So while Scandal still has a few kinks to work out, it’s definitely highly watchable, and here are a few reasons why.

1. The Writing

I’ve never been a Grey’s Anatomy fan (HORRORS!), so I’m not familiar with Shonda Rhimes’ writing style. If Scandal is any indication, though, I think it’s safe to say that I enjoy Shonda Rhimes’ writing style. You have to pay attention, and sometimes the characters rattle off details so quickly that I have to rewind the show to catch up (I have even resorted to using the sub-titles on occasion). The supporting actors do a great job with the required rapid-fire delivery; I’m especially fond of Columbus Short as Harrison, one of Olivia’s colleagues who infuses his lines with a whole lot of swagger. Fun to watch.

2. The President

For better or worse, I’m particular about my pretend Presidents. They have to be equal parts charismatic, authoritative, and believable. At first I wasn’t sure about Tony Goldwyn as Scandal‘s Commander in Chief, but by episode five, he’d won my vote. Granted, he’s a little mysterious, and I’m still holding my breath that he’s an above-board guy, but the scenes with President Grant and his wife, Mellie, along with the scenes featuring the President and Olivia, are some of the show’s very best. His occasionally contentious relationship with his top aide, Cyrus, is equally compelling, and while the President is no Boy Scout – not even close – you can’t help but root for him, even when you’re not entirely sure that you can trust him.

But oh, you so want to trust him.

3. The Chemistry

I want to be careful not to give too much away, but there is some incredible chemistry between two of Scandal‘s main characters. Interestingly enough, the connection between these two characters is most evident in their silences, in the moments when there’s so much to say but no possible way to say it. If you’ve watched, you know that the “one minute” rule between these two characters is tender, powerful and almost painful to watch. I’ve watched enough TV to know that things probably won’t end well between these two, but by diggity I cannot wait to see what happens. Good stuff.

4. The What-Ifs

One of the most fascinating parts of Scandal is that things are never exactly as they seem to be. That’s been more evident than ever in the last couple of weeks. Every new revelation prompts more questions: who all is involved? How deep is the cover-up? What’s the end game? And once all the details come to light, what will happen to President Grant’s administration? What will happen to Olivia? It says a lot about the character development that viewers would care so much about the outcome of a seven-episode run, but there appears to be layer upon layer of deception, and watching it unravel is pretty riveting.

5. The Olivia Pope

Yes, at the beginning of the series she’s portrayed as a near-perfect woman. But as the show progresses, Olivia’s weaknesses come to light, and those weaknesses make her human and relatable in ways that the superwoman persona never could. Kerry Washington is just fantastic in the leading role, and as fun as it is to see Olivia take charge of whatever the emergency of the hour might be in her office, it’s the times when she’s confused and vulnerable that make us empathize with her. She’s a take-charge political powerhouse who hides her deepest hurts from (almost) everybody, but that underlying loneliness makes Olivia a character we can care about. She is Scandal‘s heart and soul.

Are any of y’all watching Scandal, too? And if you’re not watching, do you think you’ll give it a chance?

(You can call her P-Widdy-Dub-Diddy-Diddy-Dub-Dub for short.)

 
We have three types of animals we run on our main ranch: cow/calf, yearlings and wild horses. We contract with the U.S. government to take care of wild horses gathered from government land out west. They contract with many different ranchers to take care of horses. In order to be awarded a wild horse contract, you have to have the ability to take care of a minimum of 500 horses and you have to go through a competitive bidding process.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency in charge of all federal land, is responsible for maintaining the horses on federal lands in the western states. When they experience droughts or when the horse population gets too large, they are forced to gather some of the horses from the range to prevent them from overgrazing it. The excess horses are kept in holding pens; the younger horses are put up for adoption in various wild horse adoptions throughout the country, but the older horses don’t make good candidates for adoption. So the BLM will put out a bid for ranchers to take care of those horses on private lands.

As you can imagine, whenever you’re talking about the government and their care of wild horses, it can be a highly politicized issue. I won’t get into the politics here, but will just explain the BLM’s process, how we ended up with horses, and how the horses work in the management of our ranch.

The BLM prefers to contract with ranchers to take care of the excess horses because it’s cheaper and obviously more in line with their natural habitat than housing them in pens. Between my brother and my operations, we currently take care of a little over 3,400 horses.

A key component for the BLM when choosing contractors is that the potential contractor must have enough land to allow the horses room to roam. As part of the bidding process, you have to describe how you propose to stock and take care of the horses on your land. You have to put together a lengthy and exhaustive document where you describe your management process and the quality of your pens, fences, land, and water. The BLM wants to see maps and charts with pastures, acreage, pond counts per pasture, water volume per pond, grass species in each pasture, and the plan to maintain those grasses with a prudent stocking rate—all documented by a qualified third party. It’s the typical government paperwork/information overkill, but it’s part of their process of weeding out unqualified candidates.

The main reason we applied to run the horses was to diversify our operation so that we would have another source of cash flow besides cattle. In ranching, there aren’t many opportunities to diversify your cash flow. As part of the wild horse program, the government pays you per horse per day at the end of every month. Another key advantage to running the horses is that you don’t have millions of dollars tied up in inventory; when a horse dies of old age, it’s sad of course. But it doesn’t cost you a thousand dollars as it would if one of your cows or steers dies.

We got our first horses in 2003. We were awarded a contract to take care of mares. The BLM puts studs/geldings and mares on different ranches to prevent them from breeding and exacerbating the overpopulation problem they are continually trying to fix. In general, the horses are easier to take care of than cattle, but the first couple of years when they are getting acclimated and many of them are bred, they can be pretty difficult.

We started receiving the wild horses in September of that year. The acclimation process takes a couple of months of moving them from the pens to small traps to larger traps, then on to the larger pastures. During this transition, we feed the horses with our feed trucks in order to get them used to the trucks. This will ensure that when winter comes, the horses will know to come to the trucks to be fed. This is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, but it’s necessary to minimize the stress of moving the horses to a new and strange environment.

 
Once we get the horses acclimated, the next challenge is weaning their foals. Since many of them arrive bred, the end of the first year they’re here, we have to gather them to the pens and wean any offspring. Because they are wild horses, this can be an interesting process that can certainly test one’s ability to handle livestock. Since we have received more horses over the years, the weaning process has been an ongoing thing—albeit on a much smaller scale than the first year. Here are a couple of Ree’s posts about weaning the colts.

Weaning Wild Colts
And I Do Mean Wild
Saturday Morning Thrills

Once we got past the initial onslaught of receiving and weaning, the horses became easier to take care of than cattle. With both cattle and the horses, you have to do your routine maintenance of feeding, putting out salt and mineral, periodic countings and taking care of fences. But with cattle, there’s much more working involved in order to keep them healthy. You have to doctor sick ones, treat foot-rots, prolapses, etc.—then you have the shippings, working the calves, processing the steers, shipping the steers, weaning calves, pregnancy testing the cows, managing the bulls, and more.

 
 
Aside from the cost of the land, the primary expense involved with running wild horses is feeding them through the winter. Here are some posts Ree has written about feeding the mustangs:

The Rest of the Story
The Days of Winter
A Day of Feeding

 
As part of our contract price, we are responsible for all the expenses related to taking care of the horses: the feed, land, salt, and all the equipment required to do our job. The government contracts with us to “keep them in good condition” and they inspect us annually to make sure we are.

 
 
They’re pretty smart about their inspections: for instance, they always do ours in February towards the end of winter when any negligence in feeding would definitely be obvious.

 
 
I like having the wild horses. Besides giving us a way to diversify our cash flow, they are fun to take care of. Watching a herd of horses run across the pasture is pretty cool, even for someone like me who has grown up around animals my whole life.

But there are disadvantages also. For one, the horses are less profitable than cattle—especially in today’s market. While you don’t have money tied up in inventory, you also aren’t seeing an appreciation of value that you get when you own the cattle. Another disadvantage is that they can be harder on the land than cattle. For me, that is the worst part.

It’s like anything, though: there are always pros and cons involved. Cattle are more profitable, but the horses take less work. The horses are harder on the country, but you also get a regular check every month. With cattle, you have money tied up in inventory, but you also can see some nice gains on that inventory when the market is good. We’re cowboys, so we like working cattle. That’s our job and part of our identity. But we also like taking care of the horses.

 
Let’s face it, they’re pretty cool. So it’s all just a balancing act of trying to do not only what will help you pay the mortgage, but also what you enjoy.

Wasn’t that a beautiful story?

Even now, years later, I still love tortilla rollups. I can’t help it. You can fill them with whatever you want—lunch meats, lettuces, vegetables—and they’re ridiculously easy to make, not to mention highly portable.

I still eat them till I bloat, is what I’m trying to tell you.

 
 
First, I’ll make some yummy cream cheese spread because I want to, and because I want to. Slice up some green onions (or chop some chives if you have them)…

 
 
 
Then grab some parsley…

 
 
 
And mince it up.

 
 
 
Then grab some basil…

 
 
 
Roll it up tightly, then slice it into thin strips.

Zees ees called “cheefonawd.”

 
 
 
Throw it all in a bowl with a block of softened cream cheese.

 
 
 
Add some salt and pepper…

 
 
 
Squeeze in some lemon juice…

 
 
 
And stir it all together. Hyacinth used to stir chopped black olives and drained pimentos into her cream cheese, which positively rocked my world. Throw those in too, if you’d like!

 
 
 
Now set aside the cream cheese mixture and grab a carrot and a cucumber. I’m julienning the veggies, and I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to obtain a japanese mandolin at the earliest possible convenience. Ask for one for your birthday if you have one coming up, or ask for one for Father’s Day if you’re a member of the male species and have children. Or ask for one for Christmas, but tell your gift-givers that Christmas has been changed to May this year.

Oh, and if you get one…watch your fangers, okay?

 
 
 
Cut the carrots into matchsticks.

And if you don’t have a mandolin, just use a good knife and cut really thin sticks.

 
 
 
I julienned a cucumber, too. But I scooped out the seedy area because it was…

Well, it was seedy.

 
 
 
Purdy!

 
 
 
To make the rollups, plop a little herbed cream cheese onto a taco-sized flour tortilla.

 
 
 
Then spread it out…

 
 
 
Until it covers the entire surface.

I’ll tell you why later.

 
 
 
Next, lay a line of shaved chicken, turkey, ham, or roast beef: whatever your lunchmeat poison!

It’s best if you use shaved meat rather than neat, flat slices, because when you roll up the…well, the rollups, there won’t be big gaps inside. The shaved meat fills up more space.

 
 
 
Next, lay on plenty of julienned carrots, making sure they extend beyond both ends.

I’ll tell you why later.

 
 
 
Do the same with the julienned cucumber.

 
 
 
Then roll up the tortilla as tightly as you can…

 
 
 
And remember when I told you how important it was to spread the cream cheese all the way to the edge?

 
 
 
This is why. It holds the rollup together like glue.

 
 
 
Next, wrap the rollup in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for about an hour. This’ll allow the tortilla to slightly soften and will help the rollups stay together a little more.

 
 
 
Then just keep on making more rollups! I decided to do a veggie version: Grab some green leaf lettuce and slice away the spine.

 
 
 
Lay the lettuce down the middle…

 
 
 
Followed by carrots and cucumber.

 
 
 
Then slice an avocado in half, scoop it out with a spoon, and slice it into pieces.

 
 
 
Lay it down the middle…

 
 
 
Then roll it up as tightly as you can, wrap it in plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge.

 
 
 
While you’re chillin’ the rollups, spread some of the cream cheese on a whole wheat saltine cracker and eat it in 1.4 bites.

Repeat eleventy times.

 
 
 
When you’re ready to scarf down the rollups, remove them from the fridge and slice each one in half.

 
 
 
Then line up the two halves…

 
 
 
And cut them in half, too.

 
 
 
Lovely.

 
 
 
Here’s the veggie one.

 
 
 
Now, the old school method for tortilla rollups told you to cut off the two ends of the rollups first before you ever slice the rest of them up. But I love the way the ends look like sushi rolls.

 
 
 
Cute!

 
 
 
Some other ideas for fillings:

Blanched, cooled asparagus
Spinach leaves
Shaved ham, shaved roast beef
Red, green, or yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
Peeled, cooked shrimp
Chopped black olives (stir it into the cream cheese mixture)

Enjoy these, guys! They’re a great, easy summer treat.

Recipe: Tortilla Rollups

Prep Time: 20 Minutes  |  Cook Time:  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 6

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, Softened
• 1 Tablespoon Chopped Green Onions Or Chives
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Parsley
• 8 whole Basil Leaves, Chopped (or Chiffonade)
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice
• 6 whole Taco Sized Flour Tortillas
• 1/2 pound Shaved Turkey
• 3 whole Carrots, Peeled And Jullienned
• 1 whole Cucumber, Seeds Scraped Out And Julienned
• 3 leaves Green Leaf Lettuce, Spine Removed
• 2 whole Avocados, Sliced

Preparation Instructions

Make the herbed cream cheese by combining the softened cream cheese with the chives, parsley, basil, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Spread cream cheese in a thin layer over the tortillas. Lay ingredients down the middle of the tortilla: for the turkey rollup, use turkey, carrots, and cucumber. For a "salad" rollup, use lettuce, carrots, cucumber, and avocado. Let the veggies extend past the edges on either side.

Roll up the tortillas as tightly as they'll go, then wrap each rollup in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

To slice, cut each rollup exactly in half, then line up the two halves and cut them in half again. Stand the end pieces up so that the veggies stick out the top.

Posted by Ree on May 21 2012

#1736 Sarah T. “Painting and cleaning!”
#4659 Laura T. “We might go to the beach, but then again, we might just stay home!”
#17112 Roxanne: “Date night with hubby, trying a newly opened Mexican restaurant, and to finish it off with some summer cleaning.”

Congratulations, winners! Contact prizes@thepioneerwoman.com to claim your loot!

Note from PW: I continue to receive good feeback on the Apple version of my new cookbook, so by popular demand, I’m repeating the giveaway first held the week it launched!

THE CONTEST

If you are an iPad user, or are a soon-to-be iPad user, or you’re thinking of one day becoming an iPad user, or your mom’s sister’s husband’s brother’s wife is an iPad user, I am very happy to show you my new cookbook in ebook form.

Here are some features:

* You can easily swipe through the whole cookbook section by section, or page by page.

* The step-by-step photographic tutorials are included in a widget, which you can flip through with a simple swipe of your finger.

* You can also choose to enlarge the steps in the tutorial and see them each as a full-screen photo with the text for the step written below.

* You can tap on any photo in the book (food, family, cow, dog, or otherwise) and enlarge it to full screen mode.

* There are five cooking videos in the book.

* I also include a video of my favorite cooking tools.

* And a playlist of songs I like to listen to while I’m cooking. It’s weird, I’ll warn you.

* I also include a playlist of movies I like to watch while I’m cooking.

Here are some brief peeks.

 
Here’s the main recipe page. If you were to tap on the photo of the quiche, it would expand to full screen mode.

 
 
 
On the next page are the step-by-step photos, with the instructions below each one.

 
 
 
You just use your finger to swipe through each step.

 
 
 
You can keep the step-by-steps this size, which is definitely nice and readable.

 
 
 
Or you can tap it once to enlarge, then swipe through the full-screen photos and text one by one.

 
 
 
Here’s a screenshot of the full-screen mode with the instructions below.

 
 
 
And another…

 
 
 
And another. To flip through the steps, just swipe through the photos. Easy!

I am so excited about how the cookbook looks (and acts!) on the iBooks format. It’s totally interactive, incredibly user friendly, and I really do think it’ll make cooking fun for those of you who either prefer electronic devices to hardcover cookbooks OR who want to try your hand at the whole digital device realm.

 
 
Today, because it’s been a busy week on the ranch, and I love ya, I’m giving away three (3) new iPads (winner’s choice of black or white), along with the new ebook version of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier.

 
 
 
I’ll also include a Smart Cover (color of winner’s choice), which not only protects the screen, but also doubles as a stand (it folds backwards into a triangle–awesome) so that you can pop the iPad right on your counter and start cooking.

TO ENTER

To enter the iPad and PW eCookbook giveaway, just answer the following questions in the Comments section of this post:

“What are your plans this weekend?”

Are you going over the river and through the woods to granmother’s house? Are you going to the beach? Are you gardening? Cleaning? Watching movies?

Just shout out your weekend plans and you’re automatically entered to win the iPad and ebook!

THE RULES

One entry per person, please.

Winners will be selected at random and posted Sunday night.

Good luck!

THE EBOOK

The Apple/ibook version of the cookbook (shown above) can be found here: Pioneer Woman on iTunes

Giveaway sponsored by Pioneer Woman.

First, though, let me say that I was absolutely blown away by the recipe submissions.

Blown away.

Let me also say that I, Ree Drummond, being of sound mind and body (relatively speaking), read every single recipe. I’m not sure what the exact final tally was, but it was somewhere in the 1,300 or 1,400 range. I kept taking note of the recipes that caught my eye…and by the time I narrowed them down, I had no fewer than 250 more to go through.

The winners’ recipes were incredible, but I loved so many others. Wow. Such creativity! I can’t even begin to list all the ones that made me drool. Thank you to everyone who entered.

Here are the four winners!

BEEF WINNER: Renata

Summer Solstice T-bone Steaks with Peppercorn Butter and Strawberries
Served with Bush’s Grillin’ Beans Steakhouse Recipe

6 T-bone beef steaks (about 1-inch thick)
6 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 cups strawberries
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup chopped basil plus 6 small sprigs of basil for garnish
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoons pickled green peppercorns
1 teaspoon coarse cracked black pepper

Preheat gas grill or prepare charcoal grill for direct heat grilling. Season steaks with salt and pepper
Grill steaks for 4-6 minutes per side or to your preferred doneness.
Meanwhile set 6 strawberries to the side for garnish and slice the rest. Combine sliced strawberries with balsamic vinegar, sugar and basil. Combine butter with green peppercorns and cracked black pepper.
Serve steaks hot from the grill. Top with peppercorn butter and strawberries. Garnish with reserved strawberry and basil.
Serve with Bush’s Best Grillin’Beans Steakhouse Recipe!

CHICKEN WINNER: Brian Murray

Southwestern Grilled Chicken with Chipotle Cream Sauce
Served with Bush’s Black Bean Fiesta Grillin’ Beans.

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 Tablespoons taco seasoning
4 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, cut into large pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into large pieces
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1/4 pound chorizo sausage, without casing
2 cups heavy cream

Pound the chicken breasts until approximately 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle on 2 Tablespoons of the taco seasoning and rub into the meat. Melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter, pour on chicken breasts, and mix together. Place in refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour. Grill chicken for 4 minutes on each side over high heat. Remove from grill and let rest.
Brown chorizo over medium heat and break into pieces. Remove chorizo from pan, but leave any remaining grease. Reduce heat to medium low and add 2 Tablespoons of butter. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to pan. Saute until translucent. Add chipotle pepper and 1 Tablespoon of adobo sauce to pan. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add cream and 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning to mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour mixture into blender (or with immersion blender), blend until smooth. Transfer contents back into pan, add chorizo to mixture, and cook for additional 5 minutes.
Slice chicken into strips and pour 1/4 of sauce on each breast. Pair with Bush’s Black Bean Fiesta Grillin’ Beans. Serve and enjoy!

PORK WINNER: Naylet LaRochelle

On the Ranch Coffee-Rubbed Blueberry Thyme Pork Chops
Serve with Bush’s Grillin Beans Sweet Mesquite

2 tablespoons ground coffee beans (preferably a dark roast)
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
4 boneless pork loin chops, cut about 3/4 inch thick
3/4 cup blueberry preserves
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives

In a small bowl, combine coffee, thyme, cocoa powder, coriander, and salt. Place pork chops on a work surface. Rub coffee mixture on both sides of pork chops. Transfer to a plate; cover until ready to grill.

In a medium bowl, stir together blueberry preserves, hoisin sauce, and red pepper. Reserve half of blueberry glaze for spooning over chops when serving.

Prepare a medium-high gas or charcoal grill. Grill chops until slightly pink in center (160 F), about 11-14 minutes. During last minutes of grilling, brush blueberry glaze over both sides of chops.

To serve, spoon reserved blueberry glaze over chops. Top with chives; serve with Bush’s Grillin Beans Sweet Mesquite.

WILD CARD WINNER: Jerilyn K!

Orange-Chipotle Salmon with Grilled Onions & Cilantro
Served with Bush’s Texas Ranchero Grillin’ Beans

Sweet, fresh orange juice and honey mixed with smoky chipotle, over a beautiful salmon filet – a main dish that’s sure to be a crowd pleaser. Topped with a sliced grilled onion and fresh cilantro, this orange-chipotle salmon perfectly pairs with the kick from Bush’s Texas Ranchero Grillin’ Beans.

8 oz salmon filet (2-4 oz portions)
Juice of 2 oranges & zest of 1 orage
1 chipotle in adobo (canned) and 2 tsp chipotle adobo sauce
2 tbsp pure honey
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, chopped
2 slices of onion, 1/4” thick
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh cilantro

1. For the marinade, combine fresh orange juice, orange zest, chipotle and adobo sauce, honey and garlic in a small food processor or blender; process until smooth.
2. Add salt, pepper and marinade (reserving 1-2 tablespoons of marinade to brush on salmon while grilling) into a plastic zip top bag with salmon filets. Marinate salmon in refrigerator for about 2 hours (or your preference of time).
3. Preheat grill to medium high.
4. Remove salmon from marinade and slice two, 1/4-inch thick pieces of onion. Brush salmon and whole onion slices with olive oil and extra sprinkle of salt and pepper, on both sides. Place salmon and onion on the grill and cook 5-6 minutes per side, depending on thickness of salmon. As the salmon cooks, brush with reserved marinade.
5. To serve, top grilled salmon with 1 cooked onion slice and fresh cilantro. Salmon pairs great with Bush’s Texas Ranchero Grillin’ Beans.
Serves 2 – but easily doubled or tripled for a party
Wish we could have posted pics ~ I have a beautiful mug shot of this delicious dish!

Congratulations to all winners! Can’t wait to meet you…and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into your amazing recipes. I’ll be in touch right away to plan your trip to the ranch for an Oklahoma-style cookout on June 2nd!

Warning: there may be horses involved. Bring shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

I’ll be sure to post photos of the event and share the behind-the-scenes fun. And of course, I’ll post videos of each winner cooking his/her winning recipes on camera.

Here’s my fourth and final contribution:

MY GRILLING RECIPE #4: Tremendously Delicious Marinated Steak

 
This is a delicious, flavorful marinated steak that works great with ribeye, flank steak, skirt steak or hanger steak if you can find it. The flavors are a little off the beaten path. Love!

 
I’m serving it with these.

 
 
 
To make the marinade, combine the nutmeg, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, chili powder, turmeric and garlic salt in a large plastic bag.

 
 
 
Drizzle in the olive oil, smooshing to combine.

 
 
 
Throw the steaks into the bag…

 
 
 
And smoosh it around to coat the steaks.

Throw these in the fridge and marinate for at least three hours; overnight is better!

 
 
 
When you’re ready to grill the steaks, remove them from the bag and grill them until they’re medium rare, just about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

 
 
 
Serve them with Bush’s Steakhouse Recipe Grillin’ Beans.

Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Recipe: Tremendously Delicious Marinated Steak

Prep Time: 10 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 5 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 4

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 4 whole Ribeye, Hanger, Flat Iron, Or Strip Steaks
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Turmeric
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic Salt
• 1 cup Olive Oil
• 2 cans Bush's Grillin Beans Steakhouse Recipe

Preparation Instructions

Mix all ingredients (except steak) in a large plastic bag and smoosh to combine. Add steaks to bag, seal tightly and marinate a few hours.

Grill until medium rare. Serve with Bush's Grillin' Beans Steakhouse Recipe!

Posted by Ree on May 17 2012

 
From this photo, I can deduce that my baby is riding a horse.

Boy, I’m good!

 
 
 
And from this photo, I can deduce that the guys were gathering cattle.

I’m awfully sharp today.

 
 
 
From looking at this photo, I can deduce that either:

a) One of these calves is confused
or
b) This cow had twins.

I’m going to have to find out the answer or it will bug me the rest of my life.

Or at least the rest of this five-minute period.

 
 
 
From this photo, it’s clear to me that some kind of confusion has occurred. Animals are going in different directions.

If I’d been there, this never would have happened!

 
 
 
Here, my deductive reasoning skills tell me that my baby is helping his dad sort cattle.

Look at all the twinkly little fairy bugs!

I mean flies.

 
 
 
From this photo, I can deduce that this cow is saying “Moooooooooooooo!”

Translation: “You have exactly twenty seconds to get out of my way.”

 
 
 
Here, it appears that my husband placed our baby up high on the fence because he realized that cow meant business.

Or maybe he was just tickling his ribs.

 
 
 
I’m not sure what I can deduce about this photo.

Someone accidentally snapped it while dangling the camera.
Or whoever took the photo is enamored with bumpers.
Or whoever took the photo was admiring the greenness and lushness of the grass.

I’m going to have to look into this one a little more.

 
 
 
From this photo, I can deduce that my girls have dirty jeans.

 
 
 
And look. Right again!

I tell you, I really should have been a detective.

I didn’t start taking photos until halfway through the recipe.

I’m awesome that way.

Anyway, that doesn’t take away from the fact that these sandwiches were out-of-this-world good.

So I’ll catch you up on what happened before I decided to turn on my brain and take photos:

1. Heat a little vegetable oil in a heavy ovenproof pot over medium-high heat.
2. Season a whole cut up chicken (I usually buy the chickens already cut into pieces) with salt and pepper.
3. Throw the chicken into the pot and sear it on all sides, trying to get the skin as brown (and to render as much fat) as possible.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and set on a plate for a minute.
5. Carefully pour off excess fat and oil into a metal bowl. Discard the fat once it cools.
6. Return the pot to the heat and add 1 whole sliced onion and 8-12 whole cloves of garlic. Don’t chop the garlic!
7. Pour in a large bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce.
8. Return the chicken to the sauce and mix in the chicken until it’s all coated.
9. Place the lid on the pot and put it in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or so, until the chicken is falling off the bone and the sauce is crazy flavorful and bubbly.

 
And that’s where we are now! Basically, I seared the chicken, poured off the fat, sauteed onion and garlic, poured in barbecue sauce, submerged the chicken, and cooked it low and slow in the oven. Because of the lighting, this looks a little dark, but it was absolutely perfect. Lots of lovely caramelization going on.

 
 
 
The first thing I did was remove the garlic cloves, which were still intact, and which were almost like candy at this point.

Goodness gracious.

 
 
 
Set the garlic cloves into a separate dish as you remove them.

 
 
 
Remove the chicken from the pot and set it on a board.

 
 
 
Then it’s all about removing the chicken from the bone, which is the fun part! You can use two forks to kind of pick away at it…or you can use a pair of latex kitchen cloves, which makes it really easy to do by hand. You’ll just need to let it cool enough to be able to handle it.

 
 
 
After that, just shred away! Go as fine as you want.

 
 
 
It’s amazing how much chicken (or pork…or beef) expands as you shred it. Goodness gracious.

 
 
 
Now, in the time it will take you to let the chicken cool, remove the chicken from the bone, and shred it up, enough fat will have risen to the top of the sauce for you to be able to easily skim it off.

fter that, you can throw in the chicken!

 
 
 
Then just stir it up, heat it up a bit if needed…and it’s ready to serve.

 
 
 
I used whole grain Kaiser rolls, because I’m all about healthy choices.

Ha.

Oh, and I spread butter on the rolls and grilled them before I added the chicken.

Okay, never mind.

 
 
 
Then I was extra naughty and added a couple of the whole garlic cloves, which by now were soft and flavorful and perfect.

 
 
 
Next came a big helping of cilantro slaw, which I use on everything these days.

 
 
 
And this was pretty much the perfect sandwich. So flavorful, so yummy, and the slaw gave it a nice coolness and crunch.

You’ll love this one, guys!

Here’s the handy dandy printable:

Recipe: Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Prep Time: 10 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 2 Hours  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 8

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• 1 whole Cut Up Fryer Chicken
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 1 bottle (large) Barbecue Sauce
• 1 whole Onion, Sliced
• 8 whole Cloves Garlic (more To Taste)
• Slaw:
• 1/2 head Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1/2 head Purple Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 bunch Cilantro, Roughly Chopped

Preparation Instructions

SLAW

Combine shredded cabbage and sliced jalapenos in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and cayenne. Pour over cabbage. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate two hours.

Before serving, toss in cilantro leaves.

CHICKEN

Heat canola oil in a heavy pot over medium high heat. Season chicken, then sear on all sides until skin is golden brown and some fat is rendered. Remove chicken from pot and pour off excess grease.

Add sliced onions and whole garlic cloves to pot and stir around to cook for 2 minutes. Pour in barbecue sauce, add chicken to the sauce, and place lid on the pot.

Place in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours, or until chicken is falling off the bone.

Remove the whole garlic cloves from the pot and set it aside. Remove chicken from pot and allow to cool enough to handle. Using hands or two forks, remove the meat from the bones. Finely shred the chicken using your hands or two forks.

Carefully skim off the excess fat that has risen on top of the sauce. Return shredded chicken to the pot and stir into the sauce. Reheat so that it's warm.

Spread butter on kaiser rolls and toast on the griddle.

To serve, place a good amount of chicken on the bottom half of the roll. Top with one or two garlic cloves, then a good helping of slaw. Top with the other half of the bun and dig in!

Posted by Ree on May 17 2012

Community Question is a category inspired by you. Here and there readers write in with questions that are better served by the varied, experiential knowledge of those who read and contribute in the comments.

—————————————————–

The following question is from Kanecia J.

“My youngest daughter is behind, so I am going to do the 2nd grade with her again. I’ve narrowed it down to Oak Meadow or Horizon for her and my 4 year olds. Has anyone tried these or which one is better? What is a curriculum that is good for getting caught up?”

Do you have experience with the Oak Meadow or Horizon curricula? Any ideas for catching up?

It adds meaning to my days.

Purpose to my life.

What I’m trying to tell you is this, ladies and gentlemen: I wouldn’t want to live in a world in which butter didn’t exist.

Have I mentioned lately that I love butter?

 
Today I’m happy to announce that I have joined up with Land O’Lakes to help sing the praises of a brand new product they’re putting on the market, one that is currently rocking my world.

 
 
It’s called Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt.

I’ve tried it. I’ve cooked with it. I’ve smeared it on warm, crusty bread. And I can tell you without hesitation that I absolutely love it. It has a slightly lighter quality than regular butter, there’s just a hint of olive oil flavor…and the saltiness is just delish and really sets it apart.

 
 
Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing brand new recipes using this luscious new butter in cooking posts and videos over on landolakes.com. And if you watch Food Network and the Cooking Channel, you’ll see occasional spots featuring me, the new butter, and all the deliciously neato things you can do with it (as well as some wild floral shirt, my unruly cowlick, and a pair of large earrings. And my unruly cowlick. Wait, I already said that. Never mind.)

 
 
My fun with Land O’Lakes will begin later this month, and I’ll let you know whenever I post new recipes over on landolakes.com. TV spots will begin showing this fall, featuring back-to-school recipes and easy dishes made with fall ingredients.

 
 
As for me and Land O’Lakes, there’s hardly a more fitting partner for me to team up with. I’m proud to say that their butter has bulged out of my fridge for years and years, and I love them as a company. Land O’Lakes is a member-owned agricultural cooperative based in Minnesota with 3,200 producer-members, 1,000 member-cooperatives, and 9,000 employees. Though we’re on totally different ends of the bovine spectrum (ahem), I consider us to be agricultural friends.

I’m excited! We’re going to have lots of fun.

Love,
PW

 
 
(Oh, and one last thing: Yum.)

Disclosure: I’ve partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of new LAND O LAKES® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

Be sure to follow Land O’Lakes on Facebook and Twitter (@landolakesktchn) as they’ll be sharing all the up-to-date scoop.

Read more about Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt here.

We had to go to the farm in Waurika again last weekend to ship the last of the cattle we had down there. Our farm is on the southern end of the state, less than twenty miles from the Texas line. Our ranch in Osage County, is on the northern end of the state, about thirteen miles from the Kansas line. It’s about a four hour drive from our ranch to the farm, so when we go to the farm, we try to get as much done as possible.

The reason we call it “the farm” is that it is primarily a farming operation. We plant over 3,500 acres of wheat, then use it to graze cattle in the winter and spring. In the warmer climate of southern Oklahoma, the wheat will grow almost all winter long, providing an excellent source of pasture for grazing and fattening cattle.

Grazing cattle on wheat during the winter is common practice for many wheat farmers in this area, but most of them will pull the cattle off in February or March, then go ahead and let the wheat grow so they can harvest a crop. Our wheat farming operation is strictly for grazing cattle. In the spring, when the wheat really starts growing, we just add more cattle. In the fall, you can stock one steer per acre depending on the size of the cattle; that can increase to one-and-a-half to two steers per acre in the spring.

Steers can gain 2.5 to 3 pounds a day on good wheat pasture.

In an earlier post, I’d explained raising calves as part of the cow-calf operation. The farm, on the other hand, is used primarily as a yearling grazing operation, which is the next stage of the cattle cycle. Yearling or “stocker” operations will take calves that have been weaned from their mamas, then grow them. This is the stage where the calf will go from the 400/500 pound range to 700/800 pounds. This is a large part of the cattle business, and there are many ranchers and farmers that specialize in just this aspect. There are also ranchers and farmers like us that do both cow/calf and yearling operations.

We do yearlings both on the farm and on our home ranch. We use our own calves from our cow/calf operation and we will also buy calves from other ranchers. You can buy cattle at sale barns, through video auctions, internet auctions, order buyers or directly from other ranchers. Most of the calves are from spring cows and are weaned in the fall, so we buy and receive them in the fall. The hardest part of a yearling operation is receiving them—getting the calves in and keeping them healthy.

When they first arrive, we process them. This means we brand, worm and vaccinate them. Then they are kept in traps (smaller pastures) where they are trained to come to a feed truck and monitored every day to make sure they don’t get sick. (One of the many skills you need as a cowboy is the ability to identify sick cattle; the earlier you can identify and doctor one, the better it is for them.) Any sick cattle are gathered to the pens and doctored. If there are just a couple of sick animals, they’re roped and doctored (which just means given a shot of antibiotics) right on the spot. After a week or two, when the cattle have begun coming to a feed truck, they are moved to larger pastures. But they will still need to be monitored daily for a month or more to make sure they stay well.

The great part about a wheat-grazing operation is that the wheat is ready to graze in late November or early December. So as soon as the cattle are straightened up and ready to go, there is pasture ready for them. The hard part about a wheat grazing operation is stocking it right so that you don’t run out of pasture or let the wheat get too big. It’s a balancing act to keep the right number of cattle on the wheat. The hard part about the yearlings we run on our main ranch is that they have to be kept and fed through the winter until the grass starts growing in April. The good part is that they are usually sold in July or August, which is typically a good time to market cattle.

Personally, I like having the benefit of running yearlings on both wheat and grass. It provides a little financial diversity. The cattle on wheat will be sold from March through May, so it gives you come cash flow in the spring of the year when you can use it after a long winter of expenses. It also spreads out your marketing window to help weather any market blips that might otherwise hurt you.

The hardest part about running cattle for both types of operations is getting enough cattle in the fall and being able to afford buying the cattle. We will typically buy around ten thousand calves in the fall, and in today’s market that’s not cheap. As is the case with most ranchers, all of our equity is tied up in land, so we don’t have cash sitting in the bank at any given time. Fortunately, we have a good banker we have worked with for over twenty years. One of the first lessons my father taught me is that you need to have a good, longterm relationship with a lender who understands agriculture. Ranching is a capital-intensive business, and one of the keys to being able to make it in the long run is to have good banking relationships.

Most larger yearling operations, will borrow the money needed to buy their cattle. This introduces an element of risk. When you borrow money to buy cattle that you’re going to sell within 4 to 8 months, you take a risk that if the market goes down during that time, you can not only not make money, which is bad enough, but you could also lose money, which is much worse. The other side is that if the market goes up during that time, you can make really good money. The key, like any business, is that you have to be in it for the long haul. There will always be ups and downs, but if you’re in it for the long term, they will hopefully even themselves out.

Saturday was a good day. This year has been an up year in the market, which makes shipping much more fun. (We’ve had our share of years where shipping wasn’t as much fun.)

We shipped 1,564 steers Saturday.

 
We gathered them from two pastures. In this one, there were about 900 steers.

 
 
I know I’ve said it before, but early morning gatherings are the best.

 
 
One thing about shipping is that after you line up the buyer and the trucks, there is no calling it off. So even though it was supposed to rain that morning, we didn’t let it stop us.

 
 
See, here comes some more trucks. There’s no putting it off until tomorrow.

 
 
It wasn’t a hard rain, so it was actually kind of nice. It kept the morning cool and made it easier on the cattle. We had our usual crew of kids (Our younger daughter had a soccer game, so she got a pass for the day.)

 
 
We also had some day workers. A little extra help is always nice.

 
 Man, that pink jacket stands out. But she was quick to point out that “It took eight of them to watch the other side, but just me and my pink jacket to watch this side.” Here, we’re gathering them from a 640 acre pasture into a smaller trap that leads to the pens.

 
 
Once they’re in the trap, it gets a little easier.

 
 
They just follow the feed truck on to the pens.

 
 
Except this time, he got a little too far in front of us and because there were so many cattle, the front part made it to the pens and turned around before we could get the back part up there. Here, Miss Pink Jacket, Josh, and cowboy Todd are stopping them from running off.

 
 
We got them turned around now, back towards the pens.

 
 
Once in the pens, I usually weigh and Pa-Pa handles the loading of the scales, but I left him some of our very top hands.

 
 
After a while, some of them abandoned him—they wanted to go in the house and dry off. But these two stuck it out.

 
 
Actually, I told them they had to stay and help.

 
 
It doesn’t look like it bothered them much.

 
 
Todd, our cowboy at the farm, counted them off.

 
 
Tim helped Allen (the buyer rep) go through the cattle after we weighed them.

 
 
Oh, and while he usually stays on the ranch, we brought Josh to the farm on this trip. He and Colt loaded trucks after Tim and Allen had gone through them.

 
 
On they go.

 
 
We were finished by 11:00 AM. It was like a well-oiled machine…or trailer gate.