Happy Thanksgiving!

Everyone at Smith Fork Ranch wants to wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving. With the start to the holidays, we hope you can find some time to relax. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with a big dinner for our "ranch family," and we'll be toasting all of you around the homemade turkey and pies. Here's what we're up to for the holiday season:

Cameron and Courtney are traveling to the Oregon coast to see Cameron's family, enjoy some fishing, and learn to paint seascapes. Sadie is going along to see the ocean for the first time!

Anne is looking forward to a visit from her son and having more time to practice her mandolin.

Levi is building a new snowmobile ramp and deck for the back of his truck, preparing for the big snowstorms to hit.

Ciara is headed to Wisconsin to visit family and friends, see Christmas plays and get in the holiday spirit!

Rob is off to the Pacific Northwest to visit family and spend as much time with a fly rod in his hand as possible.

Marley and Linda are spending the holidays in Denver, with their daughter and son and their respective families. It's their son's birthday, and their daughter's first baby is due the first week of December, so it will be a big month for them!

Trixie, Blackjack, Jonah and Gemini are all enjoying lazy days of sunshine and hay. Henny Penny is laying low these next few days, however: wouldn't want to risk a case of mistaken identity!

Holiday Sale at the Ranch Roundup Store

Look for great items from our Ranch Round Up Store on E-Bay starting today thru Nov 30! Some items include luxurious Tasha Polizzi and Patricia Wolf women's coats, jackets, skirts and blouses. Find western leather pillows and gorgeous camp blankets for bringing a little of the wild west to your Christmas decoration. Pick up a Rockmount Ranch Wear shirt for those great dinners on the pavilion, or take a look at the fly fishing accessories, saddles, and tack that we're clearancing from our stock. 

Take a look at everything from seller Ciara262 for huge savings on the luxury items from our great ranch store, and bring a little piece of Smith Fork Ranch home with you! 

Help us pick out a Christmas Card!

We are trying to choose the best photo for this year's Christmas card, and we'd love to hear your input! Those are your options. Comment on this blog, or post on facebook and let us know which one you choose!

Daily Mishaps

Blackie is a great horse to ride bareback. She is not spooky and has a great neck rein, plus she has a long mane to wrap your fingers in. Being somewhat of a plus-sized gal, she doesn't like to lope along the trails as much as I do, but neither does she mind meeting deer who startle and bounce away, either. She doesn't have the prominent withers that other horses do, so she's rather like riding a warm, soft barrel. That's probably the only problem with riding Blackie bareback, actually. When I caught her, I threw an orange fleece blanket over her back (because it's hunting season, I wanted to clearly label us as NOT-AN-ELK), and then threw myself up after the blanket. Imagine my surprise to find that warm, soft barrel was actually quite slippery, and whoops! Off I went the other side!

-Ciara 

Fall harvest, spring dreaming!

The night of the first hard frost, more than a month ago now, we rushed to harvest the tomatoes from the ranch garden. The vines hung in neat rows in the staff dining room, letting the green tomatoes ripen naturally. As Marley, Alma and Cameron ran back and forth, carrying in plants and tracking in dirt, green tomatoes bounced and rolled everywhere. 

Never one to let things go to waste, I grabbed a box and started collecting them. More than two boxes were full before the boys were content that they had saved every possible last plant that could be saved. I quietly closed up my boxes, and let them sit.

Just a few days ago I opened them-- oh! Glorious, ruby red tomatoes greeted me! Such beauties! I held them up to sun, and thought of the countless quarts of tomato sauce and salsa waiting to be canned. The whole event inspired me to start a garden of my own.

Pulling up rocks and dragging away railroad ties is hard work on a sunny day, but eventually I'll fill in the old flowerbeds (read: weed gardens) growing in front of the duplex where Chef Brian and I live. I'll build a rock wall around the edges, since I don't trust the creosote in the railroad ties. I've chopped up the hard clay soil, and heaped piles and piles of aged manure on top. It will bake away all winter, and come spring, we'll have our own staff garden!

-Ciara