I didn’t sleep well last night. Two years ago, while performing a controlled burn, we had the wind pick up in the evening, and our fire threatened to get away from us. I will never forget it. Though we contained the blaze, the memory is a reminder, a warning, of how quickly a controlled burn can move. I know the area we prepared and am grateful that the state is helping us this year.
Coal Creek is a cattle farm and an environmental experiment, and a lifetime of memories. I am not sure which is more important, but they seem to go hand in hand…I now often remember specific locations like the spot my oldest daughter Beatriz found a special mushroom or my oldest son Sam photographed a Common…
As I walked towards the barn this morning, I took a short detour to check on the water flow coming into our upper pond. Adequate water supply is critical for our cattle operation, and protecting water quality is a job I take seriously. Cattle have healthier lives when they have access to clean water. I…
This morning I woke up and looked out over Coal Creek Farm and saw nothing. This isn’t true; I saw a beautiful expanse of whitish gray. At the top of the mountain where my farmhouse is, we were totally enveloped in the clouds. It’s amazing to go from being able to see the Smokie Mountains…
I am excited about the burn that Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will do on Coal Creek next week. We carried out these burns ourselves for years, but having the pros involved reduces the stress factor. I hid a key for the fire crews to access the farm when they arrived. Dr. Dwayne Estes recently discovered…
Yesterday was very wet and cloudy. I enjoyed hiking along the fence line in the rain, but my spirits were lifted this morning as I watched the sunrise and listened to the birds excited chatter. We needed to move the cattle again today as there is only so much grazing available in each field. We…
It’s feeling more like Spring. We had a busy morning with ten new Longhorn and Longhorn-mix calves born overnight. They all seem to be healthy, and their mothers are tending them as they should. That allows me to focus on other tasks. We are in a drought, so we have to be creative since Spring…