On stand for elk in western Colorado.
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Food Freedom – and Bowhunting Too!
Silently Waiting
Tag Archives: Colorado
There’s A Baar In Them Thar Woods…
My good friend has a cabin in the woods, and if I’m real lucky, I get to spend a few days there each year.
The building is solid and stout, constructed with magnificent unpeeled logs and positioned perfectly beside an idyllic stream of impossibly clear waters. Above all, it’s quiet and protected and far from the screeching of traffic and cell phones and all of the normal worries.
One night by the campfire in this place can do wonders for the maintainance of one’s sanity and eternal soul. It’s a comfort just to be there, and a place not so easy to leave, or forget.
Birds and small creatures flit and scurry through the aspen leaves and fallen evergreen needles. Elk and mule deer come to parlay on a regular basis, and my friend and his young boy once had a much too close encounter with a mountain lion with questionable intent. The bears like the neighborhood just fine too, and they always seem to pay it a visit once they wake from their winter’s hibernation and begin their first travels.
You might say that these visits have become an annual ritual for man and bear alike, and it’s nice to know that the lumbering beasts are happy to take the time to drop on by and say hello. They seem to love to leave a calling card as well, in ever more creative ways.
Well, as you can see from the picture, you could call this a calling card all right! And no, it’s not left behind by a rider and horse or a remnant grizzly either and we did not make use of special photographic effects. It’s simply a full and natural deposit from just one big old glorious Colorado Black Bear, and I found it a few short yards from the main entrance door.
I’ve come across a lot of bear sign in my wanderings in the west and I can safely surmise that this must have come from one not so ordinary bruin. I’ve seen quite a few black bears too, and some big bears among them. But I don’t think I’ve ever run across anything close to the Colorado record of 700 plus pounds. That is until now.
Of course I will never know how big this bear could be, and any attempt to speculate would be just that. But it does give a thrill to wonder.
Regardless of its size and weight, the mere sight of what this animal left behind is more than enough to make a careful individual pause in mid heartbeat, and pause again. I can easily imagine that big ol’ boy watching from the shadows of the overhanging boughs of spruce and fir and enjoying a great big belly laugh at our expense.
I chuckle to myself when I think about that, albeit a little nervously. If he wanted to gain my full attention it was an entirely effective act.
It also makes one take a good look around with the flashlight before venturing out at night to take care of your own reluctant business.
All I can say to Mr. Bear from my current seat in the more mundane world is “Welcome Back Sir” and “Thanks for the Memories”. Your presence in the outer corners of my consciousness is a reality I won’t soon forget. I feel extremely small, yet part of something so big too, at the same time. And that is the gift of the bears.
I think of you compadre, and hope to see you soon…but then again, perhaps not.
Some acquaintances are better left undisturbed, and in my way of thinking, you are just fine wherever you are.
Food Freedom, and Guns Too.
P.S. The size 11 tennis shoe belongs to me – better for running, you know!
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Smoke, Fire, and The Backyard Prepper
I see many things from my big picture window, with its view of the Colorado River to the south, winding below some of the many mountain peaks of western Colorado.
Today it is hard to spot the mountain tops through a thick haze of smoke, and with my compromised sight comes a pounding sinus headache and the impossibility of a breath of fresh air. It comes in the aftermath of a lost winter and a long gone snowpack, meanly followed by record heat, desiccating winds, and no rain. Even the mighty river struggles to survive, waiting to collect and shunt the non-existent waters towards the beckoning sea.
The news of late is filled with the horrors of wildfires, let loose like caged lions upon the skeletons of beetle killed and kiln dried forests, on the edges of mountain subdivisions and the homes of good mountain folk. Fire rages near Ft. Collins, Colorado, among the canyons and timbered ridges I hiked and hunted during my college days.
The High Park Fire will go down in history as the state’s most destructive wildfire. Or it would have, until a few moments ago, when it was surpassed by an even more terrible conflagration known as the Waldo Creek Fire in Colorado Springs. Both fires, and others, will continue to burn through more dangerous days ahead. Only time will tell how much more epic and destructive they will become.
The cause of our smoke and discomfort is a new fire northeast of Grand Junction, and about 50 miles or less to our west. It was caused by a random and uncaring lightning strike, like others that will surely follow. The chance of it reaching this far is most probably remote, but it will no doubt affect us for weeks to come. We hear the helicopters overhead, and they are already mobilizing to evacuate the towns nearest to the fire.
At times like these one can only stand in awe before the powers and vagaries of nature. Our needs and desires pale to nothingness before the will of a mountain fire and the infernal, scorching winds. Just ask of those who had only time to grab a few small things as they fled before the great red wall. They can testify, without doubt, that nature will have her way. It is the way it has always been, and will always be, whether we admit it or not.
Our heart goes out to those who have lost their homes, or god forbid, their loved ones. We wish them Godspeed in their recoveries, and best travels in the twisted and unpredictable journey of life.
For our part, we can only take refuge in the knowledge that we have prepared for this type of disaster as best we could, as have all preppers and common sense people. We have read the signs, and the handwriting is heavy upon the land.
It is the spark of life inside us that drives us, more powerfully than any external spark from without. We shall hold on. Preparation is a state of mind and the natural thing to do, well within the small part we play in our uncertain fates on earth.
Bees, Bees, and More Bees…And Honey Too!
Today our new-found friend, Justin the beekeeper, finished installing some bee hives and electric fencing on a small corner of our lower pasture. It was an exciting time for us, and the bees. Our dogs were enthusiastic also, as they tried to figure out what all the hubbub was about. I know that they will be even more stimulated when they lay their inquisitive noses on the woven wire for that first, and hopefully last time, and receive that startling jolt from that fully charged car battery attached to the fence.
Hopefully, they will forgive us for that. If we could, we would tell them that the electric shock is really not for them. The fence is there to fend off the sweet desires of a wandering black bear. As we all know, they love bees and honey too, and tend to be a bit rough on hives.
Justin is a fairly new beekeeper, but he already knows a great deal about his craft. We know nothing about bees or beekeeping, so we learned a few things recently from him and some preliminary research. I think that I knew this and forgot, but honey bees are not native to North America at all. They were imported from Europe in the early 17th century and quickly disseminated throughout the country.
Justin installed eight hives, which for now hold about 5,000 bees per hive. I don’t know about you, but 40,000 bees is a lot of bees in our book. He tells me that the hives will contain about 10,000 bees per hive when they finish doing that “birds and the bees” thing. Go bees!
Apparently, there are many kinds of honey bees. Our bees are about one half Carniolan, or “carnies”, and the other half Italian honey bees. Both types are considered to be excellent honey producers, and resistant to disease. Both are also considered to be non agressive and gentle in their behavior towards the beekeeper. This seems like it might be a great characteristic, particularly if I were the keeper!
Justin tells us that at top production he might be able to harvest about 40 pounds of honey per hive, or about 320 pounds in a good season. That’s impressive. We traded him a little bit of future honey in return for keeping his bees on our land, which I believe will be a great arrangement for all concerned.
It’s a small corner of our property, after all, and we will not miss it. Our small apple orchard sits just above the hives, so the bees will no doubt help with improved pollination, and increased fruit yields and quality. Honey bees are the most important pollinator of apples, and vital to the health and vitality of an orchard.
So, there you have it. Hopefully, the bees will remain active, healthy and happy. We will have the tasty pleasure of homegrown and backyard honey, which will help us to do the same. And, we feel just a little more grounded to the earth, and more open to receive the willing bounty of the land. We welcome the small ones to our growing farm community, and we are grateful for a new friend. A bit of cooperative collaboration, like bees in a bee colony, can go a long way. A little honest barter, can’t hurt anyone either.
Perhaps you have a beekeeper near you who might be interested in a similar arrangement, and you can make a new friend or two along the way too.
Food Freedom!
Cow Shares and Bull Crap
Sustainable Settings, near Carbondale, Colorado, is a non profit organization that promotes whole systems strategies in sustainable agriculture, green development, land stewardship, and much more.
They have been getting a lot of attention lately for their raw dairy co-operative and herd share venture. About forty shares have been sold to eager consumers and raw milk advocates, and the small guernsey herd cannot produce enough to satisfy the public demand. The story is the same wherever and whenever a herd share program can be found.
Sales of raw milk are governed by the individual states. Each state has different laws, and in some cases it is banned altogether. The FDA has jurisdiction over interstate sales, and has banned all sales of unpasteurized milk across state lines. In Colorado, herd shares are deemed legal by state statute or regulation. If you live in Colorado, joining a herd share cooperative is the only way to legally purchase raw milk.
Raw milk proponents are becoming more vocal and better organized. Several groups, like the Farm to Consumers Legal Defense Fund, are fighting in the courts on behalf of their farmer members in an effort to change the law. According to Steve Bemis, Esq., “Some state regulators and especially federal authorities continue a relentless campaign against raw milk and free choice in food”.
The federal government has now claimed that fresh milk is 150 times more likely to make you sick than pasteurized dairy. How absurd? What a complete and utter load of crap! How long do you think it would take me to find 150 heartfelt testimonials as to the health benefits and curative properties of a raw milk regimen. Not long, I can assure you.
I will agree that there is a great sickness here. However, it is not to be found in the people who believe in their right to eat what they want, when they want it. It is the FDA’s thought process, mindset, and culture of arrogance that is deathly sick. Their unflinching pursuit of government regulated control of what you and I ingest must simply be checked. The laws must be changed.
For now, you cannot argue with the sick minds’ at the FDA and other similar government regulatory agencies. They simply cannot hear you because they don’t think they need to listen to the poor unknowing public. I’d say it is about time they enjoyed a regular dose of raw milk at their family dinner tables. It might help them clear their muddled minds and see the light that burns more brightly every day.
I hope that I can one day own a herd share at Sustainable Settings, or a place just like it. I defend your right to do so too, should that be your wish. I believe the founding fathers of this country had something to say about that very thing when they penned that glorious document called The Constitution.