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Operation Independence
Of Gardens, Chickens, and Fat, Black Cows: Getting Back to Basics
With the continuing economic instability of the world and our nation, we spend a lot of time peering into the future and trying to discern what it holds for the Ranch and its future. That's one reason we've decided to go back and reclaim a bit of our past. We talk with the Ranchers on occasion about how life was for the first settlers who lived where we now live. They've all seen Little House on the Prairie, so we don't have to start from scratch. However, the notion that what you grew and canned or raised and killed was largely what you got to eat day-to-day is a sobering thought for us all, and one difficult to imagine for any of us. But it's one reason for Operation Independence. By building our gardens, caring for our chickens and livestock, and by bringing the fruits of our own labor to our own tables by our own efforts-there's a good lesson here for the whole community.
Wal-Mart and HEB needn't worry. There's no danger of going out of business because of us. We know we can't grow a tomato for what it would cost us to buy one from them. On the other hand, they'll never sell a tomato that will taste like the ones we grow. Add that to the experience of having dug that soil, grown that plant, and harvested those tomatoes…that's what we call "value added." Our little herd of Angus ladies, now growing very large with their second crop of Wagyu/Angus babies, will add f4 babies before Christmastime. We'll keep the heifers and grow the little bullies up for beef. They'll all have a good life and our beef will be unadulterated and healthy. The occupants of the Chicken Hilton have grown from tiny peepers that came 40 to a small box, and now are gangly pullets racing to see what interesting offerings we bring them. In another six weeks we should find a tiny egg or two, and after that we should pretty much be self-sufficient in eggs. Other goals of Operation Independence are more practical. Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, our energy supplier, has provided us with a professional energy audit, and has committed to helping us conserve and someday even generate energy, which they will buy back from us. We're well into Operation Independence today and looking forward to ramping up all our fledging projects.
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