A Few Generations of JNP Ranch

I "grew up on a ranch," so to speak. My mom has a long family history of ranchers, and my dad has a lot of family who farms in the Midwest (he goes out to help every year). I guess you could say that ranching and the Spirit of the West runs in our veins. Although we lived in a subdivision, in 1998, my dad was able to acquire a piece of land  about ten minutes from our house and started raising a few head of cattle, and from then through all of high school, the ranch was a part of daily lives. I can't say it was my favorite thing to do (I hated fixing fence, and we had a number of times where we had to go out and feed in the snow). Over the years, we had chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows. We all experienced bottle-feeding animals that couldn't (or wouldn't) nurse from their mothers, sterilizing males, helping birth animals--all the stuff that normally goes on at a ranch. When I left for college, I was glad to put the ranching days behind me.

However, I got older, got married, and had a little kiddo. Somehow, my ranching roots came back to me, and I realized that I actually enjoy helping my dad and spending that time with my family. One thing we have never missed out on is attending the Hometown Rodeo (I've written about it in the past), and I guess I just started to realize that I like being a "redneck" as my brother puts it. One of my dreams has always been to own a modest home with a really giant yard. I think I have a somewhat romantic ideal of what family life is like for us at the ranch, but it's my ideal, and I am going to cling to it.

Part of my renewed investment/interest in our family ranch comes from watching the love my daughter has for going out to help grandpa and his piggies (plus, she really loves the pony--and so do I!) I love seeing Kara and my dad get to share this special thing together, and it has helped me to realize a softer side to my dad that I didn't see when I was younger. A few weeks ago, we helped my dad build a chicken tractor for some new chicks he was getting, and then later, Kara went out with my mom and dad when they were putting up new fence so they could put the sheep out to pasture. My mom sent me these pictures::

Kara running to help grandpa

Later that week, I was at work and Jon wasn't able to watch Kara, so mom and dad took her to a 4H show in Kersey where a girl who bought one of dad's lambs was showing him. My mom says Kara had a blast! Kara told me that she had hotdogs for dinner, had candy, saw lambs and piggies and horsies. When she is a little older, I think I'm going to let her do 4H--she really really loves the ranch.

So, I may not always have the fanciest house, and my family really might be a little bit "redneck," but I love my family, and I love the lessons I learned growing up. I think learning the ethic of hard-work and learning that family is all you really have in the world (besides the Gospel) is part of what makes me who I am. For that, I am grateful for the experiences we've had, and I only hope that I do as good a job of passing those lessons and tears and laughter down to the next generation.