the ranch

THE RANCH
i am ready to move to southern utah
we arrived yesterday to the ranch in this beautiful
canyon in southern utah
it took a drive to get here from albuquerque new mexico
but its a beautiful drive

my wife she and i always loved the desert and enjoyed
the drive up to southern colorado across to southern utah

from a small town we drove down a 10 mile dirt road road
that dropped down from 7000+ feet to 5000+ feet
my wife she was gripping the little handle thats above
the door you know that oh s*&@ handle that you have
to grab sometimes when you let your teenager drive

we dropped down into this beautiful canyon
think palo dura canyon if you have ever been  there
in the panhandle near amarillo texas

heres a picture above the ranch

the owner manager is a 20 year old who was a film major in college
who has taken on the task of reestablishing this ranch
to raise various grapes to sell to different vineyards along
with raising apple peaches these delicious cherries and apricots
he also has an organic garden

it has been a massive undertaking
for someone who knew nothing about all this
he with some help built a cabin for workers that
come through each spring summer and fall to work here
on a volunteer basis
they are called wwofers
world wide organic farmers
the workers here right now are from canada md nj  calif
and other places including one from austin texas
all young eager workers and many are college students
we enjoyed sitting and talking with these young people
for the 3 days we were there
maybe all kids should do something like this before
they go out into the world to school or to work

think i want to be a wwoffer one day to work here
maybe when he puts in his rainwater system

the ranch is organic and runs off solar electricity
it is totally off the grid
there are plans for a rainwater collection system also
my kind of place

the animals that roam around here are black bear deer
occasional elk mountain lions
but are kept at bay by fencing and two dogs

also surrounding this area is ruins from pre pueblo indians
that suddenly disappeared in the 1300s

later today we will travel to see some of these ruins
and to see more of the area

it will be hard to leave here as we
proceed on to grand canyon

the very happy organic green doctor