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Today this cowdog salutes agriculture! I’ve watched all the harvest and hauling around here, and I like to eat!
So I salute farmers, ranchers, and their all-important sidekick, the cowdog, with Heeler Heart and Soul.
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We’ve had one good snowstorm already, now most is melted and there has been more rain. Even here in the foothills, it is only frosty a few mornings, and still warm enough most days.
After so many years, it is harder to get excited at the first snow, but even mom agrees, this was pretty. Lady tells the the story best:
The aspen leaves shimmered in the sun like a shower of gold doubloons,
Then it started to rain,
Then the snow came. 
If we weren’t already urgently preparing for winter, this little storm nudges us all to finish up. Most of the hay is in. All the apples have been picked, with Sprout’s annual help.
This was a good year for apples, with even some new young trees putting out a few. I watch mom wash them and run them through her slick little slicer, then they are dried or chopped and made into pie slices, sauce, and Apple Pie Jam. This neat little machine can do all kind of things, separates seeds, cores and scrap for the chickens,and of course there are always a few juicy bits for this helper. 
You can find one here, and you will have fun with this:
We continue to pick up, clean up, put away. The beautiful colors we had this year pretty much left with the snow and a couple of very cold nights. There are a few brave aspen on the eastern hill, though, that came back with their gold after the snow. The horses are ranging less and sticking close to the hay now; they are starting to get shaggy.
The cows are getting shaggy too, I guess, but it is harder to tell with them!
Of course, this cowdog has been busier than a pup with two tails, and this season of harvest got me thinking. So this week I recognize agriculture and the importance of the people who grow the hay, feed the cows, harvest the wheat and generally keep the world running and everyone fed! I really see it this time of year, when I ride around in dad’s truck. 
The combines have cleaned the fields and wheat has filled silos, and rests in huge golden mounds near the railway. Hay is baled and hauled, to feed all the critters through another spare winter. To the south, sugar beets are stockpiled, ready for processing. The whole country has its own local harvest, all contributing to the most basic and vital of needs. Here at home, we have canned, dried and frozen all kind of things. We have hay and grain ready to feed the stock all winter.
And all the cows have gone home from the high country, eyeing stacks of good green hay that’ll keep them warm and full all winter.
Just think about this bounty! I tell you, there are cherries, apples, mint, grains, and alfalfa. There is beef, chicken, lamb. Even if you don’t eat meat, some farmer out there is growing the soybeans that make your meatless meat! 
OK, I admit that doesn’t make any sense at all to me, but then I am primarily a carnivore. I appreciate meat in all forms and, even though I like pumpkin, blueberries, beans and grain, I don’t know why anyone would skip steak!
Farmers and ranchers work hard, long hours, often with plenty of hurdles and headaches, to produce so much food for us. Mostly it is solitary work with plenty of worries. Of course, they do get to work out in beautiful country and they do have loyal helpers such as myself. None of us would eat without the workers of agriculture! And cowboys! Yes, we still have those out here, my dad was one of the best in his day.
None of it would do much good if it didn’t get hauled to market, and we better send a big shout-out to all the truckers, too.
And thanks to the feedstores and grocers, where we so conveniently pick up a lot of that bounty.
These are professions of faith, hope and grit.
Kids keep dreaming of being farmers and cowboys. Of course life in the country is the best, and 4-H and FFA helps to start ’em young, too. It is a good way for a human to grow up.
Now, not all of us cowdogs get to live the ranch life. I am blessed to have been chosen out of that shelter so long ago, and get to follow in the pawprints of other great cowdogs on the ranch.
Nothing beats the happy exhaustion at the end of the day, knowing the cows were put where they needed to go, and I helped make it happen! But even if you don’t have a ranch, you Heelers can still keep your home in order, herd what is needed, patrol cats, kids and all your people. We can catch endless frisbees and wayward balls, and rest from a job well-done at the end of a busy day.
Even if you can’t be the ranch dog, you can sure enjoy a few reminders anytime.
And this is a good time of year to gather a few good books for those longer nights indoors.
There are plenty of great cowboy stories: https://amzn.to/3lHKklW
or maybe some real history of the west; of course I like this one about an explorer’s dog! 
https://amzn.to/3FEGPVs
Mom loved this story of an old woman who up and bought a horse, then packed up her little dog and rode coast to coast! 
and the follow up that further explains the history and story of Messanie Wilkins.
Of course, the famous cowdog Hank shares his tales and views of ranch life for everyone to experience:
Well I need to get back to work. You know these ranch chores won’t do themselves!
And there is a lot riding on this little speckled cowdog.
