Pasture 8/24/24

A story about capturing the passage of time while remaining in one place.

A story of the everchanging beauty of one piece of this precious earth.

Luna came to the barn, CloudView Stables, nearly eight years ago.

For eight years, as I head for home, this is my fare well view.

Beyond the gate, a dirt road, and a rustic split rail fence enclosing the neighbor’s pasture.

Always facing east, I have watched this piece of land sustain life in several ways. Longhorn mothers and calves one year. Angus and their young another.

It has provided the foreground for some spectacular skies.

One spring we received abundant rainfall, and the grasses became a lush emerald, green that had Luna longing for access. Alas, she had to settle for ‘close enough’.

A rainy, overcast day is somewhat unusual here and I find the softness compelling.

My eye rests in the low light.

On a cold winter day, the grasses look as though they have been frosted.

This summer, we had multiple days with gale-force winds. The images can’t capture the intensity, but anything not tied down was seen sailing toward Kansas!

By mid-July I was leaving the barn and stopped dead in my tracks! The pasture’s grasses had been mowed. The first time in seven summers.

Several days later, the cut grass had been raked into windrows.

The rows were left to dry and when I returned ten days later, they had been compressed into these giant blocks. The entire pasture created only six bales.

These are the ‘you need a forklift to move them‘ sized bales!’

With the drought, grass just doesn’t go as far as it used to!

The experience of boarding my horse on the same land, surrounded by the same farms is becoming rare on Colorado’s front range. Many barns have closed, and the owners have sold the land to real estate developers.

I am so lucky that the couple who own and manage CloudView have been able to withstand the pressure to sell out. Thank you, Michelle and Jimmy,

I am blessed to be able to watch this lovely piece of earth sustain the cattle and the farmer

and continue to create beauty in every season.