Mystic T Ranch Tales                                                                                                  

                       
              Bald Mountain

Bringing Mountain Dreams to life

Our mountain tale left off two years ago with so much happening that it has been hard to find time to write again. Since our last tale we have become Yak Ranchers and a Certified Tree Farm. No small feat in less than two years while still working full time in forestry improving a patchwork of mountain properties from Georgetown to Jamestown and continuing to make and sell products for our craft business. We have improved 2 acres of our property doing thinning of existing trees and also planting over 280 new trees and bushes which are the start of our next forest.

Loading logs in Evergreen, Colorado	Thinning our forest

We have put up corrals in the dead of winter moving mounds of snow to get our fences up. We have built a chicken coop and filled it with chickens that lay wonderful brown eggs. We have incubated chicks many times selling a few to other mountain folk who only need a few. We have raised ducks and a couple of geese who constantly report on everything they see but who ignore the chipmunks stealing their food.

Our wild rabbit population and chipmunk population have exploded along with the coyotes that make nightly runs through our property yipping and carrying on. The bobcat has visited several times with a serious intent to have our chickens as they appear much more tasty than the small vole he caught. We have watched the red hawks circle above the chicken yard getting all the chickens squawking, the geese shouting, and the ducks quacking. Such a commotion cannot be described especially when you add the Yaks grunting for dinner at the same time. Our menagerie grows along with our ever increasing fascination with nature.

Bee on a wildflower	Baby bunny under our shed

 
Our latest discovery was a wood pack rat who planned on settling in a pile of slash needing to be chipped on the trailer.  Once uncovered he huddled in the corner trying to make himself invisible while looking for an opportunity to seek better cover. We now suspect he and perhaps others have been making themselves the warm nests we find in our log piles. The rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels are grateful to have so many places to hide from the predators. Even the little Juncos find the wood piles good places to fly into.

In what spare time we find, we are building sheds for our equipment and for storage of hay. We mill our own lumber and lumber for others finding good use for the many trees that need to be taken down. The branches once chipped make excellent mulch that holds the soil and moisture for grasses and wildflowers to emerge. We are composting yak manure and chicken manure to mix with the mulch to rebuild the soil which was stripped away by winds when our property was used for mining in the late 1800's. The yaks stir together the mulch, composted manure and sandy soil for us helping to create a top soil better able to support grasses and other native plants.

Our yaks in new corral	Kamali

Four of our yaks have reached breeding age and by next Summer we may have our first babies. Our yak bull Farlee keeps a watchful eye on his herd and especially the hay trough. Cromwell, our younger bull is growing bigger but is at the bottom of the hierarchy for now. He is like a moody teenage boy some days and sometimes pouts in an area away from the others. The heifers have established their pecking order. Neema rarely leaves Farlee's side. Little Paka still has a manner similar to that of a sleepy young child. She often walks like a child lost in her own world yet leads the whole herd in romping and playing. Kamali has a watchful eye and has proved to be the protector of babies that her name suggests. She allows little Sharai to share her trough when no one else will and has bedded down with her almost every night. 

The pups we adopted in the winter of 2007 have settled in nicely. Little evidence of their being abandoned shelter dogs still remains aside for Rasha's wild barking whenever she hears vehicles, the chainsaw, or the tractor starting up. She was apparently dumped from a vehicle in a rural area and was left to survive on her own as a small puppy. She nearly starved before being rescued. Her companion, Zsa Zsa, tolerates Rasha's insanity as they both had a similar start in life. Rabbits and chipmunks bring excitement to their lives by dashing into rocks, holes and wood piles. The pups still haven't figured out the concept of a back door exit. Rasha ears are extremely sensitive to sound and she feels she must let every ATV, truck and dirt bike on the road know she is on duty and hears them. Zsa Zsa saves most of her barks for the rabbits. They both let us know when anything moves in the woods and they run with lightning speed.

Our oldest office assistant cat, Teddy, passed on in January after 17 years of devotion. We recently adopted a homeless black kitten, Soso. She has a high volume motor, and specializes in purring and climbing on shoulders much like Teddy did. At this point she has a voracious appetite, and endless energy but never passes up the opportunity for a warm lap and love. Precious and Key have accepted her even though they wish she would get over her fascination with swatting their tails and trying to constantly tackle them. Key has set firm boundaries on behavior while Precious specializes in evasive maneuvers. Soso has found a house with dogs, cats, doves, and at times, chickens and chicks to be full of things to watch.

Soso	Key with a new brood of chicks

Our summer was a rainy one which we feel slowed the Pine and IPS beetles for this year. Snow has already come several times this month. We have heard no elk bugle yet and no shots rang out near us during the muzzle loader season. The elk have had plenty of feed up high and have had little reason to move down yet from the high peaks. Although, 9,400 ft seems high to some, we have peaks that reach 14,000 ft not that far away as we are but a few miles from the Continental Divide.

Our work has taken us from Georgetown to Jamestown along the Colorado front range mountains this year. The devastation by the Pine and IPS beetles is a growing tide of red.  We have also witnessed the devastation by Spruce beetles as well. Because the IPS beetles were less active this year due to the colder temperatures, too many of the mountain property owners have moved into the belief that the epidemic and fire threat are over. It is hard to get them to understand that the dry conditions we have had for so many years and especially over the fall of 2008 and winter of 2009 have had a serious impact along with the earlier years of drought. Even though we had a somewhat rainy summer, the soil is powder dry to at least 5 feet in depth. The trees are stressed which makes them prime candidates for beetle infestation as stressed trees send out a chemical signal that draws the beetles to them.

On our own property, we have only discovered a few new infested trees this fall but we know the number will grow as the Forest Service predicts in 2-4 years over 90% of our Lodgepole pines will be dead and a significant number of our Ponderosa pines and Limber pines. We know the Spruce beetles are moving east and also south. Our mountains will look different but we are staying focused on the next forest which we will have a hand in creating for future generations.