Farm Journals - Butterfly Hollow Farm


	Discovering Nature, Saddles and Solitude in an Old Abandoned Tennessee Farm

Farm Journals

Saddle Up

Butterfly Hollow Farm ____ The Path Leading Us Here ____ How The Farm Got Its Name ____ Restoring the Old Farmhouse ____ Where The Beefalo Roam ____ Saddle Up The Horses ____ Saving Wilderness and Farm Land ____ Farm Journals ____ Sharing The Farm ____ Guest Book ____ Site Map ____


	(November) Sharon's Dad and her brother Ron gave us a surprise visit. It was perfect timing. We were ready to start on the cabinets, it was the week of cattle round ups, and the autumn colors were breathtaking. I pried everyone out of bed with the fragrance of bacon, biscuits and gravy floating through the house. We left Sharon's Dad and Sharon at the farmhouse to envision our barnwood cabinets and Ron and I met Larry, Merle and some of his family down at the barn. Once all the critters were fed and watered we saddled up and headed up the North ridge towards one of the summer grazing pastures. It took about an hour ride...saw a flock of 15-20 wild turkeys, stopped by the wild pear tree for a snack and decided to split up into groups since the Beefalo herd was scattered. Ron and I rode around the side of the ridge and dropped down into one of the back fields to find twelve cows and calves munching away. We snuck around behind them and began driving them out. We met up with the rest of the crew and the cows they found and did a head count. Larry said that there was at least another fifteen head missing and dropped back with Merle's son and headed down into the valley and woods to see if there were any stragglers hiding out while we kept the rest of them moving. It wasn't long before we began hearing the hoops, hollers, moos and whistles and the stomping of hooves. They dug out another five cows and that meant we still had eight or so that appear A-WALL. We let Larry and the crew continue the drive and Ron and I took out in a gallop up one of the trails that leads to a ridge top pasture. We saw fresh signs of Beefalo but no cows. We rode along the tree line and ended up spooking the remaining escapes. They bolted and headed vertical straight down over the ridge. Ron looked at me as if to say "oh well looks like we lost those". I smiled and said "It's time to put it into four wheel drive". We tightened up the girths, stood in the stirrups and leaned back in the saddle. We slipped and slided all the way down off the ridge top into the next hillside pasture and like it was part of the script, we pushed ours out and hooked right up with the rest of the herd and cowboys.

Moving one of the herds towards the barns

The rest of the three hour journey back went without hitch, except for one spot where we were pushing the cows along a fence line where another herd of cows is still grazing. We didn't realize a section of the fencing was down until it was too late. Like a bullet Larry took off on his stallion Dakota to head off the cows. Mac and I kicked into fifth gear to back him up as my cowboy hat caught the wind. Only seconds before the migration of the two herds, we broke their stride, turn the leaders around and had things back on the trail.

As I rode back to pick up my hat I was remembering the couple nights before when I was riding this stretch of hillside after dark and the light of the quarter moon on my shoulder. I feel so rich to have this adventure, friends to share it with and a trusted loyal horse. I eventually caught back up and finished the final stretch. We worked all the calves through the chutes, grilled some Beefalo burgers and said good bye to our good friends.