Music by Charlie Recksieck to usher us into the New Year.

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Most people commemorate Thanksgiving today, and all things associated with this holiday.  There will be some celebrating family, some marking the day with food, and some praying at the altar of football.  Some will be remembering the Pilgrims, and the earliest arrival of Europeans bringing colonists and their livestock to North America.  NOT!

Stephen Monroe schools us on a common misconception about the domestic animals that were truly the first to be brought here to the Americas.  Which livestock breeds beat the Mayflower across the Atlantic?  What we currently call the “Spanish Colonial” horses were just one group, and the hardy and adaptable Florida Cracker Horse was a derivative breed of this impactful importation.  Horses, cattle, chickens and goats - and they arrived 100 years before the big wooden boat we celebrate today.

But don’t forget – the Spanish brought the pigs in then, too, so football is truly appropriate.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Links:
https://themayflowersociety.org/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056085/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Cracker_Horse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Marsh_Tacky#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banker_horse#Breed_history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Le%C3%B3n
https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/juan-ponce-de-leon
https://www.fdacs.gov/
https://floridacrackerhorseassociation.com/

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We were in the mood for something sweet, so we thought it was time for a visit to the sugar shack. We packed up our gear and headed back east to Westbrook, CT to our friends John and Bonnie Hall at Maple Breeze Farm. There we saw the whole process of making that sweet maple syrup.  Just in time for the maple glazed ham at Thanksgiving.

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Maple-Breeze-Farm-100064517539226

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October is not only a great time to celebrate fiber (what with the Lambtown and Rhinebeck festivals, just to name a few), but it’s also Breast Cancer Awareness month.  How do we get both things in one podcast?  Knitted Knockers!

Barbara Demorest is the Feisty Lady with Fortitude who took a horrible event in life and made it into something that has helped millions to cope with the ravages of breast cancer.  We hope you tune in to see what she did, and maybe even how you can be a part of what this amazing organization does to help others.  And all with a bit of fiber and friendship.

P.S.  We miss you, Mom, but we’ll keep trying to save the udders (always one for a good pun, she was).

Links:
https://www.knittedknockers.org/
https://www.lambtown.org/
https://sheepandwool.com/

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Every once in a while you meet a person you’ve read about in a book.  It might not be the actual person, but is the personification of a character that is so accurate, it might as well have jumped out straight from the pages.  Today, our podcast guest is one of those.  

James Metcalfe lives on Hardenclough Farm, “in the heart of the beautiful Peak District [with a] flock of pedigree Cheviots & Luing cattle grazing under the shadow of Mam Tor.”  You would never guess that the man is a poet, because his strong, steady farming character could have come straight out of James Herriot’s Yorkshire hills.  He came to be a judge at the North American Hill Sheep Show, and though he would not be one to jump the line or show a bit of flash, he’s one that we at Backyard Green Films will picture frequently in the future, every time we hear the word “Farmer” – in the best possible way -- quiet strength and always willing to lend a hand.

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/hardenclough_farm/
https://www.visitengland.com/experience/discover-all-creatures-great-and-small-yorkshire

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We’re back from the North American Hill Sheep Show in Escanaba, Michigan.  This inaugural event showcased some British Hill Breed Sheep and some not-quite-Hill Breed Sheep, of course, but there was more to see, hear and smell.  Lovely vendor booths with soft woolens and fragrant soaps in abundance, sheepdog trials with panting puppies, food trucks (with some mighty fine brisket, thank you sir), and ice cream that is famous across all of the “M” roads.

And then, there were the Brits.  The judges (and families) arrived in good spirits and raring to go, and the whole things was a true education in all things Sheepish. 

In addition to sheep, they do grow some Absolutely Fabulous people on those little islands, we must say.  Some were English, some Welsh, some Scottish and some Irish, but all delightful.  And good sports, to boot.  They will be sorely missed – at least until next spring (we hope).  

Sincere thanks to all from the Backyard Green Films crew.  Our lives are better for having met you.

Links:
https://www.nahillsheepshow.com/

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Where do we go for fun?  Well, all kinds of places, but fish hatcheries, farm shows, and livestock auctions are on the list.  

Today, we’re taking you back to jolly old England (almost Scotland, actually), to a little town called Hexham.  It lies at the foot of Northumberland National Park and a stone’s throw (literally) from Hadrian’s Wall.  This is as charming a hamlet as you might ever imagine.  It has lovely bridges, excellent tapas, wonderfully kind people, a first-class auction yard, and mules.

Wait – aren’t we talking sheep today?  What’s all this about mules?

Yep – mules -- that are technically sheep.  Listen in to Drew Patrick and Chris Armstrong, master auctioneers at Hexham and Northern Marts, to find out why some of these sheep are mules.  

And Hexham is in the Borderlands, so some sheep also look like rabbits – but that’s another podcast.

Links:
https://hexhammart.co.uk/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-world-s-top-wool-producing-countries.html
https://www.nahillsheepshow.com/

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Located in the southern portion of Scotland, Lanark might be best known in agricultural circles for those big guys from the area around the River Clyde, and to history buffs as the first place local resident William Wallace drew his sword in earnest.  We love heavy horses with a passion, but the sheep need to have their day, too.  

Last September, Lanark Agricultural Centre saw Shetland Sheep and members of all sizes and colors coming for the Gathering, because “There can be only one!”  (oops – wrong movie again, though with William in the first paragraph, the sword thing kind of took us over.).  All shapes and sizes of SHETLAND SHEEP and the society that supports their continuation came to show, to sell, and to talk to the Backyard Green Films crew.

We’re still high on life from one of the most memorable trips of our lifetime – can you tell?  And still aloft from meeting the people and livestock of the British Isles.  Long may they rein (still had to make a horse joke).

Links:
https://www.shetland-sheep.org.uk/
https://www.shetland-sheep.org.uk/shows-sales-and-event
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Bakewell
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-great-britain-and-the-united-kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest_of_Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorking_chicken
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/lanark-p244081
https://scandinaviafacts.com/norsemen-vs-vikings-whats-the-difference/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Isle_(technique)

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In life, there are talkers and doers.  Of the doers, many of them have a characteristic known as “True Grit,” and today’s podcast guests are in that category.

Millie and Stacy Bradshaw own Dry Creek Livestock, and a few hours north of Salt Lake City, these two intrepid souls are building a place to call home on the windswept plains and low hills of Utah.  On their ranch you’ll find a range of critters, including goats (for meat and milk), cattle (for beef), livestock guardian dogs (for the previous two) and - periodically – mountain lions (because apparently ranching is just too easy in Utah).   Millie and Stacy know more than the average farmer about the plant life that surrounds them, and they use that and their livestock in a way that works with nature to build something out of this lonely land.

We hope you join us today for a talk with two modern-day pioneers (and a few comments from the always wonderful Tom Boyer), who are building a patch of land into a place to call home.  It’s something right out of a western movie, but these are the real heroes – even without the star billing.

Links:
https://www.instagram.com/dry.creek.livestock/
https://www.premier1supplies.com/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17505010/?ref_=ls_t_4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_(TV_series)
https://www.nps.gov/state/ut/index.htm
https://heyexplorer.com/29-things-utah-is-known-and-famous-for/
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/582124/how-did-sand-come-to-mean-courage-pluck
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065126/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

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It’s time for Horse Progress Days!  It’s one of our favorite events of the year, and this July it was held in Lancaster County, PA - just in time for the height of a national heatwave.  Everyone soldiered on through, though, with nary a complaint to be found from this stoic bunch.  

It was a good thing everyone pushed through the heat until the close of the day, because the HPD organizers saved some of the best for last (okay, the middle and beginning was pretty good, too).  The Backyard Green Films bunch had a front row seat for the Breed Presentation.  With longtime HPD participant Dale Stoltzfus doing a wonderfully informative commentary track, horses of every size, shape and color were on view, and riders, drivers, leaders and be-free-rs were putting on a show.

The commentary was so informative that we wanted to bring it all to you on our podcast, but in a few days you can go to the Backyard Green Films YouTube channel to get a (dusty) front-row visual as well.  Either way, we hope you feel like you were sitting right next to us for the whole show.

Links:
https://horseprogressdays.com/2024-event-information/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhZba-P7R18&t=81s

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