After a few generations, my grandfather’s family had a large cattle ranch in the Carissa Plains, on the east side of the county, until the 1930s. My grandfather’s uncle was the famous G.S. Garcia: saddle-, spur- and bit-maker.
My grandmother’s parents, who were from Switzerland, purchased the ranch that I grew up on. That side of my family also has been in the area for quite some time.
I was fortunate to grow up with both sets of grandparents right here in my hometown. My parents, Mark and Janet Baird, still live on the ranch where they raised my four siblings and me.
My husband, Aaron, grew up in Carmel Valley, where the surrounding ranches and people influenced him. Aaron and I met during my senior year at California Polytechnic State University. We were both animal science majors. After graduating, Aaron worked on numerous ranches throughout the United States. A management job at the Santa Margarita Ranch brought him back to San Luis Obispo County in 2000. After eight wonderful years at that historic ranch, a position at Cal Poly opened and he was hired in 2008 as the beef operations manager for the Animal Science Department. He’s responsible for overseeing the university’s beef cattle as well as managing the ranch properties.
We live in an old ranch house on the Cal Poly campus with our two boys. Ethan, 5, is involved in junior rodeo and T-ball. Caleb, 1 1/2, loves to do everything his older brother does. Both boys attend preschool at the Cal Poly Children’s Center two days a week.
It’s a great program with a wonderful facility, amazing teachers and an unbelievable meal program that includes breakfast, lunch and a couple of snacks during the day.
I started nursing school in August 2011 and have been extremely busy juggling my roles as mom, wife and full-time student. My mom and my husband help me get through my busy weeks. I’m so grateful to share every day with my amazing family!
FEB. 1— Wednesday. I woke up to the wind howling through our canyon. I took the boys to my mom’s place; she watches all of her grandkids on Wednesdays and calls the group the Awesome Possums. On some days, Mom has up to 10 children, including my aunt’s boys who are the same ages as Ethan and Caleb. Usually, two of my sisters help out, also.
I studied a few hours before heading to school for my obstetrics/pediatric simulation and orientation day at the hospital.
Aaron moved cows in the cold wind at Serrano and Chorro, two of the university’s ranches. This afternoon he and his students preg-checked cows.
FEB. 2— Thursday. I took the boys to preschool, ran a couple of errands and then came home for a few hours before heading to the hospital for my clinical day in the neonatal intensive care unit. Aaron filled in for another instructor in the beginning beef lab.
FEB. 3— Friday. After a long night at the hospital, I woke up a little later than usual. My mom watched the boys for a couple of hours while I met with a few classmates to work on a group project. When I picked up Ethan and Caleb at the ranch, my dad was putting final touches on the tree house he built for the grandkids.
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Aaron took the boys out to close a gate and scoped out a perfect site for their upcoming overnight pack trip. We went to dinner in a nearby city, Arroyo Grande.
FEB. 4— Saturday. My nephew Peyton celebrated his 5th birthday with a Willy Wonka-themed party. The kids had a blast running around, climbing trees and swinging at the pinata. My sister Jenny’s in-laws have an orange and avocado ranch here in town and it was a beautiful setting for the celebration.
I spent a few hours at the hospital, visiting two friends who just had babies. Aaron and Ethan rode their horses. Ethan is gearing up for junior rodeo in March; it will be his second year.
FEB. 5— Sunday. Aaron made French toast for breakfast. It’s nice to have him home on the weekends, especially when he’s the chef! He’s skilled at barbecue, too. As past president of our local cattlemen’s association (the largest county association in the state), he has done barbecues for various events.
We headed to my parents’ house to watch the Super Bowl. We cheered on the New York Giants because our friend’s brother plays on the team. It was his first Super Bowl and an exciting victory. The boys stayed with my parents tonight. They stay most Sunday nights since we always go there for dinner and my mom watches them on Mondays while I’m at school. I definitely wouldn’t be able to go through nursing school without Mom’s help!
FEB. 6— Monday. I rose early to study for an 8 a.m. exam. It went well but I was a little tired during my lecture classes. Aaron taught a lab today for an agriculture education class. He taught 14 future agriculture teachers how to castrate, vaccinate and brand calves. Cal Poly is a very hands-on university, so the students are able to practice what they learn on real livestock.
After his lab, Aaron moved about 200 cows at the Escuela Ranch, another university property. With all the different ranches, there are approximately 4,500 acres total.
FEB. 7— Tuesday. A highly anticipated rainstorm hardly amounted to anything, unfortunately. It has been a very dry year, and people in the agriculture business are starting to get nervous.
Aaron worked on paperwork. Last year Cal Poly was the first university in the nation to develop a process-verified program (PVP) to age- and source-verify their calves.
With the help of a couple of students, Aaron researched and developed an extensive plan that had to be certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Today they updated the plan in preparation for their spring audit.
FEB. 8— Wednesday. I took the kids to Awesome Possums. Later they all celebrated one of their cousin’s birthdays. I worked the evening shift at the hospital.
Aaron moved cows this morning and then worked on repairing his work truck’s wiring. After a farm operations meeting, he set up the horse trailers that will be used for driving practice in an agriculture education class. He loves to watch future ag teachers learn how to back up a trailer!
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FEB. 9— Thursday. After dropping the kids off at preschool, I came home to do homework before heading to the hospital. I am in pediatrics this week during my rotation. Yesterday I had a 4-year-old patient and I look forward to seeing how she’s doing today.
This morning Aaron fixed fence and cleaned troughs at the Chorro Ranch, then spent the afternoon updating records. Before picking up the kids, he showed some students the details of a fence project at the Peterson Ranch. At home tonight it was just the boys; I didn’t get home from the hospital until 11:30.
FEB. 10— Friday. After breakfast, my mom watched Ethan and Caleb while I went to the dentist. Aaron pressure-washed the squeeze chute before he moved cows at the Escuela Ranch. He had a weekly meeting with the Escuela cow-calf enterprise project students.
This afternoon he took the kids with him while I finished up a group project with some classmates. They moved the heifers at the Chorro Ranch across the creek to a new pasture. Caleb was sleeping in the truck so Aaron used his dogs to move the cows.
FEB. 11— Saturday. Aaron took Ethan to flush a cow with Cal Poly’s new embryology teacher. This was the first time Cal Poly was able to flush embryos using an in-house veterinarian. Some of the pre-vet students were there to observe. They retrieved 12 embryos.
While I studied, Aaron and the boys put a packsaddle on one of our young horses for the first time. He bucked quite a bit but relaxed after a few minutes.
FEB. 12— Sunday. After breakfast we took advantage of a beautiful morning and hiked the hill behind our house. It was sunny, but a cool breeze was blowing off the fog that hovered over the Cuesta Ridge. Aaron packed Caleb in a backpack and Ethan ran up ahead of us, tugging on the leash of his favorite dog, Maggie. She’s a 13-year-old basset hound that we adopted a few months ago.
FEB. 13— Monday. A storm blew in overnight and it was still raining this morning. The kids spent the night at my parents’ house and had a great time. This afternoon in lab I gave my first subcutaneous injection on a person. (I’ve given plenty on cattle!)
Aaron and two students gathered all the cows at the Escuela Ranch and moved them to a new pasture. They also sorted off some steers to take to the horse unit, where they will be used in the quarter-horse class on campus.
Ethan finished writing his name on superhero valentine cards to take to school tomorrow.
FEB. 14— Tuesday. Ethan, Caleb and I headed to school by 8:15. Ethan was excited to share his valentine cards with his classmates. Aaron moved cows again at a couple of the ranches. In the afternoon, he walked an old fence line with a GPS to take measurements. The plan is to rebuild this fence to utilize more land for grazing.
We had a quiet dinner at home. Aaron barbecued some hamburgers and I made sweet potato fries. Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be complete without chocolate, so I made Chocolate Pots de Crème, a recipe from Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. She’s amazing!
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FEB. 15— Wednesday. I took the kids to Awesome Possums. Aaron cleaned up around the campus feedlot facility. Noah, a former student of Aaron’s who graduated two years ago, arrived today and will stay with us for a few weeks while he helps weld the receiving pens at Cal Poly’s new state-of-the-art meat-processing center. While I worked at the hospital, Aaron and the boys heated up lasagna for dinner and watched cowboy movies.
FEB. 16— Thursday. Aaron attended a full day of meetings for our local Cattlemen’s Association. He’s a member of the board and chairs the range improvement committee with the state organization. Once a year, the state officers visit each county association to discuss current issues with the local cattlemen. The boys and I met Aaron there for the social and dinner. They barbecued 100 pounds of rib eye, so we had a wonderful dinner!
FEB. 17— Friday. The boys and I cleaned house this morning and caught up on laundry. After lunch we went with Aaron to the sales yard to take some steers that were being fattened up for the meat-processing center, but the facility isn’t quite ready for harvesting yet. We had a nice dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant.
FEB. 18— Saturday. Aaron left early to go to a branding. After a leisurely morning at home, the boys and I drove up the coast to meet him. We arrived in time to watch as about 100 calves were branded at a beautiful ranch just over the hill from Cayucos Beach. Aaron roped from his horse Blackjack and did really well.
FEB. 19— Sunday. I stayed home to study while Aaron took the boys to another branding today. He was able to work the ground a little bit, but didn’t take a horse to rope. It’s really hard for me not to go with them on the weekends, but I have only the weekends to study.
At Sunday night dinner we celebrated my niece Madison’s 9th birthday. She’s the oldest of my parents’ eight grandchildren.
FEB. 20— Monday. I have off from school for Presidents Day. Aaron moved cows this morning and checked water, and the boys did some yard work and roped the dummy steer while I studied for a test. Aaron and Noah watched more cowboy movies tonight.
FEB. 21— Tuesday. All my studying paid off—I got a perfect score on my test! After school I made a grocery store run to stock up on staples. After I got home I went for a quick run up the road behind our house. It was a beautiful afternoon and so nice to get out and stretch my legs after a long weekend of studying.
Aaron had a couple of meetings today and got supplies for the receiving corrals at the meat-processing center. He picked up the kids from preschool this afternoon.
FEB. 22— Wednesday. It was a beautiful morning at my parents’ ranch. The kids took a walk to the tree fort for a picnic. I worked on paperwork before going to the hospital for my clinical day. Aaron gathered four more heifers for the halter-fitting class. Students will halter-break these heifers that will eventually be sold to 4-H and FFA kids for fair projects. After another meeting, he moved the cows at the Escuela Ranch before picking up the kids at preschool.
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FEB. 23— Thursday. My last day in the obstetrics/pediatrics rotation. In preparation for a trip up the coast tomorrow, Aaron cleaned out his truck and loaded supplies. Then he met one of the students at the beef unit to help artificially inseminate a couple cows.
At the Escuela Ranch, he moved the cows to another pasture. He moves them so frequently that all he had to do was open a gate and they came running.
FEB. 24— Friday. This morning Aaron took the boys with him to move cows at the Escuela Ranch. In the afternoon he drove to Santa Cruz to help process steers at Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch. I was really tired from late nights at the hospital and got in a short nap while the boys rested, too. Aaron normally does the chores, but tonight it was just the three of us. So we fed all the animals: horses, dogs, chickens and cats.
FEB. 25— Saturday. My mom called first thing this morning to see if we wanted to meet for breakfast. We picked her up and drove to a great little restaurant on the way to Avila Beach. My sister Jenny and her two little boys met us there. What a nice way to start off the weekend!
Meanwhile, Aaron gathered steers at the Swanton Pacific Ranch. With 24 girls on the enterprise project, Aaron and several other advisers dewormed 500 steers before 11 a.m. Then he met us at my parents’ house for tacos after his 3½-hour drive home.
FEB. 26— Sunday. I caught up on homework while Caleb napped. Aaron and Ethan welded some T-ball stands, using old disk blades. They practiced baseball and dummy roping before going to my parents’ house for Sunday night dinner.
FEB. 27— Monday. The kids spent last night with my parents. I had school at 8 a.m. and got done early. Aaron moved the yearling heifers to a pasture on the east side of Chorro Creek. His dogs worked pretty well this morning. They had to move the cows through one of Cal Poly’s vineyards, but got them all to the right pasture.
In the afternoon, a broken float valve required repair before Aaron moved another group of cows. This time, he put the cows from the Serrano Ranch in the field around our house. Little did he know that the neighbors had 15 yearling bulls in an adjacent field—and several of them immediately broke the fence. Aaron had to sort off the bulls and haul them back to the neighbors, then move the cows to a field farther from the bulls.
FEB. 28— Tuesday. This morning I took the kids to school and then headed to class myself. Aaron and his student employees gathered and sorted 170 cows at the Escuela Ranch and pregnancy-checked 45 of the embryo-recipient cows. Afterward, Aaron taught students in the beginning beef lab to handle cattle and give vaccinations. They vaccinated only half the calves and saved the remainder for Thursday’s lab. We all went to the park for Ethan’s first T-ball practice.
FEB. 29— Wednesday. It was my first day of medical-surgical clinical rotation at the hospital. It was a little stressful at first, but ended up being a very rewarding day.
After taking the kids to Awesome Possums this morning, Aaron moved the cows and calves to a new pasture at the Escuela Ranch. Then he worked on the receiving pens at the new meat-processing center and fixed the lights on two gooseneck trailers.
Wow! This month flew by in a flash! I’ve enjoyed sharing our adventures. If you are ever in the area and would like a tour, please feel free to stop by!