How to Feed a Ranch Crew
of people working on one of those days could easily balloon to 25 or 30, and As a kid growing up on a ranch out near they all had to be fed at lunchtime. Now, that may not seem like such a tough Chaco Canyon, my brothers and I were undertaking, but it was a bit of a challenge expected to help my parents with the when you consider the nearest town was day-to-day jobs like moving cattle from Crownpoint, which at that time, didn’t pasture to pasture, checking fences, or have a whole lot of grocery shopping chopping ice. But for big job days, like options. When you live out in the middle branding and shipping, we always had lots of help. Family members, friends, and of nowhere, meals for a crowd that size need to be planned ahead of time and the neighboring ranch families could always be counted on to lend a hand. The number food must be on hand. We’d take a trip to By Jerelyn Elkins Brimer
22
April 2019
a grocery store in Grants and fill up our large white freezer with our purchases, always having plenty in case more people showed up than we were expecting. Most of the time, the meal was prepared by my mom and often my granny would make the drive from Grants to help us. Meat and potatoes are a cowboy’s mainstay, so there were always beef or pork roasts or a ham. Potatoes could be roasted, mashed or au gratin accompanied
