Our first week!

1-17-2010
We are here and we are already loving our mission!  The Deseret Ranch is a huge fascinating place.  Rich has been busy the minute he arrived with orientaition at the office getting to know all the water issues and projects and people.  They are wrestling with hanging onto the water rights with the municipalities surrounding the ranch.  It's a lot!  But he loves it and is very happy. 

I am busy in training for the bus tours which is so interesting as I travel around the ranch on tours given by other sisters and employees.  WE took 4 busloads of legislators from around the nation that work with agriculture around last Friday.  That was an extra big group.  There is such a rich history here.  I am fascinated with the things I learn.  I love this place already.  There are the cattle, the orchards, the wildlife-including alligators and exotic birds.  I just want to find someone to tell me more about the plants. 

Tonight a family home evening all the couples gathered in the Carroll house to hear Jean and Paula Crosby who helps run the ranch and grew up here tell all sorts of history and amazing stories about  alligators, hog hunts, running barefoot through hammocks (forests) and cypress swamps.  The boys can run so fast because they have to keep up with the hogs on the hunts. They always throw off their shoes to run fast. And their arms are so strong from pitching oranges 9they grow wild in the jungles) and their aim extremely accurate.  They outshine all the athletes at the city schools. Fast pitch baseball is a favorite.  At age 14 they can work for the ranch and progress in skills and levels.  They get a horse to train and after 3 yrs working it becomes their own.  They receive training from a horse whisperer who with just a slight shift of his eyes the horse will go in that direction or a small dowward move of the hand will bring the horses head down or an upward move and he will jump in the back of a trailer.  HE can stand on the horse's back and talk to people for 10 min and the horse won't move a muscle. Pretty amazing!  They are skilled at wrestling alligators and have a wonderful artisian well swimming hole that rivals  and water park with slides ,ropes, merry-go -rounds. fountains, rafts etcs. What a paridise for kids to grow up in.
I did learn that the palmettos (small palm tree) grow like weeds here in the hammocks and are harvested and sold to lanscaping companys.  Other sizes of plams too. One variety they call Florida Cabbage and fry it up.  It's supposed to be delicious.  I want to try it!  It's really the palm heart shredded to a cabbage texture.  Yummy!
They even harvest 1/2 the eggs from alligator nests to sell to alligator farms to raise for hide and meat.  They find the nests with helicoptors.  shoo the mother away and mark an x on 1/2 the eggs to keep them right side up during transportaion so the embryo doesn't drown inside. Wild huh!
These are just a few of the things I am learning.
I want to explore the ranch further but am a bit timid with all the wildlife and will wait for company to go with me.
We went to our new ward here on the ranch (Ellsworth Ward) yesterday.  The Bishop ways we'll get new callings next week.  In the meantime I'm substituting for primary.  Should be fun!