Upstairs and Downstairs
At Pine Country Feed we are particular about the brands we carry. We are proud to stock Purina, Mazuri, Manna Pro and Kent to help keep your equine companion healthy and well nourished. We carry small pet feeds like Evo, Active Care, Red Flannel and Pinnacle to name only a few, and it doesn’t stop there. Our wild bird products include suet, black oil sunflower, nyjer and hummingbird oil as well as some adorable, functional birdhouses and feeders for your yard. We talk a lot about our cowgirl boutique because we love to bring you the best and brightest in western wear and home décor, and the same goes for the feed store. Only best for the best people we know – our fabulous customers!
Chick Days
CHICK DAYS ARE HERE! Starting today and going through the weekend you can fill your coop with some of the fluffy stuff, and the amazing thing is – they all grow into egg laying hens! Choose from Araucaunas, California Whites, Buff Orphingtons, Rhode Island Reds & Plymouth Barred Rock, and we’ll even have a few ducks. This is a favorite time of year at Pine Country Feed, so stop in for the party!
Common Ground
From the very beginning it was you and her, no cell phones or staff meetings. You and the one who understood that your soul was a priceless thing that deserved a moment of rest, a bit of understanding and a good amount of listening. When all the others didn’t get it, walked away, shook their heads the two of you stood by, undaunted, knowing that your answers would not be found on the bottom line, or even in the policy report but on the solitary journey, through the field, over the ridge to your point of perspective, where reality waits. The place you go together to remember what actually matters, and why you bother with all of this in the first place. She always knows right where to go, exactly what you need to find that place inside that assures you that you know what you’re doing, that you knew all along. She takes you to the place where you can believe again.
V-Day
If you haven’t thought about it, it’s time you did. Valentine’s Day is February 14th, like it is every year, and that means it is coming quickly. Since it is indeed the same date every year, there are no real excuses for forgetting. People who forget anniversaries or birthdays are thoughtless, but the ones who forget Valentine’s Day have no excuses. They are mean. The great thing about this holiday is that it doesn’t revolve around how much you spend but rather around the fact that you thought of another person, be it your grandmother, your best friend, the guy who runs the toll booth, or your sweetheart. Treat your loved one to your creative genius by giving a handmade card with glitter and ribbons. Bake heart shaped cookies and frost them with pale pink icing – put them in a basket with a half pound of your favorite coffee blend. Give your spouse one heart shaped item for every year you have been married and it doesn’t have to be expensive – soaps, candles, notepads, earrings – can all be found in heart shapes, and placed in a tissue lined heart shaped box, they will be a treasure. Try to remember that there is nothing worse than not being thought of on the day Americans set aside for love, so remember them all. The best Valentine you will ever receive is the one you give yourself when you show that you care.
Resolve to Be You
You’re due for an update, so get over to Pine Country Feed and get your cowgirl on for the New Year. You will walk into Pine Country a woman of great intelligence but lacking in the stylish grace you have become known for, and you will emerge your effervescent self, ready to change the world, or at least rise above it. Go for the cowboy boots, cowboy hat and some better than average jeans, then wrap it up with a “notice me” belt and a ruffled blouse that screams western chic. Have a good look in the mirror and you may decide you need to top everything off with a black denim duster – the kind you wear to walk down the middle of Main Street when there is someone you need to run out of town. Or, you can just wear it to coffee on a cold day when you feel like turning heads. Fulfill your first and most important New Year’s resolution by becoming a woman with which to be reckoned, tough, tender, and tenacious!
Love a Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, a New Year’s Day spectacular, did not disappoint this year with its bigger than life floats, the best marching bands from across the country and a full round-up of horses and horse people, doing the west proud in a big way. The parade, since its inception over 100 years ago, has always been focused on just those three areas – horses, bands and floats, and every year the bar seems to be pushed just a bit higher with better bands, astounding floats and horses that look like they are ready for the Red Carpet. The horses that are chosen to appear in the parade prance along as though they were made for the show. They are beautifully groomed with intricate braids and bejeweled harness, saddles that could double as artwork, and riders that are decked out in gala attire, and strangely, the horses seem to know that this is their moment. They walk in formation, tipping their heads to the crowd, not hurrying but soaking in the applause and the glory. Of course there is always one or two who decide that they are not getting the attention they should so they suddenly fall out of line and face backwards, circling with their nervous rider, showing that they really are in charge despite appearances. Much like any celebrity, they clearly have to act out from time to time. Stardom has its price.
Pastel Sandwich Cookies
It’s cookie time at Pine Country Feed and we have some great ones. We’re starting here with something light and pretty that will make you want to eat a dozen.
Cut 1 cup cold butter (no substitutes) into 2 cups of flour until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle with 2-4 tablespoons of heavy cream and form into a ball. Add more cream if necessary 1 tablespoon at a time.
Roll your dough out to 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut with a 1 ¾ inch, round scalloped cookie cutter. Place cut outs on ungreased baking sheet and prick each one three times with a fork to form three parallel rows of dots. Bake for at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until edges are just barely toasting. Remove to rack and cool completely.
Mix 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, bringing mixture to spreading consistency. Add more cream if needed. Frost one wafer with a small amount of the frosting then add another wafer to form a sandwich. These are lovely left completely white, but if you would like to add some color, add one drop of food coloring at a time till you have a pastel hue.
Serve on a plate sprinkled lightly with powdered sugar. The wafers can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to three weeks, then thawed prior to frosting. This recipe makes forty sandwiches.
Pine Country Pleasure
When the days are as cold as they have suddenly turned the idea of running from store to store, getting in and out of your car, walking the 5.3 miles around the average mall, standing in lines at the big stores, can be daunting, painstaking, heart wrenching. The wonder of it all is that it doesn’t have to be that way. At Pine Country Feed you can find gifts, small and large, and in every price range. Pine Country has everything from spurs to sparkly jewelry and you can shop in the elegance and peace of a quiet country store where they’re happy you came in. You’ll love the selection of jeans that actually fit and boots that will allow you to really kick up your heels. And while you’re there pick up a set of “red neck wine goblets” for someone you’re especially fond of. At Pine Country Feed we love animals, horses and dogs, cats, hamsters, sheep and chickens and we love people, and at Christmas we love pulling them all together so you can not only enjoy giving the gifts, you can enjoy shopping for them.
Are We Cold Yet?
Shiver if you must, but it won’t help.
Cowgirl Heart
There’s a reason I’m a cowgirl, actually a few reasons. It’s about the horses which sometimes are more human than people, and about that relationship of trust with an animal that speaks to your soul. There’s an independence in riding and thinking and being part of the sky and the trail and knowing that you belong where it’s just a little bit wild. I like the feel of jeans that are saddle worn and boots that can haul during the day and dance after dark, and I like being part of a great sorority of women who have stood for family and hard work and knowing when to let their hair down. It does my heart good to know that I live in a country that was settled by people with spirit, men and women who valued the cost of freedom and who believed in making their own way. Cowgirls are so much more than the blingy belts and the sassy hats and the jeans that are made for curves, but all those things say that we are who we are and we’re proud of it. Give me my horse and my home, and a man who can keep up with my dreams, and I’ve pretty much got heaven on earth.
Get Festive
Thanksgiving is past and we are staring Christmas in the face, the lights, the trees, the packages and all the excitement. There is nothing quite a like a mountain Christmas on the ranch with horse drawn carriages and dark pine forests. Don’t let the splendor stop at the front door, bring it in and settle it on the hearth, right next to the rocking chair draped in Grandma’s quilt. Pine Country Feed is addicted to Christmas and helping you make your home the joy center it is meant to be. Simple, chic, loaded with rustic outdoor charm, you’ll find just what your house needs to say Christmas done right. There are items for the tree, the table and something perfect to take you to those holiday parties in style. Start your Christmas with a trip to the place that puts you in the holiday spirit the minute you walk through the door – Christmas at Pine Country Feed!
Joyful Shopping
When you’re getting ready for the upcoming holidays don’t forget about the four-legged family members who give us so much joy throughout the year. Pine Country Feed, though known for their larger animal supplies, also cater to the house pets in your life. You’ll find favorite toys, bones for chewing, the best foods and treats, and Pine Country will help you put it all together in a snuggly bed for your furry friend. While you’re there be sure to take a trip upstairs to the cowgirl boutique where you’ll be delighted by the Christmas decorations and the myriad choices of gifts that you haven’t seen anywhere else. The great part is, you won’t have to go to the mall where you’ll look for parking and walk a good mile and a half to finally get to the store that carries your mom’s favorite hand cream. Be adventurous and skip the slippers for your sister. It’s time she had a blingy belt, or a turquoise encrusted pillow. The shopping you do at Pine Country Feed will leave you feeling refreshed instead of frazzled and the gifts you give will be one of a kind and from the heart!
A Side of Glam
What could be better than a store where you can buy feed for not only your horse or your dog, but you can get groceries for your goat, your bird, your chickens and your llama? Nothing, unless you could also buy a pair of sterling silver earrings, and perhaps a designer handbag, and what about a hand tooled saddle and some killer jeans, and a rug made of hand tied leather strips. Pine Country Feed is not your ordinary feed and tack store. It is a feed and tack and dog toy and cowgirl fashion and home accessory and turquoise bracelet watch store. Stop in for pellets for your stove then take a gander upstairs and see if you don’t find the belt of your dreams and some handmade natural soap to go with it. Pine Country Feed offers you an eclectic, “I have to have that” shopping experience and it all comes together with a big “welcome you home” atmosphere where you can shop for your horse and your wife in one fell swoop. Brilliant!
As Far as the Eye Can See
There is a place in your house where nearly every person who enters your home will at least see, and many of them will spend some time, and that is the bathroom. Don’t let your bathroom be an afterthought in relationship to the rest of the rooms by filling it with nothing but towels and toilet paper. Let the theme of your household décor carry over to this probably smallest, but most important of rooms. Tie in your rustic chic with a wiry beaded garland over the mirror with rusted iron stars intermingled amongst the twists and turns. Switch plates, soap dishes, towel racks and hooks for jackets or bath robes 
come in a variety of themed fashions that can dress your room in everything from wrought iron twigs to horseshoes. Why not stuff a basket with fluffy towels and a fringed leather pillow, and don’t forget the lighting. Shades trimmed out in leather laces, or embedded with malachite and jet will bring the flair to the room that you’re looking for. Tooled leather, pounded tin, rough hewn wood – all textures that can serve as art on the walls and Pine Country Feed has it all.
The Worthy Pumpkin
Pumpkin Puppy
With Thanksgiving in view we feel we must give another nod to pumpkin – the magical food of autumn. It is good for so many things, and comes conveniently unfettered, already pureed in cans from the grocery store, making it simple to use even on the busiest cooking day of the year. Of course pumpkin pie will be on the menu for much of America next week, as well as pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cupcakes and pumpkin bread. Some interesting dishes that we have come across are pumpkin squash lasagna, and spicy pumpkin ravioli with a touch of habanera pepper (go to Martha Stewart online). Pumpkin brings high nutritional value to your table being high in vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and dietary fiber besides being low in calories, with only 83 in an entire cup. The biggest unexpected plus about pumpkin is what it does for your dog. If your four legged family member suffers from a sensitive tummy, causing picky eating or diarrhea, a tablespoon of pumpkin with their regular food can make a huge difference, and we speak from experience. Your dog will love the somewhat sweet taste and it is good for the coat, eyes and bones, not to mention, everyone’s disposition!
Cowboy Stampede
Out on the range, when there’s nothing to answer but the call of the wild, and the only clock you have is shining overhead, things seem to make sense. The little things start to matter more and all the other stuff kind of gets lost in the dust.
Make Hay While the Sun Shines
There is much concern over dwindling hay supplies and everyone is looking for alternatives. Equipride and Equilix are great products that provide digestive improvement from their unique blend of yeast, enzymes, prebiotics, vitamins and minerals that help maintain health while reducing costs because feed is digested more efficiently. Equipride and Equilix products are available at Pine Country Feed. Mention this post and receive $5 off 25lb bucket, $10 off 50lb bag, $5 off 50 lb lick tub and $10 off 125lb lick tub. Discount good thru 11-13-11 Here are some other really great benefits for your horse:
- Improved digestion
- Up to 25% less forage needed
- Helps combat digestive colicing
- A shiny and healthy hair coat
- Stronger, faster growing hooves
- Promotes blood flow to the lamina
- Better lubricity of joints
- Strength and endurance without getting hot or high
- Increased energy, vitality and stamina
- Improved temperament and calmness
- Hard Keepers gain weight
- Bright clear eyes
- Boosts the respiratory, nervous and circulatory systems
- Helps regulate blood sugar levels
- Overall health improvement
Check out their website for more information www.sweetpro.com
If you are interested in this product for your sheep, goats or cattle… just ask - Pine Country can special order lick tubs for your specific needs.
A Word From Manna Pro
Last spring about zillion of you bought our baby chicks and ducks which we are assuming means you have eggs by the dozen. You can only eat so many omelets so we thought we would suggest a visit to the Manna Pro site where they are offering a free download of egg recipes from their web followers – www.mannapro.com- click on the download for the Egg Cook Booklet. While you’re there be sure to enter The Happy Homesteader promotion for a chance to win a free $5,000 Backyard Homesteader Makeover. The Manna Pro site also offers some great tips for cleaning and storing your fresh eggs, nutritional information for raising goats and pigs, and a word about raising rabbits. We thought while we were at it we would re-publish our recipe for Cast Iron Eggs just to give you one more choice.
Melt two tablespoons butter in a cast iron skillet on your stove top, add one cup of sliced mushrooms and cook until tender and dark brown. Crack eight to ten eggs on top of the melted butter and mushrooms. They will be crowded and the uncooked whites will overlap as though they are running together. Sprinkle with garlic salt and course ground pepper and allow the eggs to cook undisturbed for about four minutes. Cut two ripe tomatoes into thin slices and lay overlapping on top of the eggs. Allow the eggs to cook for three more minutes on the stove top. Finally, sprinkle with one cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Place the skillet into a 350 degree oven and let bake for six minutes. Serve by scooping out onto plates with a large spoon – no slicing.
I’m Your Huckleberry
The condition of today’s world leaves reasonable people asking one question. Where is Wyatt Earp when you need him? Where is the guy in the black cowboy hat, and the long black denim duster that catches on the gun at his hip – the guy who was willing to fight for a decent way of life in a west that refused to be tamed? What happened to the man with the badge who didn’t stop until the job was done, didn’t care how long the ride, never asked if there was someone who could take his place? Things were easier in Wyatt’s day for the man who wanted to stand for right. You had to know how to shoot, a good horse was a must, and if you expected to live long a good buddy who could also shoot proved helpful, and of course you had to be brave. What you didn’t have to be was politically correct, college educated, connected to the people at the top, or certified in your field of expertise. You were respected for what you had done, not what you had trained to do, and if you put your foot in your mouth from time to time, nobody noticed, or at least they didn’t say anything, because you were Wyatt Earp for heaven’s sake! Where does this leave us? We must be brave, put on our dusters and whistle for our trusted steed. It’s time to fight for a decent way of life in a west that still isn’t tamed. Wyatt would be proud.
Not So Wild West
Academy award winning actor, Henry Fonda, awarded the sixth “Greatest Male Film Star of All Time” by the American Film Institute, played a variety of roles, in films that are considered classics, worth seeing again, like Jezebel, Twelve Angry Men, Grapes of Wrath and Mr. Roberts. He was a classic actor, always underplaying his role, but owning the screen nonetheless. So when the American Western became the film genre that everyone wanted, Henry Fonda found a way to make it work. In some ways he wasn’t believable as a cowboy. His features were a bit too refined and his voice had a compelling gentle timbre that didn’t ring true in the old west. Still, he pulled off some of his greatest roles in the saddle in The Tin Star, How the West Was Won, Fort Apache and Warlock, carving out for himself a place as the rational cowboy, the one who thought before he pulled his gun, and perhaps that is what movie goers came to love best about him. He brought civility to the dusty streets of Hollywood’s Wild West, and a bit of un-fussy refinement, and that was refreshing. He wasn’t one of those actors who seemed to be born with a Stetson on their head, but when he decided to wear one, it fit.
Dying Words
When Anna Sewell wrote her novel, Black Beauty, it was an immediate hit, selling 50 million copies, making it one of the best-selling novels of all time. It is the story of a horse, told by a horse and it threads a heartwarming and adventuresome tale of life in 1877 England from the viewpoint of the four legged laborers that kept civilization moving in those days. The book, besides being an intriguing read, addresses the humane, or inhumane as it were, treatment of animals, and specifically horses in that time. Horses were for work and the heroin of the story, Black Beauty, struggles through many different owners and works more than her share until one day she lands in the hands and heart of someone who truly loves her for the remarkable creature she is. Sewell’s story, though a fiction, stirred a new commitment to the proper treatment of animals and put horses in a place of dignity that many had not recognized before. By giving Beauty human qualities and a relatable, tender personality Sewell succeeded in carving out a place in our lives for these noble, intelligent beings that pays them the homage they deserve. It is notable that Anna Sewell wrote this book as she was dying, and just five months after its publication she passed, making Black Beauty her first and last novel and her legacy.
Friday Morning Club
It was a day that comes only once in a while when the sun is just warm enough to remind you of summer, but the air has that perfect chill of the new autumn. She cradled her mug, hot to the touch, sipping her heavily creamed dark roast as she sat quietly watching the pair in field. The porch was just high enough to allow her to see over the slight ridge into the meadow that sparkled with the new day, where the two of them stood serenely sniffing the warmth and snorting at each other. Once they noticed her, their demeanor changed, just slightly, they stepped closer to the fence and looked her way as if beckoning her to come and play. She knew she could never be the kind of friend they were to one another, but she loved that they included her just the same. It was a kind of respect, one strong creature to another, giving the nod of approval, allowing room for one more heart. They nibbled the grass while she drank her coffee, all three of them pleased that they could share these morning moments together.
We Meet At Last
You were sure you would never find “the one”, then one morning, it was a Thursday and the sun was breaking up the blue like a perfectly cut diamond, and there he was. Tall and strong, with a wild energy that glinted in his darks eyes. He looked at you and there was a moment when your breath went short, your heart, beating like it wanted to be free of your chest. He held your gaze, not flirting, just connecting, letting you know that he’d seen you, and that he would be watching. You went to him slowly, not sure you’d read the right signals, but you had to know. Sometimes the hope of something so good simply overwhelmed the fear of dismissal. You neared him with your head down, afraid to make eye contact again, but then you were so close you could feel his breath and you looked directly into his face. He brushed you with his muzzle and you knew you’d read him right. This was your horse; he was just waiting for you to find him.
Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital
Aspen Creek Veterinary Hospital treats equine clientele, llamas, alpacas, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs (including pot-bellied) in addition to comprehensive small animal service (dogs, cats, etc.). Mobile veterinary services, Animal Chiropractic, Animal Acupunture and Equine Dentistry Services are offered to clients in the foothill communities and all along Denver’s front range. Hospital services are available to all clients wishing to transport to our facility in Conifer.
“How to become a veterinarian”
Saturday August 20th, 4:00 pm
Open to all ages, parents and adults encouraged to attend
RSVP appreciated but not required
Location: 23605 Oehlmann Park Rd, Conifer
For more information, call: 303-697-4864
- What’s it really like to be a veterinarian?
- What schooling is required?
- What should students be doing to prepare themselves for application?
- What other careers are available in the veterinary profession?
- Fun interactive activities
