Leave Margin
What’s Happening at the Ranch
Sunday, I walked out and switched the propane tanks.
We keep two on the house. One won’t last all winter, so we fill both during the summer when the price is lower.
When I switch tanks in February, I never run the first tank empty.
I leave a good month or more of propane in it.
Ranchers don’t run things down to nothing.
By 10 pm the house felt cool.
The furnace kept clicking on and off.
The new tank wasn’t feeding propane. Something was blocking it.
If we had run the first tank dry, we would’ve been cold.
Instead, we turned the valves back — and the heat came on.
Margin matters.
Tuesday, the winds roared in.
It snowed on Wednesday.
After all those sunny days, we were back near zero by Thursday.
The electric fence behind the barn?
Dead.
Anything weak shows up in the cold.
We should have swapped in a fresh battery when the forecast changed.
Cold weather has a way of revealing what we postponed.
We moved the cows closer before the wind hit.
Earlier in the week, we had brought the cows closer to home.
Closer to the hay yard. Big windbreak. Easier access.
Because storms don’t send invitations.
They just arrived.
Ranching teaches you something simple:
Preparation isn’t dramatic.
It’s quiet.
It’s steady.
It’s done before you feel that “I wish I would have.”
And I kept thinking about freezers.
Most kitchens don’t operate like a ranch.
They run down.
They react.
They scramble.
They repeat.
Acting like a rancher means something different.
It means:
- • You don’t run the tank empty.
- • You don’t wait for the battery to fail.
- • You don’t wait until you’re exhausted to figure out dinner.
You leave margin.
You don’t have to live on the prairie to think this way.
Out here, storms don’t hide behind anything.
They roll straight across open country.
So we prepare before we need to.
We leave margin.
We don’t just hope it works out.
That kind of thinking works just as well in a kitchen as it does on a ranch.
And your family deserves that steadiness.
Right now, we’ve set aside a small number of Slow Cook Winter Bundles for families who want that kind of margin.
These are the cuts that:
- • Simmer all afternoon
- • Stretch into leftovers
- • Make a cold night feel handled
They’re normally included in our 1/4 and 1/2 beef shares.
We pulled a limited number out to offer separately for winter planning.
Once those are claimed, we stop offering them individually and return them to their place in bulk beef shares.
Nine remain.
It’s not pressure.
It’s simply a decision about how you want to live.
Preparation doesn’t look dramatic.
It looks like dinner is handled before you’re tired.
Acting like a rancher isn’t complicated.
It’s deciding your family won’t run on empty.
If that’s how you want to live—
Beef sticks have been moving quickly this week, too.
Different purpose.
Same principle.
Margin in the truck.
Margin in the gym bag.
Margin in your day.
Rancher’s rule: Leave margin.
P.S. If you already have a 1/4 or 1/2 beef reserved for summer, this bundle quietly bridges the gap so your freezer never runs to empty.
