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Next in the Series. Oyster stew was first in the series.

By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau

Their family is young; their traditions are new but developing. Andy and Stefanie Smallhouse of Reddington, Arizona (Pima County) ranch in southern Arizona.

The young Arizona ranching couple diversify to help make Their historic family ranching operation profitable. That means ventures like Agri-tourism (overnight guest house) as well as new product lines that include mesquite wood. Their century-old cattle ranch, the Carlink Ranch, is core to the operation and where most of their ranching traditions come from.

But the newest traditions involve their Christmas traditions they’ve started with their two children Hannah and Johnny.

The Smallhouse Family

“For us, they’re real basic,” Says Stefanie. “We’ve started to prepare a pork and green chili stew on Christmas Eve, simply because it’s fast and easy. We find that our cooking endeavors must be that way to keep up with the work on the ranch.”

They also cut a fresh Christmas tree every year. “We have to go off the ranch to do this, unless we want to start decorating a mesquite tree instead of an evergreen,” she laughs.

Like every family, Christmas is so much about the children. “I love watching the kids enjoy Christmas,” says Stefanie. “They get so excited about every little thing that relates to Christmas. So we try to make the experience as special as possible.”

Stefanie and Andy’s offerings can be found on Fill Your Plate. Customers can search for them either by the search word “beef” or “Mesquite wood.”

Hannah and Johnny will be watching for Santa’s reindeer this year to see if he might pasture them with the cattle at least for a few minutes while he’s finishing up business around their place. Deer have to eat if they’re going to travel the entire globe in one night!

Editor’s note: Tell us your stories of Christmas Traditions on the Farm or Ranch! Just respond to the blog post where you can post messages. We want to hear your stories too!!!!