Jolyn Young

Nevada

Features Coordinator at Green Valley News and Sun

Features Coordinator at Sahuarita Sun

Writer at Freelance

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Articles

Decoding Town Life

2 months ago | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

Social media is handy to connect with friends and like-minded ranch people, but I’ve discovered another purpose for it as well: to spy on townspeople. Most of the jokes and references about life in suburbia and city streets go over my head, though. Despite what my husband says, this is not just because I’m short. It’s because I have limited town experience. I currently live down a dirt road in a mountain canyon with no cellphone service, and the only time I lived on city streets was during college.
January Survival Tips

Jan 13, 2025 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

For me, January is less about making resolutions and more about just making it through the month. We’re approaching the midpoint of winter, days are short and cold, and the holidays are over. The ground is frozen, and water troughs require daily beatings with a shovel. There’s frost on the hay bales each morning, and a cold moon shines down on the water tanks, re-freezing each night. Our entire lives are basically put on ice until spring.
A Season of Horses, Health and Happiness

Nov 18, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

We made it through “Sober October,” a month-long abstinence from alcohol that our family practices all 12 months just to make sure we get it right. We’re now entering No-Shave November, and my husband’s beard is quickly approaching his belt buckle. The man has his fair share of shortcomings, but the ability to grow facial hair is not one of them. Some folks also call this month “Slowvember.” It’s a way to remind themselves to slow down before the holidays.
Halloween dos and don’ts

Oct 11, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

We’ve never lived in a suburban neighborhood, but I’ve always taken our kids trick-or-treating — even if it meant driving a ways to get off the ranch and into civilization. I don’t want my kids to miss out on one of the hallmarks of American childhood: collecting candy from random adults wearing costumes meant to frighten them. Then we go home, and I remind them not to talk to strangers or take food from people they don’t know.
Leppies and Other Excuses

Sep 18, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

Several months ago, I launched a plan to interview other ranch wives and share their stories and insights with you. So far, this plan only exists in my mind. The first gal I asked to interview was down to chat, but then she visited her family in Colorado for three months before returning to her home in a remote part of Chile, where she lives off-grid and washes cloth diapers by hand. Another potential interview subject recently moved from her longtime home in Oregon to Nebraska.
Ranch kid skills

Sep 5, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

Ranch kids may not know to look both ways when crossing a busy street, but they can shift into first gear and cross a cow pasture as soon as they’re tall enough to reach the pedals. Their days tend to revolve around work because it is an abundant resource found on all ranches in both historical and modern times. Though ranch kids make their own fun while working, they learn important skills along the way. Here are a few skills ranch kids practice and perfect on their own.
How To Irritate a Cowboy

Aug 17, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

Though I’ve had 12 years of practice, I do not, as my husband claims, lay awake at night thinking of new ways to irritate him. When I am awake at night, I usually kick him and ask if he’s still awake. Sometimes, it takes three or four kicks of increasing intensity until he’s awake enough to answer that no, he was indeed not awake. Here are a few of my other tried-and-true methods you might try on a cowboy in your life. Results are guaranteed. Mix up all the bridles in the tack room.
Ranch Wife Types

Jun 17, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

In the broadest sense, the almost-information listed below applies to “women who live in the country and are married to men whose livelihoods revolve around beef cattle production, especially men who depend on cranky horses and catch ropes to complete daily tasks.”Here’s an incomplete list of ranch wife types commonly found in the West. Rancher’s wifeThese gals are as attached to the land their house is built on as they are to the view out their kitchen window.
Ranch Wife Life by the Numbers

Jun 6, 2024 | westernhorseman.com | Jolyn Young

There are a lot of words that can describe ranch wife life, but it’s time to crunch the numbers. Here are some of the stats I’ve accrued over the years. Our current total is 11 ranches in 11 years. That doesn’t break down neatly into one move per year or even one house per year. Sometimes, we only stayed six months, and once, we moved to a house in a different location on the same ranch. Every time someone asks me how many ranches we’ve lived on, I have to stop and count on my fingers.
Growing space for veterans: New area in demonstration gardens

May 2, 2024 | myheraldreview.com | Jolyn Young

The new veterans’ garden isn’t finished, but volunteers at the Pima County Cooperative Extension demonstration gardens couldn’t wait to show off its progress to the public. On April 24, they invited residents from La Posada to come see the progress. The Extension will finish the garden this fall with an open house scheduled for November.