Flood in the winter, drought in the summer This is a common enough thing to hear in seasonally dry environments, even farmers and ranchers will complain about too much rain in the winter and then lament about the long dry summers. Around here it’s California’s water scarcity problem that is often the topic of discussion. Few
Are you feeding in a sacrifice lot? All too often on ranches all over the west, people winter their livestock on feed grounds that end up looking like ground zero after a bombing. The soil is packed hard and when the growing season finally comes, all you can grow is Mustard and thistle. Does that
What’s a typical day like at the Jefferson Center? Spencer and I work at home to manage the business and I am also a remote, full-time employee. We’ve learned how to structure our day to get the most work done, but we are always learning new tricks. If I answered that question last month, this
There is no place like home. Spencer Smith, a Savory Field Professional, spent most of April in Texas and Georgia with leaders from the Savory Global Network. He trained in the new Ecological Outcomes Verification process that is part of the Savory Land to Market program. This new program is a market-based program that
Why holistic planned grazing is needed Spring is just around the corner. With our holistic management planned grazing completed for the next growing season, we are all ready for it. Why plan the grazing on a ranch that you have worked on for more than twenty years? The answer is simple: to get the livestock to
Ever since visiting Dimbangombe Ranch in Zimbabwe, I’ve wanted to use livestock to grow crops. Cows in the cornfield? What? The Africa Centre for Holistic Management, our fellow Savory Network Hub near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe is where Spencer and I first witnessed the positive effects of using animal impact to improve the soil health of
In July, Maezy began asking for posole. My foodie five year old loves dishes I never heard of until I was at least 25–things like baba ghanoush, hummus, kombucha, Bragg’s liquid aminos and of course posole (to name a few of her favorites). She shares her love of this Mexican stew with her father, who
Last year, my parents and I tried out direct marketing beef to local customers. We took them to Wolf Pack Meats, the University of Nevada, Reno USDA slaughterhouse. We worked with Facility Manager Mike Holcomb on the orders and it was a wonderful experience. We had a group of happy customers–owners of new freezers filled with
Family traditions My great-great grandmother wrote a book about homesteading in Northern Nevada. When we lived near Reno, our family went each Mother’s Day to the homestead site for a picnic. We looked at the springs developed by AJ Olds, my great-great grandfather on those rocky, sagebrusy Nevada mountains. We picked wildflowers in the meadows,
Spencer and I manage our lives and our business holistically. Our family ranch is certified organic. We don’t spray weeds on the ranch to kill them. We do not use herbicides, pesticides and many other stipulations that allow us to be certified organic. The reason our family decided to go with this certification through the