It was last Saturday night in Boise, Idaho, and the city was hopping. It was a lovely cool evening, and it seemed everyone was turned out in their shiny late model SUVs and chrome-wheeled hybrids for a night on the town. Melanie and I just finished a very successful beef sampling at the Boise …
Pastured Pork and Cover Crops for Organic Weed Control of Quackgrass
I had no idea that my life could be transformed by a pig. Or pigs, rather. It started with the horses. They were the first teachers. We had them on some of our worst ground. I call it the worst because it was comprised of only quackgrass. This European non-native grass species was a ready and …
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Fire and Morels
Dear Friends and Partners, It was an uneasy sleep that night. Despite the tumult just beyond cook tent, I tried to sleep on the ground in cow camp on the banks of the river, eyeing the sprinkling of stars through the latticework of bud-bursting cottonwood trees. Linnaea lay passed out beside me, …
Why Ellen Was Right (Kinda)
After thinking about Ellen Degeneres' viral anti-meat tweet a couple of weeks ago, Glenn thought maybe it was time to shoot a letter to her. Don't know if she'll ever get to it, but we just thought we'd better cc it to you all. Dear Ellen I'm a cattle rancher in the broad expanse of the …
A Soil Story: Regenerative Ranching
The year: 1849. The place: Pahsimeroi Valley, Idaho. It is a late September day in the broad valley, and you are standing in tall basin wild rye grass, about 6 feet tall, just up from the extensive complex of willows that defines the Pahsimeroi River bottoms. The grass is robust, and thick. Its …
You Must Have Gone Crazy
Snow blanketed the high country last night. I woke up at daybreak this morning to see a mantle of white across all of the Hat Creek ranges. It was perfect that we brought the beeves back from the mountains on Saturday. It was time. The cattle and horses would actually be fine continuing …