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Open-Range
Goodness™ |
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Quick link to back
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info@WSRLLC.com |
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303.841.0648 |
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Humanly Raised
Natural Colorado Lamb, Pork & Poultry |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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JANUARY 2008 |
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 Woo-wee,
this has been a cold winter so far!
The ewes are all back in the same paddocks now, gestating
their lambs, now due in April. Rradon, our prize Southdown
ram is isolated near them and separated from JeRRy, who grew
into quite an aggressive ram and became notorious for his
“ramming” behavior toward ewes, rams and people alike.
Consequently we are in the market for a new, young Southdown
ram.
We are now researching and talking with farmers who
naturally raise pure bred Berkshire pigs so we can bring
them to the ranch this Spring. We have been preparing for
this and will now meet our goal of again producing superior
quality pork.
Speaking of which [and, reading this, you might already be
one of our happy customers!] we had a stellar, quality lamb
harvest this fall. Again, as we delivered their orders, we
had the blessed opportunity to meet our customers. Meeting
folks face-to-face is the essence of quality product
commitment. We also came know some very interesting and
special people in our growing customer base. People like
you, who are proactively living their personal consciousness
about eating safe, locally-grown, natural food products.
Through these customers we have also received additional
lamb orders, especially once dinner guests enjoyed a taste
of “Open Range Goodness™”.
The Animal Welfare Institute finally came out with their set
of livestock welfare standards late in 2006. WSR has now
reviewed and adopted these, as they emulate our own ranch
standards and ensure that meat products do not come from an
agribusiness-definition of so-called “humane standards”.
Although the other standards such as the USDA National
Organic Program, Certified Humane Program and Free Farmed
Certified standards are directionally important, AWI insists
that farm products come from family farm enterprises and
prohibits some environments that the others do. To read more
about this, go to
http://www.animalwelfareapproved.org/ or check out our
“LINKS” page.
Development of the Bijou Creek Ranch Unit farmstead will
begin this spring with the help of some very fine folks at
Agricultural Engineering Associates. They are helping WSR to
design, engineer and layout the most environmentally
responsible and production efficient facilities possible.
What this means is answering the question of “how to do
more, by doing less”? Less impact to the environment, less
use of limited resources, less carbon footprint; more
recycling processes, more humane animal handling
infrastructure, more of a ‘good-stewardship’ of the land.
Goals for this year include a few “mores” such as: becoming
more active in the Colorado Proud effort; reaching and
building relationships with some key natural meat stores and
professional chefs who serve naturally grown products from
Colorado; increasing our support of Colorado State
University Extension Service County Office educational
programs; paying more attention to God’s will for our
labors.
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 Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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AUGUST 2007 |
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 This
newsletter, like all those over this past year is being
written from Afghanistan. Before that, it was written from
Iraq. The only difference is that this afternoon Ed is
beginning a journey back to Western Spirit Ranch and not
returning overseas.
The past three years of being involved with the GWOT and
standing up two agriculture businesses, with Debbie assuming
the bulk of the responsibilities and physical work, have
been a tremendous experience. It has also been trying and
tiring. There have been many sacrifices. Some plans have had
to remain on hold. Others have come to fruition. Others are
just beginning. “Life its own self” - - one of our favorite
subjects.
In all, we have learned intensively; sometimes painfully.
But, we have learned. Gratitude is a significant element of
our first few years of doing this work. Being grateful for
our health, the opportunity to try sustainable agriculture,
niche enterprises and participate in the farm-to-fork
movement. To do all of this in freedom is an added blessing.
To make new acquaintances and life-long friends; to learn
from others and seek guidance from subject matter experts;
to flow with the cycles of the agriculture seasons, have all
been humbling and enriching.
There is much to fix and do and correct and fulfill in
building and sustaining these types of enterprises from
scratch. The consolidated meat industry, confinement
production, and mega-consumer market demands have left in
their domineering wakes, a little-discussed and
little-understood looming crisis for the general marketplace
and the consumers who depend on it. The destruction of
family farms, sustainable free-markets and diminishing
access to safe, healthy foods is a by-product of
consolidating agri-business in the name of efficiency and
lower prices. Well-lobbied governments and gift-endowed ag-universities
have cheered this process onward with funding and research;
cheered this process onward while critical warning signs
continued to loom. Viruses, cancers, bio-security issues,
outbreaks of devastating diseases, mass-recalls of products,
degradation of the environment, mounds of garbage from
consumers being fed via convenience packaging. All of these
contribute to engaging the wrong answers.
Sustainable farmers and ranchers are not the only ones who
should seek the right answers. Consumers have a
responsibility too. This is where the Zen-philosophy of
“doing more by doing less” comes in. We can do more for our
environment if we consume less and give back more. We can do
more for our health by consuming more healthy foods and
eating less quantities of it. We can do more for our
livestock by providing less of antibiotics, hormones and
“finishing” supplements. We can teach our children more
about this world and how it works, with less un-reality
television in their lives and more truth from those who love
them the most!
We can be more grateful.
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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JULY 2007 |
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 We
hope this newsletter finds our readers enjoying their summer
and, hopefully, this season includes some great barbequing
with friends and family!
While we grow and sell some of the best lamb, pork and
poultry you will ever have, we also enjoy cooking it and are
always studying better ways to create succulent dishes. Part
of cooking includes the uses of herbs and spices. We have
decided to begin experimenting with growing those herbs and
vegetables in commercial quantities which are compatible
with the meat we sell. We started lavender this summer and
will add garlic this fall and peppers, herbs next spring.
The idea is to sell the experience of world-class cuisine to
customers through the combination of excellent meat products
and great ways to cook them.
“Open Range Style” cuisine will finally come into the
public-eye this next year as we share this experience with
our readers by adding a “recipe” page to our website. “Open
Range Style” is an approach Ed has been developing over the
past twenty-plus years by fusing some of the best of world
authentic cuisines that exemplifies outdoor cooking,
indigenous cuisines and simplistic use of ingredients, while
producing memorable eating experience. We want to share this
with our readers and customers who seek a healthier and
exciting approach to fine eating.
Having spent years in America’s West, Southwest and Mexico;
along with traveling extensively in China, South America,
parts of Europe and the Middle East, Ed has maintained a
keen eye for authentic cuisines that he could learn to cook
for others. The implements used in creating “Open Range
Style” include grills, spits, smokers, paella pans, woks,
racks, roasters, fryers and Dutch ovens. The results are
absolutely “yummy”!
We continue to enjoy the fruits of a more moisture this
summer than in the past several. Debbie has spent more time
gardening and we are about to pull our first cutting of hay
off the field for this year. As most Coloradoans know,
growers have to extend our growing season by artificial
means. To do this, we are branching into using greenhouses
for our peppers, herbs, garlic and starts. We look forward
to sharing this experience with others as well as a steady
flow of organically-grown produce when we get to the point
of growing commercial quantities.
Other than that, our breeding Alpaca females are having
their cria at present. Check us out on our other website at
http://www.immanuelalpacas.com for updates.
So, thanks for checking in, thank you for your business and
we look for hearing from or serving you in the future! Fresh
lamb will be available in early September this year and we
have a few more choice lambs for purchase. Check out our
‘meat’ section of this website.
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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JUNE 2007 |
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 I apologize to our readers for not writing a newsletter
update for April and May. I was “overcome by events” as they
say! Sometimes too-much is too-much and you don’t have
enough time to do what needs getting done.
We finally lambed out when I was home the end of April
through mid-May. We had a good crop of healthy, strong,
Southdown lambs with only one ewe not producing this year.
Many of the lambs are almost as tall as their mothers and
are about to be weaned.
We are gaining quite a bit of welcomed customer interest
from the Mediterranean and Indian communities in our area.
These cultures have substantial need for the products we
produce, as they use them in everything from day-to-day
cooking to religious observances to special celebrations.
Although I have traveled to those areas and countries over
the years, I still do not have a complete understanding, but
certainly an appreciation for the richness and variety of
their cuisines. We definitely look forward to supporting the
ethnic communities in our region with good, healthy,
flavorful and fairly priced meat products.
Shearing day at the ranch was held during the second week of
May. That is always a busy and exciting day. This year I got
to cook for ten people with the meal being served on the
sun-drenched terrace of our home. We had a delightful time
with the shearers, visitors and those who came to help.
Alpacas were shorn in the main barn on a shearing table
[wonderful invention] while my beloved ewes were clipped up
in the sheep paddocks.
The high level of moisture in a late snow storm and
following rains has created a steadily flowing stream
through our Bijou Creek Ranch Unit bottom land. The hay
field is about ready to be cut as a result of the regular
rains.
I will finally be coming home for good this August and look
forward to accomplishing a number of projects before winter
sets back in. The ranch has become the first Berkshire pig
breeder in Colorado and is listed in this year’s directory.
I will be going back to Illinois in the fall to bring back
some seed-stock for the ranch, working with our swine
consultant, Bill Fisher at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign.
So, thanks for checking in, thank you for your business and
we look for hearing from or serving you in the future! Fresh
lamb will be available in early September this year. |
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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MARCH 2007 |
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Lambing continues with sixteen pronging and crying lambs
so-far up in the birthing paddocks. They have been enjoying
the warming weather and are often seen scooting around in
tight packs, hell-bent-for-leather, through this gate,
around a port-a-hut, back through another gate and into the
lambing shed. Their mothers all seem tolerant of this banter
and high-drive play.
The snow is now being replaced with rain. We had a
consultant stop out and work through the soils and grasses
development process with us for both ranch units. We are
anxious to get a jump on the noxious weeds we must battle
and bolstering the pastures which have taken a beating over
that past several years of drought.
We have met new neighbors out at the Bijou Creed Unit and
are looking forward to moving out there later this year. The
main access road to the start of our easement had a very low
area in it and is finally being repaired with a culvert and
raising of the road bed. Now the road can be maintained by
the County road department. We were able to participate in
the collective payment for this vital improvement.
Bill Fisher and Ed are working on the business models,
production plans, breeder selection, feed mix designs and
layout for the Berkshire pig project. We finally got our
membership to the American Berkshire Association straight
and are charter members for the State of Colorado.
Ed will be home from Afghanistan in early May for three
weeks. He will return there on a ninety-day basis until the
projects he is constructing are well on their way to
completion. It will be good for him to be home and attend to
the long, long list of things needing attention around the
ranch!
Debbie’s focus on the Alpaca side of our ranch will reach
another annual highlight with our attendance at the Great
Western Alpaca Show in Denver, May 4-6
www.alpacabreeders.org/gwas/2007/index.html.
Immanuel Alpacas, LLC
www.immanuelalpacas.com will be a Silver Sponsor for
that fun event this year. We look forward to you our readers
and customers stopping by our booth and meeting us!
Upcoming projects are focused on preparing the Smoky Hill
Unit for sale in June-July; at the Bijou Creek Unit we will
be bringing in power, building an access road, drill water
wells, constructing a leach field, leveling ground and
building the barns.
Those efforts are about enough good reason to eat vitamins
and get our rest! |
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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FEBRUARY 2007 |
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The snow continues! The month of February added-up to a
near-record or soon-to-be record snow accumulation with
various styles of snow coming down; some accompanied by high
winds and drifting. The middle of the month brought an
anticipated, but fitful “Chinook” period of warm days, which
helped accelerate the melting of snow.
Debbie had to put down her beloved gentleman of a horse,
Hobbs, after a prolonged battle with an aggressive skin
cancer. Debbie knew him for 23 years of sharing and riding.
The other three horses were quite upset at his absence. We
will all miss him too.
We have decided to name our two ranch plots as the Smoky
Hill Unit [near Parker] and the Bijou Creek Unit [17 miles
east of Kiowa].
Feeding and watering of livestock at the Smoky Hill Unit has
been “tough sledding” literally and figuratively for Debbie.
Access to the grass paddocks and pastures has been slim to
none during this month, as the lingering snow has been too
deep for the Southdown sheep to walk through. The pregnant
ewes have been languishing in the lambing area, getting fat
and lazy!
We are waiting for lambing season to start anytime after the
18th. Debbie has set up the lambing pens, straw bales, heat
lambs and located the lambing care tote-box near the lambing
sheds. She will be ready when the ewes are! Lambing season
this year will extend out into April so as not to place a
burden on the lambing infrastructure.
Plans for this year’s crop of Southdowns will, for the first
time, focus on ram lamb and unregistered females 4H
candidate sales. Ed will be contacting local 4H
organizations to let them know that Western Spirit Ranch has
these lambs for sale. Additionally, we will be growing the
breeding flock with “keeper” ewes and selling breeding rams
that show promise. The balance of the lambs will be
processed on a limited basis for sale.
A young female llama was added to the ranch this month.
Sofia will join Inca as the two breeding females for the
llama herd. All of our llamas are guard llamas and we will
eventually sell off-spring for that primary purpose.
During February Ed started working with Western Spirit
Ranch’s pig consultant, Bill Fisher [Champlain, Illinois],
in preparation for bringing in a starter herd of Berkshire
pigs. This is in anticipation of providing for-sale pork
products during the 2008 season. We are very excited about
raising pastured pigs in a natural and environmentally
sensitive way, out at our Bijou Creek Unit.
The Bijou Creek Unit is actually located on the western
limits of the short grass steppes of Colorado on what is
commonly called the “central plains” or “Colorado’s
Outback”. A significant portion of the 99 acre Unit is
bottom and riparian land. This affords us the opportunity to
create wildlife buffer zones which will be left to develop
feed and cover for mammals, wild turkey, raptors, birds and
the like. To first do this, we will commission a grasslands
consultant to evaluate the present range condition and
evident range trends. With this information we will develop
a usage & maintenance plan that first incorporates wildlife
zones, then moves on to forage production, stocking rates,
grazing use and rotational grazing objectives. While this
approach may limit ultimate “use” of the Unit’s potential,
the key is sustainability in an otherwise arid environment.
A few words about our ranch canines, of which there are
five. Sunshine is Ed’s mother’s and is generally found at
her side or sleeping in her room. Wes is the youngest of the
lot, but an intact, large Border Collie in immediate need of
stock training. He is a pistol and smart as a whip. We are
in search of an available trainer. Ben is the Gordon Setter
and while capable of running like the wind, has a strong
position in the pack. He can be gentle or he can be
instantly protective. Willow is our Springer Spaniel and a
quiet, gentle girl until Debbie leaves the house without
her, which often sets off a round of howling. Moby is a nine
year old Airedale who spent his working life as Ed’s K-9
partner as a wilderness search and rescue team with the
State of California Emergency Services / Law Enforcement
Agency. He is grumpy beyond his years, which Ed attributes
to no longer being able to work. So, as cold and nasty as
the weather may become, we can survive, even on a five-dog
night! |
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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WESTERN SPIRIT RANCH
NEWSLETTER |
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JANUARY 2007 |
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Western Spirit Ranch wishes you and your loved ones, all, a
Happy New Year!
Christmas this year was a wonderful time. Ed was home from
Afghanistan and the girls and grandkids got to stop in, stay
a couple of days, enjoy some home-cooking, decorate Gram’s
Christmas cookies, hang lights and of course receive a visit
from Santa.
The first blizzard of the season was in late November 2006.
During the last two weeks of December we experienced an
unprecedented two snow storms, dropping some 38” of drifting
snow. Our Polaris Ranger mounted snowplow [Curtis] did
everything it could to keep up with clearing roads and
livestock access. Another storm in the first week of January
was accompanied by wind, drifting and crusting snow,
temporarily closing our access road. By the second week we
had yet another Arctic-blast which was accompanied by frigid
temperatures. Yet another followed. Our greatest blessing
was that we never lost electrical power to the ranch. The
road out to our Bijou Creek unit was closed for several days
on two occasions. Living in an earth-berm home kept us snug
and warm during worst of the storms.
Livestock are our first priority at Western Spirit Ranch.
Their care and welfare is paramount to anything else.
Shelter, dug-out paths to bunkered forage and fresh water,
along with manure management are critical during the winter
months. Our Southdown ewes are all carrying lambs, so access
to minerals and high protein forage in their late-term is
very important.
The harsh nature and protracted time period these storms
have lasted have also affected the resident predator
population; they are finding slim-pickings out on the high
plains. Consequently, they [particularly the coyotes] are
circling closer to the paddocks , which will become a real
issue next month when lambing starts. A kestrel has also
been seen coming in and picking off the sparrows and finches
we feed through the winter. Debbie and I were out at our
Bijou Creek unit and found tracks of the mountain lion still
roaming that area. Not a good place to wander around in,
unaware.
The lambing shed and paddocks are being prepared for that
annual event as pens, straw and heat lamps are being
arranged. The expectant ewes will have to also be ‘crutched’
to assist with clean lambing and teat access. Debbie is
facing some long days and nights with this process. As much
as we enjoy the lambs, we hope that we have no bummers this
year, as they take so much additional care and are better
off with their mothers. The rams have now been separated
from their ewes; so they will be bachelors once again. The
guard llamas received the bi-annual toe clipping, which
sometimes can be a real ‘rodeo’ with the larger llamas. Calm
handling and adequate safety chutes help protect everyone
involved. |
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Be Safe, Be Healthy, Be Generous,
Do The Right Thing and May God Bless You with His
Eternal Grace!
~ Ed &
Debbie Carpenter |
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You may reach us at:
info@WSRLLC.com
303.841.0648 |
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