July 2008
A lot has happened since I have last written. It has sure gotten hotter and more humid too. Thankfully we have been getting some rain. I am about to write the trip reports from our visits to Argentina/Uruguay and to Rockland, Maine, so stay tuned!
It's been interesting to see how this legal case regarding the crossing and our land is going and to realize just how much time we have been spending on it, rather than on our business.
March 2008
We tried our hand with sheep - turns out they are like birds. We ended up with only 1 remaining, he loves our horses and is staying with them now. The four others are out in the wild desert, we've seen them twice, but they are like ghosts and just fly away once you catch a glimpse of them.
Paul was in the hospital with spinal meningitis, he's been working so hard and pushing through the pain that finally, thankfully, he agreed to go to the ER to be checked out and sure enough he was worse off than he'd care to admit.
Still fighting the eminent domain case, BLM and the Center for Biological Diversity are trying their hands with Pinal County now.
February 2008
It's taken me a LONG time to finally write a journal entry for Paul and I, but here goes for a start...
We arrived here in January 2007. After a lot of home improvement (when haven’t we done that when we've moved somewhere new?) and business start up tasks, we moved into the home in mid-January and started selling our beef at Tucson Farmers’ Markets.
There was a lot of work to do, very late nights and early mornings as we organized our new lives. We started selling our beef on weekend mornings in Tucson and worked during the week raising, processing and marketing our beef.
The Double Check is really a beautiful place! So often we look at each other and say, “Wow, we are so lucky to live here!” We are fortunate to enjoy beautiful open spaces, interesting neighbors, awesome sunsets, healthy food and we get to contribute to sustainable humane agriculture.
After obtaining meat inspection service from the Arizona Department of Agriculture, we were able to sell our beef retail and wholesale, before we sold Community Supported Agriculture 'shares' of beef - produce shares are very common in the East. Our share sales have increased and the retail and wholesale sales have enabled us to introduce our beef to a wider audience than before, so things have been going really well so far for us. We decided to start going to the Santa Cruz and University of Arizona Farmers' Markets, in addition to the Sat/Sun Oro Valley and St. Philips markets. It made for more driving but the markets are very rewarding where we can meet interesting people and educate consumers about the food that they eat.
We were featured in a Tucson Weekly cover article and on a TV show, both of which increased our popularity. We also host many of our customers to the ranch so they can see where their food comes from, and in November we hosted a big Slow Food (think ‘opposite of fast food’) event at the ranch, a hit!
The start of 2008 has been rather hectic as Paul and Sarah have a big battle with Pinal County on their hands. The county desired a permanent public road through the ranch, also through the delicate and rare riparian ecosystem that exists on the San Pedro river, which runs perennially here.
Now, after 3 superior court hearings, the court decided to give Pinal County a portion of our ranch for the purposes of eminent domain, despite a federal conservation easement that exists on the property. The decision is very significant for conservation easements across the nation, which provides ranchers and environmental groups the means to legally protect the land that they so dearly love, through creative approaches to land valuation and conservation. We just really want to ensure that local government cannot condemn federally protected land for misguided purposes, such as a road that allows for extreme environmental abuse.
A typical ranch day...let me see... there is no typical in 'ranch day' -- yesterday we worked on bookkeeping and then Paul bought some animals from our neighbor, then a friend from the AF arrived with his family to show them around the ranch and then they camped overnight at Liz's grove. In the morning, the brand inspector and neighbor's wife came over to finalize the animal sale by completing the brand inspection. Our AF friend and family departed for the rest of their mini-vacation, after walking through the beauty of the river area of the property. Then Paul's parents arrived en route to taking their dogs for herding training. We collaborated on the issues facing the ranch. Then they left, afterward Paul got to work setting up a new pasture for the cows and introducing the new bunch to the established herd here. I worked on finalizing my thesis and doing paperwork associated with the business. Then the neighbors came over (different ones) with eggs and their fun bunch of boys. Katherine played around outside, hammed it up for all of the guests, helped me organize the packing house (she did the disorganizing and I did the organizing), assisted in showing me how to feed the horses, and then Paul's parents returned with dinner!