One of the “perks” of participating in farmer’s markets is that I get a healthy dose of contemplation time on the drives to and from the markets several times a week.  Lately, I’ve been thinking about my life’s purpose and how the dream for Wild Type Ranch arose out of a pledge to myself to live life with integrity. 

Early in life, I had very clear career goals, and most would call a success what I did and where I got to before Ralph and I started the ranch together in 2005.  It seems to me now, a greater success is being able to go through daily life inspired and enthused.  The roots of those words; “in spirit” and “in theos” (or “in God”) speak to a way of living where all aspects of life resonate with one’s “life purpose”.  In other words, integrity.

The more I do in a spirit of being “meant” to be doing whatever it is I am doing now, the more gratifying each activity is and the more my daily existance come into alignment with my values.   I am realizing that integrity has a lot more to do with the inspiration and enthusiasm than just being totally honest and up front.

I’ve experienced lots of inspiration and enthusiasm lately; spending time with my extended family, a new horse at our house, a pair of locavore/meet the farmer dinners and increasing demand for what we produce.   

My boys often say that they can “taste the love” in the food we eat, when it is grown or prepared ourselves or by someone we know.  I think there is truth in that:  If your food is produced with inspiration and enthusiasm, how can it not taste better?

Our home ranch is featured in this month’s Edible Austin magazine.  If you like the photos, they are a credit to my husband and partner, Ralph Mitchell.  He’s also the one responsible for doing the steak grilling for the taste-testing we do of each harvest of beef, not to mention the bulk of the ranch work.

This article presents an idyllic view of our life.  In reality, it is hard work almost every day.  It is also the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life.

While I was in Washington D.C. last week, a cab driver from Mauritius, upon hearing that I ranched for a living, asked how many hours a week we worked and what we did for a vacation.  He seemed surprised when I explained we pretty much worked  while the sun was up and that time off the ranch was only by necessity.

I found myself explaining that although we work really hard almost every day, our “vacations” come in small moments that don’t happen during most people’s work life.   Often, in the midst of a stressful event, I’ll be caught by the beauty of a nighthawk chasing insects in the morning sun, or the smell of clover in bloom.  As it mentions in the article, we sometimes turn a routine chore like checking on the cows into a mini romantic interlude.  Honestly, if I had a week with no responsibilities or duties, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here on our home ranch.

I wonder how much different the world would be if most people were able to find the same kind of reward in their daily labor.

One of our customers is an aspiring writer who recently moved to Austin.  She is honing her skills and exploring our community all at the same time.

I spent some time with her in February talking about the ranch, our philosophy, etc.  She wrote a very nice piece about it on her blog.

Getting out and talking with people is one of my favorite parts of being a direct-to-consumer food producer.  I get a chance to be an educator (and often the pupil at the same time).  My days at the farmer’s markets always bolster my faith in humanity.  Even though I come home tired, I am also energized by the good people with whom I interact.

This is a guest post by Hona Backstrom, a college student doing an internship at Wild Type Ranch.

When bought directly from its maker, there is a story behind each vegetable, fruit, baked good, or steak. The farmer, baker or rancher knows each article from its creation to its consumption. They have, usually with the help of their families, set up a small farm, kitchen or ranch in order to deliver high quality produce to the public through a farmer’s market.

During a farmer’s market, members of the community exchange money for fresh local produce. In this exchange, the supplier communicates and interacts with the customer on a personal basis. Rather than the impersonal relationship one may find in the rush of the grocery store checkout line, the farmer’s market offers a slower paced and more intimate connection with the artisan. By using this method of trade, customers tend to develop loyalty to specific farmers or producers, deepening the communication and rapport between the two. The produce is associated with a face and a family rather than a brand name and a price tag. Along with healthy locally produced foods, the farmer’s market also provides a place for the populace to meet on a weekly basis, often enjoying firm friendships and strengthening the community itself.

I am fortunate to experience the farmer-customer relationship first-hand. As an intern at Wild Type Ranch, a company that raises grass fed Angus in Cameron Texas, my responsibilities include assisting with the markets as well as aiding in cattle husbandry. I am a part of the process that gets the steak to the table. Because of my work on the ranch, I can truly appreciate the effort that goes into creating quality food. I am lucky to have formed friendships with customers as well as with other vendors and I enjoy being a part of the community each market provides.  Through my adventure here, it has become important to know where my food comes from and who raised it.

The family farm is a vital part, and starting point in the path that brings locally grown food to the table. As a new member of a family farm I have experienced and observed the morals and life skills instilled at a young age upon the adolescent boys here. I myself have learned along with them the value of a hard day’s work, and reaping the gratifying benefits afterwards. Working the farm as a family includes the children in the natural life cycle of the farms animals and they can appreciate life as well as accept death. As a family unit we are forced to depend on each other and function as a whole rather than separate parts in order accomplish a full days work. This reliance forms stronger bonds and we are more intimately connected.

Our hard work, love, environmental stewardship, and artistry are ingredients in the food we produce. The food we raise nourishes not only the body, but also the spirit while strengthening the community.

If I was forced to select a single word by which to live my life, it would be “integrity”.  The night I woke up at 3 am, with the seeds of this ranch planted in my head, I pledged to live my life by that single word and to build this dream around it. My kids (now age 7 and 9) have grown up believing in Santa.  Is it integrity to teach children to believe in a myth?  Although I have a very strong spritual and faith life, I’ve taught my children that whatever religion they follow, it is only our best guess and not an absolute truth.  So, how come I’ve been so willing to live the myth of Santa?

This year, it is time to answer the questions from the 7 year old.  I’m going to paraphrase from Kids Talk, a newsletter I get through the Montessori school:

I see Santa Claus being all those people in the world, who strive to serve humankind, to make life more enjoyable, more comfortable, more magical.
In the first stage of believing in Santa Claus, when we’re little, we’re on the receiving end. When we live the secret, we are on the giving side, which is fun. Being like Santa, which is doing our jobs with cheerful intention to help others, makes amazing things happen. Once you know how Santa works, you become Santa Claus. You do your regular stuff with love in your heart, and you try to help others not expecting anything in return. Santa is people helping people.

When you are old enough to truly understand Santa, you become Santa.  And that’s when you truly believe

Dear Mom:

At Thanksgiving, it is appropriate to be, well, thankful.  All this past month I’ve tried to start each day with gratitude for some part of my life.  A group of my friends have been sharing their thanks online with each other.

It occurred to me that I ought to be sharing my thanks with the person responsible, in one way or another, for everything for which I have to be thankful: You!

As I prepare for tomorrow’s dinner, I am particularly thankful for the sense of tradition and love of family, with roots reaching deep into my childhood.  This year, it is just Ralph, Esther and I out at the ranch for Thanksgiving dinner.  With both of them being Aussies, the traditions fall completely to me.

There was a time when it would have made me sad to be without my children, siblings and parents tomorrow.  As I’ve gotten older and our family has matured, I know I am surrounded by my family, even across the miles.  As I knead Anita’s crescent rolls, wash cranberries and go out to pick tomatoes and greens from the garden, I can feel the spirits of generations around me.

Tomorrow’s dinner will be all home-grown, home-made or harvested in Texas within the last month.  I particularly want to thank you and Dad for making it possible for us to live the life we are living.  Thank you for developing in me an open mind and encouraging my curiosity.  Thank you for believing in me and for fostering the drive to succeed.  Thank you for helping me to grow up convinced that I could do almost anything if I wanted to do it and worked hard enough.  Thanks for being there when that belief in myself faltered.

Thanks for being a Mom, a Grandma, a role model, an artist, a naturalist and occasionally a goofball.

Although we won’t be together in person to raise a toast tomorrow, I hope you can feel our love as we toast you and all we have to be thankful here in Texas .

THANKS MOM!

n.b. My husband Ralph has been in Australia the last three weeks.  His niece, Esther, and I, have been holding down the fort.  Since I haven’t had the spare time for posting, I thought my letter to Mum might be a good way to get back on track.

Sometimes we need a little reminder about our “highest calling” in this life.

It’s a tough time to be in business for one’s self, and to be in the ranching business seems to be even tougher.  Sometimes, my husband and I think we’d be better off just holding the ranch as an investment in land, rather than trying to run a natural beef and angus breeding stock business.  My head is usually in the numbers (even in my sleep); budgets, breeding values, calf weights, DNA test scores…

Today, I made some choices with my time that left me behind in my “business necessities” at the end of the day, and feeling a bit overwhelmed.  What was supposed to be 2 hours working at the elementary school book fair turned out to be 4 because no one showed up to take my place.  Teacher conferences, homework, and errands seemed to take up the rest of the “business” day.

Late this evening, when I came in from packing up orders for tomorrow’s farmer’s markets and deliveries, I found the following post from fellow ranch-wife, Karen.  Karen and her husband are less than 2 weeks away from the annual breeding stock sale that makes or breaks their financial year.  Today, Karen had time for her Mom, a turtle and a young wife in need of chili-counseling.

Today, I heard from both of my children’s teachers that they are an asset in the classroom, and both are looked to as leaders by the other students.  [this is the boys’ first year in public school, so it has been an adjustment and a concern for us].

If I was still working as an executive, I’m not sure they’d be in the same place.  I’m darn sure I wouldn’t have spent the morning at the book fair. Carpe tortuga (seize the turtle)

Selling at the three local farmer’s markets is usually a high point of my week.  After three years, Wild Type Ranch has a solid customer base.  It’s like catching up with friends, as I ask about how the roast turned out that they cooked for visiting family, how the steaks cooked for the hot date, or about someone’s ailing wife who has been absent for a few weeks.

Even though each of my markets (Sun City, Georgetown and the Vineyard at Florence) is only open a few hours, participating in a market day is pretty much a whole-day event.  There is the 90 minute drive each way to the market, an hour to set up and 30 minutes to take down, not to mention the packing and unpacking back at the ranch.   Even the shortest market is an 7 hour commitment.

Lately, attendance at the markets has been dismal.  Not just for me, but for all the vendors. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem, if you’ll pardon the pun.  Taking 7 or 8 hours out of a day and $25 worth of gas to sell $75 worth of beef (that probably cost $50 to produce) is not a sustainable business plan.  So, fewer vendors show up.  Less vendors, less variety and less reason for the customers to show up.

A farmer’s market really is a community function, and it takes the community to make it function.  One of the markets in which I participate is a brand-new market.  The vendors there attend, knowing that each week will likely be a wash.  We do so as an investment in the future of the market.

If you enjoy the occasional visit to the local market, make it a point to become a regular.  The benefits reach far beyond your plate.

It’s Sunday morning at Wild Type Ranch.  We returned late last night from 2 days at an Angus cattle sale in Fredericksburg, TX.  Everyone else is having a well-deserved lie-in, but I’ve already gotten too used to the summer early rising schedule to sleep in.  [Between needing to leave early for farmer’s markets twice a week and the need to get out and work before it gets hot here in Texas, our summer schedule typically starts at dawn and involves a mid-day shower and siesta]. 

While we were away at the sale, we’ve had a blessed 1.5 inches of rain.  Judging by the flattened sweet corn patch we also had quite a bit of wind accompanying what is likely to be one of the last cool fronts of the spring.  Quiet and cool are two things I don’t get much of, especially lately.

The economy is affecting us almost as much as the drought has.  Cattle prices are down, customer purchases at the market are smaller, breeding season has been delayed by poor grass and hay quality.  We’ve been making lemonade out of lemons as much as possible, but it’s still too easy to get discouraged, over-worked and lose sight of why we are here.

Cup of coffee in hand, Tess, our blue heeler, and I set off across the wonderfully wet grass in the refreshing cool breeze–I’m actually wearing a sweatshirt this morning!  A quick check of the cattle we purchased this weekend and those we brought back home because they didn’t sell for a price higher than what we could get if we harvested them for beef, shows all to be well. 

Tess and I cross into the paddock where our heifers are, to check if any are in heat (ready to be bred) or any appear by the silver scratch-off patches on their rumps to have come into heat while we were gone.  It is a well-known fact when trying to A.I. (artificially inseminate) cattle, the most likely time for them to come into heat is whenever it will be most inconvenient to breed them.  Looks like we got lucky while we were gone.  Now I park myself in the middle of the paddock, having successfully climbed over the fence with a full coffee cup, and watch. 

Emmy Lu, one of our heifers, comes up for a scratch.  Evangeline, her full sister (they are the product of embryo transfer, so were born of foster mamas at the same time) can’t stand to be left out and gives my knee a lick before Tess decides I need protecting.  A game of tag ensues between Tess and Emmy Lu, neither taking the other seriously even though they usually take on the roles of predator and prey. 

It’s Sunday.  I’m lucky to make it to church once a month, since our church is 80 miles from the ranch.  Sometimes I feel like this life I chose, expressly to live in line with my values, leaves me little time to reflect on said values.  This morning, I’m feeling a part of the web of life.  I feel that deep sense of peace that comes from believing that things will work and that I’m in the right place. 

I’m thankful to my parents, both devout Catholics, who were wise enough to teach me that sometimes the most holy thing you can do on a Sunday morning is to go sit in your garden, or go take a walk.  I remember a sign that was posted at the entryway to their wildflower garden:

The kiss of the sun for pardon

The song of the birds for mirth

One is nearer God’s heart in the garden

Than anywhere else on earth

Namaste

Life has been pretty hectic at Wild Type Ranch lately.  My husband has had to make two emergency trips to Australia since the beginning of the year, each time leaving my boys (ages 7 and 9) and I to take care of the ranch while attending school an hour away.  Considering spring is our calving, breeding, embryo transfer and gardening season, we’ve been a little harried.  Add to that attempting to get our “in town” house packed up, cleaned up and ready to sell in preparation for moving out to the ranch full-time at the end of the school year, and you can see why the blog posts have been few and far between.

Y’all have been on my mind, though.  I’ve written dozens of posts in my head while making those hour-long commutes between town and ranch.  I’ve also realized this is a kind of therapy, so I’ll stick with it for a while if you will….