Dan's Writings
Sustainable Practices?
I am sometimes astounded by how little people know about agriculture. But when I stop to think about the immense demographic changes in the United States since its founding, I begin to see how such a tragic loss of human knowledge could come about.
Save Our Sandwiches, Never Mind Our Birds
The Hellmann's company has a commercial out there on the internet and on TV that claims that Hellmann's is holding off the extinction of sandwiches. It's a classic example of greenwashing.
Ground-Nesting Birds
We talk about the early naivete that led me to believe that the task of regeneration could be completed in the lifetime of one man, how I believed, and still believe, that progress toward that goal can be measured in the number of birds that choose our ranch for their home.
MIGRATION
On the northern edge of this ranch are a couple thousand acres of level grassland.
A LIFE
By the time I was old enough to pedal my bicycle to the outskirts of our little Ohio town, the wildness was almost gone.
The Ministry For The Future
Six weeks ago, I got a tip from Yvon Chouinard about a book. He said it was a must-read. He held the book up to the screen on our Zoom call, pointed to it, and smiled. He shook his head. “You got to read this book,” he said. “This guy’s thought of everything.”
By the Dark of the Moon
There are almost no artificial lights on this ranch. We don’t find them comforting. In fact, we on the Cheyenne River Buffalo Ranch love the darkness of natural night and embrace it as an element of nature as essential as grass at our feet, wind in our faces, or the sound of coyotes from four directions. It is Dark Skies week around the world...
Erney 1940–2021
Erney Hersman is dead and the world is now a darker place. The call came in earlier this month, the ringing penetrating my dreams at four o’clock in the morning, and I waited a beat before I picked up the receiver. It was the night nurse at the rest home where Erney had been for over a year. “It was another stroke,” she said. “He passed peacefully”.
The Winter of Our Discontent
I have always thought of myself as a refugee from the clutter and decay of population centers. We live thirty-five miles from the nearest store; thirty-five barren miles is what I was searching for when I moved here. It is something of an animal oasis, a utopian community for people, dogs, and birds. But this COVID winter has threatened our tranquility.
Space
A friend from Saint Louis came out for a week’s visit. Laurie is a doctor but writing a novel and she needed a little peace and quiet, so we offered her the bunkhouse. The bunkhouse is hardly peaceful or quiet, given the fact that it is attached to the dog kennel and the mews, where I keep the falcons. We told her what to expect: Dogs howling at the coyotes most of the night, falcons eechipping every time they saw me crossing the yard.
Autumn
It’s that time of year again. This September came quickly and burst forth with a 77-degree drop in temperature. On Saturday, it was 106 degrees with the kids begging to go down to the river to swim, fish or just lie in the shallows. Tuesday morning it was 29 degrees with a crust of ice on the windshields.
Buffalo vs. Bison
One question that we often receive is: “What is the difference between buffalo and bison?" Quite simply, both names refer to the same animal. Understandably, this has caused some confusion, but both terms are used interchangeably, and both are accepted.