Stories
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.”
Nature's Salad Bar
You’ve heard the adage “You are what you eat.” But what are you, if you don’t know what you eat eats? There’s been a lot of movement in human health toward returning to our “original” diets—that is, eating what we evolved to eat.
Eating Ethically to Save an Ecosystem
The ethics of eating meat is an ongoing discussion with many opinions based on partial scenarios.
Animal Husbandry & Humane Harvest
In the late summer and early fall the herd comes together for the breeding season. Nine months later, in the spring the prairie welcomes its newest generation of prairie regenerators. It may seem counterintuitive to harvest animals when you are trying to bring them back, but harvesting is necessary to balance the herd numbers with what the land can support.
A Mother's Day Parade 2022
Choosing photos of Buffalo Calves is a little like choosing photos of your grandchildren - it's hard to delete any! I hope you enjoy these photos of the prairie's newest arrivals, along with their sweet moms!
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...
Poetry Contest 2022
It's National Poetry Month, so it's time to bring out your inner poet for our annual Free-Style Poetry Contest! And... this year we are offering three prizes! Here's how our contest works: Submit your original poem in the comment section below by noon, Wednesday April 27th.
Buffalo, River Crossings & Grasslands
In the fall of 2003 we moved our buffalo onto the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands for the first time, after 125 years of their absence. Even though we have repeated this every year since, it never gets old or loses its emotion.
The Truth Of Our Food Supply
Recently the New York Times released a three-part video series titled “We’re Cooked”. If you didn’t see it, the links to the series and other articles that we reviewed for reference are located at the bottom of this post. Here are some highlights.
Honoring Gervase Hittle
In the spring of 1971, Gervase Hittle, an English & French Literature Professor at the University of South Dakota met and became good friends with one of his graduate students, Dan O’Brien. 51 years later, their friendship remains.
A Family's Experience & Testimonial
This past summer on their family vacation to western South Dakota, they booked a tour of the ranch. The day of their tour the temperature reached 110°. It didn’t curb their enthusiasm or charm. We received the following essays and video as a thank you. As you will read and see, they were an easy group to fall in love with. What a wonderful gift!
An American Thanksgiving
For sure there are many dishes that have become iconic American, and perhaps there is no meal that is more that then Thanksgiving, although not necessarily authentic from its origin.