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This family. Yep, this family. Life at the Birdwell and Clark Ranch has changed since the arrival in July of Scott Graham and his family. We've known this family for years. Scott built the barn, perimeter fencing, and the house the family lives in (formerly referred to as Omar's house) and Scott, Layten, and Gaige worked during shipping week for years. But move here....work here...take on the Ranch Manager position...slip into the ebb and flow of activities as if they had lived here for years...
I'll leave the details of the "ask" and the "acceptance" for another post. What I will share now is the morning after Scott, Lisa, and girls accepted the position, Emry and I jumped out of bed with enthusiasm, optimism, joy, and hope; feelings that were lost for much of the past two years. At any given time the family will be practicing in the arena, show up at the Big House to take care of dogs or play with grandkids, assist in ranch functions like Dove Salute, simply ride across the ranch, or drop off a surprise birthday cake. The ranch feels fuller with the arrival of this engaged, committed Graham family.
Mikayla Graham is in her second year of nursing at Vernon College, competes in the Women's Working Ranch Association, and soaks in her time at the Headquarters getting to know the ranch spirits and ghosts. Layten Grahm is a freshman at Midway, enjoys basketball, roping, and cow horse events and has already staked claim to the Ranch Manager position when her dad retires! Gaige is in the sixth grade at Midway, loves everyone and everything, and is prone to take a walk-about to explore the ranch all alone on any given day. Lisa is both the fire in the family and the glue that holds it all together, can be found saddling and unsaddling horses, going over reining patterns, cheering the girls on while giving them solid feedback, and can make it from the center of the ranch to JAC Electric Coop in Bluegrove where she works in 30 minutes (look at a map to understand why this is amazing!). Scott Graham is multi-talented, competent, open, hardworking, eager to learn why and how we ranch the way we do, and an even keeled influence that supports ranch life here.
Yep. This family. The Scott Graham family. #grateful #ranchlife #nevergetsold #beef #regenerate
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Alas! Where have the first four months of 2017 gone? I had a stated intention for 2017 to write routine monthly blogs. It's not that I think what I have to say will change the world but writing helps me see the world with a clearer and cleaner perspective. Given that Holistic Management plays a large part in our daily life I want to explain and provide examples for myself in clear and clean terms the principles and practices that are the foundation of Holistic Management. The year may be one third over but it isn't too late to start this endeavor. All credit for the initial thinking goes to Allan Savory and to Holistic Mangement International for delivering the message. The interpretation, characterization, and application shared in this blog are all mine to own. Here goes!
The first principle in the Holistic Management framework is "Nature Functions in Wholes". We've all heard the saying 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'. Inherent in this saying is a dynamic that implies that any action or decision taken by one 'part' or individual or entity has an impact on other 'parts', individuals, entities, and/or environments. I often fail to take into account that my actions and decisions have consequences beyond me personally, my immediate family, or the ranch. We do not operate or function in a vacuum; we are not 'parts'; we are simply pieces or patterns of a lesser whole or community that we manage within a greater whole or community that we are members of.
Savory acknowledges Jan Christian Smuts, a South African statesman and scholar influential in the first half of the 20th century, as one who most influenced his thinking. Smuts is attributed with coming up with the term holism in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution. Examples of how nature functions in wholes are numerous and explanation is clear in Savory's book Holistic Management.
A personal example is one that I refer to as "the three pots". When we first moved to the ranch I kept track of progress or setback through the lens of three pots: my pot of resources that I held in my name, a pot that belonged jointly to Emry and me, and a pot that I called the cattle operation. Yes, this sounds a whole lot like 'what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine'. I was fiercely protective of 'my pot'. If there was a lean cattle operation year or a capital investment that we jointly made and 'my pot' had to be tapped, I grew anxious and miserly and operated out of fear. After years and I mean years I finally experienced the freedom from understanding all three pots made up one whole: one wonderfully expanding, nurturing, and abundant whole.
This newly found holistic perspective influences how we manage our resources, our relationship, our individual selves, and our roles in the larger community we live. On a personal level, we are able to bypass or eliminate sensitive discussions about finances and whose pot is increasing or diminishing. Our financial discussions are much less personal and much more productive. We've made decisions regarding capital improvements backed by the combined whole such as a new house for our ranch hand in the context of the value it adds to the ranch facilities and well-being for our employee.
In the next blog I will share another example of how "Nature Functions in Wholes" by describing how the drought of 2011 forced us to make a managment decision that has had impact at the whole we call the ranch and in the broader environmental whole in which we live.
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It's been a tough year at the Birdwell and Clark Ranch. Cattle prices, health issues, both cattle and human, and unexpected labor constraints have all contributed to one tough year. Everyone I know has heard me say that from friends and family to participants at presentations and Holistic Management workshops. Everyone I know is tired of hearing me say that! I'm tired of hearing me say that! I know we are not alone in the challenges that the ranching environment and cattle markets dished up this year. Heck, as part of the aging Baby Boomers I should expect that certain ailments might get in the way of everyday ranch life. And yes, sadly, people move in and out of our lives due to unexpected circumstances.
But enough is enough.
