Monthly Archives: October 2010
FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE
"The Blackest Crime in Texas Warfare"
Our usual route from Austin to Madroño Ranch takes us through Johnson City to Fredericksburg via Highway 290, and then down Highway 16 through Kerrville to the turnoff opposite the Medina Children’s Home. Every time I pass the sign for … Continue reading
Barbers, bison meat, and the invisible hand
I was back in my shiny new persona as salesperson last week, driving out to all the dude ranches around Bandera in hopes of scaring up a market for the hundreds and hundreds of pounds of bison meat we will … Continue reading
Posted in Food
Tagged Adam Gopnik, Adam Smith, bison, community, economics, The New Yorker, Wendell Berry
2 Comments
How not to write a book
Some of you may not know that I am officially a Published Author and therefore—let’s face it—kind of a big deal, but it’s true. And I have to confess that I’ve never really gotten over the thrill of seeing my … Continue reading
Posted in More
Tagged baseball, Black Sox, books, Hal Chase, Pete Rose, Texas Book Festival, writing
3 Comments
Of mothers and mountains
I’ve just introduced myself to the pleasures of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. Called the father of wildlife conservation in the United States, Leopold heard in the revving of the great American economic and … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged Aldo Leopold, Colorado, Henry David Thoreau, Isa Catto Shaw, Jessica Hobby Catto, John Catto, mountains, salvation, wildness, wolves
4 Comments
Lessons from Phoebe
It’s impossible to think about Madroño Ranch without thinking about its critters, both wild and domestic: bison, feral hogs, chickens, wild turkeys, aoudad, deer, geese, snakes, raccoons, porcupines, fish, and dogs. On some days at Madroño, when the wind is … Continue reading
Posted in More
Tagged aoudad, dogs, Julia Child, Kinky Friedman, Madroño Ranch, Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch
3 Comments