Tag Archives: bison

FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE

Mind the gap: ghosts, trees, and Goodbye to a River

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Heather

There’s a 5,000-pound ghost hovering over Austin’s Lady Bird Lake, the remains of a 35-foot cedar elm painted white and hoisted onto a shaft sunk into the water. Entitled Thirst, this collaborative project memorializes the estimated 301 million trees in … Continue reading →

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The meaning of meat

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Martin

“It is true, I came as near as is possible to come to being a hunter and miss it, myself….” (Henry David Thoreau) I spent last weekend in the company of six heavily armed women at Madroño Ranch. Don’t worry; … Continue reading →

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Second City, second harvest: pork bellies and bison blood

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Martin

Sometimes this whole harebrained Madroño Ranch scheme of ours seems to manifest a distinctly split personality. Last week, for example, we experienced, vividly and in close conjunction, two contradictory extremes, one exhilarating, the other sobering. The resulting psychic whiplash has … Continue reading →

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The Alliance conference: our first time in the Second City

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Martin

The Windy City. Hog Butcher for the World. City of the Big Shoulders. The Second City. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow and Harry Caray’s “Holy cow!” Richard Daley and Mike Ditka. Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Frank Lloyd Wright and Al Capone. … Continue reading →

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Ta ta for now!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Martin

We’re now into our third year of blogging; today marks the 106th consecutive Friday that we’ve published a new installment of our musings, including three guest posts, one by each of our kids. (We hope they’ll write more.) Today’s post, … Continue reading →

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Field notes from Madroño Ranch: bison and birds

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Heather

This is a bird-and-bison-intensive kitchen sink of a blog post; even Martin’s most focused editorial ministrations will be of no avail in trying to flush out some kind of narrative thread. To lend it at least an illusion of coherence, … Continue reading →

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Meat and flourishment: carnivorocity, take three

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Heather

The Color of Atmosphere: One Doctor’s Journey In and Out of Medicine. After describing a flummoxing patient she had as a second-year medical student, Kozel said, “[I] devoured the answers without asking the right questions.” Of course, if you’re obsessive … Continue reading →

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Bloody hands: bison harvest at Madroño Ranch

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Martin

The very first fruits (though “fruits” hardly seems the right word) of our very first bison harvest are ready to sell, but getting to this point has been a long and sometimes frustrating process. The last stages of that process … Continue reading →

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Shooting holes in the Constitution: some thoughts on guns and violence

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Heather

Recently, like many Americans, I’ve been thinking about the issue of guns in civil society. The tragic shooting in Tucson certainly focused attention on the topic, as did a story on National Public Radio that identified the United States as … Continue reading →

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South Texas: a fierce and unexpected beauty

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Martin

Yum! This week has afforded me yet another in a long—seemingly infinite, in fact—series of opportunities to eat crow. Heather and I returned yesterday from a visit to our friends Hugh and Sarah Fitzsimons’ Shape Ranch, outside Carrizo Springs. As … Continue reading →

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