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Some TomKat Ranch staff gather for dinner with former Journeyman, Walker Kerr (in shorts and orange t-shirt) visiting the ranch to perform a Savory EOV survey update
- photo by Wendy Millet
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Women in Ranching: The Story
by Amber Smith, Elaine Patarini, Wendy Millet
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It all began in November 2016 at the Quivira Coalition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A number of sidebar conversations revealed a recurring theme: women ranchers in the West were dealing with the dual challenges of living and working in remote rural landscapes looking for community and support.
Once back from the conference, Sallie Calhoun and Elaine Patarini from Paicines Ranch, and Wendy Millet from TomKat Ranch, came together with a question: “If we invited 5 or 6 women to gather with us, could we create a community to support them and their important work in the world?”
Elaine & Wendy had recently formed a group of women running educational farms and believed a gathering for women in ranching could lead to similar levels of connection and community? It seemed worth trying, and in this way, Women in Ranching (WinR) was born.
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Guide to Regenerative Grazing Leases: Opportunities for Resilience
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As part of TomKat Ranch’s broader effort to develop a toolkit to support the transition to and expansion of regenerative agriculture, we teamed up with California FarmLink to publish an extensive new resource for landowners and the grazing community: Guide to Regenerative Grazing Leases: Opportunities for Resilience.
 Across the US today, nearly 30% of grazing land is leased. Typical leases rarely recognize or incentivize standards for caring for these lands. Over time, lack of long-term investment and ecological management of rangelands can lead to costly declines in soil health, biodiversity, and productivity—affecting landowners, lessees, and the human and wild communities that depend upon these ecosystems.
The guide provides a framework for drafting rigorous grazing leases that articulate shared agricultural, ecological, and social values. Designed with the needs of graziers, private landowners, public agencies, and land trusts in mind, the guide illustrates how land leases can serve broader purposes. It helps readers design and maintain regenerative grazing leases to support resilience, adaptability, and economic opportunity in rural communities.
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How we monitor land systems change after prescribed fires
by Bill Milliot
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On Friday, February 11th, 2022, we conducted our second prescribed burn on TomKat Ranch, in partnership with Cal Fire CZU, as part of our 10-year Prescribed Burn program. Our goal with using fire is to quickly and naturally reduce fuels loads on areas overgrown with woody vegetation, thereby opening the landscape enough for continued fuel load maintenance via adaptive grazing of cattle, sheep, and goats that create multiple benefits along the way.
Utilizing regenerative land management tools, such as adaptive grazing and browsing of livestock, to manage fuel sources reduces the risk of large, explosive wildfires and the need for other tools, such as machinery or chemical treatments. Besides reducing fuel loads directly, properly planned grazing helps hydrate the landscape by leaving living roots intact, breaking up compacted ‘cap soil’ through hoof impact and creating thatch cover by ungrazed trampled material that protects soil from raindrop strikes and sheet-flow runoff aiding water infiltration and bolstering landscape resiliency to fire and drought conditions.
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Bar-C Update – We’re In Business!
by Kathy Webster
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BAR-C is an Animal Welfare Approved multi-species processing operation for cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats from local small farmers and ranchers in the greater Bay Area that officially opened for business in February, 2022. Participating ranchers save on fuel costs, reduce CO2 emissions, and reduce stress on their animals due to BAR-C’s proximity to their farms and ranches. Prior to BAR-C, ranchers were driving to far flung locations including Eureka, Dixon, Corning, Orland, Paso Robles, and Turlock (see map for a visual).
Given the recent challenges of COVID-19, supply chain disruptions, and permitting and utility installation delays, all those involved with BAR-C are proud to be able to demonstrate that regional processing cooperatives are possible. As we worked to open, we began a conversation with USDA Undersecretary, Jenny Lester Moffitt. Undersecretary Moffitt is a fifth generation organic walnut grower and an advocate of small farms and ranches. Shortly after BAR-C opened, she visited with the founders and board members to talk about the challenges of starting a small processing facility and how USDA could help other regions in the country create similar models.
Key items from the discussion include:
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A Note From Our First Ever Chef-
Garden Fellow
by Isabelle Jackson Nunes
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Isabelle Jackson Nunes is an Executive Chef inspired by ingredients grown with intention and care. Connecting people to their food source and creating experiences to highlight locally and regeneratively sourced foods and a “taste of the place” drives her creative process in the kitchen. As TomKat Ranch’s first Chef-Garden Fellow, her focus is on creating meals that foster and support conversations around the positive impact of healthy soil and regenerative food systems to inspire actionable change. Meals will be centered around sharing stories of people and ingredients, illuminating connections between healthy humans and healthy soil, and cultivating meaningful and regenerative interactions with nature, food, and each other.
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My intention is to bring the story and voice of regenerative agriculture to the table and to support conversations around the positive impact of healthy soil and food systems to inspire actionable change.
I have always been connected to my food source. Growing up, my mother and father cooked our meals, we ate at the table, had a garden, and spent a ton of time outdoors. Anybody who knows me well can confirm that I am infinitely curious and there is no shortage of me asking the question “why?”
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