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Open House May 19

posted on

April 15, 2024

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On May 19, come join us for a behind-the-scenes look at our historic ranch. We'll be offering ranch tours, prairie walks, and burgers, of course!

Colvin Ranch is home to some of the last remaining native prairies in Southwest Washington, and you'll get to see up close how we use conservation grazing practices to protect the native plants and animals that live alongside our livestock.

Stop by from 11 am to 3 pm for free activities, including tours of our historic ranch, a prairie walk with plant experts from NRCS and US Fish & Wildlife, and live music from Oly Mountain Boys. 

We'll be offering a limited number of Colvin Ranch hamburgers grilled up by our friends from Simply Organic Cafe & Catering for $5. Place your order in advance to make sure you get one before we're sold out!

Date: May 19

Time: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

Location: Colvin Ranch

Free activities: Ranch tour, prairie walk, kids activities, and more

Order hamburgers: Place your order in advance online for a Colvin Ranch grass-fed burger with house-made condiments by Simply Organic Cafe & Catering, plus their delicious fries! 

Learn about the native prairies of Southwest Washington, local conservation efforts, and how family farms provide local food for the community.

We look forward to seeing you at the ranch!

More from the blog

Riparian Projects at Colvin Ranch

When we have cattle in the meadows, we take steps to protect the creek banks and the water quality. One major project that was done nearly 20 years ago with the Thurston Conservation District was the Riparian Planting Project, which planted 1,900 trees along 5,250 feet of Scatter Creek at the ranch.

Conservation and Cattle

When people think of conservation, they don't often think of cattle. But livestock play an important role in how we preserve and enhance the diverse environments we have at Colvin Ranch.

Thurston Green Business Designation

This time of year, our ranch is visibly green. But all year round, we follow sustainable business practices to reduce our carbon footprint while preserving and protecting our natural resources. Because of our environmental stewardship, we're now officially recognized as a Thurston Green Business.  We talk a lot about our conservation work to restore and enhance the native prairie habitat at the ranch, but we don't often talk about the other steps we take to ensure that we operate our business as a whole in a sustainable way. Some of these business practices include: limiting the transportation of our cattle minimizing packaging, reusing materials, and recycling conserving water and protecting streamsconsolidating deliveries to reduce driving milessupporting local businesses by buying local The conservation easement in place at the ranch ensures that the native prairies here will be protected forever. Working with partners like NRCS, WSU Extension, Thurston Conservation District, Ecostudies Institute, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife, we've completed projects including: contributing to the recovery of the golden paintbrush and its removal from the federal list of endangered and threatened plantsimproving Mazama Pocket Gopher habitatincreasing plant diversityprotecting Scatter Creek stream bedsmaintaining Garry Oak ecosystems planting hundreds of trees And there's more in the works. We're currently working on a five-year project to eliminate scotch broom and restore native prairie plants on a nearby property, and creating silvopasture on a section of land that had been previously neglected.  Check out the other local businesses who have been designated as a Thurston Green Business and shop local.