Thurston County Cattlewomen
Like many moms and women everywhere, the Thurston County Cattlewomen often work tirelessly and quietly behind the scenes to make the community better.
Like many moms and women everywhere, the Thurston County Cattlewomen often work tirelessly and quietly behind the scenes to make the community better.
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.
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.
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!
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.
It's the 30th anniversary of the Proctor Farmers' Market! See us there every Saturday starting March 30.
At the ranch, we take on a number of habitat restoration and enhancement projects that go above and beyond conservation grazing. A lot of the time, these projects start with me standing in a field or forest, dreaming about what's possible.
Bringing local and seasonal farm-fresh meat, produce, and prepared foods to your doorstep.
Signing up for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of the best ways you can show up to support your local farmer.
The Washington Conservation Society inducted Fred as a Creating a Legacy honoree at their annual meeting this year, recognizing his decades of conservation advocacy and education work.
Go hog wild and go all-in on a pork meat share. Here's everything you need to know about the pigs.
Creating a more resilient and harmonious agricultural system at Colvin Ranch that's good for the the plants, the animals, and people too.