James Ranch Blog

Are there any other parents out there like me who groan internally with the thought of crafting a daily, nutritious, filling school lunch that your children will actually eat? I’m sure there are. I am deeply committed to feeding my family nutrient-dense foods from our farm as much as I can.  So for this reason, I roll up my sleeves and do a little planning. At this time of year, there is such amazing, local food available that it is a natural fit to work some of it into your kids’ school lunch.

Vegetables are the go-to most people think of when thinking farm-fresh foods. To avoid tired-looking carrot sticks or slightly slimy cucumbers returning home, I include dip. This can be salad dressing, a creamy herb dip, hummus or whatever makes the veggies disappear down your kids’ throats. Including a dip with fat makes some of the fat-soluble vitamins present in vegetables much more available to growing minds and bodies. Try this super-simple dip recipe and watch those veggies disappear.

½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and store in the fridge for use all week. Feel free to switch up the herbs or substitute with fresh herbs (just double the amount). I find that if I used dried herbs, the dip lasts a bit longer in the fridge.

Also consider “salad in a jar” as an easy way to send vegetables to school. Simply layer salad ingredients of your choice in a canning jar or glass storage container and pack it, along with an ice pack, in their lunch box. I put the dressing on the bottom then put sturdy, crunchy vegetables on top of the dressing such as carrots, cucumbers or bell peppers. This “insulates” any delicate lettuces from the wilting effect of salad dressing. Top your mixture with nuts, dried fruit, cheese or hard-boiled egg to add a bit of protein and fat.

While vegetables provide fiber and many nutrients as well as really healthy carbs, they are not enough to keep active, growing kids fueled up. Depending on their age, kids can go through fairly dramatic spurts of growth in their bodies and in their brains. Brains are not built on vitamin C, they are built on fat.  Eating enough of the right kinds of fats are essential to good growth and brain development.

Although seafood, avocados and olive oil are great sources of healthy fats, they do not grow in Southwest Colorado. To get local, low-impact fats and proteins into your child’s lunch box, consider jerky, sliced beef roast, leftover pork sausage, cheese and hard boiled eggs as options. Make sure to check the sources of your proteins and fats carefully. 100% grass-fed beef and dairy have fat profiles that rival wild salmon and are locally available at a variety of locations (yes...at James Ranch, too!).

Take those quality proteins and fats and transform them into something fun and delicious. Package hard boiled eggs with a mini-container of salt and pepper for dipping. Slices of last night's roast make a hearty sandwich with a bit of cheese and fresh, crisp lettuce. Chop leftover roasted chicken and mix with some mayonnaise, dried cranberries, chopped pecans and celery then bundle in a soft tortilla or package with wide lettuce leaves for "make your own" wraps. Invest in stainless or glass containers with sections and create your own meat, cheese and cracker platter. Keeping flavors fresh, ingredients seasonal and as local as possible and throwing in a bit of a "gimmick" ensures full tummies and empty lunch boxes come dismissal time.

For our family, the key to most of our school lunches lands squarely upon the success of dinner the night before. Utilize a thermos for sending nourishing leftovers in your child's lunch. Hot soups, casseroles, meats and sides are a quick and satisfying way to get lunch done. Build your dinner menu around what is fresh and available at local farms right now. Then double your recipe.

With just a little thought and planning, you really can pick up healthy, happy kids from school every day and avoid post-school meltdowns due to blood sugar crashes and grumbling tummies. When you support local farmers to fill your kids lunch boxes, you build up not only strong, growing bodies, but the farmers, the land, and future generations.  

After living on the James Ranch for the past 11 years, Xena, the guard donkey for the pastured poultry business starts a new adventurous chapter of her long life by joining a family in Buena Vista that races burros and packs them into the Colorado high country.
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The James Ranch Market is thrilled to be offering wild-caught Alaskan salmon to our customers in a partnership with Colorado locals Eric and MJ at Silver Wave Salmon.
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Enjoy yoga and Pilates on the Terraces at the James Ranch this summer. Extending your yoga and Pilates practice to the outdoors logs some major benefits.
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Joel F. Salatin is an American farmer, lecturer, and author who is now the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer magazine. The Stockman Grass Farmer brings its readers the latest information on high profit grassland ideas from all over the world; each month profiling leading farmers and ranchers with details as to how and why they are successful. Salatin and his extended family raise livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals, on his Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. He is a leader in the regenerative movement and a true mentor for hundreds of farmers and ranchers worldwide. This editorial from the May Stockman Grass Farmer speaks to our hearts as modern day grass farmers.
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Fresh cut flowers have been a long-standing tradition at the Gardens at James Ranch. For over two decades Jenn and Joe Wheeling and their family have tended this wonderfully productive plot of land, supplying the Durango area not only with wonderful vegetables, but with gorgeous flowers as well. As the Wheelings move on to other pursuits, Mountain Belle Flower Farm is proud and delighted to be continuing this flower-growing legacy at the Gardens at James Ranch.
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With a new clue received from a local magazine picked up in Jackson Hole, the Stewarts are headed to Driggs, Idaho to meet a like-minded chef then head to Boise, which has been touted as a new foodie city, then up to Coeur d' Alene which is headquarters for Tractor Sodas, the Grill's new organic soft drinks.
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The Stewart's are on their epic research trip and stopping off first in Denver and Boulder. There are a lot of great restaurants in the area, but there are three that actually have their own farms/ranches that supply a majority of their ingredients just like the Harvest Grill. Their goal is to see the kitchens and meet with the chefs.
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Due to weather conditions in Jackson, the Stewarts headed a bit south to Utah and had a chance to do a meet and eat with at a restaurant that had one of their favorite kitchen layouts. They also surprised Sasha with a new addition to the family (four legged and furry).
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Cynthia and Robert decided to research their next adventuring into the restaurant world by taking a research trip in a motorhome to different restaurants around the western United States. Their goals are to see other kitchens, talk to chefs, understand the restaurant culture and learn how to recruit an employee team that will join in their dream of the ultimate farm-to-table dining experience.
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There’s a bumper crop of winter squash and pumpkins in the Gardens at James Ranch this year! Instead of hauling it all in, we’d like to invite you to participate and get a great deal.
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 Four years ago I (Cynthia) was walking through the Durango Farmer’s Market to see what I could buy for the Grill to serve. I stopped at a booth that had a corn stock that was only 4 feet high but had these large, beautiful ears of corn jetting off the sides of it. This was my first introduction to dry land corn.
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Since I have been actively working on the ranch the last few years, I have been paying attention to the wasp populations and actively encouraging their numbers by building housing and planting more and more bushes and plants with flowers to feed them.  Beneficial wasps, both predatory and parasitoid, are another way we accomplish chemical-free, organic farming. 
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Cool dew on your feet, gentle mooing in the background, and an experience yoga teacher leading you through morning movement guranteed to leave you feeling refreshed and energized for your day. This is yoga on the Terraces at James Ranch.
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The families of the James Ranch provide a well-rounded variety of organically grown food products for the local community: 100% grass-fed beef, artisan raw milk cheeses, pastured pork and eggs, fresh produce and flowers, and our restaurant (Harvest Grill and Greens at the James Ranch Terraces). It's a family affair and we have a lot of moving parts that come together to offer our community the freshest, most nutrient-dense food in the Four Corners.  We are also proud to carry products from other local farmers! We'd love to take a second to introduce to you the current lineup of farmers that we'll be supporting and carrying at James Ranch Market and Harvest Grill.
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