James Ranch: Trees

JAMES FAMILY RANCH “He was born with a cowboy heart in Pasadena, California.” Julie Ott proudly says of her father, David James, who bought the family ranch with his wife, Kay, in 1961. They raised their five children on those 450 acres and started their first family enterprise in the form of a pond that lured tourists off the road with a sign reading, ‘Fishing Fun for Everyone!’ Today, the James Ranch has grown beyond that little pond.

The adult children started coming back to the ranch 16 years ago, and now along with Dave and Kay James, three of them have their own enterprise. Together, the four enterprises make up the successful family-run operation that offers a variety of agricultural products to the public that goes well beyond organic.

In addition to using organic methods to run the ranch, the James family embraces rotational grazing practices that mimic the role of predators, reincorporates byproducts into their operation, such as mixing cheese whey into pig-feed, and teaches that agriculture is seasonal as reflected in the products sold from their ranch. The preservation of open space is also deeply embedded into their family philosophy, as is evident from the 81-acre conservation easement that they placed on their land, and from their plans to conserve more acreage in the future.

Dave and Kay James attribute the success of their family-run operation to their conservation-minded children and to the quarterly family meetings where delegated roles rotate with each meeting, business is handled professionally and harmoniously, and grandchildren are invited to attend; after all, the future of the family ranch lies with the grandchildren, and they are taking careful notes. Running barefoot after the turkeys and helping with the endless chores on the ranch, they understand the value of what they will inherit. When asked what they think about the early idea to turn the land into a golf course, Abe Ott doesn’t skip a beat, “I’d rather have turkeys.”

James Ranch: The Harvest Grill & Greens

James Ranch: Grass-Finished Beef

JAMES RANCH BEEF The 130 head of Red Angus fat steers that roam the James Ranch live a pretty good life. And that’s something that is directly conveyed to ranch patrons who enjoy healthy, high-quality beef raised in an environmentally sustainable manner. Dave and Kay James pride themselves on their 100% grass-fed and finished beef cattle operation, one of four family-owned enterprises that operate on the 450 irrigated acre James Ranch, owned by the family for 48 years.

The cattle eat a healthy diet of low lignin grasses and clovers from pastures free of insecticides and herbicides, and are never given hormones or antibiotics. The Jameses handle their livestock in a low-stress manner and their rotational grazing practices mimic the way predators would move the animals, leaving pastures that are robust and naturally fertilized. This means healthier beef for the consumer and a healthier operation for the environment.

And a healthy environment is what Dave and Kay James further created when they placed 81-acres of the cattle’s grazing grounds under conservation easement with La Plata Open Space. With another conservation easement planned in the future, the Jameses continue to add more permanent open space to the North Animas Valley, as well as a family legacy of providing only the best agricultural products to the community.

James Ranch: Artisan Cheese & Whey-Good Pork

JAMES RANCH CHEESE AND WHEY PORK The fog is still lifting off of the pastures when the herd of Jersey cows wanders up to the open-air barn for their morning milking. After patiently waiting their turn, they head back down to a new section of pasture with green grass free of pesticides and herbicides, where they will spend the day grazing with their calves.

The herd is rotated among the pastures every 30 days so that the grasses are not over-grazed, the soils do not erode, and the natural fertilizer breaks down. When Dan James and his staff are not busy milking, they are making handcrafted artisan cheeses or bottling raw milk for loyal patrons, who eagerly wait all winter for the milk to return. They wait, because Dan James and his wife Becca, who operate this enterprise of the James Ranch, believe in milking their cows only from April to November, so as to mimic the rhythm of nature and give their herd time to rest.

And it’s not just the cheese and milk that people are coming back for. As Dan’s nephew Abe Ott puts it, “Customers want to come back, and it’s not just because of the food.” People have been drawn to the family-operated ranch for over the past 16 years because the Jameses not only deliver quality agricultural products that go beyond organic, but because they know their practices are harmonious with the environment and they appreciate what they are giving back to the community. Recently, the Jameses gave the community the peace of mind that some of the ranch will remain forever undeveloped when they placed 81 acres of the 450-acre ranch under conservation easement. And they plan on preserving even more land in the future.

James Ranch: The Gardens

Courtesy of James Ranch - The Gardens

Five acres of lush, drip-irrigated flowers, fruits and vegetables cover the ground on the James Ranch in the Animas Valley, ten miles north of Durango. Jennifer Wheeling and her husband Joe came back to the family ranch several years ago to start a garden enterprise, and today it is a healthy contributor to the local farmers markets, restaurants, and farm to school program.

Among the garden beds grow a wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables. James Ranch Gardens continues to grow more and more perennial plants: asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, strawberries, hops, and black and red currants, which are canned for jam and jelly. Potatoes, beets, carrots and herbs are just part of the annual vegetable list, which may change slightly from year to year, in addition to lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, peas, beans, onions, leeks, shallots, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, pumpkins, melons, and tomatoes.

Courtesy of James Ranch - The Gardens

The Gardens at James Ranch also includes fruit trees of apple, apricot, plum and pear and fields of flowers for cutting. Jennifer hires extra help in the summer when the gardens are at their peak creating mixed bouquets of specialty sunflowers, dahlias, gladiolus and various annual flowers. Their garden methods are organic and the results are bountiful, with endless possibilities of how to grow this enterprise. The Gardens at James Ranch recently began to offer a CSA program, farm dinners, tours and “Flower Fridays”, a custom pre-ordered bouquet program.

The James family recently placed 81 acres of the 450-acre family ranch under conservation easement, and plans to protect even more acreage in future years.

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