Thanks to our hardy band of volunteers, Buffalo Peaks Ranch has been making great strides in the last few weeks. It’s amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish, from laying a new gravel floor in the Lambing Barn, to ranch wide fence repair and removal.
On Saturday July 24th, and Sunday the 25th, we’ll continue fence work, and do more clean-up across the ranch, especially around the Young Readers Library (in time for August 15th’s Family Ranch Day). We’ll also make time for everyone to explore the ranch, and the Middle Fork of the South Platte River!
For more information, click on the link below. You can sign up for one day, or for the weekend.
Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is our Summer Book Club pick! And Buffalo Peaks Ranch will be the perfect setting to discuss this one-of-a kind, eye opening book!
Please join us for the Land Library’s 6th Annual Summer Book Club! This year, we’ll gather on the front porch, gaze across at South Park’s mountain peaks, and discuss one of the past century’s classics of nature writing, The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. With a voice so unique, you’ll also marvel at Nan Shepherd’s observational skills. As Robert Macfarlane writes in his introduction to the current edition, her writings presents “precision as a form of lyricism, attention as devotion.”
We will send all Summer Book Club attendees directions to Buffalo Peaks Ranch, and a few more details about the day.
Your local bookstore should be able to order The Living Mountain, and don’t forget to check your local library.
Please bring a bag lunch if you like. After our book discussion you’ll have plenty of time to walk the river and explore the ranch!
“So there I lie on the plateau, under me the central core of fire from which was thrust this grumbling grinding mass of plutonic rock, over me blue air, and between the fire of the rock and the fire of the sun, scree, soil and water, moss, grass, flower and tree, insect, bird and beast, wind, rain and snow — the total mountain. Slowly I have found my way in.” — Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain
Anna (Nan) Shepherd (1893-1981)was an enthusiastic hill-walker, and she made many trips to the Cairngorms with students and friends, and often on her own. She also travelled further afield — to Norway, France, Italy, Greece and South Africa — but she always returned to the house where she was raised, in the village of West Cults, three miles from Aberdeen, Scotland. Early in her writing career, she wrote three well-received novels set in small North Scotland communities. She also published a book of poetry, In the Cairngorms.
Join us for our First 2021 Buffalo Peaks Ranch Workshop
Buffalo Peaks Ranch in South Park
Saturday, July 10, 11:00 am to 2:30 pm Workshop fee $60, class size: 8 participants
Join printmaker Lucy Holtsnider for a 3 hour workshop to practice drawing, carving, and printing linoleum carvings by hand! We’ll use non-toxic materials and a set of simple tools to create two-color prints based on the Land Library’s collection. Drawings can be done freehand, or traced directly from a book or photograph. Participants should bring a sack lunch, sturdy shoes for walking around the ranch, and sun protection. Optional: 4 x 6” or smaller photo to make a drawing from.
About the artist:Lucy Holtsnider is a printmaker and book designer based in Lakewood. In her fine art practice, she combines monotype prints, handmade paper, and found objects to create collages and artists’ books that consider climate change impacts and sense of place. As a designer, she designs book covers for self-published authors. Lucy currently teaches at Colorado College, and has taught courses at Yeshiva University, Marist College, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
We will send directions to Buffalo Peaks Ranch to all workshop attendees. Registration begins on Saturday, June 12, 6:00 am.
Our version of a fireworks celebration:Melon Day at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, from years past.
The Land Library’s Spring Campaign came to a close last night. We want to thank everyone for their support! We hoped to raise $10,000 to help fuel summer ranch renovation, and programming at both Buffalo Peaks Ranch, and at our city branch in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood. But thanks to you all, we raised $17,770 from over 200 supporters!
We also sold 240 Land Library T-Shirts that you’ll soon start seeing all across town! 🙂
Special thanks also goes to the anonymous Challenge Grant, that was donated in memory of Marci Kearney. Thanks to that generous gesture, we turned $5,000 into $10,000!
The Lambing Barn and Mount Silverheels on the horizon.photo by Samuel Bell
Stay tuned for Land Library summer updates from both ends of the South Platte River!
Starting today, May 17th, all donations will be matched dollar for dollar, up to a $5,000 limit. For more on our Spring Campaign, and how to donate, please read on!
After a covid-slowed year, this summer will be an emergent one at Buffalo Peaks Ranch. We’ll resume programming, and take ranch renovation to new heights. Among other goals we will complete the Cooks House renovation (funded by over 1,000 Kickstarter donors), and thanks to our volunteers, we will resume work on a Community Event Space at the ranch’s old Lambing Barn. Your support for our Spring Fundraising Campaign will help make this our best Ranch season yet!
Your support will also help fuel our ongoing efforts to establish a Headwaters to Plains network of library/learning centers on the banks of the South Platte River, stretching from the headwaters at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, to Denver’s Globeville neighborhood. Each library, spanning the urban/rural divide, will encourage discovery, quiet thought, creative pursuits, and active community involvement. We hope to re-open the Globeville Land Library branch with full safety measures in place. We’ll be posting soon about a return to classes and books clubs at Globeville, along with volunteer work days, where we all have the chance to dive into over a 1,000 boxes of Land Library books!
Our 2021 Spring campaign offers something new this year! You’ll have two easy ways of donating:
— 1) Click on the DONATE button and make a direct donation to the Rocky Mountain Land Library, or
— 2) Donate, and look great doing it, by ordering a few T-shirts for you and yours! A sizable portion of the proceeds will support our Spring Campaign, and by your fashion choice, you’ll also help us get the word out about the resources and programs of the RMLL.
Our two week Spring Campaign (May 10th-23rd) hopes to raise $10,000, to help make the Land Library’s summer a transformative one, at both ends of the South Platte. Stay tuned over the next two weeks for updates, highlights, and plans for the season ahead!
How to order your T-Shirts from Bonfire:
Remember when ordering a T-shirt, you can pick your favorite style, and choose from an array of color choices. As you check out, there is also an option to add an additional donation to help support the Land Library. To order T-shirts, here are the Bonfire links:
Drain by Mark Bellncula/Lume Machina Project, 2020 Buffalo Peaks Ranch Photo Contest, First Place Winner. Mark uses a combination of pre-programmed drones with LED lights to create massive 3-D sculptures in the sky.
With the generous help of so many, the Rocky Mountain Land Library has surpassed our Year End Campaign’s $20,000 goal! The donations that have flowed in over this past month can now be used to fire-up many projects at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, and at our inner-city home in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood.
If you haven’t donated yet, you still have time to help make 2021 the Land Library’s best year yet. We would love your support!
Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign. Our campaign goal is two fold; sharing more about our 2021 plans and programs, plus asking for your support as we continue to create a network of place-based libraries along Colorado’s South Platte River.
Please consider making a contribution today!
As our 2020 Year End Campaign draws to a close we wanted to share some of the excitement we feel about the Land Library’s urban home in Denver’s inner city. Our new library gives us so much untapped potential to celebrate nature in the city!
Here’s Three Reasons Why We Love Globeville:
Globeville is a working class neighborhood with a rich cultural heritage. It’s also a perfect place to tell the story of people and the land from both a rural and urban perspective. We’ll always need both voices as we care for the land.
Globeville has a trio of wonderful city parks, plus the South Platte Trail to connect everyone to the river. We’re already using these great natural resources as sites for nature in the city classes, and we’ll be hosting many more when the pandemic eases.
The Same River Twice: With our new urban home on the prairie, we are able to celebrate the South Platte River in a headwaters to plains manner. Both Land Library sites lie on the banks of the South Platte, from South Park’s Buffalo Peaks Ranch to our new Globeville location. We love the synergy that’s possible between both river sites!
There’s still time to help support the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Headwaters to Plains Network!
Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign. Our campaign goal is two fold; sharing more about our 2021 plans and programs, plus asking for your support as we continue to create a network of place-based libraries along Colorado’s South Platte River.
Please consider making a contribution today!
This past summer, thanks to the Land Library’s amazing volunteers, we converted Buffalo Peaks Ranch’s old Scale House into a Young Readers Library. The library is full of great books, rocks, skulls, fossils, feathers, and a full array of exploration tools: binoculars, microscopes, a weather station, and telescope. The Young Readers Library has a clubhouse feel, where next summer young naturalists are sure to gather.The ranch’s newest library would never have happened if it wasn’t for the support of the Friends of the Fairplay Community. Their grant allowed us to clean out the old shed. Our volunteer Steve Harris added new windows, a dutch door, and many, many bookcases. Having the Young Readers Library will inspire new kids programs in 2021. It’s our hope that the combination of great books, the river, and the ranch, will inspire the next generation of young people who love and care for our planet. Please lend us your support!
Here’s what we’ll be talking about for the rest of the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign!
DECEMBER 20-26, Nature In The City: We have lots to share about what’s being planned in Globeville, our Denver branch located on the banks of the South Platte River. The Rocky Mountain Land Library is so excited to have an inner-city location. We’ll talk more about this incredible opportunity to help tell the story of nature and the land from an urban and rural perspective — along the same river no less!
Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign. Our campaign goal is two fold; sharing more about our 2021 plans and programs, plus asking for your support as we continue to create a network of place-based libraries along Colorado’s South Platte River.
Please consider making a contribution today!
Our early plans for Buffalo Peaks Ranch called for establishing a hearth feel for a ranch that has been dark and abandoned for the past twenty five years. That general notion led us to a strong food and land focus for the Cooks House. So, thanks to over 1,000 Kickstarter supporters, and countless volunteers, we will complete renovation on the Cooks House next summer. That accomplishment will give us:
Two new lodgings, a classroom space, a terrific kitchen, and a new library for the ranch.
The Cooks House Library will be devoted to Food and Land – from seed and soil, to food traditions across the globe. Our books are ready to be shelved!
Our new kitchen will also host cooking classes and demonstrations.
The completion of the Cooks House will provide an indoor space for classes and workshops, always a helpful option if South Park’s weather takes a turn.
And lastly, next summer we’ll be able to launch the ranch’s first Residency Program, giving writers, artists, and other creatives the time and space to pursue their passion. The Cooks House will supply creature comforts and great books, while the ranch’s landscape will provide quiet and inspiration.
Stay tuned for more, and please consider being part of this one-of-a-kind project focused on books, land, and lifelong learning. Donation information is below.
Here’s what we’ll be talking about for the rest of the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign!
DECEMBER 13-19, The ranch’s new Young Readers Library: We’ll explore the shelves of the ranch’s new library, and describe some of the kids programming that’s being planned for Buffalo Peaks Ranch.
DECEMBER 20-26, Nature In The City: We have lots to share about what’s being planned in Globeville, our Denver branch located on the banks of the South Platte River. The Rocky Mountain Land Library is so excited to have an inner-city location. We’ll talk more about this incredible opportunity to help tell the story of nature and the land from an urban and rural perspective — along the same river no less!
Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign. Our campaign goal is two fold; sharing more about our 2021 plans and programs, plus asking for your support as we continue to create a network of place-based libraries along Colorado’s South Platte River.
Please consider making a contribution today!
Thanks to photographer Matthew Staver for this inspiring video of the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s headwaters home!
This past week we have been featuring Buffalo Peaks Ranch, established in 1861, and recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. After more than a century as a successful high mountain sheep and cattle operation, the ranch has begun its next chapter. South Park’s landscape (captured in the video above), along with the Land Library’s 50,000+ volumes, will soon help tell the story of the American West, along with the intimate ties between people and the land across the globe.
Set on the banks of the South Platte River, this historic ranch has already been the inspiring site for classes, workshops, field studies, teacher training, and a three-day art exhibition. Alongside those gatherings, volunteers have been renovating ranch structures to usher in the day when Buffalo Peaks Ranch will become a residential library dedicated to nature and the land. Readers, writers, artists, students, and many others will have the opportunity to “live” at the library, gaining inspiration from the books, and from the surrounding landscape of South Park.
Here’s a few 2021 goals that we are all excited about:
Resuming Ranch Classes and Programs, after our covid-caused pause in 2020.
Completing renovation of the Cooks House (more on that next week!).
Transforming the Lambing Barn into an indoor/outdoor Event Center for Land Library programs, classes, music, dance, celebrations, dinners, and for the use of the South Park community.
Expand Children’s programming at the ranch. With the completion of the new Young Readers Library last summer, we’re excited to add more kids activities, and special Kids/Family days at the ranch.
Next week we’ll explore the ranch’s most exciting renovation project to date — the Cooks House, which will soon feature lodgings, a kitchen, classroom space, and one of the ranch’s first permanent libraries. Stay tuned for more, and please consider being part of this one-of-a-kind project focused on books, land, and lifelong learning. Donation information is below.
Here’s what we’ll be talking about for the rest of the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s Year End Campaign!
DECEMBER 6-12, Renovating the Cooks House (thanks to over a thousand Kickstarter donors), and creating a special library devoted to food and land, from seed and soil, to global food traditions across the world. We’ll talk about the renovation process and progress, and feature many amazing volunteers that are getting the work done!
DECEMBER 13-19, The ranch’s new Young Readers Library: We’ll explore the shelves of the ranch’s new library, and describe some of the kids programming that’s being planned for Buffalo Peaks Ranch.
DECEMBER 20-26, Nature In The City: We have lots to share about what’s being planned in Globeville, our Denver branch located on the banks of the South Platte River. The Rocky Mountain Land Library is so excited to have an inner-city location. We’ll talk more about this incredible opportunity to help tell the story of nature and the land from an urban and rural perspective — along the same river no less!
Rocky Mountain Land Library 