Spreading Books Across the Ranch

How do you turn an abandoned historic ranch into a residential library?

Sometime during our long (& still ongoing) planning process we decided that Buffalo Peaks Ranch would house not one, but several libraries spread across the ranch — in various buildings and barns.

The list is not complete, but Buffalo Peaks Ranch will have special libraries dedicated to Natural History, Western & Native American history, poetry & literature, environmental studies, astronomy, mining, railroads, and Public Lands across the world (from National Parks to community gardens).

Plus one very special library that we are really excited about!

In the ranch’s Main House, right through the green screen door to the right, we’ll be setting up the Marie Guiraud Ranching Library — celebrating ranching history & traditions, from the early days to the present, with books on ranching in the American West, and across the globe.

This constantly-growing library is named after Marie Guiraud, who along with her husband Adolph, first established this homestead ranch, back in 1861 along the Middle Fork of Colorado’s South Platte River.

Marie’s life was a remarkable one that we’ll return to again and again. Her story will help us tell the larger story of women in the West.

photo of Marie Guiraud courtesy of Jacquelyn Guiraud Miller & Fred Guiraud

The library has many books on artists & photographers who captured this traditional way of working on the land.

The growing collection includes old ranch histories, ranch memoirs, cowboy songs & poetry.

plus tales of new ranching traditions.

And yes, this is a Ranch Library dedicated to ranching across the world!

Building Towards our Best Year yet!

The Horse Barn at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, with early morning mist up valley

“We find our place in the world through land and stories, and the Rocky Mountain Land Library unites our passion for both.” – Mark Fiege, author of The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States.

Books are the tools we love the best. They have a way of connecting people across the globe, and through time. Books help us discover and celebrate the beauty of our improbable blue world. And books provide us with the tools we all need to live lighter on the land.

As we reach the midpoint of the year, we’ll be taking this next week to ask for your support. We’ll also be sharing exciting news about the remainder of 2019!

In many ways 2019 has already been a breakthrough year for the Land Library. We’ve established a new inner-city Land Library in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood. Volunteers have spent over 800 hours unpacking books, and getting them ready for both Globeville, and Buffalo Peaks Ranch. We’ve also launched a few classes and workshops, with more to come.

South Park’s Buffalo Peaks Ranch, with Mt. Silverheels in the distance

Up at the headwaters, Buffalo Peaks Ranch has come back to life after a long Colorado winter. We’re looking forward to a summer full of classes, volunteer workdays, and the final renovation of the Cooks House.

The untapped potential of the Rocky Mountain Land Library still inspires us everyday. Please help us make 2019 the turning point in our hopes to create something new along the South Platte River – namely, two place-based libraries designed to encourage discovery, quiet thought, creative pursuits, and active community involvement. For more inspiration, be sure to take a look at the latest book-filled video below!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Feel free to click on our PayPal donation button below, or it you prefer to donate by check, our best address is:

Rocky Mountain Land Library, 2550 W. 39th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211.

Click Here for PayPal.

Recently the Rocky Mountain Land Library received Colorado Preservation Inc‘s 2019 Preservation Edge Award This special honor is designed to recognize projects that do not fit into the standard “mold,” but has the spirit of preservation at its core. CPI also produced this 3-minute film. You’ll see both of our Headwaters to Plains sites: Buffalo Peaks Ranch, and our new urban home in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood. All the interviews were filmed at the Globeville site:

Buffalo Peaks Ranch’s Summer Schedule!

Buffalo Peaks Ranch photo by Samuel Bell

South Park is starting to green up, and we are excited to start the summer season at Buffalo Peaks Ranch! It should be a stimulating summer, with classes & workshops, Open House tours, volunteer workdays, and at long last, the renovation of the Cooks House!

Over the next two weeks we’ll be announcing the ranch’s complete Summer Schedule. We’ll have more than a dozen classes, including artist & writers workshops, natural history field classes, and our 5th Annual Ranch Book Club.

We have four ranch days that are all ready for registration. Follow the links for each event, for more information!

Amanda Rea

Le Domaine Perdu: Writing your Lost World with author Amanda Rea, June 22nd

Michael Keyes

Oil Painting Plein Air Workshop with artist Michael Keyes, June 29th

Camille Dungy

Breath of Fresh Air Generative Writing Workshop with author Camille Dungy, July 27th

Jeff Kanipe

Star Night: The Dark Skies of South Park with Jeff Kanipe, July 27th

Main House, Buffalo Peaks Ranch photo by Larry Glass

Stay tuned for much more on Buffalo Peaks Ranch’s Summer 2019!

 

Foraging for Ink & Finding a Whole Lot More

This past Saturday, the Land Library hosted a workshop on making ink from foraged plants and discarded city debris (rusty wire, copper pennies, and the like). We started the day foraging along the South Platte River Trail – which runs alongside the Globeville Land Library’s back door.

Our foraging walk along the river yielded plenty of rusty treasures and new spring growth. We also came across a red-tailed hawk, a hooded Merganser, and Beaver signs galore – including the gnawed down tree in the picture above!

And who doesn’t love trains! Two passed over the trail as we foraged…

Once back at the Globeville Land Library we spread out what we gathered,

And slowly but surely, transformed those bits into vivid shades of Ink!

Everyone also had plenty of time to dive into the Land Library’s books on foraging and dyes, including the remarkable book that inspired this workshop: Jason Logan’s Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking. (This link will take you to a wonderful film clip, featuring Jason Logan in the urban wilds).

And thanks for our friends at Walk2Connect for getting the word out about the foraging class, and joining us for the fun!

Your Trail Guide to the Rocky Mountain Land Library

“We find our place in the world through land and stories, and the Rocky Mountain Land Library unites our passion for both.” — Mark Fiege, author of The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States

Books are the tools we love best. They have a way of connecting people across the globe, and over the centuries. Books help us discover and celebrate the beauty of our improbable blue world. And books provide us with the tools we all need to live lighter on the land.

Our webpages (listed above) describes the Land Library’s books, programs, and the emerging Headwaters to Plains Network — a series of book-lined spaces, encouraging discovery, quiet thought, creative pursuits, and active community involvement.

Over the years, our website has also featured posts on some of the books that excite us to no end. You’ll also see that we report on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we all have to restore a historic Colorado ranch. Set in the high mountain grasslands of South Park, Buffalo Peaks Ranch will soon be the headwater site of a residential library — a place where you can come and stay for as long as you like.

Read about concrete corral stalls given new life as artist studios, our plans for a Land Library for inner-city Denver, complete with its very own Seed Library.

But as you’ll see from many years of web posts, we are happiest when reporting on books inspired by a sense of wonder, and hopeful for an even brighter future ahead.

For more on the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s headwaters home at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, here’s a short video tour:

“The Rocky Mountain Land Library is like a gene bank for words, it’s our way of saving the past for the future.“ — David Mas Masumoto, farmer and author.

For more information on the Rocky Mountain Land Library, please contact jeff@landlibrary.org.

Our First Globeville Book Club Pick!

We are thrilled to announce that Nick Arvin (author of Articles of War, Mad Boy, and other works of fiction) will be leading the discussion of our first pick for the Globeville Book Club: The Summer Book, Tove Jansson’s highly acclaimed novel that tells the unsentimental tale of a six-year old girl and her grandmother’s summer days on an island in the Gulf of Finland.

Here’s what Nick Arvin has to say: “The Summer Book tells its tale as a series of small moments that are funny, sad, scary, and touching, often all at once, and that add up to an extraordinary, living sense of place and time and the relationship between two people, one young, one old. I fell in love with it, and I think you will too.”

Join us on Sunday, April 28th, 1-3pm at the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s new Globeville Library for what we are sure will be a very fun & interesting discussion!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator, and perhaps most famously, she was the author of the award-winning Moomin books for children, including Finn Family Moomintroll. Tove Jansson also wrote six novels for adults, and five books of short stories. The Summer Book, published in 1972, continues to gain enthusiastic new readers every year.

If You Love Books You’ll Love Globeville!

We are thrilled to announce our first slate of events, programs & classes at the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s new urban outpost in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood!

Announcing our Globeville Library Open House

Come join us for a special Open House on Sunday, March 31st, 1-3pm! You’ll be able to see and experience our new Globeville Library, which is filling up with books on the natural & cultural history of the American West, along with hundreds of titles with a special focus on nature-in-the-city.  And you’ll see the work that is already underway, as volunteers continue to unpack over 1,000 boxes of books – some destined for Buffalo Peaks Ranch, and others for the city.

We’ll have food and drink, plus some handy information on the Rocky Mountain Land Library, and all the ways you can make the it your own.

CLICK HERE FOR FREE TICKETS!

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Bookbinding Projects with River Rocks & More

On Saturday, April 13th we will be hosting an Open Workshop featuring a variety of Bookbinding techniques, including crafting a book from flat river rocks (found along the South Platte River as it flows through Buffalo Peaks Ranch). .

This will be an Open Workshop, suitable for anyone. We’ll all be exploring and experimenting together! We’ll also have plenty of time to dive into the Land Library’s books on book arts, including the very creative volume that inspired this workshop: Erica Ekrem’s Bound by Hand.

We have a limited number of Buffalo Peaks Ranch river rocks, and those come in variable sizes. If you sign-up for this workshop, be sure to select the ticket for the rock size you wish to work with (small, medium, or large). All tickets are priced the same!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

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Our First Globeville Book Club Pick to be led by author Nick Arvin!

We are thrilled to announce that Nick Arvin (author of Articles of War, Mad Boy, and other works of fiction) will be leading the discussion of our first pick for the Globeville Book Club: The Summer Book, Tove Jansson’s highly acclaimed novel that tells the unsentimental tale of a six-year old girl and her grandmother’s summer days on an island in the Gulf of Finland.

Here’s what Nick Arvin has to say: “The Summer Book tells its tale as a series of small moments that are funny, sad, scary, and touching, often all at once, and that add up to an extraordinary, living sense of place and time and the relationship between two people, one young, one old. I fell in love with it, and I think you will too.”

Join us on Sunday, April 28th, 1-3pm at the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s new Globeville Library for what we are sure will be a very fun & interesting discussion!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

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Foraging and Ink-making in the City

On Saturday, May 4th we will be hosting a workshop on making ink from foraged plants and discarded city debris (rusty wire, copper pennies, and the like). We’ll start the day foraging along the South Platte River, then return to our new Globeville Library, where we’ll begin to make inks from our urban harvest.

This will be an Open Workshop, suitable for anyone. The day will be all about exploring & experimenting together! We’ll also have plenty of time to dive into the Land Library’s books on foraging and dyes, including the remarkable book that inspired this workshop: Jason Logan’s Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking. (This link will take you to a wonderful film clip, featuring Jason Logan in the urban wilds).

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Stay tuned for more Globeville event announcements, plus the 2019 Buffalo Peaks Ranch Summer Schedule. There’s a lot happening at both ends of the South Platte River!