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!
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.
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:
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!
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!
“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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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).
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!
Gregg Deal & his daughter Sage perform the Invisible Loss Movement during the Re/Call weekend. photo by Helen Thorpe
We love Kim Shively’s short film that captures one of the most remarkable weekends Buffalo Peaks Ranch has ever experienced.
This past Labor Day, the RedLine Contemporary Art Center presented the Re/Call exhibition, which brought 19 artists from across the country to the ranch. If you missed that remarkable weekend, please take a look at this wonderful video!
Ann Martin & Jeff Lee, co-founders of the Rocky Mountain Land Library.
As 2018 draws to a close, we wanted to catch-up with the Rocky Mountain Land Library’s co-founders, Jeff Lee and Ann Martin.
Jeff and Ann have been booksellers at Denver’s Tattered Cover for over 30 years. Back in the 90’s, while on a book-buying trip for the store, they came upon St Deiniol’s Residential Library in Wales. That visit was the start of their dream to create a residential library in Colorado – one focused on people and the land.
The dream has grown since that trip. Just this past month, Jeff and Ann officially donated the books they have been gathering for the Land Library, a collection valued at more than $600,000.
The Land Library social media team (LL) spoke with Jeff before the holidays. We hope to corral Ann later!
LL: How did two booksellers acquire more than 40,000 books, plus a 95-year lease at a historic Colorado ranch?
Jeff: Wow, that’s a long story, and one that’s about many more people than Ann and I! But, as for the 40,000 books, a big part of that can be explained by the fact that Ann and I have worked at the Tattered Cover Book Store for more than 30 years. With that daily immersion in the world of books, the Land Library has grown, book by book, year after year.
Once Ann and I committed to the idea of a residential library, we also decided to take the first step by actually buying the books themselves. We felt that it was important to make the Land Library real, from the very start.
The Cooks House at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, with Mount Silverheels in the distance. photo by Samuel Bell
LL: But you only donated the books a few weeks ago?
Jeff: Right — the books were always meant for the Land Library, we just felt it was time to make it official.
LL: OK, so you gathered a book collection valued at more than $600,000, but how did the Land Library acquire Buffalo Peaks Ranch?
Jeff: Well, other than the books, we’ve never had much money behind us. We definitely could never even think of purchasing a 1,500 acre ranch, especially one that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But by working with Park County and the City of Aurora (the ranch’s owner), we were able to sign a 95-year lease at Buffalo Peaks Ranch. We are definitely in it for the long haul!
We’re already planning our most ambitious summer of ranch renovation & programs, coming up in 2019. We hope everyone will stay tuned for that!
The Horse Barn at Buffalo Peaks Ranch.
LL: Back to the books for a minute. Last spring, Land Library volunteers moved over 1,400 boxes of books to our new Library/warehouse in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood:
The Land Library’s new home in Globeville.
What will we find when we start opening those boxes?
Jeff: I think everyone will find great books — both eye-opening and inspiring — and there will be lots of surprises too!
Ron Dirlam, our favorite carpenter, in front of his handiwork, as the first few books hit the shelves at Globeville.
The core of the Land Library’s collection has always been about people and the land. That takes in natural history, a range of environmental issues, Western & Native American history, literature, poetry, art, and more.
Gregg Deal and his daughter perform the Invisible Loss Movement during the Re/Call Art Exhibition this past September. photo by Helen Thorpe
The Land Library’s books are also rooted in the diverse cultures that define where we all live. We’ve also sought out titles that help us live lighter on the land. In short, we hope the Land Library’s books will be used as tools for all of us, as we move forward.
The Middle Fork of the South Platte River flows through the ranch. photo by Samuel Bell.
One other thing I should mention: There’s a certain tone that we’ve always tried to strike with the books we’ve gathered. Plenty of our titles challenge us to do better, and to fix the harm our way of living inflicts on the earth. We need those books!
But even more of the Land Library’s books are about the beauty and endless fascination of the natural world. Here’s a simple & brilliant quote from Jeff Bridges – one that fired up our current end-of-the-year Fundraising Campaign:
“It’s natural to love the earth, so you don’t have to be motivated to save it out of fear, but rather because you love the gift of life and the planet.”
That’s the feeling we hope the Land Library will foster, from Buffalo Peaks Ranch, to Denver’s Globeville neighborhood.
Early morning mist at Buffalo Peaks Ranch. photo by Larry Glass.
LL: Last question: what are you reading now?
Jeff: For some reason I’ve been reading a lot of British nature writers lately. I finished up Helen Jukes’ beekeeping memoir, A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings (I loved it!), and now I’m reading Horatio Clare’s winter journal, The Light in the Dark. I’m really liking that book – it’s helping me to get a fresh outlook on our season of snow & cold!
Jeff Lee, and one of the Land Library’s architect/planners, Ted Schultz, trading ideas in front of the Cooks House (prior to it’s new paint job!)
Step by step, book by book
Our Year-end Fundraising Campaign wraps up in a week!
Feel free to click on our PayPal donation button below, or it you prefer to write a check, our best address is:
Rocky Mountain Land Library, 2550 W. 39th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211.
Buffalo Peaks Ranch. the Land Library’s headwaters home. photo by Samuel Bell
“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 year-end Fundraising Campaign got off to a great start, this past #GivingTuesday! But there’s more to come over the next few weeks. The funds we raise will fuel our ongoing efforts to establish aHeadwaters to Plains Network — a network of library/learning centers focused on people and the land. Each library, spanning the urban/rural divide, will encourage discovery, quiet thought, creative pursuits, and active community involvement.
The Bunkhouse and Cooks House at Buffalo Peaks Ranch
Over the next four weeks we will send out weekly updates on our plans for 2019. The Land Library has ambitious goals ahead but we’ll need your support. We are excited about what we all can accomplish in the year ahead!
Our friend (& master carpenter) Ron Dirlam at our emerging urban Land Library in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood.
Step by step, book by book!
Feel free to click on our PayPal donation button below, or it you prefer to write a check, our best address is:
Rocky Mountain Land Library, 2550 W. 39th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211.
