Learn - Build - Share
Thank you and congratulations on getting here! It is as much a journey to feed one's curiosity by building awareness of enlightened endeavors of others, and join the thinking community on land health, as it is to be a real live steward of a working landscape. This website touches the surface, as a stone skips across a stream, with curtain pages on History, Holistic Ranching, etc., and expands a bit through menu pages, "LEARN MORE" buttons, on the hope that it starts you on a similar journey.
We expect the Elster Ranch website will become a resource of its own, through encouraged sharing, expanding over time, from our own experiences and those of our supporters.
Please review the reference material for books that have inspired this ranch's work, periodicals that keep us current, and a wonderful list of resource links on working lands, health and nutrition, land ethic - conservation, community and historic resources.
They will challenge and excite, starting with the prose poetry of Aldo Leopold's famous book of essays, "A Sand County Almanac", the Leopold inspired field work of Point Blue's Working Lands Program, the efforts of the Nevada and Placer County Farm Advisor, a host of community organizations, and many private land owners who in their way are building a Land Ethic.
References
BOOKS
Cows Save the Planet, Judith C. Schwartz
Defending Beef: the Case for Sustainable Meat Production, Nicolette Hahn Niman
Grass, Soil, Hope, a Journey through Carbon Country, Courtney White
Grass: the Forgiveness of Nature, Charles Walters
Holistic Management, Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield
Water for Every Farm: Yeomans Keyline Plan, Ken B. Yeomans
PERIODICALS
The Stockman GrassFarmer
www.stockmangrassfarmer.com
Acres USA – The Voice of Eco-Agriculture
www.acresusa.com
RESOURCE LINKS
Working Lands
Point Blue – Conservation Science for a Healthy Planet
www.pointblue.org
Holistic Management International – Educate People to Manage Lands for a Sustainable Future
www.holisticmanagement.org
Keyline Designs– Principles, Techniques, and Systems to Enhance and Regenerate Landscapes
www.keyline.com.au
Nevada County Resource Conservation District – Partner in Conservation and Agriculture
www.ncrcd.org
Quivera Coalition – Building Resilience in Western Landscapes
quiviracoalition.org
Regrarians – Regenerating, Rekindling and Rebooting Production Landscapes
www.regrarians.org
Savory Institute – Innovative Tools and Awareness for Enduring Life of the Land
savory.global/institute
The Grassfed Exchange – Exchanging Knowledge on Regenerative Agriculture
www.grassfedexchange.com
UC Cooperative Extension – Help Communities Benefit from Scientific Advances in Agriculture
ceplacer.ucanr.edu
USDA – NRCS, Soil Biology and Land Management
www.nrcs.usda.gov
UCCE – Foothill Farming
ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms
Web Soil Survey
websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app
Health and Nutrition
Authority Nutrition – An Evidence Based Approach
authoritynutrition.com
Eat Wild – Getting Wild Nutrition from Modern Food
eatwild.com
Nevada City Farmers Market
www.ncfarmersmarket.org
NIH – Red and Processed Meat and Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Sierra Harvest
www.sierraharvest.org
Three Forks Bakery – Serving Elster Ranch Pastured Products
www.threeforksnc.com
Weston Price Foundation – Nutrition Education
www.westonaprice.org
Land Ethic – Conservation
Aldo Leopold Foundation – Land Ethic, an Enduring Idea
www.aldoleopold.org
Bear Yuba Land Trust – Save Land, Build Trails, Encounter Nature
www.bylt.org
California Rangeland Trust – Stewardship for Future Generations
www.rangelandtrust.org
TomKat Ranch Education Foundation – Partnering for rangeland Conservation
www.tomkatranch.org
Community
Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce
grassvalleychamber.com
KVMR – Music of the World, Voice of the Community
www.kvmr.org
Nevada City Chamber of Commerce
www.nevadacitychamber.com
Nevada County Fairgrounds
nevadacountyfair.com
The Center for the Arts
thecenterforthearts.org
Historic
Doris Foley Library for Historical Research
www.mynevadacounty.com/nc/library
Empire Mine
www.empiremine.org
Nevada County Historical Society
www.nevadacountyhistory.org
North Star Mine
www.nevadacountyhistory.org/mining-museum
St. Joseph’s Cultural Center
www.saintjosephsculturalcenter.org
Who Are These People?
Aldo Leopold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold
Allan Savory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory
D. H. Lawrence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence
Gretel Ehrlich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretel_Ehrlich
Wendell Berry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry