I'm Lauren Johnson and we are on the Collins ranch near Kit Carson. I grew up in South Denver; my only relation to Eastern Colorado was driving to the east coast and driving through Kansas. So just observing it from the road, I think most people, that's their relationship to Eastern Colorado. 

I moved out here before we got married so in 2016. I pretty quickly loved this landscape. Getting to be on the ranch, producing beef for the US and the world, in such a simple, with nature, existence…it felt like a purpose that I had never had before. I feel like more than anything, that this journey to the ranch and being on the producer side, and the rancher side, and seeing the interconnectedness, it's really, for me, been an experience of being more human. 

The prairie grassland ecosystems evolved with keystone species; for North America, for our prairie grasslands, that was the bison. So there's a relationship between the bison and our grasslands, and if you remove the bison you don't really have that ecosystem–that relationship–anymore. While we don't have bison, cattle are ruminant animals, and they effectively can have that same relationship with the grasslands. Instead of looking at things in a reductionist way, it's really bringing it out so much bigger and seeing everything as in relationship with one another. 

We calve closer to when the antelope and the deer calve, so again, working with nature, and not against it. Because a lot of people will, if they’re solving for the goal of big calves, they calve usually in like January, February, March. That's a really tough time in nature to be an animal. So getting closer to that solstice–that’s when we've synced our stuff up. The really interesting thing is once you sync up with nature, the more economically viable you are. One of the things is that we grow more grass. Again, I think that deep listening and being in tune, the plants are like, “Okay, you're saying you get it.” We are so lucky to caretake this land and steward this land. 

This is gonna sound so silly: I love the cottonwood trees, they’re like my family out there. I love them…so much. They’re such teachers and also allies. We have forgotten that we are not separate. We are relational, to everything.