How To Support
We are often asked how people can support us here at Star Creek other than work with us on a grazing project. Star Creek Land Stewards, and our crew (Andrée & Bianca) are very involved in many different industry associations. This includes, California Wool Growers Association, California Sheep Commission, Rangeland Management Advisory Committee and a few more. These associations all work to advocate for the sheep & goat (even cattle) industries here in California & fire prevention & targeted grazing/vegetation management as a whole. In order to continue to grow the targeted grazing community, help advocate & educate, and continue to have a thriving industry, many other factors come into play. Supporting us, means supporting the industry at large. Sheep, goat, and other livestock producers throughout California. We may focus on targeted grazing here at Star Creek, but we do rely on help from veterinarians, researchers, shearers, consumers, and our ranching neighbors, all of which need to be successful and supported in order for us to continue. So, with that, I’m going to go ahead and drop some ideas.
Firstly, you can buy meat (teehee lamb) from California Ranchers. Buying meat, if that’s the sort of thing you do, from a rancher here in California supports that rancher and our industry as a whole. Requesting American or California Lamb at your favorite restaurant, reminds those chefs that you do care where your food comes from, and you’d like it to not need a passport in order to end up on your dinner plate (export joke).
Secondly, buy wool. Vintage, fancy, designer, athleisure, yarn, whatever floats your boat. Wool doesn’t have to be itchy (though I don’t mind an old itchy fisherman's sweater). Many of us sheep ranchers have worked VERY hard to produce finer and finer wool, which creates wildly soft textiles. We (Talbott Sheep Co.) have even gone through the trouble of being double certified under the Responsible Wool Standard & NATIVA to ensure that not only is our wool quality fab-tabulous, but that our ethics are as well. The way we care for the land we graze, employees, record keeping, animal welfare, it’s all checked, and 3rd party audited, not once, but repeatedly. Yes, it is exhausting and stressful, but incredibly important to us and worth it because we’re able to be a part of Shaniko Wool Company, and our wool is now being sought out by some of the most incredible brands in the world. We’re also 3 years into the Shaniko Wool Companies Carbon Initiative, where all ranches have been taking soil samples to test for carbon for a number of years. Crazy exciting data. There’s also lots of “new'' creative things being done with wool, dryer balls, insulation for homes, pillow stuffing, bedding etc. But back to the point, freakin buy it. It’s great, it’s 50% carbon (woohoo) and by supporting ranchers like us, you’re also supporting climate beneficial livestock raising and land management.
Thirdly, go talk to your local, regional and state legislators. Remind them how important it is to you that targeted grazing practices are used in your area. Sheep, goats, cows, horses, I even think someone does it with fowl. Livestock can be used as a tool to improve our environments & protect our communities. (A tool, not THE tool. Other tools are great too. As far as I know, sheep & goats haven’t been trained to chip & remove dead trees. This is a disclaimer because sometimes doods like to get sassy with me about livestock not doing full on tree removal) Remind your legislators that not only do livestock do an amazing job at creating/maintaining fire fuel breaks, but they also are a hit in the community. Just saying, but when a lot of us grazers show up, communities literally have parades for us….personally I’ve never seen that for the spray crews.
Lastly, chat about it. Tell your friends, tell the person sitting next to you on the plane, show them the 1,000,000,000 photos you took of the sheep & goats when they were working behind your house (I know you took that many, just own it). Talk to teachers and educators, ask a grazer to do a field day at your child’s school or community gathering. Spread the word.
If you’re interested in finding a rancher that offers direct to consumer lamb, look no further, I already made you a list here.
Thanks for reading along to my antics, hope you giggled and checked out some of the lamb options.