Life on the Range with Glenn Elzinga

Many of us have lost the thread that connects us to our food. Glenn Elzinga is spending his life trying to pick it back up.

Glenn is the founder of Alderspring Ranch, a certified organic grass-fed beef operation in the remote Salmon River country of central Idaho. But describing it as a beef operation barely scratches the surface. Each summer, Glenn and his family, along with a rotating crew of interns, ride on horseback across 70 square miles of mountain range, living alongside their cattle for months at a time, following the melting snow and the greening grass. It is, as Glenn describes it, an ancient practice of shepherding that modern agriculture has all but forgotten.

In this conversation, Glenn challenges some of the deepest assumptions embedded in how we raise animals and grow food. What does it mean to be a caregiver rather than a caretaker? What happens when we let a cow be a cow? And what is lost when we reduce agriculture to a production equation?

In this episode, we dive into:

* How Glenn's model revives an ancient, nearly lost practice of herdsmanship

* The difference between productivity and profitability, and why it matters for the land

* What cows can teach us when we actually pay attention to them

* Why 400 young people applied for unpaid, grueling ranch internships, and what they found there

* The caregiver versus caretaker distinction, and what it reveals about our relationship to animals, land, and each other

* Why Wendell Berry's diagnosis of American agriculture is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago

* Why getting people to cook again might be one of the most radical things we can do

More about Glenn and Aldersping [https://www.alderspring.com/]: