It's the Work, Stupid.

Our last blog post and last two Instagram posts were about a feature article in a magazine and an accompanying video.

That stuff is fun – no doubt about it – and we’re incredibly grateful for the publicity. It helps a small business like ours a lot, and it also helps spread the word about our mission and what we are so passionate about.

But we’re not in this for magazine stories. (And we’re still genuinely surprised at all of the interest in our story.)

At the end of the day, it’s about the work.

Trying to raise bison as well and as in sync with nature as possible.

Trying to provide our customers with amazing, amazing bison meat and an incredible customer experience.

Trying to savor the good days, survive the hard days, and appreciate the uneventful days.

This has been on my mind, as last week we wanted to publicize the magazine story and video – and then this week I field-harvested three bison over the past two days.

It’s hard work, and as I type this there are three bison carcasses hanging in a cooler that will provide around 1,000 pounds of regenerative bison meat for a handful of awesome customers.

And it’s this week – this is the week that matters. The week that counts. The week that endures. The week that makes all of this tick.

We so deeply and strongly believe in what we’re doing here, and we feel damn lucky to be able to do it.

There are so many examples. But I’ll just give one.

After I field-harvest a bison on the ranch and eviscerate it, I take the bison to the Amsterdam Meat Shop west of Bozeman.  We work exclusively with them, and they dry-age and butcher all of our bison.

And they have the greatest people working there – people we truly love. Jesse, Anna, and Ryan have become deeply valued personal friends of ours. I bring a bison in, and we catch up and talk about ranching, food, books, family, life. We all genuinely care for one another. It’s a unique and special thing.

Whenever I leave Amsterdam, I think to myself, “How did I get so lucky to get to work with these people?”

And this is just one example; I could give many.

But it goes back to the work.

It’s the work that sustains all of this. The many facets of this work, which connects us to nature, to our food, to the bison, to the seasons, to awe-inspiring moments, and to truly wonderful humans.

(And – yes – work that sometimes absolutely kicks your ass and humbles you and fills you with self-doubt. That’s all absolutely a part of this, too.)

But it’s the work.

Ups and downs. Highs and lows.

Day in, day out – it’s the work.

We’re committed to it, and we’re grateful for it.

Onward. 

The heart from yesterday’s field-harvested bison.