February 4, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of the Don't Die Rusty podcast, host Rick Hanson speaks with Kaitlin Giles, a third-generation rancher at the TA Ranch in Wyoming. They discuss the recent Fire and Ice Festival, the challenges of running a multi-generational ranch, and the importance of community events in bringing people together. Katy shares insights into the history of the TA Ranch, including its connection to the Johnson County War, and emphasizes the significance of preserving the ranch's historical integrity while adapting to modern needs.
The conversation highlights the unique blend of cowboy culture and community spirit that defines the ranch and its events. Kaitlin shares her experiences running a ranch and restaurant in Wyoming, emphasizing the importance of sustainability, community, and the cowboy way of life. She discusses the challenges of balancing ranch duties with hospitality, the significance of local food production, and the efforts to preserve Wyoming's heritage through events and education.
The conversation highlights the beauty of ranch life, the connections formed within the community, and the simple joys that define a good life.
You can find more information about the TA Ranch on Instagram @ta.ranch.
Please rate and review this podcast wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.
The Don't Die Rusty Podcast is recorded with Riverside.fm. Riverside is leading the charge in technology and convenience in terms of remote podcasting. You can help support the Don't Die Rusty Podcast by Clicking Here to sign up.
Takeaways
- The Fire and Ice Festival was a creative response to challenges faced after COVID.
- Community events can bring together diverse groups of people.
- The TA Ranch has a rich history tied to the Johnson County War.
- Generational ranching presents both challenges and opportunities.
- Preserving historical integrity is crucial for the TA Ranch.
- Cowboy culture has evolved and is often misunderstood.
- Events like the Fire and Ice Festival foster a sense of belonging.
- The importance of adapting traditions to modern contexts.
- The significance of Nordic heritage in the region.
- Authenticity in ranch life enhances visitor experiences. Ranch life is unpredictable and requires adaptability.
- Running a restaurant on a ranch involves unique challenges.
- Sustainability and local food production are essential.
- Heritage events help preserve Wyoming's history.
- Community support is vital in rural areas.
- Connection to the land fosters a sense of freedom.
- Authenticity and experience are sought after by younger generations.
- The cowboy way of life emphasizes camaraderie and support.
- A good life is defined by simple pleasures and connections.
- Living in harmony with nature is a rewarding experience.
You can find Don’t Die Rusty on all Social Media platforms:
Instagram: @dontdierusty
Facebook: Don’t Die Rusty
TikTok: Don't Die Rusty
You can find The Rick's at:
Rick Hanson
Instagram: @rickhanson24
Facebook: Rick Hanson
Ricky Brule
Instagram: @ricky.wayne80
Facebook: .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}Mark as PlayedTranscript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Well, hello, don't die.
Rusty nation.
How are you tonight?
This is Rick Hansen, your host for the don't die.
Rusty podcast, of course.
And if you watched any of our social media last week, which would been now I don't evenhave my calendar, which what day was that?
Katie January 18th.
(00:22):
You would have saw that I was over at a Norse festival by Buffalo, Wyoming.
And Katie Giles here is.
part of the TA ranch.
She's the third generation.
She's was, did I say Giles, right?
So anyway, I, you know, at Don't Die Rusty, we try to think out of the box and we try togo do things that are different and that we have never been to.
(00:54):
And so my wife, Cindy and I went over to the North.
the fire and ice festival, I should say.
was, and then we met a lot of people and it was a fun time and I got lucky enough to meetKatie and we're going to talk about a bunch of things that the TA ranch has going on a
(01:16):
little bit about the fire and ice festival.
And there's more things going on at the TA ranch too.
So I'm going to let Katie introduce herself and then we're going to have a conversation.
Well, first of all, I really appreciate you having me on the podcast and we had so muchfun on Saturday and I was so busy literally putting out dog fights and fires literal fires
(01:40):
that I couldn't get a talk so it's yeah, I'm really excited to talk to you now, but Kindof describe myself is that I am the third generation on the ranch and I've recently
returned within the last three years and
This is a multi-family generational ranch.
So we have all of our family living here.
(02:00):
We've got my grandma and grandpa, my mom and dad, and my brother and I.
And we're all kind of doing this ranch thing together.
And there's lots of different things going on with them having a family business.
So if you get to see and look into our business, you're to see every generation kind ofhappening in tandem with each other.
(02:23):
And it's a lot of fun.
and a challenge.
And that's kind of how the fire and ice got going is like how you kind of like have withDon't Die Rusty is that doing new things and having new challenges.
And that was kind of the big thing for us too is we were fighting over changing wallpaperwith my grandma.
(02:43):
She was like, she was really attached to her wallpaper.
And so we came to the conclusion that all of the events and all the things that we starteddoing was just an exercise on like doing crazy and wild things.
so that grandma and grandpa are never shocked with the next big thing.
Well.
like, you want to do what?
And then now they're like, OK, here's my credit card.
(03:09):
You know, it was really, I have to say for one thing, and this isn't to give you a bighead or anything, but you organized it very well and it was well put on.
was a, I've never, you know, some events you go to and you go, what in the heck is goingon here?
But this, you put on a great event there.
(03:32):
I can tell you that.
Cindy and I will be back and here's the funny thing.
I, you know, it was interesting because I had friends that were watching.
when we got there, I never showed anything that was going on.
You know, I did a little video for us and saying we're here.
And then at the end I put one on and Cindy had added her face painted and she, theythought that she got into a dog fight herself, you know, cause there's a little black on
(04:02):
her face.
It was kind of funny, but then there was people wondering what the heck we were doing.
And then I made that little reel and then he said, I'm gonna go to that next year.
So that's the very cool thing about this because now I, you know, on the way home, I'mlooking for roadkill.
So I have a little coyote fur or something to come back looking like a viking.
(04:24):
Yeah, and I'm telling you, if you want to come shoot coyotes, you come out here becauseright now we're trying to, we're trying to tamp that population down.
It's insane.
But, and that's the big thing is like, when you kind of tell people, you know, what theevent is, it's really difficult to kind of describe all of the different activities we
have.
Cause really for us, like, and I think a lot of people have experienced this.
(04:45):
We had, we had a bad kind of consecutive years after COVID.
I mean, like we had a really hard time kind of like,
getting back into our rhythm and we got into a couple of ruts.
And so there was a point for like 2023 where we were like, this year was so bad, we'regoing to have to like burn it in flames.
(05:06):
you know, to some degree we literally had to burn it down in flames.
And so that's kind of where the origin came from for the fire and ice is like, what's thecraziest thing that we can do that we're going to have fun no matter what, if we put it on
and then like kind of like a clearing house of like just
you know, getting rid of the old and coming into the new year.
(05:26):
And the best part about all of this was I didn't understand, well, first of all, I didn'teven know if this was possible because when you're like, are there fire performers in
Wyoming?
Is there ice carvers in Wyoming?
You know, you don't really think that these people kind of exist.
And then all of a sudden you start kind of like connecting with people and then they comeout from the woodworks and then they're like, well, I, you know, in my off time, I do
(05:50):
mounted archery.
you know, and I'm like, okay, this is just wild.
And so that's, and so every year, you know, as all event people know events come togetherand then they also fall apart at the same time.
So for our second year, I'm just grateful that we put it on cause it was like 11 degrees.
Yeah.
But it was, mean, and the thing is too, is like every time we put on the event, peoplejust, they want to come, you know, we have people who consistently come and show up and
(06:18):
want to make sure that it happens.
and they're as invested into the event because it's bringing a community together.
And that's not just like our town of Buffalo.
I mean, it's a bunch of people with interests, you know, who have a Nordic heritage orViking heritage or also had a really bad 2023 or 2024.
(06:38):
I don't like it's time to burn this thing to the ground.
Yeah.
And it was interesting too, because it, we sat by a lady that bought Lefse and she washanding it out and letting people eat it.
And you have, and I have to tell you this one thing that was, cause here's the other dealthat I saw too.
(06:59):
There was, everybody was friendly and everybody's having fun and everybody's enjoying thisevent that you put up, that you guys put on, you know, it's, it's different when people.
aren't having fun, everybody's there having fun.
So I've walked up to one of the fellows that had a horn that he was drinking out of.
And, and I said, here's the deal.
(07:21):
I've never walked up to a fella and asked, can I take a picture of you with your horn?
And the wife just busted out laughing.
And you know, it's, it was like a, but you know, you get to know people and it was funnyin that aspect.
And, but I mean,
Everybody's friendly.
You guys are organizing it so well.
(07:43):
And you know, like a day like today here in Spearfish, South Dakota.
mean, it's blizzarded in and it's crazy 45 mile an hour winds.
But I woke up, we woke up on Sunday, Saturday and Cindy said, let's go.
And I said, that's what we wanted to do.
and the people that came from all over Wyoming too, they came from.
(08:05):
Warland and Cody and Billions and all over.
And I hope more people will think about going over next year from South Dakota, because itwas a wonderful event.
And we would love that because I think that's the big thing about this is it's true kindof like Nordic Viking festival.
(08:25):
mean, the idea is that you've got tribes and clans and you travel and you come togetherand you kind of celebrate.
And that's why we have kind of the weightlifting competition as well, because we in ourhometown, we really wanted to bring together a whole set of series of different types of
groups.
So we've got like
Jim bros who are like big heavy lifters teaching like the Pokemon card guys and they'reall loving it and everybody's dressing up and everybody's having a good time and then you
(08:59):
just and then you just start bringing in all of these different people that I just don'tthink in normal society would have thought that they would have had things in common and
so that's kind of like the whole thing that we're trying to accomplish is having everybodydo all sorts of different kinds of things
come from different regions, bring them together and then do something where like Januaryis very isolating in our area.
(09:21):
It can, the weather can be bad.
It's dark, it's cold.
you know, from a ranching perspective, we're just trying to make sure everything issurviving, you know?
And you know, I just saw this video of a friend of ours the other day.
He's like, another cold day and next week it's going to be another cold week.
And then the week after that, it'll be another cold week.
So
(09:41):
Hold on one second, just, don't think people know that we're recording.
So I'm going to have to tell everybody to, hey, I'm sorry.
I'm in a recording session.
So, okay, it's okay.
We're just going to cut it.
Go edit it down.
hope.
Yeah.
Okay.
Can everybody just leave so that way we can, There was multiple people who decided at onceto just not honor them.
(10:10):
the notes on the doors, okay?
Then they were like hanging around because they're like, you're recording something.
Let me just linger.
Sorry.
Yeah, and I also have like two dogs.
I'm just trying to like keep quiet as well.
And that's just like us in general.
(10:30):
It's like a menagerie of people and things out here.
So anyways.
Cindy said that one, of your dogs, when she was right up against your leg, when you wereannouncing winners, I think the other day, that was just amazing how good your dogs were.
that's it.
Yeah, she, I've had that dog for 11 years and she's a Pomeranian border collie mix.
(10:57):
And you're like, how did that happen?
I don't know.
I don't know, but we've done the genetic testing to be like, that was not, and that's whathappens.
You know, she's a rez dog.
we were like, you know, she's a survivor.
She's just one of those types.
But she was, she's a good dog and right.
I couldn't believe how she was not going to let you go.
(11:20):
Yeah, and that's the crazy thing too is we've got all different types of dogs.
So my mom's got these like giant 150 pound Okbosh dogs, like her livestock guardian dogs.
And then we've got like an it's a Anatolian Shepherd mix that and they're just phenomenal.
And then we have my mutt.
We call her the window licker.
(11:40):
She's really good at licking windows.
that's crazy.
But anyway, are we ready to go again then?
Okay.
Now, so here's the deal too.
I should have went into this earlier when you were talking about it and then I get offtrack, but people know that I do that.
(12:04):
But the cool thing is when you do this fire and ice festival, like you were just talking,except for this year, which the wind was blowing and you couldn't have a fire, but here...
It's a good time to let the last year go and invite the new year in.
And that's another good thing.
(12:24):
And like you said, you had so many different people, but everybody's friendly and helpingeverybody else out.
Like you said, the Jim bros to the, yeah.
Yeah.
got like, we had people who were a part of like motorcycle clubs who came and, know, sowe've got ranchers, you know, and so these are guys who are like, their weightlifting is
(12:45):
literally hay bales, right?
You know, and that's their regimen and, you know, and so it's just, tons of different,like, you don't have to have an interest to have commonality, right?
And the same or to have a good time.
And the best part about this event is it kind of allows you to like be in a judgment freekind of a zone because you can't take yourself too seriously.
(13:06):
And that's like why you come to these events because if you go in there thinking that, Imean, everybody's just there to have a good time, try something new.
And I think it's because nobody's done something like it before that nobody has any kindof expectation.
So they're there kind of for like the journey and the ride that they have.
They don't even know what to expect.
(13:27):
And for us too, we're kind of like, yeah, we don't know what's going to happen this year.
And that's other thing is like we have the aerial list and the fire performers and stufflike that.
You just kind of, you know, you just have fun, right?
And that's the whole point of the whole thing is good music.
Me, by the way, has like some of the highest alcohol content.
(13:52):
And last year, first year that we did it,
We kept telling everybody, they were like, watch out, this mead is crazy.
You gotta be careful.
And nobody believed him.
Halfway through the event, we were like, holy cow, what?
We were like, this fire is awesome.
Everything was awesome.
It was way too much fun.
(14:14):
So this year, everybody was like, okay, we gotta watch out on the mead.
Everybody did a really good job.
But we stayed, even though it was like 11 degrees, we stayed really warm.
heated tent.
mean I'm not gonna say I mean it was bearable right.
I mean Wyoming and 11 degrees you know we're tough people right.
That's why you know also kind of like how this event started is our family heritage right.
(14:40):
We come from a Nordic Danish heritage and so like if you've ever watched 1883 or like theYellowstone series right.
We're not the cool version of Yellowstone all right.
We're the
pioneers that got bit by rattlesnakes and died primarily going to the plains of Montanaand that's kind of how we settled and it's like, you know, it's gonna be cold and you're
(15:04):
used to the cold and we work through the cold and so for us for a lot of the people thereeverybody said that even though it was 11 degrees kind of like how the tents were set up
and the events were set up I mean everybody really got by and managed and felt prettywarm.
I mean you go in it's a winter event you go in you get cold you come in
you drink mead, and then you don't care anymore.
(15:25):
Yeah.
And you know what?
The wind, the tents, when you're out of the wind, it did not really, it wasn't bad.
And I have to agree with you there.
And the other thing, we'll get into the history of the TA Ranch and now that you're, mean,and everybody knows you're the third generation, but I'm a little disappointed, I'm going
to tell you, because I was hoping that you would have some Beth Dutton one-liners sinceyou're the prodigal daughter.
(15:53):
granddaughter that comes back, you know, you know.
And you know what the crazy thing is, is like we've got an attorney in the family.
So like if you want to talk about Yellowstone, we've got all of the bad, the bad traitsand I leave the Beth Dutton one liners to my mom.
She's like the Beth Dutton person in the family.
I'm more of like the, I don't really, I don't know what my character would be.
(16:20):
Well, I was, you know, I was just hoping to get some of those one-liners in here on thisepisode.
So.
I'll tell you what, yeah, we'll have to get to know each other a little bit better becausewe're like pretty crazy.
So it'll come out eventually, I promise.
All right.
Well, anyway, you did that event and I know the TA Ranch has a history in Wyoming, in theBuffalo area.
(16:48):
And do you want to tell us any, you can tell us whatever history you want to tell us thatwe don't know that we can't read, you know, or tell us what we can read.
yeah, mean, the amazing thing about this entire area is how much history there actuallyis.
And the best part about the Johnson County War is, and of course this is like the owners,right?
(17:11):
We own the T.A.
ranch, it's a historic property.
The history is near and to our hearts.
So I'm going to tell you how important it is, but take it with a grain of salt, okay?
But it really did, it shaped the West and changed the West forever.
And it doesn't get a lot of,
attention to it.
And if you guys have ever seen the movie Shane, which is one of my favorite Western films,I mean, it's right.
(17:31):
It's just about the Johnson County War.
And really, it was about who could basically own cattle in the West.
And it's kind of a tale as old as time.
It's about big money, big business.
You know, they had the Wyoming Stockers Association that was trying to control who couldown cattle.
(17:53):
and it was preventing smaller cattle owners, kind of like homesteaders, who were kind ofchallenging not only property rights, but, and I have to be careful because by the way,
there are direct descendants still living in Buffalo, Wyoming from the Johnson County War.
So you're going to post this and everybody's going to leave awful comments about how Ididn't get it right.
(18:14):
But there was a little, there was a lot of right and wrong on both sides, right?
I mean, on the homesteader cowboy side, there was, you know, wrestling happening and
you know, on the stockers association, there was, you know, some assassinations happening.
And I, and I mixed up association and assassination, but anyways, it's, and that's kind ofthe thing.
(18:38):
And so, when our family came here, primarily TA ranch was used for agricultural purposesonly.
So the buildings were not, I would say seen for its historical value.
And that's what my grandpa and grandma really wanted to do was make sure that this pieceof history was preserved.
(18:59):
And so they started restoring and it's an intact Wyoming territorial homestead, you know,that's been here since, you know, 1880, essentially.
And the buildings from the Johnson County were that have the bullet holes from that threeday skirmish, you know, are here with the original barn.
And it's also very cool because we brought, you know, the old
(19:22):
sheriff that was ousted, Frank Hanton, his cabin is here.
He lived right up the road from T.A.
Ranch, you know, and so and his story is crazy and so you have all of these singularcharacters that we really also encourage people to kind of read up upon because this is
what western movies were built on these stories.
And there's another great show too on Netflix and it's Wyatt Earp.
(19:46):
Have you seen the new Wyatt Earp series yet or?
I've only watched the first episode actually.
Okay, keep going because I think it really kind of sets the tone of what was happening atthat time, right?
Because like cowboy now and thank you know, thank God that Western is kind of like back intrend right now.
But cowboy was a dirty term and cowboys kind of been a dirty term and it has kind ofdenoted, you know, a certain class and you know of people, right?
(20:14):
And it was ruffians and it was outlaws and it's not kind of what we know it today.
And so that's kind of the big thing is and with the Johnson County War is that that battleand that fight that occurred really kind of set the tone about, you know, small business
rights and and breaking up monopolies that were kind of existing.
(20:37):
Well, it's funny because I've been a Tom.
I've watched both Tom Horn's movies that came out and I was a big like history buff withTom Horn more because, you know, I thought, and I've tried to go down and look at the
stuff down by Chugwater and that area about that stuff.
(21:00):
And then I started learning more about the history up by Buffalo.
that is so much, know, and I look,
I look at open range that was roughly, could have been somewhat there, you know, and Ilike, I like the history and the movies you're talking about.
Cause Shane is a great movie.
agree with you.
(21:20):
So I really do.
and, and it's interesting too, because you can go back.
I mean, I know they settled in Montana, but you can say lonesome dove coming.
They had to have came through that area too.
Cause in, and.
And, and it, but the history that you have in the West Buffalo, you know, we had the, wehave our history, which in the black Hills, which is interesting because it's mining, but
(21:50):
I've, I grew up on a ranch.
have more, I'm more interested in that, in the cowboying history, the, like the JohnsonCounty war and the, it's one of those things that.
When I drove through the TA Ranch, when we drove in there, and I was just like, you have avision when you're going to a place, okay?
(22:20):
And then when we drove in there, I'm going, holy shit, this is cool.
Because all your buildings were like historical.
said, I know people live there, but I'd like to see these buildings because...
It like takes you back to an age where there's honor, there's chivalry, there's the cowboyway of life.
(22:46):
And you drive in there, I felt that even though we were going to a fire and ice festival,but you can bring in, which is interesting too because...
The Fire and Ice Festival, you felt like you're in one of their longhouses, but if youtake out the Fire and Ice people and put in a bunch of cowboys, then you feel like you're
in a cowboy area.
(23:06):
You know what I mean?
Your new building, your building there is amazing.
That's so sweet.
Yeah.
Well, and that's the big thing is it's very important for us that we keep the integrityand authenticity of that homestead.
And so when you look at the property, it was it's is labeled after all of the originalbuildings that were there.
So it's the ranch house, the cookhouse, the bunkhouse, the milk barn, the greenery.
(23:31):
Those all had those functions, you know, in, you know, 1880 to 1910.
Right.
And so we've
as much as we possibly can have restored these buildings to what they were at that time,you know, what they looked like at that time with also kind of like the modern amenities
(23:51):
and accommodations.
And what we get a common all the time is people are like, if you go inside, the rooms areactually huge, the spaces are huge, but it doesn't look huge because this is like big
country.
mean, it's big, you know, Montana's big sky country, right?
But this is too and
you just can't get an idea of the space, right?
(24:13):
And the relation of space.
Cause when you go inside, you're like, man, these are big spaces.
And then outside you're like, this is a tiny dwelling.
How do people live in here?
And that's exactly what was happening at that time.
And the other thing that we try to explain to people is that this was kind of like the TajMahal of 1880 Wyoming.
I mean, the fact that they had windows and I mean, even when you look at the logs, they'resquare logs.
(24:38):
there was only one mill at the time that was cutting square logs and they had to ship itall the way by cart from Cheyenne because there was no railroad.
So that's so every window with the glass, you know, with the wood had to be shipped.
Here we go again.
Okay.
One second.
Hey, I'm doing a recording and so I'm going to have to go find a different space to do therecording.
(25:05):
Hey grandma.
Here, let me introduce you to my grandma.
This is my grandma.
Hey.
What kind of recording are you doing?
doing a podcast.
Yeah.
Okay.
There you go.
That's grandma.
I'm good.
How are you?
By the way, everybody has decided my uncle is leaving for a couple months to go back toNew York.
(25:26):
And so tonight is the night that they're having his go away party, which they planned 10minutes ago.
So that's why everybody's arriving unannounced.
Because they just sent a text and said we're playing, what is it?
What game are we playing?
I have no idea.
I know we playing a game.
Okay.
And I said we were supposed to go to Bingo.
(25:47):
Really?
Yeah.
But mom said that you wanted to play.
I don't, uh, whatever.
Do you see why we do fire and ice?
Okay.
Um, do you think, do you think it can just be, oh, like.
I'm sorry to ask this, but can we just be quiet for like 15 more minutes and then, okay,cool.
I can be quiet for as long as you Okay, perfect.
(26:07):
Okay.
All right.
Back on.
I'm Nobody was supposed to be here at all.
And now they're all like doing dishes.
You're good.
This is fun.
This is fun.
This is, we're don't die rusty.
We wear out, we don't rust out.
(26:30):
Okay, good.
Yeah, I was like, gotta fly by the seat of your pants here.
Yeah.
you know that here's the deal.
That's ranch life too.
Like you don't know what's going to happen from day to day.
Exactly, and that was kind of the other thing, the other key piece of all this is likewe're a working cow ranch.
(26:52):
So we kind of explain to people like, yeah, we do these events.
We do lots of different things.
And the whole of it is we do ag, you know, and so it's kind of crazy because sometimes wedo have to put things on hold because we're like, you know, the irrigation system isn't
working or, you know, we have to go make sure that the water, you know, is running andgetting, you know, heading.
(27:13):
for the cows or whatever, or we have to go feed something, or I had to shut the restaurantdown.
There was one night, it was a Sunday night, I had six people coming, it was really slownight, and I had a horse that tried to jump a barbed wire fence and didn't make it.
And so they're coming and I'm calling them and I'm trying to put this horse in a trailer,because I was like, I'm the only person on the ranch to get this horse in this trailer, I
(27:40):
can't feed you.
And that's what people don't understand is like they come and they're like, what do youmean?
You have to shut your restaurant down.
You're a restaurant.
Your job is to serve us.
And I think that's the whole point is like, well, yeah, I know, you know, it might be,yes, of course we would love to have a restaurant.
Of course this is a passion project for us because it's all about food and we considerourselves ambassadors of our lifestyle and of, you know, ranching and farming.
(28:08):
We want to show people
how important this is and how important it is to support farmers and ranchers and how itis to eat.
And it all goes back to like our, what we want is sustainability, right?
And that's what homesteading was all about.
And that's why it goes along with our Wyoming territorial theme.
And that's kind of why the Viking Nordic thing kind of goes in there too is because it's ahard life and we want to make sure that we're going to be able to take care of ourselves
(28:35):
and we want to have good food.
And so that's why we do all these different things.
And like I said, I grew up on a ranch.
I was there for a long, long time.
And then I decided to go to Black Hills State and be an Indian studies major and a historymajor at Black Hills.
(28:55):
I went there from, I hate to date myself, but I went there from 86 to 88 to play football.
And then I didn't know what I wanted to do.
you know, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
And I went and worked on a ranch in Australia for a year or two.
So the ranching lifestyle is cool with me and it'll always have my heart.
(29:19):
So, but you guys have a restaurant out there then, or is that during the, what's?
So we do in the summertime, we, well, so over time we've had to diversify because everyranch, I mean, every ranch knows there's highs and lows, right?
And so that was kind of our first stop is once grandma and grandpa kind of restoredeverything, they had their friends who were like, can we come up?
(29:44):
Can we come visit?
And then they kind of had this, you know, imagination that maybe they could just do thisfor fun.
Right.
And then everybody knows that you don't just do like,
And this is kind of like a dude ranch type of experience, right?
You don't just do that for fun, you kind of have to go whole hog.
And that's kind of what happened to us.
(30:04):
then when the grandkids, all of us grandkids kind of went off to college, and I think ourfamilies just didn't want us to feel pressured to have to come back.
I mean, they wanted us to have our passion, figure out what we wanted to do, and if weended up back here, they were good with that.
And so in that interim period, you know, they were like, okay, we're not gonna push thesethings.
(30:27):
The one thing that they did do was keep this restaurant going, because my mom loves food.
She loves to cook food.
Everybody in her family loves food.
And that was the big thing is making sure that...
And also Wyoming is a desert, a food desert.
Okay, I don't know if everybody's like come and been here, but there are just sometimeslike the food is...
(30:52):
fresh food as far and few between.
And I love the Wyoming Food Coalition and we try to really support the Wyoming FoodCoalition because they're supporting farmers who are trying to grow here in Wyoming.
So a lot of our produce actually comes from Papa Joe's who has greenhouses.
(31:12):
So we get everything that's produced in a greenhouse, right?
But it's fresh and it's local.
And so that's kind of what we want to do here with the ranch as well, is make sure thatwe're producing our own food and not to be.
And this is our crazy showing, right?
Is like, we're not big preppers and we don't have a bunker.
(31:33):
Okay.
But I'm telling you what, we're just making sure that if anything happens, we know we canmake everything ourselves.
Right?
So my mom loves canning.
They love doing everything like that.
Don't ask all the other stuff that she's making some of it may or may not be There's asecret room, okay
(31:55):
Yeah, all right.
Well, because I, now that you say that, I mean, we had lunch there when we were there.
And, but I didn't read, is that, didn't read no, if that was, can like people come out andeat or is it just for the dude people?
Yeah, no, people can come out and eat.
Absolutely.
And the only problem right now is like we're booking out and we have so many specialevents that were packed on the weekends.
(32:22):
So we're pretty much closed like Friday and Saturday.
But if you come out on a Thursday or Tuesday or something like that, or even on a Sunday,we'll be open.
Cause you know, I mean, if I like to go to Cody, I take pictures of the big horn sheepdown in the North fork and the South fork and do this and that.
And I would just wait to eat till I got to Buffalo then, you know, and come out and seeyou guys.
(32:46):
Yeah, you yeah, absolutely come out anytime and the the okay.
So by the way on the food, so all of our food vendors fell through they were like too colddon't want to show up and that happened to us three days in advance.
So we cooked all of that food ourselves because we had to not because we wanted to.
(33:10):
Well, I'll tell you, it was good and that is amazing.
I have to give you kudos.
So, what else do you have going on maybe throughout the summer or is there something thatother people would want to come over and see?
Yeah, so we work on a couple of other events throughout the years.
(33:31):
Some that are with different organizations, but other ones that we kind of put on as we doHeritage Days, which focuses on Wyoming history and Western heritage in general, history
and heritage.
And so it's kind of like reenactments, but primarily what it is is what we're considered aliving history museum because in some ways we're still doing the things that they're doing
(33:53):
in 1883 or 1893.
And what we want to do is kind of show the modern integration of the old school Westernarts.
And that's kind of what our heritage and Western heritage is all about.
So how did these old school techniques get into something that we can kind of incorporatetoday?
And that's what our Western heritage event is about.
(34:16):
And we also kind of do exhibits.
like for this upcoming year, we have a Tintite photographer coming and he's doing side byside.
So
We, with our historical societies here in Buffalo, we've done direct descendants of thesehistorical figures in our county, right, who were a part of the Johnson County War, who
were really integral in 1893.
(34:37):
And they are their descendants who are almost replicas, right?
So we've got Margaret Smith, who was named after her great, great grandma, Margaret Smith,who was a part of the Occidental, and they look bio-identical.
And we have similar types of those people.
And so when you take a 10 type photo of a person, all of a sudden you're transported tothat time and you just realize, oh my gosh, I am this person.
(35:04):
I, you know, I mean like modern technology is insane because there's just this realism andthe 10 type, you just are like that.
You just feel removed, right?
And then when you take a 10 type photo of yourself, you're like, this is, am mydescendant.
And so that's kind of the stuff that we do is just a lot of things that we do with ournonprofit, with our foundation to promote Wyoming tourism and history.
(35:30):
Like I said, we're always doing something new.
We always invite people to come out and kind of experience the history and come out andeat.
We do a lot of, and I know it kind of sounds kitschy, but homestead tours.
So it's just teaching people, like we have our own bees, so we make our own honey.
We make our own wax candles.
(35:50):
You know, we're doing goat milking.
We're doing alpine packing goats.
And for the ladies, this is turning into great ways to do yoga retreats.
For the guys, they're like, how much does that goat carry out of the mountains?
And we're like, well, it carries like five mats and my water bottle.
(36:14):
But anyways, yeah, so we do, and also like teaching people how to make, you know,different types of medicines out of herbs.
We work with our local apothecary to kind of make different treatments and stuff likethat.
And that's kind of the stuff that we're passionate about, right?
Is that weird like home setting, not doomsday prepping, but stuff like that, you know,that you get to have fun doing.
(36:39):
Well, I hope my wife doesn't listen to this cause she'll be over there all the time.
Cause I mean, we're, I, she's very hippy ish and holistic and she would love yourapothecary stuff too.
I mean, I, I, I'm just joking here, but I mean, she's would be very interested in that andI would be too, but, yeah.
(37:01):
So that's very, very cool because people, I think more, I was talking to actually.
Joe Ernst, the, he's the director for finding writers in the PBR.
just did an episode with him and we were talking about the cowboy way of life is comingback.
(37:21):
The, the, we were just talking earlier, the, the chivalry, the, and in learning how tolive off the land the way you had to, because that's all you had.
And I love that you guys are doing that.
You know, I mean.
I know I'm older than you and but being so young as you are and bringing this back to theranch itself is very, it's uplifting.
(37:49):
Cause I don't want to ever see this lifestyle die.
You know, I don't and talking to people like you guys makes me feel, it makes me feel atleast a little closer to the, know, like you guys are like, I go back to my,
go back home and I have people, like I said, I grew up on a ranch, my dad worked for arancher I worked for him too.
(38:18):
But I mean, I'm just saying it's fun to be outside and it's fun to be in the ranch life.
I I shouldn't say fun.
It is fun though.
It's a lifestyle.
Well, they're the thing that what happens for us is it's tough, right?
And there are days where you're like, man, it just, you're just begging to, you know, tokind of make it through.
(38:41):
And what happens is like when we get on horses, right.
And we have like a pretty small size ranch.
mean, altogether, the ranch is about 8,000 acres.
And really it's like, you know, the ag really doesn't make us really any kind of money.
But when you're sitting there,
and you're in the hills and you just see for miles.
(39:01):
mean, when you get to the top of our hills and we have teepee rings, right at the top ofour hills that were used to ambush the Bozeman trail and you can kind of see what they saw
and you can see 80 miles to pumpkin view, which is like in the next town over.
And you just have this like insane, beautiful, amazing feeling of freedom.
(39:22):
Right?
I mean, it's just miles and miles of just expanse.
And I've never felt in my life,
you feel lonely, but in a way that's just so nice.
mean, so it fills your cup, right?
And I used, before I came back home, I lived in Colorado.
And so when you went into the wilderness or any kind of hiking trail, no matter where youwent, you were with 10 people.
(39:45):
And some of them had flip flops and you're like, why?
You're like, where are the bears?
Where are the natural predators?
You know?
And so that's the big thing is like for,
here, what for my generation and I'm like on the last end of the millennial generation,right, is our generation feels starved for experience and authenticity and having kind of
(40:13):
like connection, right?
And even though we have like social media and we have all these different things,sometimes you feel really lost and like you can't make that much of a difference in an
impact.
And the reason why I returned home to the ranch was because you're in such a big world.
Sometimes all you can do and be satisfied with is just making your corner or piece of thepie a beautiful place.
(40:39):
And you can show people how you imagine the world to be when they come to your home andthey can see kind of like the peace and the surrender and how you envision like life could
be.
And I'm not saying like returning to a time where there's no internet, right?
I'm just saying, coming to a place where you're just welcome, right?
(41:02):
You're welcome and you're, you know, loved and we want to show you the beauty of the landand things that we're doing and why we're passionate about it.
And that and so that's why we're doing this is it's tough and it's hard, but I wouldn'tgive it up for the world, you know.
And it's also genuine people.
(41:24):
It's genuineness.
It's accepting of everybody that, I mean, it was just like I said during the fire and ice,but I have to ask you here, because when you come out of the bottom by the river there, or
crick, but you come up and you come up by the houses and you get up and you have the viewof the big horns and everything over there.
(41:47):
I mean, that has to be wonderful to wake up in the morning.
it's insane.
Our neighbor is like a mile and a half down the road.
I mean, it's great.
And that's the other thing too, is like you wake up and you have the bald eagles in themorning.
We have owls.
We've had these owls, we know them.
(42:08):
The animals are around you all the time, right?
The land is around you all the time.
And that's just the beautiful thing about it is that it's harsh.
and gorgeous and beautiful.
And you always kind of feel like when I'm here, I feel alive because you just get to seeeverything kind of in real time.
And I think that's why Ag people and rural people are very special is because animals getsick, animals die, they do it all the time.
(42:36):
And you know, we have had our best horses, you know, break their legs and freak accidents,right?
And so on some degrees you just have to realize how to find a way to stay in the momentand appreciate life in the moment.
And how to, and then when you do have time to celebrate how to like, how to do it in anawesome and fantastic way where you're like burning a ship and drinking meat at the same
(43:00):
time.
Yeah.
And mean, I, Buffalo's gorgeous.
I mean, the big horns are gorgeous and this, this whole area, the people are reallyspecial and we're, fighting for it.
I mean,
Wyoming, really, our tiny town and community is really trying to come together to be like,this is what Wyoming ethics are.
(43:21):
This is the cowboy ethics.
It's about love and it's about camaraderie and it's about sticking together.
And I can't tell you how many neighbor feuds I've had over water.
Cause water's still a thing out here.
And...
you know, and also have our neighbors kind of leave a gate open, you know, cause they'repissed off or something.
(43:43):
But I'll tell you what, if I, that same exact neighbor, if I, I was in a snowstorm andwent off the side of the road, he didn't pass me by.
He pulled me out.
He always, he's always checked on me.
I haven't had a single neighbor, no matter what happens, they always check on me.
They always stop by.
If I've ever had a problem, they always bring, you know,
(44:04):
There are people that you can count on even if they're pissed off at you, right?
And how many times that we can say that in this like political environment about lovingyour neighbor, right?
And sometimes you just don't talk about politics at Thanksgiving dinner, right?
I mean, you find a way, you find a way.
But that's the whole point, right?
(44:25):
It's about, like community is so much more.
It's about loving people.
And that's what Wyoming is.
You don't get to pick.
who your family is, you don't get a picture your neighbor is, but you have to find a wayto love them.
And that's what the Viking Festival is, that's how we see this ranch and that's what wewant to promote here.
(44:45):
Yep.
Well, I love that train of thought there because I believe exactly what you say.
And we're not going to leave people in the back, you know, in need or anything like that.
grew up to help everybody out if they needed the help, even if you, like you said, youcan't pick your relatives at times or you can't, know, you this kind of thing.
(45:06):
But I know you have to go to a go in a way party here, but
We always ask one question at the end of the episode and I didn't even fill you in on whatthat question's gonna be to think about.
But we always ask the question, what is the good life to Katie?
(45:28):
The good life?
my gosh.
A good horse, a good dog, and good bourbon.
And that's it.
right.
Well, you have her there then.
(45:49):
Well, I wanna just thank you.
I hope we get together again sometime and we'll be passing through Buffalo.
You might be getting a text and saying, hey, what's going on?
And can we come out and have a conversation?
my gosh, we'd love to have you come out anytime.
Well, that'd be awesome.
But so I just want to say thank you so much again.
(46:12):
And, you guys are so friendly and you're so thoughtful and I appreciate this conversationand I appreciate you guys.
Thank you so much and we appreciate you taking a chance on a very cold January day Andwe're just so glad I'm so glad I got to meet you and your wife.
(46:33):
You guys are amazing
Well, thank you very much.
So, well, don't die rusty nation as always keep chasing your dreams, being the best youand don't die rusty.
Well, hello, don't die.
Rusty nation.
How are you tonight?
This is Rick Hansen, your host for the don't die.
Rusty podcast, of course.
And if you watched any of our social media last week, which would been now I don't evenhave my calendar, which what day was that?
Katie January 18th.
(00:22):
You would have saw that I was over at a Norse festival by Buffalo, Wyoming.
And Katie Giles here is.
part of the TA ranch.
She's the third generation.
She's was, did I say Giles, right?
So anyway, I, you know, at Don't Die Rusty, we try to think out of the box and we try togo do things that are different and that we have never been to.
(00:54):
And so my wife, Cindy and I went over to the North.
the fire and ice festival, I should say.
was, and then we met a lot of people and it was a fun time and I got lucky enough to meetKatie and we're going to talk about a bunch of things that the TA ranch has going on a
(01:16):
little bit about the fire and ice festival.
And there's more things going on at the TA ranch too.
So I'm going to let Katie introduce herself and then we're going to have a conversation.
Well, first of all, I really appreciate you having me on the podcast and we had so muchfun on Saturday and I was so busy literally putting out dog fights and fires literal fires
(01:40):
that I couldn't get a talk so it's yeah, I'm really excited to talk to you now, but Kindof describe myself is that I am the third generation on the ranch and I've recently
returned within the last three years and
This is a multi-family generational ranch.
So we have all of our family living here.
(02:00):
We've got my grandma and grandpa, my mom and dad, and my brother and I.
And we're all kind of doing this ranch thing together.
And there's lots of different things going on with them having a family business.
So if you get to see and look into our business, you're to see every generation kind ofhappening in tandem with each other.
(02:23):
And it's a lot of fun.
and a challenge.
And that's kind of how the fire and ice got going is like how you kind of like have withDon't Die Rusty is that doing new things and having new challenges.
And that was kind of the big thing for us too is we were fighting over changing wallpaperwith my grandma.
(02:43):
She was like, she was really attached to her wallpaper.
And so we came to the conclusion that all of the events and all the things that we starteddoing was just an exercise on like doing crazy and wild things.
so that grandma and grandpa are never shocked with the next big thing.
Well.
like, you want to do what?
And then now they're like, OK, here's my credit card.
(03:09):
You know, it was really, I have to say for one thing, and this isn't to give you a bighead or anything, but you organized it very well and it was well put on.
was a, I've never, you know, some events you go to and you go, what in the heck is goingon here?
But this, you put on a great event there.
(03:32):
I can tell you that.
Cindy and I will be back and here's the funny thing.
I, you know, it was interesting because I had friends that were watching.
when we got there, I never showed anything that was going on.
You know, I did a little video for us and saying we're here.
And then at the end I put one on and Cindy had added her face painted and she, theythought that she got into a dog fight herself, you know, cause there's a little black on
(04:02):
her face.
It was kind of funny, but then there was people wondering what the heck we were doing.
And then I made that little reel and then he said, I'm gonna go to that next year.
So that's the very cool thing about this because now I, you know, on the way home, I'mlooking for roadkill.
So I have a little coyote fur or something to come back looking like a viking.
(04:24):
Yeah, and I'm telling you, if you want to come shoot coyotes, you come out here becauseright now we're trying to, we're trying to tamp that population down.
It's insane.
But, and that's the big thing is like, when you kind of tell people, you know, what theevent is, it's really difficult to kind of describe all of the different activities we
have.
Cause really for us, like, and I think a lot of people have experienced this.
(04:45):
We had, we had a bad kind of consecutive years after COVID.
I mean, like we had a really hard time kind of like,
getting back into our rhythm and we got into a couple of ruts.
And so there was a point for like 2023 where we were like, this year was so bad, we'regoing to have to like burn it in flames.
(05:06):
you know, to some degree we literally had to burn it down in flames.
And so that's kind of where the origin came from for the fire and ice is like, what's thecraziest thing that we can do that we're going to have fun no matter what, if we put it on
and then like kind of like a clearing house of like just
you know, getting rid of the old and coming into the new year.
(05:26):
And the best part about all of this was I didn't understand, well, first of all, I didn'teven know if this was possible because when you're like, are there fire performers in
Wyoming?
Is there ice carvers in Wyoming?
You know, you don't really think that these people kind of exist.
And then all of a sudden you start kind of like connecting with people and then they comeout from the woodworks and then they're like, well, I, you know, in my off time, I do
(05:50):
mounted archery.
you know, and I'm like, okay, this is just wild.
And so that's, and so every year, you know, as all event people know events come togetherand then they also fall apart at the same time.
So for our second year, I'm just grateful that we put it on cause it was like 11 degrees.
Yeah.
But it was, mean, and the thing is too, is like every time we put on the event, peoplejust, they want to come, you know, we have people who consistently come and show up and
(06:18):
want to make sure that it happens.
and they're as invested into the event because it's bringing a community together.
And that's not just like our town of Buffalo.
I mean, it's a bunch of people with interests, you know, who have a Nordic heritage orViking heritage or also had a really bad 2023 or 2024.
(06:38):
I don't like it's time to burn this thing to the ground.
Yeah.
And it was interesting too, because it, we sat by a lady that bought Lefse and she washanding it out and letting people eat it.
And you have, and I have to tell you this one thing that was, cause here's the other dealthat I saw too.
(06:59):
There was, everybody was friendly and everybody's having fun and everybody's enjoying thisevent that you put up, that you guys put on, you know, it's, it's different when people.
aren't having fun, everybody's there having fun.
So I've walked up to one of the fellows that had a horn that he was drinking out of.
And, and I said, here's the deal.
(07:21):
I've never walked up to a fella and asked, can I take a picture of you with your horn?
And the wife just busted out laughing.
And you know, it's, it was like a, but you know, you get to know people and it was funnyin that aspect.
And, but I mean,
Everybody's friendly.
You guys are organizing it so well.
(07:43):
And you know, like a day like today here in Spearfish, South Dakota.
mean, it's blizzarded in and it's crazy 45 mile an hour winds.
But I woke up, we woke up on Sunday, Saturday and Cindy said, let's go.
And I said, that's what we wanted to do.
and the people that came from all over Wyoming too, they came from.
(08:05):
Warland and Cody and Billions and all over.
And I hope more people will think about going over next year from South Dakota, because itwas a wonderful event.
And we would love that because I think that's the big thing about this is it's true kindof like Nordic Viking festival.
(08:25):
mean, the idea is that you've got tribes and clans and you travel and you come togetherand you kind of celebrate.
And that's why we have kind of the weightlifting competition as well, because we in ourhometown, we really wanted to bring together a whole set of series of different types of
groups.
So we've got like
Jim bros who are like big heavy lifters teaching like the Pokemon card guys and they'reall loving it and everybody's dressing up and everybody's having a good time and then you
(08:59):
just and then you just start bringing in all of these different people that I just don'tthink in normal society would have thought that they would have had things in common and
so that's kind of like the whole thing that we're trying to accomplish is having everybodydo all sorts of different kinds of things
come from different regions, bring them together and then do something where like Januaryis very isolating in our area.
(09:21):
It can, the weather can be bad.
It's dark, it's cold.
you know, from a ranching perspective, we're just trying to make sure everything issurviving, you know?
And you know, I just saw this video of a friend of ours the other day.
He's like, another cold day and next week it's going to be another cold week.
And then the week after that, it'll be another cold week.
So
(09:41):
Hold on one second, just, don't think people know that we're recording.
So I'm going to have to tell everybody to, hey, I'm sorry.
I'm in a recording session.
So, okay, it's okay.
We're just going to cut it.
Go edit it down.
hope.
Yeah.
Okay.
Can everybody just leave so that way we can, There was multiple people who decided at onceto just not honor them.
(10:10):
the notes on the doors, okay?
Then they were like hanging around because they're like, you're recording something.
Let me just linger.
Sorry.
Yeah, and I also have like two dogs.
I'm just trying to like keep quiet as well.
And that's just like us in general.
(10:30):
It's like a menagerie of people and things out here.
So anyways.
Cindy said that one, of your dogs, when she was right up against your leg, when you wereannouncing winners, I think the other day, that was just amazing how good your dogs were.
that's it.
Yeah, she, I've had that dog for 11 years and she's a Pomeranian border collie mix.
(10:57):
And you're like, how did that happen?
I don't know.
I don't know, but we've done the genetic testing to be like, that was not, and that's whathappens.
You know, she's a rez dog.
we were like, you know, she's a survivor.
She's just one of those types.
But she was, she's a good dog and right.
I couldn't believe how she was not going to let you go.
(11:20):
Yeah, and that's the crazy thing too is we've got all different types of dogs.
So my mom's got these like giant 150 pound Okbosh dogs, like her livestock guardian dogs.
And then we've got like an it's a Anatolian Shepherd mix that and they're just phenomenal.
And then we have my mutt.
We call her the window licker.
(11:40):
She's really good at licking windows.
that's crazy.
But anyway, are we ready to go again then?
Okay.
Now, so here's the deal too.
I should have went into this earlier when you were talking about it and then I get offtrack, but people know that I do that.
(12:04):
But the cool thing is when you do this fire and ice festival, like you were just talking,except for this year, which the wind was blowing and you couldn't have a fire, but here...
It's a good time to let the last year go and invite the new year in.
And that's another good thing.
(12:24):
And like you said, you had so many different people, but everybody's friendly and helpingeverybody else out.
Like you said, the Jim bros to the, yeah.
Yeah.
got like, we had people who were a part of like motorcycle clubs who came and, know, sowe've got ranchers, you know, and so these are guys who are like, their weightlifting is
(12:45):
literally hay bales, right?
You know, and that's their regimen and, you know, and so it's just, tons of different,like, you don't have to have an interest to have commonality, right?
And the same or to have a good time.
And the best part about this event is it kind of allows you to like be in a judgment freekind of a zone because you can't take yourself too seriously.
(13:06):
And that's like why you come to these events because if you go in there thinking that, Imean, everybody's just there to have a good time, try something new.
And I think it's because nobody's done something like it before that nobody has any kindof expectation.
So they're there kind of for like the journey and the ride that they have.
They don't even know what to expect.
(13:27):
And for us too, we're kind of like, yeah, we don't know what's going to happen this year.
And that's other thing is like we have the aerial list and the fire performers and stufflike that.
You just kind of, you know, you just have fun, right?
And that's the whole point of the whole thing is good music.
Me, by the way, has like some of the highest alcohol content.
(13:52):
And last year, first year that we did it,
We kept telling everybody, they were like, watch out, this mead is crazy.
You gotta be careful.
And nobody believed him.
Halfway through the event, we were like, holy cow, what?
We were like, this fire is awesome.
Everything was awesome.
It was way too much fun.
(14:14):
So this year, everybody was like, okay, we gotta watch out on the mead.
Everybody did a really good job.
But we stayed, even though it was like 11 degrees, we stayed really warm.
heated tent.
mean I'm not gonna say I mean it was bearable right.
I mean Wyoming and 11 degrees you know we're tough people right.
That's why you know also kind of like how this event started is our family heritage right.
(14:40):
We come from a Nordic Danish heritage and so like if you've ever watched 1883 or like theYellowstone series right.
We're not the cool version of Yellowstone all right.
We're the
pioneers that got bit by rattlesnakes and died primarily going to the plains of Montanaand that's kind of how we settled and it's like, you know, it's gonna be cold and you're
(15:04):
used to the cold and we work through the cold and so for us for a lot of the people thereeverybody said that even though it was 11 degrees kind of like how the tents were set up
and the events were set up I mean everybody really got by and managed and felt prettywarm.
I mean you go in it's a winter event you go in you get cold you come in
you drink mead, and then you don't care anymore.
(15:25):
Yeah.
And you know what?
The wind, the tents, when you're out of the wind, it did not really, it wasn't bad.
And I have to agree with you there.
And the other thing, we'll get into the history of the TA Ranch and now that you're, mean,and everybody knows you're the third generation, but I'm a little disappointed, I'm going
to tell you, because I was hoping that you would have some Beth Dutton one-liners sinceyou're the prodigal daughter.
(15:53):
granddaughter that comes back, you know, you know.
And you know what the crazy thing is, is like we've got an attorney in the family.
So like if you want to talk about Yellowstone, we've got all of the bad, the bad traitsand I leave the Beth Dutton one liners to my mom.
She's like the Beth Dutton person in the family.
I'm more of like the, I don't really, I don't know what my character would be.
(16:20):
Well, I was, you know, I was just hoping to get some of those one-liners in here on thisepisode.
So.
I'll tell you what, yeah, we'll have to get to know each other a little bit better becausewe're like pretty crazy.
So it'll come out eventually, I promise.
All right.
Well, anyway, you did that event and I know the TA Ranch has a history in Wyoming, in theBuffalo area.
(16:48):
And do you want to tell us any, you can tell us whatever history you want to tell us thatwe don't know that we can't read, you know, or tell us what we can read.
yeah, mean, the amazing thing about this entire area is how much history there actuallyis.
And the best part about the Johnson County War is, and of course this is like the owners,right?
(17:11):
We own the T.A.
ranch, it's a historic property.
The history is near and to our hearts.
So I'm going to tell you how important it is, but take it with a grain of salt, okay?
But it really did, it shaped the West and changed the West forever.
And it doesn't get a lot of,
attention to it.
And if you guys have ever seen the movie Shane, which is one of my favorite Western films,I mean, it's right.
(17:31):
It's just about the Johnson County War.
And really, it was about who could basically own cattle in the West.
And it's kind of a tale as old as time.
It's about big money, big business.
You know, they had the Wyoming Stockers Association that was trying to control who couldown cattle.
(17:53):
and it was preventing smaller cattle owners, kind of like homesteaders, who were kind ofchallenging not only property rights, but, and I have to be careful because by the way,
there are direct descendants still living in Buffalo, Wyoming from the Johnson County War.
So you're going to post this and everybody's going to leave awful comments about how Ididn't get it right.
(18:14):
But there was a little, there was a lot of right and wrong on both sides, right?
I mean, on the homesteader cowboy side, there was, you know, wrestling happening and
you know, on the stockers association, there was, you know, some assassinations happening.
And I, and I mixed up association and assassination, but anyways, it's, and that's kind ofthe thing.
(18:38):
And so, when our family came here, primarily TA ranch was used for agricultural purposesonly.
So the buildings were not, I would say seen for its historical value.
And that's what my grandpa and grandma really wanted to do was make sure that this pieceof history was preserved.
(18:59):
And so they started restoring and it's an intact Wyoming territorial homestead, you know,that's been here since, you know, 1880, essentially.
And the buildings from the Johnson County were that have the bullet holes from that threeday skirmish, you know, are here with the original barn.
And it's also very cool because we brought, you know, the old
(19:22):
sheriff that was ousted, Frank Hanton, his cabin is here.
He lived right up the road from T.A.
Ranch, you know, and so and his story is crazy and so you have all of these singularcharacters that we really also encourage people to kind of read up upon because this is
what western movies were built on these stories.
And there's another great show too on Netflix and it's Wyatt Earp.
(19:46):
Have you seen the new Wyatt Earp series yet or?
I've only watched the first episode actually.
Okay, keep going because I think it really kind of sets the tone of what was happening atthat time, right?
Because like cowboy now and thank you know, thank God that Western is kind of like back intrend right now.
But cowboy was a dirty term and cowboys kind of been a dirty term and it has kind ofdenoted, you know, a certain class and you know of people, right?
(20:14):
And it was ruffians and it was outlaws and it's not kind of what we know it today.
And so that's kind of the big thing is and with the Johnson County War is that that battleand that fight that occurred really kind of set the tone about, you know, small business
rights and and breaking up monopolies that were kind of existing.
(20:37):
Well, it's funny because I've been a Tom.
I've watched both Tom Horn's movies that came out and I was a big like history buff withTom Horn more because, you know, I thought, and I've tried to go down and look at the
stuff down by Chugwater and that area about that stuff.
(21:00):
And then I started learning more about the history up by Buffalo.
that is so much, know, and I look,
I look at open range that was roughly, could have been somewhat there, you know, and Ilike, I like the history and the movies you're talking about.
Cause Shane is a great movie.
agree with you.
(21:20):
So I really do.
and, and it's interesting too, because you can go back.
I mean, I know they settled in Montana, but you can say lonesome dove coming.
They had to have came through that area too.
Cause in, and.
And, and it, but the history that you have in the West Buffalo, you know, we had the, wehave our history, which in the black Hills, which is interesting because it's mining, but
(21:50):
I've, I grew up on a ranch.
have more, I'm more interested in that, in the cowboying history, the, like the JohnsonCounty war and the, it's one of those things that.
When I drove through the TA Ranch, when we drove in there, and I was just like, you have avision when you're going to a place, okay?
(22:20):
And then when we drove in there, I'm going, holy shit, this is cool.
Because all your buildings were like historical.
said, I know people live there, but I'd like to see these buildings because...
It like takes you back to an age where there's honor, there's chivalry, there's the cowboyway of life.
(22:46):
And you drive in there, I felt that even though we were going to a fire and ice festival,but you can bring in, which is interesting too because...
The Fire and Ice Festival, you felt like you're in one of their longhouses, but if youtake out the Fire and Ice people and put in a bunch of cowboys, then you feel like you're
in a cowboy area.
(23:06):
You know what I mean?
Your new building, your building there is amazing.
That's so sweet.
Yeah.
Well, and that's the big thing is it's very important for us that we keep the integrityand authenticity of that homestead.
And so when you look at the property, it was it's is labeled after all of the originalbuildings that were there.
So it's the ranch house, the cookhouse, the bunkhouse, the milk barn, the greenery.
(23:31):
Those all had those functions, you know, in, you know, 1880 to 1910.
Right.
And so we've
as much as we possibly can have restored these buildings to what they were at that time,you know, what they looked like at that time with also kind of like the modern amenities
(23:51):
and accommodations.
And what we get a common all the time is people are like, if you go inside, the rooms areactually huge, the spaces are huge, but it doesn't look huge because this is like big
country.
mean, it's big, you know, Montana's big sky country, right?
But this is too and
you just can't get an idea of the space, right?
(24:13):
And the relation of space.
Cause when you go inside, you're like, man, these are big spaces.
And then outside you're like, this is a tiny dwelling.
How do people live in here?
And that's exactly what was happening at that time.
And the other thing that we try to explain to people is that this was kind of like the TajMahal of 1880 Wyoming.
I mean, the fact that they had windows and I mean, even when you look at the logs, they'resquare logs.
(24:38):
there was only one mill at the time that was cutting square logs and they had to ship itall the way by cart from Cheyenne because there was no railroad.
So that's so every window with the glass, you know, with the wood had to be shipped.
Here we go again.
Okay.
One second.
Hey, I'm doing a recording and so I'm going to have to go find a different space to do therecording.
(25:05):
Hey grandma.
Here, let me introduce you to my grandma.
This is my grandma.
Hey.
What kind of recording are you doing?
doing a podcast.
Yeah.
Okay.
There you go.
That's grandma.
I'm good.
How are you?
By the way, everybody has decided my uncle is leaving for a couple months to go back toNew York.
(25:26):
And so tonight is the night that they're having his go away party, which they planned 10minutes ago.
So that's why everybody's arriving unannounced.
Because they just sent a text and said we're playing, what is it?
What game are we playing?
I have no idea.
I know we playing a game.
Okay.
And I said we were supposed to go to Bingo.
(25:47):
Really?
Yeah.
But mom said that you wanted to play.
I don't, uh, whatever.
Do you see why we do fire and ice?
Okay.
Um, do you think, do you think it can just be, oh, like.
I'm sorry to ask this, but can we just be quiet for like 15 more minutes and then, okay,cool.
I can be quiet for as long as you Okay, perfect.
(26:07):
Okay.
All right.
Back on.
I'm Nobody was supposed to be here at all.
And now they're all like doing dishes.
You're good.
This is fun.
This is fun.
This is, we're don't die rusty.
We wear out, we don't rust out.
(26:30):
Okay, good.
Yeah, I was like, gotta fly by the seat of your pants here.
Yeah.
you know that here's the deal.
That's ranch life too.
Like you don't know what's going to happen from day to day.
Exactly, and that was kind of the other thing, the other key piece of all this is likewe're a working cow ranch.
(26:52):
So we kind of explain to people like, yeah, we do these events.
We do lots of different things.
And the whole of it is we do ag, you know, and so it's kind of crazy because sometimes wedo have to put things on hold because we're like, you know, the irrigation system isn't
working or, you know, we have to go make sure that the water, you know, is running andgetting, you know, heading.
(27:13):
for the cows or whatever, or we have to go feed something, or I had to shut the restaurantdown.
There was one night, it was a Sunday night, I had six people coming, it was really slownight, and I had a horse that tried to jump a barbed wire fence and didn't make it.
And so they're coming and I'm calling them and I'm trying to put this horse in a trailer,because I was like, I'm the only person on the ranch to get this horse in this trailer, I
(27:40):
can't feed you.
And that's what people don't understand is like they come and they're like, what do youmean?
You have to shut your restaurant down.
You're a restaurant.
Your job is to serve us.
And I think that's the whole point is like, well, yeah, I know, you know, it might be,yes, of course we would love to have a restaurant.
Of course this is a passion project for us because it's all about food and we considerourselves ambassadors of our lifestyle and of, you know, ranching and farming.
(28:08):
We want to show people
how important this is and how important it is to support farmers and ranchers and how itis to eat.
And it all goes back to like our, what we want is sustainability, right?
And that's what homesteading was all about.
And that's why it goes along with our Wyoming territorial theme.
And that's kind of why the Viking Nordic thing kind of goes in there too is because it's ahard life and we want to make sure that we're going to be able to take care of ourselves
(28:35):
and we want to have good food.
And so that's why we do all these different things.
And like I said, I grew up on a ranch.
I was there for a long, long time.
And then I decided to go to Black Hills State and be an Indian studies major and a historymajor at Black Hills.
(28:55):
I went there from, I hate to date myself, but I went there from 86 to 88 to play football.
And then I didn't know what I wanted to do.
you know, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
And I went and worked on a ranch in Australia for a year or two.
So the ranching lifestyle is cool with me and it'll always have my heart.
(29:19):
So, but you guys have a restaurant out there then, or is that during the, what's?
So we do in the summertime, we, well, so over time we've had to diversify because everyranch, I mean, every ranch knows there's highs and lows, right?
And so that was kind of our first stop is once grandma and grandpa kind of restoredeverything, they had their friends who were like, can we come up?
(29:44):
Can we come visit?
And then they kind of had this, you know, imagination that maybe they could just do thisfor fun.
Right.
And then everybody knows that you don't just do like,
And this is kind of like a dude ranch type of experience, right?
You don't just do that for fun, you kind of have to go whole hog.
And that's kind of what happened to us.
(30:04):
then when the grandkids, all of us grandkids kind of went off to college, and I think ourfamilies just didn't want us to feel pressured to have to come back.
I mean, they wanted us to have our passion, figure out what we wanted to do, and if weended up back here, they were good with that.
And so in that interim period, you know, they were like, okay, we're not gonna push thesethings.
(30:27):
The one thing that they did do was keep this restaurant going, because my mom loves food.
She loves to cook food.
Everybody in her family loves food.
And that was the big thing is making sure that...
And also Wyoming is a desert, a food desert.
Okay, I don't know if everybody's like come and been here, but there are just sometimeslike the food is...
(30:52):
fresh food as far and few between.
And I love the Wyoming Food Coalition and we try to really support the Wyoming FoodCoalition because they're supporting farmers who are trying to grow here in Wyoming.
So a lot of our produce actually comes from Papa Joe's who has greenhouses.
(31:12):
So we get everything that's produced in a greenhouse, right?
But it's fresh and it's local.
And so that's kind of what we want to do here with the ranch as well, is make sure thatwe're producing our own food and not to be.
And this is our crazy showing, right?
Is like, we're not big preppers and we don't have a bunker.
(31:33):
Okay.
But I'm telling you what, we're just making sure that if anything happens, we know we canmake everything ourselves.
Right?
So my mom loves canning.
They love doing everything like that.
Don't ask all the other stuff that she's making some of it may or may not be There's asecret room, okay
(31:55):
Yeah, all right.
Well, because I, now that you say that, I mean, we had lunch there when we were there.
And, but I didn't read, is that, didn't read no, if that was, can like people come out andeat or is it just for the dude people?
Yeah, no, people can come out and eat.
Absolutely.
And the only problem right now is like we're booking out and we have so many specialevents that were packed on the weekends.
(32:22):
So we're pretty much closed like Friday and Saturday.
But if you come out on a Thursday or Tuesday or something like that, or even on a Sunday,we'll be open.
Cause you know, I mean, if I like to go to Cody, I take pictures of the big horn sheepdown in the North fork and the South fork and do this and that.
And I would just wait to eat till I got to Buffalo then, you know, and come out and seeyou guys.
(32:46):
Yeah, you yeah, absolutely come out anytime and the the okay.
So by the way on the food, so all of our food vendors fell through they were like too colddon't want to show up and that happened to us three days in advance.
So we cooked all of that food ourselves because we had to not because we wanted to.
(33:10):
Well, I'll tell you, it was good and that is amazing.
I have to give you kudos.
So, what else do you have going on maybe throughout the summer or is there something thatother people would want to come over and see?
Yeah, so we work on a couple of other events throughout the years.
(33:31):
Some that are with different organizations, but other ones that we kind of put on as we doHeritage Days, which focuses on Wyoming history and Western heritage in general, history
and heritage.
And so it's kind of like reenactments, but primarily what it is is what we're considered aliving history museum because in some ways we're still doing the things that they're doing
(33:53):
in 1883 or 1893.
And what we want to do is kind of show the modern integration of the old school Westernarts.
And that's kind of what our heritage and Western heritage is all about.
So how did these old school techniques get into something that we can kind of incorporatetoday?
And that's what our Western heritage event is about.
(34:16):
And we also kind of do exhibits.
like for this upcoming year, we have a Tintite photographer coming and he's doing side byside.
So
We, with our historical societies here in Buffalo, we've done direct descendants of thesehistorical figures in our county, right, who were a part of the Johnson County War, who
were really integral in 1893.
(34:37):
And they are their descendants who are almost replicas, right?
So we've got Margaret Smith, who was named after her great, great grandma, Margaret Smith,who was a part of the Occidental, and they look bio-identical.
And we have similar types of those people.
And so when you take a 10 type photo of a person, all of a sudden you're transported tothat time and you just realize, oh my gosh, I am this person.
(35:04):
I, you know, I mean like modern technology is insane because there's just this realism andthe 10 type, you just are like that.
You just feel removed, right?
And then when you take a 10 type photo of yourself, you're like, this is, am mydescendant.
And so that's kind of the stuff that we do is just a lot of things that we do with ournonprofit, with our foundation to promote Wyoming tourism and history.
(35:30):
Like I said, we're always doing something new.
We always invite people to come out and kind of experience the history and come out andeat.
We do a lot of, and I know it kind of sounds kitschy, but homestead tours.
So it's just teaching people, like we have our own bees, so we make our own honey.
We make our own wax candles.
(35:50):
You know, we're doing goat milking.
We're doing alpine packing goats.
And for the ladies, this is turning into great ways to do yoga retreats.
For the guys, they're like, how much does that goat carry out of the mountains?
And we're like, well, it carries like five mats and my water bottle.
(36:14):
But anyways, yeah, so we do, and also like teaching people how to make, you know,different types of medicines out of herbs.
We work with our local apothecary to kind of make different treatments and stuff likethat.
And that's kind of the stuff that we're passionate about, right?
Is that weird like home setting, not doomsday prepping, but stuff like that, you know,that you get to have fun doing.
(36:39):
Well, I hope my wife doesn't listen to this cause she'll be over there all the time.
Cause I mean, we're, I, she's very hippy ish and holistic and she would love yourapothecary stuff too.
I mean, I, I, I'm just joking here, but I mean, she's would be very interested in that andI would be too, but, yeah.
(37:01):
So that's very, very cool because people, I think more, I was talking to actually.
Joe Ernst, the, he's the director for finding writers in the PBR.
just did an episode with him and we were talking about the cowboy way of life is comingback.
(37:21):
The, the, we were just talking earlier, the, the chivalry, the, and in learning how tolive off the land the way you had to, because that's all you had.
And I love that you guys are doing that.
You know, I mean.
I know I'm older than you and but being so young as you are and bringing this back to theranch itself is very, it's uplifting.
(37:49):
Cause I don't want to ever see this lifestyle die.
You know, I don't and talking to people like you guys makes me feel, it makes me feel atleast a little closer to the, know, like you guys are like, I go back to my,
go back home and I have people, like I said, I grew up on a ranch, my dad worked for arancher I worked for him too.
(38:18):
But I mean, I'm just saying it's fun to be outside and it's fun to be in the ranch life.
I I shouldn't say fun.
It is fun though.
It's a lifestyle.
Well, they're the thing that what happens for us is it's tough, right?
And there are days where you're like, man, it just, you're just begging to, you know, tokind of make it through.
(38:41):
And what happens is like when we get on horses, right.
And we have like a pretty small size ranch.
mean, altogether, the ranch is about 8,000 acres.
And really it's like, you know, the ag really doesn't make us really any kind of money.
But when you're sitting there,
and you're in the hills and you just see for miles.
(39:01):
mean, when you get to the top of our hills and we have teepee rings, right at the top ofour hills that were used to ambush the Bozeman trail and you can kind of see what they saw
and you can see 80 miles to pumpkin view, which is like in the next town over.
And you just have this like insane, beautiful, amazing feeling of freedom.
(39:22):
Right?
I mean, it's just miles and miles of just expanse.
And I've never felt in my life,
you feel lonely, but in a way that's just so nice.
mean, so it fills your cup, right?
And I used, before I came back home, I lived in Colorado.
And so when you went into the wilderness or any kind of hiking trail, no matter where youwent, you were with 10 people.
(39:45):
And some of them had flip flops and you're like, why?
You're like, where are the bears?
Where are the natural predators?
You know?
And so that's the big thing is like for,
here, what for my generation and I'm like on the last end of the millennial generation,right, is our generation feels starved for experience and authenticity and having kind of
(40:13):
like connection, right?
And even though we have like social media and we have all these different things,sometimes you feel really lost and like you can't make that much of a difference in an
impact.
And the reason why I returned home to the ranch was because you're in such a big world.
Sometimes all you can do and be satisfied with is just making your corner or piece of thepie a beautiful place.
(40:39):
And you can show people how you imagine the world to be when they come to your home andthey can see kind of like the peace and the surrender and how you envision like life could
be.
And I'm not saying like returning to a time where there's no internet, right?
I'm just saying, coming to a place where you're just welcome, right?
(41:02):
You're welcome and you're, you know, loved and we want to show you the beauty of the landand things that we're doing and why we're passionate about it.
And that and so that's why we're doing this is it's tough and it's hard, but I wouldn'tgive it up for the world, you know.
And it's also genuine people.
(41:24):
It's genuineness.
It's accepting of everybody that, I mean, it was just like I said during the fire and ice,but I have to ask you here, because when you come out of the bottom by the river there, or
crick, but you come up and you come up by the houses and you get up and you have the viewof the big horns and everything over there.
(41:47):
I mean, that has to be wonderful to wake up in the morning.
it's insane.
Our neighbor is like a mile and a half down the road.
I mean, it's great.
And that's the other thing too, is like you wake up and you have the bald eagles in themorning.
We have owls.
We've had these owls, we know them.
(42:08):
The animals are around you all the time, right?
The land is around you all the time.
And that's just the beautiful thing about it is that it's harsh.
and gorgeous and beautiful.
And you always kind of feel like when I'm here, I feel alive because you just get to seeeverything kind of in real time.
And I think that's why Ag people and rural people are very special is because animals getsick, animals die, they do it all the time.
(42:36):
And you know, we have had our best horses, you know, break their legs and freak accidents,right?
And so on some degrees you just have to realize how to find a way to stay in the momentand appreciate life in the moment.
And how to, and then when you do have time to celebrate how to like, how to do it in anawesome and fantastic way where you're like burning a ship and drinking meat at the same
(43:00):
time.
Yeah.
And mean, I, Buffalo's gorgeous.
I mean, the big horns are gorgeous and this, this whole area, the people are reallyspecial and we're, fighting for it.
I mean,
Wyoming, really, our tiny town and community is really trying to come together to be like,this is what Wyoming ethics are.
(43:21):
This is the cowboy ethics.
It's about love and it's about camaraderie and it's about sticking together.
And I can't tell you how many neighbor feuds I've had over water.
Cause water's still a thing out here.
And...
you know, and also have our neighbors kind of leave a gate open, you know, cause they'repissed off or something.
(43:43):
But I'll tell you what, if I, that same exact neighbor, if I, I was in a snowstorm andwent off the side of the road, he didn't pass me by.
He pulled me out.
He always, he's always checked on me.
I haven't had a single neighbor, no matter what happens, they always check on me.
They always stop by.
If I've ever had a problem, they always bring, you know,
(44:04):
There are people that you can count on even if they're pissed off at you, right?
And how many times that we can say that in this like political environment about lovingyour neighbor, right?
And sometimes you just don't talk about politics at Thanksgiving dinner, right?
I mean, you find a way, you find a way.
But that's the whole point, right?
(44:25):
It's about, like community is so much more.
It's about loving people.
And that's what Wyoming is.
You don't get to pick.
who your family is, you don't get a picture your neighbor is, but you have to find a wayto love them.
And that's what the Viking Festival is, that's how we see this ranch and that's what wewant to promote here.
(44:45):
Yep.
Well, I love that train of thought there because I believe exactly what you say.
And we're not going to leave people in the back, you know, in need or anything like that.
grew up to help everybody out if they needed the help, even if you, like you said, youcan't pick your relatives at times or you can't, know, you this kind of thing.
(45:06):
But I know you have to go to a go in a way party here, but
We always ask one question at the end of the episode and I didn't even fill you in on whatthat question's gonna be to think about.
But we always ask the question, what is the good life to Katie?
(45:28):
The good life?
my gosh.
A good horse, a good dog, and good bourbon.
And that's it.
right.
Well, you have her there then.
(45:49):
Well, I wanna just thank you.
I hope we get together again sometime and we'll be passing through Buffalo.
You might be getting a text and saying, hey, what's going on?
And can we come out and have a conversation?
my gosh, we'd love to have you come out anytime.
Well, that'd be awesome.
But so I just want to say thank you so much again.
(46:12):
And, you guys are so friendly and you're so thoughtful and I appreciate this conversationand I appreciate you guys.
Thank you so much and we appreciate you taking a chance on a very cold January day Andwe're just so glad I'm so glad I got to meet you and your wife.
(46:33):
You guys are amazing
Well, thank you very much.
So, well, don't die rusty nation as always keep chasing your dreams, being the best youand don't die rusty.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.