blackfoot-valley

This, then, is the story of the Ranch and its regional setting, as seen by one recently arrived in the area who makes no claims to any special knowl- edge of ranching or significant firsthand experience in the region prior to 1997. At least a family history that has had some formative roots in Montana has added considerable personal interest to this project. It is hoped that the writer’s shortness of previous experience in this region will be compensated in part by an overall perspective that facilitates comparison with other regions and other experience - “to see ourselves as others see us” in Robert Burns’ well known phrase. In any case, I personally have had the good fortune to be introduced to a new world, at least some aspects of which were new to me. For instance, I have been introduced to Montana’s legendary Big Sky, similar in many ways to other expansive skies in the Western outback with which I am familiar, but with unique qualities of its own. To life on a ranch in a spacious though semi-enclosed valley no longer isolated from the outside world, but which nonetheless retains its own special qualities and character. To the stockraising endeavor itself, entailing unending hard work with goals similar to those of other walks of life, but with its own vigor linked to a history that has become legend, in an uncrowded region where there is still room to breathe freely. And to a business enterprise that has given new meanings to the word “natural,” with clear applications to a modern world that in its haste to innovate sometimes seems to have lost sight of its roots, whether in the land or in underlying values of spirit. Sometimes such roots are taken for granted, and ignored and even scorned, but always remain as the underpin- nings of a tree with many branches, indispensable to life itself. For me per- sonally, to gain a fuller sense of roots while working on this project has been a privilege and an honor. Afterword 192 Lee Madland 1997-2001 For resource and reference materials, copyright protection, current statistics, articles, company videos, scientific studies, blogs, and other information about Meyer Natural Foods and Meyer Company Ranch go to www.meyerfuture.com . Copyright © 2017 by Meyer Company Ranch, book design, ranch photographs, maps, historic photographs, artwork. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by electronic or mechanical means without the Ranch permission.