Colleen Reeves

The Red Corral Ranch
Wimberley, Texas — Summer 1997

TRAINING AND PRACTICING HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT
In 1986 I took one of Allan Savory's first "grazing management" courses in Albuquerque. Over the course of several years, I took agricultural courses from other places and even spent 54 fascinating weekends in New York over a 6 year period studying many different disciplines. I began noticing that the most interesting studies to me had a common thread-holographic principles, wherein every part is related to every other part. By then, Holistic Management was being emphasized at the Center; so I took some refresher courses and began searching for a way to apply these principles in our lives in Austin as well as on our 1,087 acres of Texas Hill country limestone land.

THE WHOLE TO BE MANAGED
Resource Base and People: Home - 3704 Eastledge Dr., Austin Texas 78731 Employees in Home in Austin: Ruby, Geneva, & Michelle. Red Corral Ranch (all improvements and assets are listed in this part) Education, skills, and knowledge of PlanIt Texas Coalition members (from 22 organizations and agencies) Education, skills, assets, & knowledge of Reeves: Colleen, James, Brian, Russell, Donald; Grazing lessees: Peggy and Richard; Hunting lessees: Bill, Gerald, and 8 hunters; Potential customers and guests at Red Corral; Volunteers-both Austin and Red Corral; Neighbors-both Austin and Red Corral; CPA-both Austin and Red Corral; Consultants.
Money: Reeves money; Hunting Income; Main House Income; Guest Houses Income; Grazing Income; In-kind contributions.

The Management Team:
The management team and the People in our Resource Base are closely intertwined. Every single person listed above contributes significantly to the present and future operations of the Red Corral. However, the ones who make the most decisions, have "veto power," and who depend directly on the resource base for part or all of their living are my husband, my sons, our ranch hand and myself. My husband has a full practice in Austin with very little extra time, and my sons also have full lives off the ranch. Therefore the actual day-to-day management and decision making is mine. Our ranch hand speaks limited English but does 90% of all the physical labor.

OUR HOLISTIC GOAL
Statement of Purpose: A place to nurture people and the ecosystem
Quality of Life: Maintaining a healthy balance between our lives in Austin and our lives at the ranch o Producing enough profit from our enterprises at the Red Corral to pay for taxes, insurance, and ranch-hand salary o Enjoying the fellowship of friends, family and community groups who share an appreciation of healthy living, stewardship, honest challenging work, recreation, fun, a spiritual connection to the land, and a spiritual connection to people o Continuing our commitment to lifelong learning . Forms of Production: Income from Reeves in Austin; Income from livestock; Income from wildlife; Income from paying guests o Aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, hospitable environment o Healthy ecosystem with high functioning ecosystem processes o Opportunities for individual and collective creativity and innovation o Working atmosphere which allows for the emergence of larger patterns of possibility.
Future Resource Base: We want for our grandchildren high functioning, unencumbered ecosystem processes (community dynamics, water, mineral cycles, and energy flow). o In order to attain our Goals, we will have to BE: Of the utmost integrity; Responsible for providing a high quality product for a fair price; affirming a positive vision; nurturing; caring; responsive to needs; thoughtful; collaborative; trustworthy; open-minded; respectful; creative; fun; adventurous; and committed o Our future work environment and immediate space will be aesthetically pleasing, spacious, comfortable, nurturing, welcoming, safe, and functional, transformational, and healing. o Our future additions at Red Corral will include a hunting cabin, Dromenon, large meeting room, butterfly/hummingbird native plant gardens, rain harvesting o Our communities will need to be dynamic, diverse, and healthy. o For our future community services, we will need high quality health care and emergency services. Access to diverse educational resources. Responsible, responsive government that serves as a resource and facilitator.

TRANSLATING THE HOLISTIC GOAL INTO DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS
Our forms of production have increased. Income from deer and turkey hunting has doubled. Income from grass lease is the same as in years past but the improvement is in the cattle management. The Red Corral is too small for most profitable cattle operations unless we lived there, owned them, and worked them ourselves. (Something my husband and I would like to do since we both are from farming and ranching backgrounds.) We divided the place into 17 pastures ten years ago, but it has been difficult finding an HRM practitioner who was near enough to make it profitable. The PlanIt Texas Coalition was the source for finding Richard Sechrist who markets his cattle directly to customers as chemically free under the trade name of Homestead Beef. To enhance the beef marketability, I applied and received organic certification this year from the Texas Department of Agriculture for the entire ranch. Richard practices HRM grazing management and I stay involved in the planning process. We plan our grazing, water, and fence changes around the Golden Cheeked Warbler (an endangered species which we have on the ranch). We are also working with the Wildflower Research Center representative on PlanIt Tx board learning how grazing affects wildflowers. We would like to maximize certain areas for guest enjoyment and aesthetics. For the first time since I took my first HRM course, I am confident that the cattle are properly being used as the tool they were meant to be-as well as providing income.
A major change in our operations concerns paying guests. Since the ranch needs more income, the PlanIT Tx Coalition helped me realize that I could make money doing many activities that I've always done-hosting hunting parties, entertaining guests, cooking, preparing for family gatherings, hosting women's retreats-only more of them! I painted and refurbished many rooms in our main house and two cottages (myself and with the help of friends who have enjoyed the ranch for years). We are now open for Bed and Breakfast, Guest House Accommodations, small retreats, and weddings. ***We book reservations through Hill Country Accommodations 1-800-926-5028*** We have also begun landscaping our yards with native plants to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. We are involved with our deer hunting lessee in developing trophy bucks. In 1984 our neighbor joined us in building a game fence around both places which makes 1600 acres to be managed. We were pleased last year, when one of our hunters won the Blanco County Big Buck Contest.

THE MONITORING PROGRAM
Within PlanIt Tx, there are several subcommittees. One measures the amount forage we have for grazing the cattle as measured in ADA's. One committee checks the forage and quality of habitat for wildlife as well as wildflowers. Another group does bird counts each season to monitor the resident and migrating song birds. At least three spotlight deer census counts are done a few months before deer season to determine deer harvesting. We are keeping records on two pastures where controlled burn was used in 1996. There are nine photopoints on the ranch which are being photographed seasonally. I participate in much of the monitoring. All of these monitoring programs are written, reported to the group at large and kept in our records. Our bookkeepers and I keep detailed and accurate records on all expenditures and income. I am in the process of changing our financial records from a computer accounting package which is CPA friendly to the Holistic Management Financial Planning Computer Software which matches the paper forms.

PROBLEMS, MISTAKES, CORRECTIONS
The biggest problem is balancing my "double life." I am gradually giving up most activities in Austin. It is easier to know what to give up and set priorities when measured with the Holistic Goal! I tried hiring two different ranch managers. After two failures, I realized they simply didn't pass the testing guidelines! With so many knowledgeable people with so many ideas in PlanIt Texas, I sometimes feel slow in learning and assimilating all this new information in order to make decisions and act. However, there is so much to do that I simply don't have time to waste on self-consciousness! I have also learned that being in denial is a dangerous thing! It may be painful to recognize a mistake, but when I can face it, my defenses seem to dissolve and I can actually be creative!

SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE WITH SPECIFIC TOOLS
The most significant "tool" in my experience using HRM is, of course, human creativity. I have experienced it "in spades" working with the terrific members of PlanIt Tx. We all know that whenever people work together (committees, etc.), they can create more intelligence or more stupidity than they do individually! However, these people are aware that they can choose to create intelligence. And they do. Also, these people are passionate about their ideas and willing to take some responsibility for creating things out of that passion. Their collective knowledge has helped allay many of my fears of government regulation. For example, it has been a rumor that landowners in Hays County caught cutting any cedar could be fined as much as $50,000! In spite of the fact that we found an endangered species on our land, the PlanIt Tx members (yes, the environmentalists too) encouraged me to cut cedars. The trees I would leave for warbler habitat are located in places where it would be foolish to cut anyway. I am learning that diversity is our strength, not our weakness. I'm learning about interconnectedness and interdependence of life on this planet-that our "whole" is part of the larger whole and if we spoil our part, the entire whole is effected. I know that people who own land can no longer function successfully in isolation. Those of us who know how to interact and collaborate are more able to make decisions based on the long-term good of the whole.

ADVICE TO SOMEONE BEGINNING TO PRACTICE HRM
Setting your holistic goal is a must. Don't give up. Read the newsletters from the Center as well as Texas HRM. Ask the HRM of Tx office for an updated list of Texas members and confer with them-maybe management groups will be active again. Remind yourself, "If we have anything to teach, it is that we are a people who care, and that we believe there is a place worth caring for."

Bunker Sands

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Colleen Reeves

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