{{titleBar.title}}

{{titleBar.tagline}}

 

 

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch . . .Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch . . .Bryan PopePope
2015-10-15T05:00:00ZLand

​​​​I've spent my entire adult life in The Big City (by my standards, Bryan-College Station qualifies), but I grew up in a small farming town near Corpus Christi surrounded by people with strong ties to the land. So imagine my delight to discover Hillingdon Ranch: Four Seasons, Six Generations, a lovely coffee-table book about a Hill Country family with a rich history of land stewardship.

 

When the book hit my desk (thanks for the review copy, Texas A&M University Press), I gave it a quick flip-through, oohing and aahing over photographer David Langford's gorgeous work. His photographs — and the book is jam-packed with them — capture the flora, fauna and faces of Hillingdon Ranch, a more than 20,000-acre ranch near Comfort. As the title suggests, the photographs are neatly grouped by season. And, yes, contrary to popular belief, Texas does indeed have four of them.

After you're done admiring the shots of the frozen springs at Block Creek, herds of Angus cattle, goat shearing and white-tailed fawns gnawing at berries, go back to the beginning and read the text. Writer Lorie Woodward Cantu tells a compelling story of a family that has evolved since the ranch's beginnings in the late 1800s. The Giles family (longtime Tierra Grande readers will remember them from Charles Gilliland's article​ several years back) has seen the ranch through natural disasters such as droughts and screwworm infestations (about which the less said the better).

Most fascinating to me was how resourceful the Giles family is — respectful toward their land​ but recognizing its many potential uses beyond ranching. Over the years, they've leased the property to hunters, welcomed mountain bikers (27 miles of trails complete with prickly pears) and hosted professional photography workshops. They've even been home to a marathon.

But even 120-plus years after founding the ranch, the Giles family hasn't lost touch with its primary mission as land stewards, or as the book states, the​ "thin green line of people who provide the raw materials that sustain our lives and fuel our economy."​​

If you can't visit the Hillingdon Ranch in person, this book's the next best thing. You can buy it online from Texas A&M University Press or other major booksellers.
2015-10-15T05:00:00Zhttps://www.recenter.tamu.edu/info/blog/?Item=5

 Search Blog Posts