Ranchlands Podcast

Terry Gardner is an artist who has been involved with Ranchlands for almost 10 years. He is originally from St. Louis where he had a career balancing commercial and fine art. He was influenced early on by old westerns on tv and in film, gaining a love and appreciation for the American West.

After moving to Colorado, Terry left the advertising world and took up painting full time. He describes himself as “an expressive tonalist, where values and colors come from the soul to engage with meaningful brushstrokes”. In this episode, we talk to Terry about his journey through the art world and how he has connected with the subjects of his paintings as well as the land.

Learn more about Terry here.

Janelle Pietrzak is a weaver who lives a colorful life in the Mojave desert of California. Along with her partner Robert, who is a welder, she cofounded and runs a shop named All Roads, where they sell an assortment of their handmade textiles, metalwork, and more.

Janelle and Robert focus on their respective crafts, while often collaborating on special projects. They also partner with skilled artisans across the globe and strive to use the best materials to make functional items that will last.

Learn more about Janelle and All Roads Studio here! 

In today’s episode of the Ranchlands Podcast, Jonathan sits down with Duke Phillips to discuss what Ranchlands really is. 

While it might seem like an obvious question, there are actually so many layers to what we do. On the surface we are a land management company that uses cattle as a tool for ecological goals. But underneath, we are land managers that understand the need to diversify the ranch’s income and connection to the community through art shows, concerts, education programs, guests, hunting, fishing, and more.

They talk about how all of these programs help make the ranch more resilient, as well as how much fun we’ve had over the years building them.

Find any resources we mentioned in the episode here

Bruce McGlenn has nearly 40 years of bird and big game hunting experience in the Pacific Northwest. He is the owner and founder of Human Nature Hunting, a business that offers courses on hunting and foraging with an emphasis on the experiences and personal growth that accompany sourcing healthy food and connection to nature.

Learn more about Human Nature Hunting 

Kirk Gadzia is a longtime friend of Ranchlands’ CEO Duke Phillips, as well as an educator to countless Ranchlands employees. He is the founder of Resource Management Services, a New Mexico based consulting, training and monitoring organization committed to helping private and professional resource managers achieve their goals. Kirk is a certified educator with Holistic Management International and has over 25 years’ experience teaching worldwide.

Learn more about Kirk's consulting and monitoring organization here.

Dr. Caitlin Younquist is Director of Science and Education for Snaplands, an environmental consulting company that helps land managers maximize long term profit and healthy ecosystems by providing and interpreting rangeland data. We first met Caitlin in 2021 while she was serving as our local Extension Educator for the University of Wyoming, up in the Big Horn Basin near the Paint Rock Canyon Ranch. In addition to being on the Snaplands team, Caitlin manages a small farm with her husband, is a local volunteer firefighter, and is the Regional Director for the Wyoming Hunger Initiative.

Madi Phillips is the leather shop manager for Ranchlands. She was born and raised in the Midwest, was a wrangler at Zapata Ranch, and moved to the Chico Basin Ranch in 2013. Madi has been involved in Ranchlands’ leather shop since its infancy and has helped it grow over the past 10 years to where it is today. Madi is also married to Duke Phillips IV and together they are raising their two children across the landscapes that Ranchlands manages.

In this conversation, Jonathan and Madi discuss how she got her start at Ranchlands and what led her to the leather shop. They also talk about how she turned down vet school, moved to the Chico, eventually married Duke IV, and now is raising the next generation of their ranching family.

Learn more about Ranchlands Mercantile.

Jonathan Tullar first joined Ranchlands back in 2009, and he has played an integral role in almost every aspect of Ranchlands’ businesses. He is currently the Foreman of the Wyoming Paint Rock Ranch, and he has extensive experience with Ranchlands’ New Mexico and Colorado operations. In addition to on-the-ground ranching, he’s worked in the direct-to-consumer beef industry and is one of the driving forces behind Ranchlands Meat.

Shop Ranchlands Ground Beef

Learn more about The Ranchlands Collective

Lynae Risinger is a ranch management apprentice and currently manages the MP Ranch in New Mexico. She started as a ranch intern three years ago on the MP and spent eight months on the Paintrock Canyon Ranch before moving back to the MP, where she has been ever since. She is proud to call New Mexico home and loves to share it with the many faces of Ranchlands, her two dogs and her cat, Boo.

Learn more about Ranchlands' Apprentice Program

Oliver Tautkus is a ranch apprentice on Ranchlands’ Paintrock Ranch, our 80,000-acre ranch located on the western flank of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. Prior to working at the Paintrock, he was an intern down in Texas on our Frying Pan Ranch. Oliver made his way to Ranchlands all the way from his home country of Australia– he moved to the United States in search of adventure, new experiences, and personal growth, and he has definitely found all of that– and more– through his work with Ranchlands.

Learn more about The Ranchlands Collective