What’s Ahead at Longroots Ranch: Whole Animals, Healthy Land, and Regenerative Fibers

We're starting into our second full year of Longroots Ranch and it feels good. There's so much momentum to build on and also more learning ahead.

Our focus stays rooted in three core commitments that guide everything we do here in Boulder County:

• Whole animal eating through meat shares

• Holistic land stewardship through planned grazing — including under solar arrays

• Regenerative fiber products that honor the full life cycle of our sheep

These aren’t trends for us. They’re practices that help us steward land responsibly, reduce waste, and build a more resilient local food system. Here’s what that looks like in the year ahead.

Whole Animal Eating: Why We Sell Meat Shares

Whole animal eating is the backbone of our ranch. Rather than selling individual cuts year-round, we offer meat shares — lamb and pork sold in portions of the whole animal. This model allows us to raise and harvest animals with intention, plan responsibly as a small ranch, and ensure every animal is honored from nose to tail.

What Whole Animal Eating Supports

• Less food waste by utilizing the entire animal

• Better flavor and nutrition from animals harvested at the right time

• More affordable, freezer-ready protein when averaged across cuts

• A stronger local food system that doesn’t rely on commodity supply chains

In the coming year, we’ll continue offering:

• Lamb shares from grass-fed, pasture-raised sheep

• Pork shares from organic-fed Berkshire pigs

Customers often tell us that buying meat this way changes how they cook — becoming more creative, more confident, and more connected to their food. We’ll be sharing recipes, cooking tips, and education throughout the year to help make whole animal eating approachable and practical for families.

Holistic Land Stewardship: Planned Grazing Across Boulder County

Healthy land is not accidental — it’s managed!

At Longroots Ranch, we practice holistic planned grazing, a method that mimics natural grazing patterns to improve soil health, plant diversity, and water infiltration over time. Our sheep rotate intentionally across pastures, allowing grasslands to rest and regenerate between grazing periods.

Grazing Where It Matters Most

This year, our grazing work includes:

• Grasslands and private acreage across Boulder County

• Solar arrays, where sheep provide vegetation management beneath panels while improving soil health

Solar grazing is a growing part of our work. Grazing sheep under solar panels reduces mowing, supports renewable energy infrastructure, and turns otherwise underutilized land into functioning grassland. With support from the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Agrivoltaics Research & Demonstration Grant Program, we’re pairing grazing with ecological monitoring to better understand how land responds over time.

We’ll continue sharing what we’re learning — the wins, the challenges, and the long-term view of regeneration in a changing climate.

Regenerative Fibers: Using What the Land and Sheep Provide

Raising sheep doesn’t just produce food — it produces fiber, and we see that as another opportunity to practice stewardship rather than waste.

This year, our flock will give us two distinct fiber products, each tied to a different moment in the animal’s life cycle.

Naturally-Tanned Sheepskin Hides

When our sheep are harvested for meat, we work to ensure their hides don’t become waste. Instead, we partner with small-scale tanneries that use plant-based, low-toxicity tanning methods to create beautiful, durable sheepskins.

These hides:

• Come directly from sheep raised on our pastures

• Are tanned without chrome or heavy chemicals

• Create long-lasting, biodegradable home goods

Our naturally-tanned sheepskins are used as rugs, baby play mats, meditation cushions, and everyday cozy layers — functional pieces that carry a story of land, care, and respect for the animal’s full life.

Colorado-Made Wool Pellets

Every February, our sheep are shorn, an essential annual practice for their health and comfort. The wool we collect is then transformed into Colorado-made wool pellets, a regenerative garden and soil product.

Wool pellets:

• Are made from our sheep’s raw wool

• Act as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer

• Improve soil structure and moisture retention

• Are biodegradable and plastic-free

By turning shorn wool into a useful soil amendment, we’re closing another loop — returning nutrients back to the land and creating a product that supports healthy soils well beyond our fences.

Looking Ahead: Regeneration Is a Long Game

Everything we do at Longroots Ranch is built around patience — raising animals slowly, letting land rest, and choosing practices that prioritize long-term health over short-term yield.

This year, you’ll see us:

• Expanding education around whole animal eating

• Deepening our grazing partnerships across Boulder County

• Continuing solar grazing and ecological monitoring

• Offering intentionally-raised meat shares and regenerative fiber products

Regeneration isn’t fast or flashy. It’s steady, relational, and deeply rooted in place.

We’re grateful to be doing this work alongside a community that cares where their food comes from — and where their dollars land.

—Virginia & Peter

Longroots Ranch