{"id":2445031,"date":"2019-06-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=307489"},"modified":"2019-06-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T06:00:00","slug":"diverse-uses-have-kept-strang-family-ranch-viable-since-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/diverse-uses-have-kept-strang-family-ranch-viable-since-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"Diverse uses have kept Strang family ranch viable since 1965"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.680701754386\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-307489-252\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Diversified uses have been a key to keeping the operation going since 1965.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Diversified uses have been a key to keeping the operation going since 1965.<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2.jpg\" alt=\"Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Diversified uses have been a key to keeping the operation going since 1965.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Kit and her late husband, Mike, bought the ranch in 1965. Bridget has spent most of her life there.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Kit and her late husband, Mike, bought the ranch in 1965. Bridget has spent most of her life there.<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Kit and her late husband, Mike, bought the ranch in 1965. Bridget has spent most of her life there.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights.Sheep and sheepdogs are part of the pastoral setting.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights.Sheep and sheepdogs are part of the pastoral setting.<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/cover-atw-060619-2-2.jpg\" alt=\"Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights.Sheep and sheepdogs are part of the pastoral setting.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/diverse-uses-have-kept-strang-family-ranch-viable-since-1965\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/diverse-uses-have-kept-strang-family-ranch-viable-since-1965\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">No story about women in ranching and farming in the Roaring Fork Valley would be complete without a visit with the Strangs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Kit Strang lives on the Missouri Heights ranch she purchased in 1965 with her husband, Mike, who passed away in 2014. Bridget, one of their four children, has remained on the ranch full-time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Kit grew up in the Midwest and moved to Denver after college to ski.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI didn\u2019t want to do what all the women at that time were doing, which was work as a secretary in New York City,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She met Mike and they decided to get into cattle ranching after they married in 1960.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI thought it was a good idea. I definitely didn\u2019t know anything about cattle ranching,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">They started off with partners, but that didn\u2019t pan out so the Strangs bought a lonesome place in Missouri Heights, roughly 3 miles from Catherine Store. Kit recalled barely being able to see the lights of neighboring ranches back in the old days. Now large-lot trophy homes and subdivisions are creeping in on all side of their 453 acres.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bridget was born and raised on the property and relished roaming the ranch. \u201cIt was just being turned loose on my own wilderness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The family has always followed a strategy of diversification. They graze some cows and sheep, board horses, operate a sod farm and Bridget has taught riding lessons for years. They have worked with Aspen Valley Land Trust to place a conservation easement on part of the spread to ensure it won\u2019t be developed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m thrilled the children like the ranch and still want to make it work,\u201d Kit said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While both mother and daughter help direct operations, they will be the first to admit they aren\u2019t out there wrestling with calves at branding time or throwing around bales of hay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Kit said she was too busy in the early years running after her four kids to get directly involved in a lot of ranch operations. Bridget doesn\u2019t shy away from hard work. She is accustomed, for example, to pulling out four or five newborns per day during lambing season in the spring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s a frantic two weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But she gladly defers to the ranch manager and hired hands for many of the operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMom and I are not proud. We\u2019re perfectly fine calling in the boys for the tough jobs,\u201d Bridget said with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">They wonder if ranching as they know it will survive in the Roaring Fork Valley. Soaring land prices, urbanization and scarcity of water all loom as growing challenges. Even now, ranching is more of a lifestyle choice than one that makes great business sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe do it because we love it,\u201d Bridget said. \u201cWe love the animals. We love this ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:scondon@aspentimes.com\">scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/diverse-uses-have-kept-strang-family-ranch-viable-since-1965\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Diversified uses have been a key to keeping the operation going since 1965.Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Bridget (left) and Kit Strang on their family ranch in Missouri Heights. Kit and her late husband, Mike, bought the ranch in 1965. Bridget has spent most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 08:43:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}