EXPERIENCE CULTURE!
IMAS presenting a new exhibition and celebrates an Indian festival!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
SOME LIKE IT HOT!
Check out our monthly listings of what’s happening in the RGV!
Junior League of McAllen, Inc. shares a sweet treat for you to try!
Welcome Home See article on page 4.
See calendar on page 5.
Try her recipe on page 16.
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RIO GRANDE VALLEY
April 2016
• • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
Grace Heritage Ranch: A Self-Sustaining Homestead Right Here in the RGV Special to Welcome Home RGV
Originally It’s hard to believe the Winter Texan season is coming to an end. I sure am going to miss all of you until you return to us in the fall. As I’ve mentioned many times, just because our friends from up north go home, that doesn’t mean the world comes to a screeching halt. Quite the contrary. Summer is full of activities, events, and opportunities to keep those who are still here busy. The only real difference is the temperature (and that we miss our Winter Texan friends, of course)! We’ve had such an overwhelming response to our weekly newspaper that we decided to continue our paper on a monthly basis throughout the summer. We want to stay in your lives, celebrating our local retirees and Converted Texans who have chosen to call the Valley your permanent home. As you flip through the pages that follow, please remember that we welcome your comments, suggestions, and ideas to make this paper the best it can be. We want to hear from you. I hope to see you over the summer! •
We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
from Wisconsin, United States Air Force Veteran Brian Schalk and his wife, Mary, have lived in Texas since 1984, except for a fiveyear departure to Fallon, Nevada. In 2010, Brian, Mary, and three of their six children moved to 160 acres of beauty and solitude located about one hour north of the Brownsville / Mexico border. Their green pastures and dense brush land sit in the southeast corner of Willacy County, deep in South Texas near the quiet little town of Santa Monica, 20 minutes east of Lyford. This is home, and they call it Grace Heritage Ranch. So what do you think of when you hear the word “grace”? How about “heritage”? As Christians, “grace” reminds the Schalks of God’s grace toward them--His amazing grace, if you will. “God’s Grace” was also their first donkey and the ranch’s namesake. Grace was adopted shortly after the Schalks moved to the ranch. She was blind and sick with cancer, but neither of these things defined her. She was a deeply loved family member, remembered for her patience, intelligence, love, gentle spirit, and, above all, her gracious ways. In spite of her challenges, she worked faithfully, protecting the family’s animals from predators and raising her little foal, Mercy. Sadly, they lost their amazing “God’s Grace” to cancer early in 2012. “Heritage” conjures up thoughts of a by-gone era and simple, oldfashioned ways of doing things. The Schalks believe that these ways are full of wisdom from our forefathers and are still quite applicable to us today. At Grace Heritage Ranch, the goal
Mary and Brian Schalk
is a sustainable homestead, and so, greater self-sufficiency is their way of life. To them, homesteading includes making intentional choices to improve the quality of life for their family. It’s about learning practical life skills, such as gardening, composting, using simple hand tools, soap making, and food preservation, as well as naturally pasturing, breeding and birthing their animals. The focus here is on improving the quality of the eggs, meat, milk, and vegetables produced without overburdening the ranch, while the techniques used constantly improve the fertility of the land. That’s the idea of sustainability--only putting on the ranch what it can reasonably support. This prevents stress on the plants, animals, and soil so they don’t need to use any harmful chemicals, fertilizers, or destructive methods. Wise stewardship of God’s provision is part of their plan and lifestyle. “Heritage” also refers to the breeds of animals they raise. To be considered “heritage breeds,” they must be old, established breeds, usually from before the 1800s but up to the early 1900s. They are more compact, are easy keepers, thrive on available forage, are easy birthing,
and hardy. They are generally raised for multiple uses, not for one specific purpose. Because these breeds are not suited to industrial use, they have fallen out of favor. Most are listed as critically endangered, with numbers as few as 600 worldwide. Grace Heritage Ranch has established careful breeding programs with all their animals in order to enhance the bloodlines and benefit the conservation of these endangered livestock breeds. Newborn animals are raised to improve the ranch’s own flocks and herds or are sold to augment other breeding programs, both zoological and private, nationwide. The heritage animals of Grace Heritage Ranch include American Milking Devon cattle, Nigerian Dwarf goats, San Clemente Island goats, Jacob sheep, Bourbon Red and Chocolate turkeys, Buff Orpington and Silver Gray Dorking chickens, Embden geese, and, not to be forgotten, their honeybees! All are GRACE HERITAGE RANCH CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 >>
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2015-2016 SEASON SPONSORS