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Tucked into every corner of the Colorado landscape are places where legends still live. The ranches of the West, and the ranchers who run them, embody what is true about America, and what we Americans want to be true: self sufficiency, determination, independence, competence, fearlessness, and an abiding reverence for the land that has blessed us with abundance and opportunity.

These ranches tell of a life that is fast disappearing. There is pressure to sell out to developers for ski areas and vacation homes and shopping centers. There are children who, legacy or not, no longer want to make a living from the land. And there are taxes that can threaten to take away what has been in the family for generations. As we watch the complex struggle of these ranchers to maintain a life that is slipping away, we also witness the inspiring way in which people are coming together to protect it.

In 2007 and 2008 John Fielder traveled to photograph 50 of Colorado’s most beautiful multi-generational working cattle ranches, most already protected from development. The resulting book Ranches of Colorado will play a part in the protection of other ranches. The project is a partnership of Fielder, Colorado’s preeiminent outdoor photographer, and the Colorado land trust community including Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, Colorado Open Lands, and the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts. These organizations earn royalties from each copy of the book sold.

The Book: Ranches of Colorado
Publication Date: October 5, 2009
16” x 12” simulated leather cover with a barnwood-like inlay
232 pages, 375 photographs of 50 Colorado ranches
Essays by the late James Meadow based on interviews with 10 ranch families
Retail price: $95, available at all book and gift retailers
Published by Westcliffe Publishers, a Big Earth Publishing company

The Slide Show Tour: Ranches of Colorado
Beginning October 5, 2009
The slide show will include over 250 of the project photographs and John will tell stories about his experiences working with these remarkable ranchers and exploring their ranches. Both book and slide show will be used to rally support for the use of conservation easements to save ranches by encouraging other ranch owners to do the same, and to raise funds to purchase development rights from ranchers so that these lands can remain in ranching in perpetuity. John will visit 25 Colorado communities in the fall of 2009 alone.

The Photography Exhibit: Ranches of Colorado
Opening October 3, 2009
John Fielder’s Colorado gallery will exhibit 50 large format fine art prints from the project beginning in October, 2009. The gallery is located at 833 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, Colorado in Denver’s Art-District on Santa Fe.

John Fielder is available for interviews by phone or e-mail.
Contact John directly at john@johnfielder.com or call 303-907-2179.
To contact the publisher: 303-541-1506 Linda Doyle

For additional information about the project, including John’s complete schedule of slide shows and book signings, visit www.johnfielder.com.
For information about the book and specific events, contact alena@johnfielder.com.
For information about the exhibit, contact rachel@johnfielder.com
For information about the project partners contact: Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, Alyssa Schneider: aschneider@ccalt.org
Colorado Open Lands, Cheryl Fox: cfox@coloradoopenlands.org
Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, Jeannie McGinnis: jeannie.mcginnis@cclt.org

Ryan Warner of KCFR Colorado Public Radio speaks with the 11 year old Montrose author, Tyler Befus, about his new book, “A Kid’s Guide to Fly Tying.”  Listen to their interview here.

Read the National Examiner review of the Olive series by Kirk Werner.

View Kirk’s interview with KONG News:

Reed Farrel Coleman’s “Empty Ever After” was recently reviewed on National Public Radio’s “Books We Like.”  You can listen or read the review here.

Colorado 14er Disasters has just been released and is now available through the Big Earth website.  Fourteener mania, the phenomena characterized by a seemingly obsessive drive to summit The List of all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, is an older tradition than many may realize. Along with intensely positive experiences in climbing is the possibility of the opposite extreme—to become stranded, severely injured, or even killed, in disturbingly easy ways. This book explores this dark side of climbing. When an accident happens on a 14er, the victim is far from help and in an environment where rescue is difficult at best. The book is full of hair-raising stories of these disasters and rescue attempts, and also aids in avoiding such disasters.

Lou Dawson reviews Colorado 14er Disasters on his Backcountry Skiing Blog.   Check it out here.

“Colorado Matters” host Ryan Warner interviews Author Mark Scott Nash
As Climbing Colorado’s tallest peaks grows in popularity, more people are injured or killed on them. Ryan Warner speaks with the Boulder author about his new book Colorado 14er Disasters.  Check out the audio file here.

New book unlocks the secrets of the best-loved dishes from the top Colorado restaurants

Boulder, CO-Johnson Books is proud to announce the release of Recipe Please: Favorite Recipes from Colorado Restaurants, Revised and Updated.

A compendium of favorites from the same-titled column in the Rocky Mountain News, the book is designed to allow chefs in every kitchen to recreate recipes cooked up by the masters of the most popular Colorado restaurants. Each recipe has been rigorously tested and includes easy-to-follow directions. The author has also included helpful hints and tips to ensure the success of even a novice chef.

“Nagging the chefs wasn’t easy, but I’m a mom, so the job came naturally,” jokes the cookbook’s author, Marty Meitus. “Here were the recipes that I wanted to use on a regular basis, recipes that I could turn to for dinner, for company, and most of all, for the sheer joy of cooking.”

The cookbook contains old favorites such as Wynkoop’s Famous Cheesy Artichoke Dip from the first edition and new favorites like Butternut Ginger and Apple Soup from Rioja. “Three printings, five years, and a few hundred ‘Recipe Please’ columns later, it was clearly time for a new edition. My own copy has become my personal recipe box-no index cards, but plenty of splattered pages, notes in the margins, and turned down corners,” says Meitus.

The Rocky Mountain News started the column “Recipe Please” in 1998, but the paper printed its last issue on Febraury 27, 2009, making the new book the only medium to obtain these culinary secrets.
Marty Meitus was the Food Editor for the Rocky Mountain News for over 25 years. She has been “arm-wrestling” Colorado chefs to bring readers the secrets of their favorite restaurant dishes for years. This is her second cookbook regalement of these celebrated dishes.
Recipe Please: Favorite Recipes from Colorado Restaurants
$16.00,  208 pages

Order this book from Big Earth Publishing.

Boulder, CO – Johnson Books is proud to announce the release of Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO.

The inspiration for this book is “Papa Jack” Weil, Rockmount Ranch Wear founder and creator of the snapfront cowboy shirt. Born in 1901, he worked until his death at the age of 107. He achieved success through devotion to his core principals, and the clothing he designed has garnered lifelong devotees. The shirts have become legendary- they have been worn by Ronald Reagan, Robert Redford, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan, and were the featured attire in the movies The Misfits and Brokeback Mountain. The Rockmount name has become a symbol for high-end, quality Western wear. When asked about his original apparel creations, Papa Jack said, “People want to wear something unique. And we provide that. The idea never ages.”

Ask Papa Jack is a compilation of anecdotes, stories, and “papa-isms” that exemplify not only his work and business style, but his extraordinary life. These pieces of wisdom and history, from the man himself and those who knew him best, are filled with honesty, integrity, kindness, humor, and individuality. Says Steven Weil, the book’s author, “I sensed, even as a youngster, something important and historical about my grandfather.” Through the text, Papa Jack emerges as a dreamer, a visionary-a man filled with hard-working perseverance and ingrained with an unwavering work ethic. His life lessons, like his clothing creations, are timeless and the optimism and wit of his words from years past are still relevant today. In speaking about the chilly economic climate of 1975, he said, “The world is not coming to its end, we simply have a long-due settling up of follies and perhaps greed.”

This realistic approach to life’s challenges is a recurring theme throughout Steven Weil’s book about his grandfather’s enduring legacy. “Papa took delight in the world of everyday. He did far more than live a long life, he lived it well.”

Steven E. Weil is the grandson of Papa Jack, and president of Rockmount Ranch Wear. He is the author of Western Shirts: A Classic American Fashion.

Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO
$15.95, 138 pages

Buy this book from Big Earth Publishing

Contact: Molly Morgan303-541-1505 / 800-258-5830
mmorgan@bigearthpublishing.com