Wow! Just Wow. Those words written in The Durango Herald almost 4½ years ago about Kathryn Wilder’s “Desert Chrome,” are still appropriate for this year’s publication of “The Last Cows: On Ranching, Wonder, and a Woman’s Heart.”
“Desert Chrome” went on to garner many awards, including the Colorado Book Award, the Nautilus Book Award and silver for a memoir, to name a few. Then Wilder got the call she had been waiting for: After 17 years of applying, she won the Ellen Meloy Fund Desert Writers Award. Named for a dear friend, it came with a financial award, which allowed Wilder to write “The Last Cows.”
If you go
WHAT: Author Event and Book Signing with Kathryn Wilder, “The Last Cows.”
WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://tinyurl.com/yc8fzxru.
She has written the book in 18 chapters with descriptive titles like Ode to Rain, Eddies, Desert Friendly and Another West.
Wilder begins literally at the beginning: She describes her youth at the California ranch where five generations of her family lived and worked near the Pacific coast. They had a huge ranch on which everyone worked, and it was able to sustain families and workers with meat and fruit and vegetables.
Throughout the book, the descriptions of how a ranch is operated are eye-opening. Never a day off. There are fences to build or mend, cows and horses to be cared for, leases for grazing land to buy, rent or lease. The amount of effort and rules that are required by the government to be able to have forage for herds of cattle are massive and strict. Ranchers are definitely not getting handouts from the government. There are firm requirements, and ranchers pay heavily with very hard work and money in any kind of weather and other undesirable conditions.
Then there is the changing climate adding to the stress. The landscape has been changed by the challenges thrown at it by Mother Nature and humans, making it harder to keep animals healthy, often requiring ranchers to choose between spending hard-earned money for feed or to cut their losses by selling parts or all of their herds.
Wilder not only writes about the ranching life but shares her extensive knowledge of the histories of the places she’s lived, especially the California coast of her youth and the Colorado high desert and mountains of her maturity. Her knowledge of the first inhabitants of the land in the West and all the many tribes that lived there – and that probably most people have never heard of – is educational and impressive.
She has also accumulated vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of the many places she’s lived; her awareness and respect for the land is extensive. Wilder is also tuned into the rhythms of the seasons and the differing hours of the day. She is so attuned to nature; she seems to wear it effortlessly, like a second skin or favorite wrap.
“The Last Cows” also tracks the seasons, hardships and joys of the life Wilder has chosen – or has it chosen her? Her family, sons, grandchildren, sisters and mother, horse and dogs are critical to her life. Owning a ranch with her older son has brought her great happiness. Cowboying (riding aside her horse moving cows) with her beloved horse and faithful dogs are her joy. Wilder beautifully and fearlessly shares her story with her readers.
To quote from the previous Herald review of “Desert Chrome,” “Wilder forms lyrical and vivid images with her writing. She waxes elegant when describing the land and its creatures. The book is an homage to the wildness and beauty of the West and the nature it holds within its range.”
“The Last Cows” also shares the intimate thoughts and feelings of a woman who loves this world and strives to be a part of the people who hope to keep the land, the animals and others safe and healthy for future generations to experience and love.
Leslie Doran is a retired teacher and freelance writer.
