Colvin Ranch Nominated for Economic Courage Award

Economic courage could be defined as a leader, a business, nonprofit and or organization that, while facing economic uncertainty and a radical retraction of “business as usual,” took extraordinary steps to provide a service, a product, and or a support service that made a positive impact to the community and or employees of their organization. These individuals took economic risks to continue providing a service, product and or resource in the face of unprecedented economic uncertainty. Showing the ability to adapt, change and thrive during uncertainty. The Thurston EDC awarded Economic Courage Awards at the Hootenanny on July 19.
Learn more here: https://thurstonedc.com/hootenanny/.

During the past year, Colvin Ranch has shown Economic Courage and has been nominated for an Economic Courage Award.

We asked Ranch Manager, Alex Durney to answer some questions about the past year and how the business took extraordinary steps to impact our community positively. Her answers are below.

What year was your business/organization established?

The ranch was homesteaded in the 1850’s by Ignatius Colvin and officially became known as Colvin Ranch in 1986 when Fred Colvin (fourth generation) took the ranch over from his father.

How many employees do you have?

Outside of the work Fred and Katherine Colvin do there is a full time ranch manager, Alex Durney, and a seasonal employee from April to October.

Is your reach local, regional or national?

We provide products to local/regional customers ranging from Portland to Sedro-Woolley and Aberdeen to Yakima. Customers from these extended reaches will travel to one of our three pick-up locations (Tenino, Tumwater, or Tacoma) to get beef and pork shares for their freezer.

What does your business do? What services do you provide?

We provide whole, half, and quarter shares of beef, whole and half shares of pork, as well as individual cuts by online order, farmers market, and a few select Olympia stores.

What specific niche does your business fill in this community?
We provide locally raised grass-fed and finished beef and pastured pork to the local community.

What are some key elements you attribute to your business’s success?
  • Providing quality and humanely raised products using low-stress animal handling techniques and environmentally conscious grazing.
  • Evolving our business over the years to increase accessibility and ease of purchasing our products.
  • Telling our story whenever we can so people know how much we care about the animals and the land on which we raise them. This ranch is not only our livelihood but our family heritage that we hope to keep alive for many more generations to come.