Brooke Bonner
CFO - Chief Farming Officer ;)
I left my career in the nonprofit sector to become a farmer after my step-Dad unexpectedly passed away in February 2021, leaving Mom with 44 Arabian horses, 80 acres, a hay operation, and no staff or viable plan to manage and maintain the ranch. After spending the first year here walking around each day trying to figure out what each newly discovered implement was and how the hell it attached to which tractor, and spending each evening reading about farming and the changing role of agriculture in human and ecological health, I decided to embrace the challenge.
I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity to steward a spectacular piece of land, in a community I’ve lived in and loved for most of my life, and transform it into something that is deeply aligned with my values.
Each day brings a new lesson (and often a new opportunity to make an ass of myself), but learning is one of my favorite things. I love the diversity of duties - from creating the big picture vision, writing a business plan, and building a website, to planting thousands of trees and shrubs, installing kestrel boxes, and figuring out how to repair the plumbing and wiring on frozen horse waterers in the 10 degree winter. This life seems to fill my need for daily change and interest, balancing the physical and mental.
Now that we planted more than 3,000 fruit and nut trees and shrubs last summer (2023), I’m extremely antsy to see them start producing…
Hanging with Dad on the tractor - perhaps planting the seeds of a future farmer??
Drinkers of the Wind Team
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Mindy Rider (& Frankie)
FARM CO-MANAGER & PLANT CHAMPION
Mindy has been working with plants for more than 25 years - landscaping, on trail crews, on farms, and with retail, wholesale, and native plant nurseries all over the United States. For the last several years, she’s served as the Food Production Coordinator for The Hunger Coalition. She’s harbored a long-standing dream to start a native plant nursery, so it seemed like synchronicity that brought us together when she was ready to take the first step toward that dream. Now she’s helping launch Drinkers of the Wind’s new market garden and we’re the proud home and partner of High Desert Roots, Mindy’s new business celebrating the native and adapted plants of Idaho’s high desert. Learn more on her website here!
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Lawrence Roessel
FARM HAND & NOXIOUS WEED HUNTER
Lawrence joined the team in July 2023 with a plan to just stay for the summer. But he’s clearly a glutton for punishment since he asked to stay on through the winter and following summer season, which we gladly agreed to. He brings experience working in a greenhouse and vegetable farm in New Hampshire, a serious passion for identifying and learning about plants, plus a willingness to wrangle the seemingly endless supply of burrs on the property.
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Kyle Baysinger
CAT RANCHER & EQUIPMENT WHISPERER
Brooke’s husband, tech advisor, troubleshooter, tree grappler, and pinch hitter extraordinaire. Kyle’s a genius with equipment manuals and YouTube video tutorials, and thankfully still answers my cries for help when I’ve broken some piece of machinery or other (which happens embarrassingly often). Non-profit consultant for Florida’s Live Wildly by day, seeking to balance smart growth, a robust economy and a connected, resilient landscape. He may look the part, but swears he’s “NOT a farmer!” Pictured chillin’ in the feed truck with Archie’s favorite cat Spats, who is now about a million years old and still with us. Kyle is eagerly awaiting his next box of kittens so he can fulfill his cat rancher destiny.
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Helen Bonner
HORSE LADY & MOM
Mom is passionate about horses and worked closely with Archie on naming, raising, and working with them. She thinks I’m nuts for wanting to be a farmer, but is graciously humoring me and allowing me to transform the ranch. She’s honoring Archie’s legacy by finding the perfect homes for his extraordinary horses. And there are a handful of retired ones that will live out their lives with us as pampered pets.
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Olaf
BABY POLAR BEAR
“Squirt,” LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog), Akbash/Great Pyrenees, ranch supervisor. Spends his days looking for deer and elk bones from recent mountain lion kills. Big bark, lovable snuggle bug.
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Fred
ZOOLANDER
Goofy doofus, master of “Blue Steel,” old man who diligently follows us around to help with irrigation, vole hunting, and other daily duties. His deafness may or may not be age-related or selective… he’ll never tell.
Advisors and Inspiration
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Jake Takiff
CEDAR SPRINGS FARM & RESTORATION AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT
As part of his role as a farm consultant with Restoration Agriculture Development, Jake visited Drinkers of the Wind in April 2022 to help me make sense of all my ideas and goals. He returned in August 2022, with RAD team member Ben, to survey and help install our passive water management system. When not doing farm consultations, Jake can be found with his family and seriously adorable cows at Cedar Springs Farm in Colorado.
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Ben Stromback
STROMBACK LAND REGENERATION & RESTORATION AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT
Ben joined Jake at the ranch in August 2022 to help with the surveying and water management system installation. He also took the beautiful drone flyover images on this website. Seen above enjoying a post-project beer with us at Redfish Lake during our required tour of the area. When not helping with other projects, he’s part of the team at Crannmor Forest Farm in upstate New York.
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Restoration Agriculture
BY MARK SHEPARD
In my winter of farm reading, it was Mark’s book, Restoration Agriculture, that finally brought all the pieces together for me. There were many other great books with terrific ideas, but it wasn’t until I read Restoration Agriculture that I believed I could do this both successfully and in a way that was fully in line with my values - that I wouldn’t have to sacrifice what I believed in order to grow what I wanted without going broke. Thanks Mark! If you want to be inspired, watch some (or all) of his videos from his farm.
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The Resilient Farm & Homestead
BY BEN FALK
This book is a beautiful balance of vision/values and straight up practical nitty gritty details. It has a ton of ideas that work for properties of practically any size.
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Dirt to Soil
BY GABE BROWN
There are a ton of great soil health fundamentals throughout this book. While there is a strong animal-grazing component to this book, it is required reading for anyone interested in regenerative agriculture, whether or not you plan on integrating animals into your operation (though he makes a strong case that you should!).
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Regenerative Farmers of America
“Find a regenerative farm near you to support, learn, & change the world.” Their map of farmers in their US network are currently regenerating 612,170 acres, and counting! In addition to the cool map, they have great resources, a blog, and even a children’s book.