05/04/06 Living Life on the Ranch 1860`s Style

05/04/06 Living Life on the Ranch 1860`s Style

Living life on the ranch, 1860's style. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. I like to think of myself as a cowboy. True I live in the city and don't own a horse, yet. But I've often fantasized about living the life of a true old west cowboy. PBS is giving us a glimpse of that life with their new series Texas Ranch House. In the same vein as their recent series Colonial house, PBS is sending a group of modern day people back to 1867 to live life without cellphones, supermarkets or cable. Jody Sheff is the Executive Producer for Texas Ranch House. SHEFF: We take modern day people back and allow them to live as people would have in a certain historical period. The idea is that they have to see if they can succeed and find all the cows they need and to start a cattle business and make it a big success. PROGRAM AUDIO: "Cowboy work, it's so romanticized." One of the things I found the most surprising was how quickly the male/female attitudes asserted themselves. Both men and women in the 1800's knew their places. Each had a specific role to play in their survival. Of course they were conditioned to those roles since birth. How different things are today in that aspect. PROGRAM AUDIO: "It's been hard to be at the house so much. I mean we're women. We're going to go at each other you know." PROGRAM AUDIO: "I should be out there working and I should go on the cattle drive." "She's the maid and not a cowboy and she shouldn't be out there doing our job and getting in our way." SHEFF: Well I think one of the most surprising things is just that human nature is just completely unpredictable. (laughs) And you can think that you know what's going to happen but you really don't. And you know I think there was a lot of heat that summer. It was one of the hottest summers in Texas on record. It was 110 in the shade and I think that you just take all these individuals from around the country and they all are game for the project and you know you just sort of have to see what happens. And that's always a surprise. Bill and Lisa Cooke, a California couple are playing the part of ranch owners for the series. They live in the ranch house with their 3 daughters. The "girl of all work" (basically a servant) also lives there with them. In the bunk house, cowboys and cooks from England, Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Ohio, New York and Vermont do the daily ranching work. SHEFF: You know what we really tried to do is we really try to limit our involvement once the project is underway. I mean we do not&these shows are unscripted. So we in no way go in and suggest to the participants that they say or do anything. We're really sort of observational 24-7. So this cowboy is sorta thinking his little home on the range isn't so bad. Maybe we could just microwave some chili and get a cold one from the fridge before we sit down in front of the TV to watch Have Gun Will Travel. Hand me the remote. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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