By Malerie Morgan
I attended New Cowgirl camp as the first female in my family with an interest in stewarding our ancestral lands. I had zero experience in livestock handling or land management but knew that I wanted to step into my role with integrity and in a way that felt more connected to natural rhythms than I had seen in many traditional male-led ranching and land stewardship operations. The instructors at New Cowgirl Camp create a safe space for folks of all types to come together as they are to learn these skills and ask as many questions as they need to. The learning environment is a mix of hands-on, lecture, and ample time for hanging out to casually connect with other attendees and instructors. I made lifelong connections during my time at Lazy R.
While there, I learned how to confidently read the land I steward and make assessments on how to introduce livestock. The skills I learned on low-stress animal management and rotational grazing have come in handy countless times with goats, sheep, and even horses.
New Cowgirl Camp was not only a place for me to learn tangible skills as a female farmer. It was also a safe place for me because of how the instructors weave in social justice. Beth, Sandy, and Alex prioritize conversations around race, land theft and access, patriarchal and colonial systems of oppression, and how those things affect us not only in our everyday lives but also in this work with the land. New Cowgirl Camp is a place for all types to show up as themselves to have open dialogues, and put in the work on how we can dismantle these systems of oppression that affect not only the land and the animals but all of us who choose not to mold into the box of what the stereotypical idea of what it looks like to be a rancher, farmer, land steward, soil enthusiast, or shepherd. New Cowgirl Camp is a place for us to push back against these norms and allow ourselves to wear whatever damn hat we choose while we do this work!