Harvard alumnus practices sustainable ranching
.article-badge{display: block; margin:20px 0;}@media only screen and (min-width: 768px){.article-badge{position:absolute; left:-32%; top: -200px;margin:0;}}@media only screen and (min-width: 1070px){.article-badge{left:-260px;}} The young Blake family left Boston and moved to Big Timber, Mont., in the early 1970s to try their luck at cattle ranching. Since then, Francis ’61, Sandi, and their sons, Peter ’93, Alex ’96, and Amory ’98 (who was born a few years after the move) have spent the better part of five decades turning a patch of unloved dirt into a ranch and nursery built for sustainability. Alex, who was just a month old when he arrived in Montana, now runs day-to-day operations with help from his father and younger brother, Amory. He says that his parents recognized early on that the long-term viability of the business would depend on embracing smart conservation practices. The Gazette recently spoke with Alex, who was an economics concentrator and heavyweight crew team captain at Harvard,...