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It was a quiet week at the Ranch as far as official meetings and events are concerned, however, there was still some excitement; with that, let’s get to your news roundup for the week of September 22nd, 2024:
Sunday, September 22nd at 6:44 Mountain Daylight Time, the fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. Fun fact, did you know the equinox occurs at the same moment worldwide? I guess I never really considered that before. On this day, days and nights are approximately, but not exactly, equal in length for everyone across the globe. The word equinox comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), that is, equal night. Learn more about the fall equinox at this link for EarthSky.
Wednesday, September 25th at 5pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board was scheduled to meet at Town Hall, however, the meeting was cancelled as a quorum of members could not be achieved.
Note that on Thursday, September 26th at 3pm, the TSVR Town Council held a Special Meeting in order to review building permits from the previous day’s cancelled P&Z meeting. The Town Council approved the following permits: one new single-family home and one accessory building. The Town Council also reviewed and approved a variance for movement of a shed to a new location on the owner’s lot that would place it two-feet into the side lot setback.
Thursday, September 26th from 1:30pm to 4:30pm a flu shot clinic was held upstairs at Town Hall. I know a number of residents took advantage of this opportunity.
Saturday September 28th from 8am to 11am the final TSVR Ranch Rendezvous Market of the season took place in the Town Hall parking lot. This final season event was well-attended by patrons who enjoyed fresh produce, yogurts, cheeses, homemade tamales and Philly cheesesteaks, locally roasted coffee and free-range beef, baked and canned goods, plus an array of beautiful handmade craft items.
I want to thank all of my readers who supported the Ranch Rendezvous Market this past Saturday as well as throughout the entire season! TSVR looks forward to bringing the event back in 2025!
For now, I thought folks might be interested in the following list of purveyors (in alphabetical order) who participated in the 2024 Ranch Rendezvous Market season. [Note, I’m linking to those who have an online presence so you can continue to find their products and support them throughout the year.]
All Arts Matter ceramics, Blue Ribbon Barn, Compton in the Art House, Crook Farm, DWH Leather, Jacknife Ranch free range beef, Local Kneads, Pepper Clothing Company, Rae Rae’s jams and jellies, Scott’s Bee Company, Shumway Farms yogurt and dairy, Squire Farms cheese and dairy, Star Valley Coffee Roasters, Strawberry Creek Sourdough, Sweet Poppins, Juan Valencia tamales, Tony Saraceni and Pam Nooman crafts, Wyo’Pa Hoagie Wagon, and WyominWove.
Other news and notes from the week:
With the arrival of fall the operating hours at Aspen Hills Golf Course have changed to 10am to 4pm Friday through Sunday. The rest of the week, Monday through Thursday, the course will be run out of the Cedar Creek Pro Shop so please contact them for assistance. Thank you!
And, now for that excitement I mentioned at the beginning of this post! There have been multiple reports of black bear and mountain lion around Star Valley Ranch over the past week. Well, check out the two videos below shared by one of our residents. His first visitor was during the wee hours of the morning on September 23rd, and then barely 24 hours later, he had another visitor! Check out those time and date stamps! Wow! In the interest of privacy I won’t name the resident, however, I would like to give him a big “Thank you” for sharing this footage with us!
It’s worth remembering folks at this time of year, especially for those of you in town who live closer to the National Forest boundary, it is not uncommon for these large predators to be out and about. Please do your part and avoid attracting bears to your property by checking out this Living in Bear Country web page from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD). You can also review the WGFD’s Mountain Lions in Wyoming web page to learn more on avoiding conflicts with these big cats.
Here’s a look at next week’s calendar items:
Tuesday, October 1st at 6pm the TSVR Roads Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
Thursday, October 3rd at 3pm the TSVR Finance Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
Final thoughts—I’ve recently put in a greenhouse, with a lot of help from my husband! As those of you who garden (especially vegetables) the growing season here can be more than a little challenging. With the calendar almost ready to flip over into October, I doubt I’ll get much time to figure out the finer points of utilizing my new growing venue. I will, however, keep you posted on how this new adventure goes. For now, I want to close with a couple of photos shared with my by residents. Thank you to Gil Oswald and John McDaniel for these two lovely images.
Sunset from Turnerville earlier this month. [Photo credit: Gil Oswald] 
Fall colors on the Salt River Range. [Photo credit: John McDaniel]
That’s all for today! Thank you for reading. If you have Star Valley Ranch news or photographs to share please drop me an email at close2home307@gmail.com. And, if you find this weekly email useful, please invite your neighbors, family, and friends to check out Close to Home 307. Your support and feedback is very much appreciated!
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It should be noted that the picture taken by John McDaniel -fall colors on the Salt River Range, was taken on the property of SVR residents the Albee’s. A poor attempt was made to blur out the enclosed trailer on the outside of the fence line. If a picture such as this one obviously on a resident’s property, it should be noted as such and permission asked from the homeowner to publicly share it.