It's all in the family

Capturing the spirit of the Texas ranchers requires quite a bit of blood, sweat and dirt. A task Jon Lindgren has decided to make his own. Lindgren, based out of Midland, is directing a documentary about the Texas rancher’s role in our nation’s development of land and resources, our communities and industries and all facets of life. But Lindgren wasn’t an easy sell. “It took me about six months to convince him this was worth his time and effort … that the market for this was just right,” partner and documentary producer Chip Balzer said. Balzer and Lindgren, with ViaMedia, have been working on the documentary for about two months, and it all started with research and talking to historians. Lindgren and Balzer wanted to find out who’s been around the longest and feature some of the biggest names in ranching. The idea the duo wanted to develop was ranching from the eyes of the descendents. Ranching often operates much like royalty, the land, traditions and work ethic are passed on to descending generations. This criteria was met by the Cowden family of the Half Circle C ranch about two miles south of Crane. Candi Cowden is a fifth generation rancher in her family. Cowden said the 10,000-plus acre ranch has been in her family since about 1860...more