Yak Butter Tea -- Three words you never thought would go in a sentence together. And they do, albeit briefly, in this episode of the podcast.
We visit the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado to meet up with Steve and Anita Hill, who hail from Sunny Hill Ranch, a self-sufficient farm specializing in raising yaks 100 wild miles outside of Anchorage, Alaska. At the show, we got to see these very hairy and very different animals in an up-close-and-personal way. Steve, Anita and the IYAK (everyone knows that stands for International Yak Association, of course) conference bunch were there with their animals, and they were so unruly and rambunctious, Elara almost leaned on one thinking it was a rug on the fence (All pertaining to the yaks, not the members). There were yak classes, yak judging, the selling of yak fibers, the tasting of yak jerky, and other yak-ish things like that.
We spoke with the Hills about the joys and pains of farming and ranching in the wilds of Alaska, having to deal with predators bigger than a breadbox (or even bigger than a SmartCar), and why they think the yak is a breed that has all the makings of being a perfect animal for low resource consumption and high food production in Alaska. All with the sights and smells and sounds of the Denver stockyards around us. Elara was in yak heaven (which is similar to regular heaven, except with more fur).