About Us

Well sit right back and I'll tell you a little story!

Jim was a real life - third generation western cowboy and farrier. Always
Handy at ranch repairs, he found himself graduating a heavy diesel school
and following his heart to the great State of Alaska.

What about Flo? How'd
she get here?

Living in Northern Michigan, and involved with Agriculture- Flo moved here
after hearing the "call for working farmers to Alaska" in 1983. She departed
her native state to escape to a place where drunken Detroit deer hunters
could not be found in as large of numbers. As a farm employee she helped
to clear the land and build the Point Mackenzie Agricultural District. Later
she cared for the cattle.

Alaska had indeed delivered on it's promise to both of them that it could
provide beautiful scenery, more space and opportunities.

OK so now Jim and Flo are in Alaska and working, what next?

Jim and Flo met each other in 1994. By this time Jim was a well
established Heavy Mechanic and jack of many trades! Flo had stopped
farming with the downfall of the Ag district and started an art business in
1986 that had flourished. As an Artist she served many galleries and
museums including the Anchorage Museum Shop, Pratt Museum Homer,
and University of Washington Museum, 40 galleries in all.

NOW what do you get when you put a mechanically inclined cowboy type
with an artistic Farm gal who lives horses? (LOL!)

SPARKS! They combined their lives and talents into a dynamic high tech
manufacturing facility that served Alaskan artists, inventors and
manufacturers via the University of Alaska. The operating base was a log
cabin office overlooking the Knik Arm and Chugach Mountain Range.
Yup, they started a Corporation together. It was the first high tech CNC
machine shop in Alaska. Eventually the neighborhood grew, the business
also outgrew the location. On their lunch break they would head out and
ride horses for the hour....and then return to their desks! But Jim and Flo
really needed a bigger place.
High tech businesses should be located in a big city right?

Not Always. Jim and Flo searched in earnest for an appropriate facility for
their high tech fine art business. Yet they just could not bring themselves
to buy Real Estate in the City.
I mean....just because a person has had U of A Executive Privilege dose
not mean they want to live in a City after all the work of finally making it
to Beautiful Alaska!

These two horse loving people just could not bring themselves to plop
down all their hard earned money on a city spread. SO AT THE TIME...They
did a wild and Crazy thing! They put in a bid on a former Dairy Farm in
Point Mackenzie that had been defunct for a decade! On New Years Eve
2000 they were told they "won" themselves the right to try to qualify to
buy the farm. They celebrated their butts off!

Jim and Flo addressed the State Board of Agriculture (BAC) to let them
know that even though they both had extensive Agricultural backgrounds,
they were NOT going to rejuvenate the old dairy into a new dairy.
In a booklet called "Pitcher Ranch" They announced their future plans to
raise fine quarter horses, repair tractors, make hay and eventually create
art work too, to the Alaska State BAC. The Board voted. Jim and Flo were
approved! The Chairman advised them to "grab their seats with both hands
and hang on for the ride", and they did.

It was exciting! With so much work to be done, and so much planning to do
they packed up their High tech equipment and put it into storage until the
ranch buildings were better suited for their high tech operations.

The large buildings on this farm all needed money and work. Jim went
back to work on the North Slope to create a steady income, while Flo put
her successful career on hold. She stayed on the ranch to take care of the
horses, making repairs and improvements to the ranch. On his time off Jim
also works hard on improvements for Pitcher Ranch. Today this process is
ongoing. It has been a long road of work and sacrifices.

Grateful people?
Jim and Flo are both very grateful for the simple fact
that in the history of the making of Pitcher Quarter Horse Ranch they got
to do it together. No person died and left them any money, no one was
robbed, shot, or even sued! No settlement money, not even one big easy
break! We are equally grateful that many folks in our community have been
happy with what we have to offer.

What? Jim and / or Flo were not given a "free ride"?
The answer is no.
Making the Pitcher Quarter Horse Ranch "happen" in Alaska was
accomplished by doing all the unglamorous hard work that comes with
country life in Point Mackenzie, done by the sweat off our own backs. As
you can see by this little story, we're not finished growing yet.

What happened to the artwork?
I suppose in a way, it found it's way into the Pitcher Ranch quarter horse
herd.
All of Jim and Flo's equipment is still safely stored away for the day when
they decide they are ready to re-open their art business. For now beauty
can still be found in the Pitcher Ranch Quarter Horse herd. Which is indeed
a labor of love.

ABOUT PITCHER RANCH

COME RELAX IN WESTERN STYLE !

JIM PITCHER 2005

FLO PITCHER 2005

The husband and wife
team has more than
80 years experience
with horses. We enjoy
the fine sport of riding
and keeping horses!

the main barn sports
approximately 22,000
square feet of
insulated, interior
space.

There are numerous
lakes on the ranch to
enjoy.
We have dedicated
approximately 100
acres to becoming
luxurious horse
pasture.

The Ranch's private
lands border the
"point Mackenzie
game ranch" where
exotic elk and buffalo
herds can be seen
roaming. The ranch
also boarders the
State Game Refuge.
There is much wild
life to be seen and
enjoyed.

Pitcher Ranch is an
ongoing project and
each year that we
work on it with our
friends, the better it
becomes.

We like to relax in
western style. We
work hard, and we
play hard. We like live
music, "b" rated
western movies, and
good look'in horses!