Celebrating a Legacy of Stewardship: Honoring the Cates Family
Presented by Richard (Dick) Cates, August 12th, 2025
On August 12th, 2025, Driftless Area Land Conservancy welcomed all to the Legacy Society Picnic. During this gathering, Gathering Waters had the honor to present the Land Legacy Award to Richard (Dick) Cates and his family for their outstanding commitment to conservation. After the Cates family warmly thanked the Gathering Waters and DALC teams for bestowing such a meaningful recognition for their work, Dick spoke on behalf of the family and offered the following:
“The history of every nation is written in the way in which it cares for its farms, farmers, soil and water, flora and fauna— collectively, the land. So it is my commitment, as a farmer and teacher, to communicate the conviction that the fate of how we care for our land is everybody’s future, everyone’s vital concern.
Perhaps the greatest existential crisis human civilization faces is the destruction of the natural conditions necessary for our own survival. I believe that the most significant work any of us can do at this time in the history of human beings on Earth is to live in reciprocity for her gifts in a way that cares deeply for all she has bestowed.
This is respectful, honorable work. It is work we should all be engaged in—not just those of us who produce food, but all of us who leave any sort of footprint of our time here, supported by the gifts of the Earth.
I have followed my heart through life. A land ethic has guided my journey on this place. The wisdom of my dearest friend, Kim, guided our business in a life-giving direction, and with imagination, we worked together to put together the pieces of a life-sustaining puzzle.
For our family, conservation has indeed not been that feared set of constraints, but a very positive part of our lives, which has involved skill and learning to understand what the land can sustain. I look at the land we tend as a portrait and a statement of self, and to try to understand how we and the land, living together as partners, can do well. That’s an uplifting way to farm and to live. So many of us on the land long for this. It’s a process of finding our way.
Here Kim and I are so many years later, with love in our hearts for our grown children, our grandchildren, and this magical land. We are still here precisely because of Eric and Kiley’s commitment to this land, “a commitment to conservation” as they have taken as their farm tag line.
We feel gratitude for our family, our community, and for the gifts of this place. We feel hope that the next generation of our family on this land and our community will thrive.
One must have faith that as seasons change, the Earth’s gifts will always be there for us if we care for them. The greatest gift we can bestow is to be thankful, to show gratitude, and to accept them with respect, a promise of care, and great humility.
To the next generation of farmers, and to all, we need to— we must— leave a proud legacy. This is what I hope for.
What kind of ancestors do we want to be?
A creek runs through this Driftless land, and it is cold and clear…and the brookies are back.
January is a month for introspection and planning. If you are a gardener like me, you spend the depths of winter perusing seed catalogs dreaming of the smell of green and growing things to come. At the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, we also spend time in January planning our work in the year to come. 