Orange High School – Shelter for pregnant sheep

I started my search for volunteer opportunities. In deciding where to start, I remembered that when I was five years old, my Dad took me to Orange High School to get a “half steer” from their agriculture dept for a HUGE picnic that we were putting on in the summer.

So I called the school today, and it turns out that OHS is not only the place where my wife AND mother in law graduated high school, but also, they still in fact are the best-reputed Agriculture department in Orange County! This is only 3 miles from my home in Tustin. AWESOME!!

I set up a meeting with Mrs. Patti Williams, who is the head of the Ag dept. She shared with me that the school has been through tremendous cutbacks, and that they would welcome any contribution, which we felt qualified to help with.

In asking about her needs, she explained to me that they have four pregnant sheep, and with cold and wet winter months looming, they are in dire need of a new shelter to be built for these sheep, as well as many other animals, including goats, geese, yak, alpaca etc…

With my Father as a licensed General Contractor, and 30 years of experience in building, this was a no brainer! We can use our contacts in the community to help raise donations, and my Dad, myself and OHS students will supply the labor.

The plan is set:

My Dad has estimated that the materials will cost about $1300 in total to build this shelter (24 feet X 8 feet deep X 7 feet high)

The next couple of weeks will be spent going around to our local businesses to raise donations, and materials for this project. Home Depot, Ganahl Lumber, and Christian Building Materials will be our first targets.

The old shelter for the sheep... Pretty sad! 

Frank Frappier- 12/8/10

Frank Frappier, Discovering Agriculture through volunteer opportunities

In my ten years in business for myself I have been fortunate to develop many lifelong relationships with friends and associates. I have also had the opportunity to travel to many states, and countries and experience many beautiful environments.

Above ALL PLACES that i have had the opportunity to travel to, one single place which has caught a hold of my interest repeatedly over the past five years, is a private ranch owned by the family of a dear friend of mine.

Sunrise on the ranch.

The old barn

 I have been extremely fortunate to have been taken on so many “ranch rides”, (and later hunting excursions) which captivated me like no place else on earth.

More ranch pics

"The look back" main canyon

Deer catching shade under the oak

Part of this experience each time, is my up close encounters with the business of raising cattle. (The ranch has a continuous 150 cow/calf on it year round. I have on many occasions seen calfs which were born just hours or days prior.) 


Five years ago, I could not tell you the first thing about cows, calfs, cattle, steer, heifers or bulls. After three or four “rides”, and seeing many “just born” calf’s learning to walk with their shaky legs, my questions to my dear friend started to mount. Being a businessman, I had lots of questions: What time of year do they give birth? What happens to the calfs? Do they sell both male, and female offspring? Who buys them? What do they do with them? Do the cows/calfs need medical maintaining? What does it cost to feed them? Do the dams on the ranch go dry? What happens when there Is not enough rainfall at the ranch?......And so on, and so fourth…. My buddy…thank God he grew up on the ranch and loves talking about it.  I mean, sometimes I felt sorry that I was asking so many questions, but this place was just captivating to me!!

Wheres the beef harry? oh wait... 

My buddy Doug

During the times that I spent at the ranch over the past five years, I can remember thinking to myself how incredibly sad it is that the youth of America in today’s age are so tied up with Twitter, Facebook and video games that they will likely NEVER get to experience the education that I was receiving first hand.

Even in families who “wish” to expose their kids to the value of where there nutrition comes from, they are often “too busy” and focused on making as much MONEY as possible, that these simple, but deep lessons are never in fact exposed.

In our Orange County California school system, things are quite similar. With budget cuts and more emphasis being put in to “test scores” (Math, English,etc..) the agriculture teaching departments are continually being cut back.


I have a personal desire to accomplish two things. 


#1- give back to my community and help support our local agriculture teaching facilities in southern California. 


#2- continue my own education about agriculture, and get involved with people who can teach me more about the subjects of livestock and the business of it all... 


I will do this by volunteering, and giving my time, as well as leveraging relationships that I have, in order to contribute to the community.

Please stay tuned to follow me on my mission!

Frank Frappier-   12/01/10