If you’ve ever driven on Highway 20 toward Sisters, you’ve seen the metal horses off to the left side, frozen midstride against the Cascade peaks. Just past them on the right, not as noticeable but with a much longer history, lies the Lazy Z Ranch.
At first glance, with all the recent construction happening on the land, most of it in preparation for Central Oregon’s only meadery, you might think the Lazy Z is new. But this land has been worked for more than a century. In fact, it’s one of the oldest ranches in Sisters, first homesteaded in 1885 by Alfred Cobb. One of the property’s oldest buildings, the noticeable large red barn, still stands as a nearly 100-year-old testament to that early era.
Back then, the highway we now speed along was a dusty wagon road carrying families into the High Desert frontier. The ranch sprawled across 1,400 acres. Its name came from a livestock brand, the letter Z tipped sideways, or “lazy.” Little did Cobb know that a simple brand would become a symbol, one that would long outlast its original fences and owners.
Fast forward to 2020. The world was shuttered in uncertainty, but amid the quiet of COVID lockdowns, John and Renee Herman took a leap of faith. Drawn to the potential, they bought an 80+ acre parcel of the former ranch.
As the Hermans and I converse in the new taproom, John is full of knowledge about everything agricultural and I assume he has a degree in a related field. To my surprise, he admits that he holds a philosophy degree and taught math for a while.
His education in agriculture began in the 1990s when his father bought a ranch in California. Much of what he knows came through hard work with his own two hands as he slowly learned the rhythms of the land.
“When we got this land, my first question was, how does this place work as a system? How can we use our water rights effectively? What does the soil need?” he recalls. Soil, water, biodiversity, cattle – every piece mattered, and each had to connect. For Herman, the ranch is a living puzzle waiting to be solved.
Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey, is considered the world’s oldest fermented beverage. Herman prefers to call it “Ranch Wine,” A longtime brewer, after testing his soil and consulting with other farmers, he explains that making mead wasn’t simply about beverages. “It was another tool in the toolbox,” he says. “And it just made sense for the long-term ecological system we want in place.”
Mead also allows him to tell a story not just about the ranch, but about the bees, the wildflowers, the lavender fields and the ecosystems that make Central Oregon unique. Herman’s Ranch Wines have a variety of flavors like raspberry-marionberry mix and huckleberry blends to fragrant lavender blossom and wildflower honey styles. Some are very unique, like the Coffee or Carrot Blossom mead. Each sip carries the landscape.
Partnerships are integral to the local farmer scene. At Lazy Z, honey comes from trusted local producers like Broadus Bees and beekeeper Britney Dye of Mitchell. The Hermans have partnered with Funky Fauna Artisan Ales on beers and even with McMenamin’s, Tumalo Lavender, barrels from Crater Lake and Oregon Spirit Distillers — local collaborations continue to grow.
Lazy Z has put Ranch Wines squarely on the regional beverage map. But it isn’t just about what’s in the glass. It’s about what’s underfoot. Herman is committed to regenerative agriculture, a philosophy as much as a practice.
“Most businesses chase a single bottom line. Profit,” he explains. “Here, we use a triple bottom line: ecology, economy and community.”
Practically, this means planting legume heavy pastures with crops like clovers and alfalfa to fix nitrogen. It means experimenting with a “Chaos Garden,” where kale, pumpkins and whatever else the seed mix carries are left to grow in a riot of biodiversity. It means practicing no-till drilling, protecting fragile soil from disruption. Livestock grazes in managed rotations, mimicking the movements of wild herds that enrich the land instead of stripping it.
Every step is guided by a single principle: leave more than you take.
The most tangible piece of this philosophy sits just off Highway 20, the new Lazy Z tasting room. Now open after much planning, it buzzes with activity. It’s proof of the Herman family’s hard work, their story in motion, a gathering place where people can step into the story, taste the land and leave with more than a bottle of mead.
The Hermans’ vision is still unfolding. While the farm is firing on all cylinders, they are still learning and still dreaming. Cattle are on the way. New pastures will be seeded. Each season brings new experiments, new flavors and new challenges. But one thing that remains constant is their commitment to regeneration of the land and community.
In the meantime, visitors can sip mead flights, shop for honey and Lazy Z gear and gather for a spectacular view of the mountains with music and food trucks.
Lazy Z Tasting Room
Fri 3-8pm, Sat Noon-8pm, Sun 11am-6pm
68540 US-20, Sisters
lazyzranch.com/
This article appears in the Source October 16, 2025.
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