Courtney and Nicole Mallery built Freedom Acres Ranch from over 1,000 acres in Yoder, Colorado
Courtney CW Mallery and his wife Nicole did not stumble into ranching. They chose it deliberately, after a crisis forced them to reconsider how they were living. When Hurricane Harvey devastated parts of Texas in 2017, the couple was among those displaced. Nicole has spoken about how the experience exposed just how fragile the food supply chain is and how unevenly access to resources falls along economic lines. That realization pointed them toward farming.
In 2020, they relocated to Yoder, Colorado, and established Freedom Acres Ranch, a property spanning more than 1,000 acres. The plan was to build something generational, a place for their family and eventually a resource for their broader community. What they encountered instead was a sustained campaign of intimidation that has not let up in the years since.
What the Mallerys say has been happening at Freedom Acres
Since their arrival in Yoder, the couple says they have faced trespassing on their property, racial slurs directed at them, and the unexplained deaths of their animals. They have logged more than 170 calls for service involving conflicts with neighbors, a number that speaks to how frequently and persistently the harassment has occurred.
The situation became more acute when a drive-by shooting was reported at the ranch. CW Mallery addressed the incident publicly on Instagram, describing Freedom Acres as a place that was meant to be safe and expressing the weight of watching that sense of safety be taken from them. He directed pointed criticism at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, arguing that the agency’s repeated failure to intervene has allowed the hostility to continue unchecked.
Yoder’s demographics offer context for the isolation the Mallerys describe. The town is predominantly white, with Black residents making up approximately 6% of the population. The couple has said that isolation is not abstract for them. It shapes how they experience every incident and every non-response from local officials.
The arrests, the dropped charges, and what came after
The conflict with their neighbors escalated sharply in January 2023 when the Mallerys were arrested on felony stalking charges. The couple has maintained that the charges were retaliatory and connected to their ongoing dispute with a neighbor, Teresa Clark, against whom they had previously obtained a temporary protection order. Clark had also filed restraining orders against them.
The Rocky Mountain NAACP assisted the Mallerys in securing their release on bond. The felony charges were eventually dropped. The Mallerys have said that the security cameras installed on their property, which law enforcement cited as part of the basis for the arrest, were put in place specifically because of the harassment they had already been experiencing.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, in a press conference responding to public attention on the case, defended its record by pointing to the number of incidents the Mallerys had been involved in with neighbors. The couple disputes that framing entirely, arguing that they have been the consistent targets and that the agency has treated them as if the harassment were mutual rather than directional.
The Mallerys are not leaving and they are asking for support
The couple has launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund additional security measures at Freedom Acres and to support their ongoing legal and advocacy efforts. They have been clear that they view their situation as connected to something larger than their own property line. Black land ownership in rural America has a history marked by legal manipulation, violence, and institutional indifference, and the Mallerys see their fight as part of that longer story.
Their willingness to document, speak publicly, and push back has drawn attention from advocacy groups and media outlets. Whether that attention translates into meaningful accountability from local law enforcement remains an open question. For now, the Mallerys say they are staying, continuing to work the land, and refusing to treat the harassment as something they are obligated to absorb quietly.