They’ve already dropped their petals! Sigh.
I’ll be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market tomorrow til 1pm with:
Curly, rainbow and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, some cut herbs, sweet potatoes, wheat, and plants: sage plants, some beautiful Greek oregano plants a few thyme and lemon balm, probably the last of the regular size tomato plants, tumbling tom container cherry tomato plants, mini container purple eggplant.
Our grass fed Angus beef in these cuts: ground, stew, philly steak, cube steak, ribeyes, NY Strip, sirloin, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts, liver, osso bucco, hot dogs and bologna.
We will have a beef quarter available the second week in May! Bulk pricing is $3.50 lb plus the cost of processing.
Won’t be long! I learned my lesson about using too much alfalfa mulch. It’s a potent nitrogen source and if you overdo it, all you get is foliage and no fruit. I spread it thinly to keep the ground from drying out and to provide a very light, steady nitrogen supply.
That pretty lettuce came up on it’s own, and I was so careful to work around it, then Shane came in with his death boots and stomped it flat when he was pounding in the T-posts. How do you not see that! Are you blind?? But it came back.
Sage plants from last fall are blooming. I feel like this is the plant you carry into the Home Depot and say mix this up. The perfect shade of green, and the perfect beautiful shade of violet.
Spring is a fantastic time to start juicing! Celery and cucumber are super hydrating, and purslane, from what I’ve read, has the highest Omega 3s of any plant. I use it in our juices and smoothies. Lettuce is also fantastic for juicing, and it makes a really light tasting juice which is a nice change from all the kale and chard I’ve been juicing.
Jake stretching his legs. He’s on a dirt lot for the summer – a horse that can’t eat grass 🙁 He has a form of insulin resistance (there’s a ton of sugar in green grass). I turn him out for a few minutes so he can roll in the grass and have a few bites. He looks good here all stretched out, but he’s obese. He’s one of those that can just LOOK at a bale of hay and gain 150 pounds.
So it’s a balance of rationing his hay so he doesn’t go too long without food, but doesn’t gain more. The goal is to lose some but with no one riding him that’s not likely. Horses shouldn’t go more than 5 hours without eating, and a fasting period is even worse when they have insulin resistance because when they start eating again it releases a lot of insulin. Not helpful. We use a slow-feed hay net that helps his rations last a lot longer. In Jake’s case, too much grass causes the bones in his feet to start to rotate causing lots of pain and if just left to fend for himself in the pasture would eventually have to be put down as the bones protrude through the bottom of the hooves.
You can see his fat pads on his sides and the lumpy cellulite on his rump.
But he has nice thick mats to stand on and a fan in his stall, and he has room to roam around…but it’s super boring and lonely! He can be a bully to other horses so putting a friend in with him isn’t an option plus then I would have to shovel sh*t for 2. Do you have any idea how many times they go in a day?? 18 times. 18 TIMES!!! I counted.
He entertains himself by putting his feet in the water trough and splashing it all over himself. I’m thankful he handles it well, even when I let him out for a few minutes he comes galloping back when I call him. I have him on an herbal supplement that’s supposed to help his body deal with the insulin so maybe he’ll be able to have limited turnout and I won’t have to shovel so much sh*t.
I’ll see you tomorrow!
