Want to follow along more day-to-day? Find us on Instagram and Facebook.

And, as always, if you have any questions, observations, or comments, just shoot us an email to Kelsey at help[at]alderspring[dot]com.

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Next shipping day is DEcember 27!

Place your order by Sunday at midnight on the 26th to get it shipped on the 27th!

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Looking for this week’s featured cuts? Head to the page below. Scroll on down for Glenn’s story and other newsletter stuff!

This week’s deals include all ground beef, sausages, and some lovely little flatiron steaks! And a chance to save on turkeys as we clear out our last few from the holidays!

This Week on the RancH: Merry Christmas!

Despite living in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot of social activity going on the ranch this week. Sure there’s chores to do, and maintenance and new fence construction going on—the work of winter—but it is Christmastime, and there’s, well, you know…the festivities.

The ranch band (besides 4 of us from the ranch, inclusive of a visiting guest drummer and acoustic guitarist), The Blue Sage Ramblers did a 2 hour concert in the little mountain town of Salmon on Tuesday night; it went off nicely with an eclectic mix of traditional carols, indie, folk, and rockabilly. Becky even pulled off a nice rendition of “Santa Baby.”

Then, it was time to gather up a Christmas tree from high in the mountains up Christian Gulch. We had quite a crew—but we needed it. Our goal was to fill up the entryway of our log home with a nearly 20 footer (and we succeeded). There was snow up there for sledding, and of course, the pure pleasure of traipsing around the mountains and howling for wolves (sorry—no answer this time).

On Wednesday night it was caroling. We stuffed ourselves in several vehicles and delivered comfort and joy to homes in the Pahsimeroi. I think the count was 31 singers accompanied by guitar and mandolin, singing their hearts out (both on and off key) to older retired folks in our remote valley. There were tears of joy and broad smiles all around…a warm ration of cheer on a cold winter’s night. It’s life-changing for not only the getters but the givers. It was beautiful, especially watching the toddlers and bundled-up little ones with wide eyes taking in the spectacle.

And of course, there’s Christmas coming tomorrow. We’ll just get the beeves fed (see bottom of this newsie to watch a little video the girls made about feeding). Then we’ll enjoy the fruits of our labors off the land on a full table. I hope you can enjoy a special time with your loved ones as well.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

-Glenn

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Quote of the Week

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!“

―Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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This Week’s Story From the Ranch:

A Christmas Card From Zeke

It’s coming to dusk, and the two parallel halos of headlight illuminate the beginnings of a snow flurry lilting to the pavement as we pass through the hamlet of Elk Bend, Idaho. It’s Caryl and I, and we’re taking it slow on the 200-plus curves of US Highway 93, as it wends its way upward and onward to the high country of Idaho.

The mountain west is a land where rivers define journeys. This road follows the curve and meander of the Salmon River. Deeply incised in the third deepest canyon of North America, it’s one of the few still-running wild un-dammed rivers in the expanse of the Rocky Mountain West.

The shrouded ramparts of 10,000 ft mountain peaks reach to lofty heights over 7000 feet above our travel-way along the river. Most of the canyon is a lonely trip, surrounded by virtually untrammeled wild country devoid of humanity. But Elk Bend is a respite for the loneliness. Here, an enterprising potato farmer found better cash return than any lowly spud could create; he sold several rocky fields to land speculators that marketed the very attributes of Idaho wilderness that I just described. Tiny lots were carved along the banks of the Salmon River in the 1970s, and many of them promptly sold sight unseen to Los Angelinos yearning for the place free from freeways…

Click below to read the rest on our blog!

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Featured Weekly Cuts

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Photos from the Ranch this Week…and a video!

We drove up into the mountains near the ranch this week to get a Christmas tree! Here are a couple photos from the day!

A little casual snowball throwing!

And sledding!

Glenn cutting down the big tree we found!

Loaded up and ready to take it home!

And on the ranch…

The girls this week made a short Instagram video about how we feed cattle! This is a daily job here at the ranch, so it’s a good thing it’s one we all enjoy.

Feeding organic hay is how we are “grass fed” even in the winter. The hay we feed is simply pasture grass that was cut and dried in the summer and is now packaged sunshine for our cattle. Because our pastures have a diversity of grass species on them, it makes for a diverse and nutrient-rich hay that keeps the cattle healthy and happy even in the wintertime.

The other ones who enjoy the hay are the little colts! Since these guys are still growing and need lots of nutrition, we’ve turned them out to roam free with the cattle for the winter. We’ve also turned out our old “retiree” horses to live with the cattle so they can get access to the best food…while babysitting the colts here!

The border pup Stewjake (so named by the 4-year-old granddaughter) is about 8 months old now, so he’s still figuring life out. He recently made the discovery that he can ride on top of the haystack on the truck. It’s the best spot to survey “his ranch” and keep an eye on all of those cattle!

But wait….what’s the deal with all that manure on the ground?

That’s actually a good thing!

The left side of this photo is an area that we’ve already fed hay in this winter (see the little specks of leftover hay on the ground in the very front of the photo?). The spot we’ve just fed is directly next to the spot we fed in previously. We feed hay in strips like this and never in the same spot twice so that (1) the cattle are always eating off a clean, fresh piece of ground that doesn’t have as much manure on it and (2) so that we spread nutrients over the entire field. Once we’ve finished covering this particular pasture, we’ll move the herd on to a new one and do the exact same thing there.

That manure and leftover hay isn’t dirty or a problem. It’s exactly what we want to see. Once we get more snow, all of that will begin to decompose. When everything thaws in the spring, manure and leftover hay alike will break down into the best natural fertilizer for our pastures. It’s why we never need to use other kinds of fertilizers, and it’s part of how we’ve nearly tripled our soil organic matter over the last ten years. We’ve put the cattle to work to do the fertilizing job for us.

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And that’s it for this week!

Thanks again for partnering in what we do!

Glenn, Caryl, cowgirls and cowboys at Alderspring.

We’ve been crafting our pastured protein here in Idaho’s Rocky Mountains for nearly 30 years and delivering it direct to our partners for nearly as long. This is wild wellness, delivered from our ranch to your door.

Your partnership in Alderspring helps us maintain what is unique in today’s agricultural world; Alderspring is a Carbon NEGATIVE and Climate POSITIVE operation. We ran the numbers, and our cows help us capture more carbon in the ground each year on our irrigated pastures than we release!