Dear Friends and Partners,
Welcome to Alderspring’s weekend edition newsletter! Thank you for partnering in what we do!
Below you can find beef discounts, Glenn’s weekly story, and lots of photos from the ranch!
Scroll down for this week’s story:
“Big Dogs and Wild Protein”
This Week’s Store Update & Coupons
NEXT SHIPPING DAY: Monday, September 30th
What’s In Stock
Beef was restocked earlier this week. Unfortunately, many cuts have already sold out, but we still have:
- Leaner ribeye steaks
- Leaner New York steaks
- Flatiron steak
- Top sirloin steak
- Beef bratwurst sausage
- Beef kielbasa sausage
- Beef garlic sausage
- Beef chorizo sausage
- Beef hot Italian sausage
- Beef summer sausage
- Sliced beef summer sandwich meat
- Organic beef bones
- Beef tongue
- Pastured pork smoked ham
- Pastured pork chops
- Pastured pork breakfast sausage
- Pastured pork bacon
- Pastured pork shoulder roast
- Pastured pork spare ribs
- Pastured pork liver
- Pastured pork kidney
- Ground lamb
- Lamb German rosemary sausage
- Lamb loin chops
- Rack of lamb
- Lamb bones
- Lamb kidney
- Lamb baby back ribs
- Leg of lamb
- Wild Alaskan sockeye salmon
- Raw milk sheep cheese pecorino Idaho
- Raw milk sheep cheese Carmen Carrano
This week’s coupon cuts
Use the code “OFFALS” to get 10% off beef tongue, pastured pork liver, pastured pork kidney, and lamb kidney.
Use the code “SPICYSAUSAGE” to get 10% off beef chorizo and beef hot Italian sausage.
Click the green button below or the green words above to access these cuts!
Special Mention:
Heritage pasture raised pork is now available! This pastured pork is raised by our daughter, Abby, and her husband, Ethan, right here on Alderspring’s pristine Idaho pastures.
Tallow lotion is back in stock, and is now available in an unscented option!
If you have any questions, observations, or comments, just send Kelsey an email at help[at]alderspring[dot]com.
Pictures from the ranch this week…
We got our first real frost of the season a couple days ago. Fall is here!
Glenn, Annie, and Melanie are en route to the Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy in New York state. It will be a great time connecting with practitioners and supporters of organic, regenerative agriculture from across the U.S.!
The newest additions at the ranch! Mac (proud mama on the left) had a litter of 10 pups! Photo credit Rose Morris.
After a very smoky August, we have been blessed to have several weeks of clear skies with only the faintest hint of wildfire smoke on the horizon.
Want to follow along more day-to-day? Find us on Instagram and Facebook.
Quote of the Week
“Wild is the music of the autumnal winds amongst the faded woods.”
– William Wordsworth
This week’s story: “Big Dogs and wild protein”
Dear Friends
Dogs are more than man’s best friend here; they’re our partners. Border Collies help us every day on the range, training cattle to stay in a group, pulling ‘bunch quitters’ out of the brush and putting them back into the herd. Sometimes they’ll sniff out the lost in dark canyons or thick timber and recover them where we can’t see or hear them.Â
We humans can be failures in that regard, and these dogs literally become an extension of ourselves. They hope to please their boss in any way they can. Sometimes I think a Border Collie would just be happy if they could die for us- it’s how dedicated they can be.
As long as you, the boss, have their heart. Not everyone gets their heart; I’ve seen Border Collies become quitters and ignore their boss’s commands–disappearing on them at the time they’re needed most.
The Great Pyrenees dogs we use to guard kids and sheep and even ducks and chickens are similar in their dedication. But they do differ in that often, I see them look almost through us despite what we are saying and thinking, and despite all that, they decide to do what they deem best.
I call them, telling them to come, but they ignore me. Then, amid a growing sense of resentment and frustration on my part I find that they are right.
Dog sense and human sense are not the same.
I’m sharing the story that follows because it’s a Shaggy Dog story. I’ll be telling another one tomorrow (that I’ll repeat in these pages someday) at the Real Organic conference in Churchtown, New York.
For now, enjoy a reflection of the time that the prey animal that they were stalking was of the two-legged kind.
Happy Trails
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.
Why is Inventory Low Lately?
Here’s where we’re at on the “low inventory” situation…and why it’s low in the first place! We know many of you have been with us for a long time and rely on us as your source of protein (and we’re so grateful)!
In the last few months, we’ve been hit by a lot of unexpected demand.
When it comes to raising beef, changes in demand can be very difficult to respond to quickly. It takes us 2-3 years to raise an animal to finish. That means we plan our inventory needs about 2 years in advance.
Many companies and producers we know of that sell direct-to-consumer respond to sudden increases in demand by buying outside cattle (often at sale barn auctions) and then selling that beef under their label. This is VERY common.
But this kind of “cow flipping” isn’t something we’re willing to do.
We know the entire history of every beef we sell. That’s important to us, and we know it’s important to you and part of why you trust us to raise your beef.
We’re working right now to gradually increase our available inventory to hopefully provide more beef! But at a certain point, we actually can’t expand further without compromising our standards.
We know that the reason many of you order from us is because we’re small scale. We butcher our cattle at a small processor that only does about 80 head of cattle per week (compared to thousands at a big facility). This also limits our capacity to expand, because they, too, are functioning at capacity right now. We also raise only as many cattle as our pastures can support without degrading our soils. And we’re still small enough that Glenn personally looks at every single steak before he puts it in your box to ship to you. These factors are why you order from us! But it also means occasional inventory limitations.
Your partnership with alderspring directly supports our mission to improve soil health, wildlife habitat, and animal and human wellness through regenerative ranching practices.
Here’s what we’ve accomplished with your help & support in just the last 12 years!
More information about our regenerative practices and outcomes can be found at the button below.
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