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 days are August 22 and 23!

Place your order by Sunday at midnight on the 21st to get your order shipped out next week!

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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 cuts include 15% off on Wild Hunter (it’s back!), Roast & Ground Packs, Sirloin Flap Steaks, and Regular Ground Beef.

In addition, we just posted some 16ths–called the “grassfed” 16ths that are discounted 20 to 25% off a la carte prices.

And finally, the weekend flash! Get an unprecedented 25% off on pork sausage!

This week on the ranch…

What you see in this photo is one of many beaver ponds up on our range…but what’s with the electric fence? It’s fully fenced on both sides, though it’s hard to see the fence on the other side of the pond in this photo. The fence is to keep our cattle out of this and other beaver ponds while we graze the herd in the area nearby. We want to avoid mucking up the pond, but perhaps more importantly, beavers actually rely on these grasses and sedges for their summer food. By fencing off the ponds and a portion of the grass, we’ve made sure the beavers have plenty of forage to get to winter. And they’ll thank us for it by continuing to build dams in this area, raising the water table and actually increasing soil moisture and forage, meaning more grass for beavers, cattle, and wildlife alike.

This week was the “big ride” to bring the cattle down from the range! It’s a 2-day journey, some of it over some hot & dry country like you see here in this shot. We keep the herd moving across spots like this, in part to keep moving and get to water before the cattle get too hot, and in part to limit grazing so we don’t impact this already-dry spot. In the back, Wesley and daughters Melanie and Maddy are moving the herd along, while the rest of the riding crew goes ahead to keep the front of the herd pointed in the right direction.

A portion of our ride back from the range involves a quick trek down Highway 93, one of the main highways through Idaho. We send riders ahead and behind the herd to warn incoming cars. By law, cattle actually have the right of way on roads like this, though we try to get our herd through as quickly as possible so we don’t unnecessarily delay the travelers on the road! Thankfully, most of the drivers take it in stride–it comes part and parcel with driving in cattle country and a herd of cattle on the road isn’t an uncommon sight!

And here we are, arriving at our final destination. The herd is back from the range and eagerly headed out to the fresh green pastures we have waiting for them! For us, it marks the end of another successful summer journey.

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Quote of the Week

“The one-way plow would later be cursed as the tool that destroyed the plains because of its efficiency at ripping up grass.”
― Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

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After sculpting a perfectly designed-in-the-dirt ergonomic chair under a thicket of Douglas-fir regrowth, I reached into my saddlebags for a quick bite to eat. The living green conifer shade I found somehow escaped the demise of most of the blackened skeleton forest around me.

Many of the coal-black trees were grotesquely twisted shapes not in any way relatable to the stereotypical coniferous form of a pyramidal Christmas tree.

Yet they were the wildfire burned version of a Douglas-fir, albeit a diseased one. The explanation for the deformation was infection by dwarf mistletoe. The tiny parasitic plant wreaks havoc on the hormonal balance of a host tree resulting in freakish branch patterns that eventually kill entire trees and even forests….

Read the rest on our blog by clicking below!

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This Week’s FEatured Cuts From Alderspring’s Wild Pastures

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That’s daughter Annie and the 6-year-old mare, Reba. Reba started the summer by bucking Annie off into a sagebrush. A few solid days on the range, and she changed her tune (and her attitude) pretty quickly! Turns out, Reba just needed a way to work off some energy, and she thrived when given a job herding cattle. Now she’s become a dependable mount!

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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.