TLR Newsletter

And welcome to Winter on the ranch! Witness the incredible, dynamic views... Plant mulberry cuttings... Work by lantern and headlamp... Grow out our winter coats... Plant long-lived perennials... Harvest worm castings for spring plantings...

Modern-Day Meat Production When we think of meat production, many people picture the cattle they've seen happily grazing out in the pasture, eating just what they were born to eat.  But realistically, the majority of the meat raised in the US is not raised in the blissful pastoral setting we all imagine, and most meat is raised in a confinement operation, fed a diet that optimizes weight gain, operational efficiency, and cost.  The environmental, economic, and ethical differences between pasture-raised vs. feedlot-raised meat are profound, and will be discussed in an ongoing way in these newsletters. Flavor Profiles As a backdrop to the ethical questions mentioned above, is the flavor of the product, as flavor is a fundamental driver of how people choose to spend their food dollars.  So what, exactly, is the difference in flavor between grain-fed meat, versus the pasture-raised, grass fed meat we raise at Turning Leaf Ranch?  The video below gives a great primer on h...

The majority of fruits we commonly picture in the grocery store (apples, peaches, walnuts, plums, etc.) originated in south-western Asia, in countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.  This region is a veritable "Garden of Eden", with a huge array of useful fruit and nut trees growing naturally throughout the region.  The topography is extremely diverse, including steep mountainous terrain, variable soil, and variable climate types, which produce a wide variety of genetic selection pressures, and hence tremendous natural variation within species. Kyrgyzstan: The birthplace of our common supermarket fruits Less commonly known, is that North America has its own list of valuable native food crops, including sunflowers, pumpkins, and strawberries.  But the US also hosts a native, almost forgotten fruit known as  paw paw  ( Asimina triloba ) that is currently seeing a resurgence of interest. Paw paw: America's largest native fruit Paw paws are known a...

Early on the morning of August 16th, a dry lightning storm swept through California, and ignited fires all over the state.  One such fire began about 3 miles northwest of Turning Leaf Ranch, in the dense, overgrown brush of the Santa Lucia Mountains.  All day Sunday, we watched the dark smoke plume grew, as fire crews battled the fire from the ground, and air tankers dropped water and fire retardant from above.  As the afternoon winds picked up, the smoke plume blown overhead was so thick it looked like sunset at 5PM. Air tankers fighting the fast-moving River Fire on 8/16, as seen from the ranch. The prevailing afternoon winds follow the geography of the Salinas Valley, from the northwest toward the southeast.  Based on this geography, we knew that our ranch was directly in line with the future path of the fire.  We began the exhausting job of fire-proofing the property on Sunday, when it became clear that fire crews would be unable to contain the blaze quickly...

Although we focus almost entirely on our animals, we also maintain a large family garden.  This summer has brought an overload of fresh produce, and we'd like to give some to our customers.  This month we have plenty of crookneck squash, and green and Italian zucchini.  Next month, it looks like there'll be an overflow of heirloom tomatoes.  Make space in the fridge!

Certain breeds of goat produce some of the finest hair for use in the production of high-end cashmere fabric. The United States has some of the highest unmet demand for goat meat of any country in the world. Goats are one of the earliest known domesticated animals (around 8000BC), along with sheep, dogs, pigs, and cattle. Due to the long domesticated history, goats have been bred and trained for a wide variety of needs and environments.  They are used in certain communities as "beasts of burden". In 2018, an estimated $250 million worth of goat meat was imported into the United States. Goats and dogs can both be trained to understand the human gesture of "pointing". Australia accounts for 90% of imports of goat meat into the United States. There are over 200 different breeds of goats.

No doubt, we all remember the drought of 2011-2014, in which California experienced the driest years on record.  During these extremely dry years, certain California towns literally ran out of water, and had to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking, and communal toilet and wash stations.  NPR even reported that during the worst years, certain aquifers were dropping at a rate of up to 10 feet per week!   Naturally, household use only explains so much of this extreme water use, and the majority of the water is used for agricultural purposes.  Due to the highly predictable and mild summer California days, low pest pressure, and millions of acres of fertile soils, California is in a position to grow many high-value crops that don't fit naturally into other regions.  Because of this, California agricultural land is now seen as a highly sought-after commodity, where even hedge funds have begun to buy up land for long term investments in high-value (and genera...

As families grow more and more distant from the food they consume, the meat cuts they have available to them are often prime cuts, with bones being minimized or removed entirely.  But earlier generations saw the value in every part of the animal, as they invested scarce time and resources into raising animals for themselves and their families.  Bone broth is one example of a fantastically beneficial use of some "throwaway" leftovers from a meal.  It's easy to make, extremely versatile as a base for soups and stews, and extremely healthy. Here's a great recipe to try with some bones of your choice: 3-5 lbs of meat bones (any mixture of bones will work) (optional) Meat drippings saved from previous dishes 1 ½ tablespoons of vinegar 1 teaspoon of salt Enough water to fill a stock pot (optional) 4 to 5 carrots 2-4 full bay leaves 1-2 onions Several ribs celery (optional) 4 to 5 cloves of garlic Place the bones and meat drippings into a large stock pot, slow cooker, or roa...

We are currently planning our next processing date for a load of lamb and goats.  Do you have a special request for cuts? Rack of lamb? Frenched ribs? Bone-in roasts? Sausage? Please submit your cut requests via the Google Form below, and we'll include your request with our next batch of animals. Order Now

Agriculture of all forms has very thin (or even negative) profit margins, and a central goal of all farmers is designing systems that relentlessly cut costs, build in efficiencies, and optimize an array of highly interconnected variables as efficiently as possible.  And in large-scale agriculture, farmers have achieved some level of success.  Large-scale farms have developed complicated and data-driven regimes, complete with tightly coordinated planting dates, annual R&D, highly specialized and expensive equipment, and deep marketing channels.  But even though these highly refined systems produce bushels and bushels of bulk calories, the relentless drive toward yield comes at the cost of people and the planet.  Rather than producing a wide array of crops, each addressing a need in the human diet, we instead have shopping aisles made primarily of corn- and soy-derived products.  Meanwhile, the relentless drive towards yield leads to constant tillage, loss of ...

We used to sell eggs, but we ran into a problem several months ago of chickens eating their own eggs, which can be a challenging problem to deal with. Fortunately, we found a fix! By placing fake chicken eggs in their nesting boxes, chickens can't eat them like before, and the eggs they lay are mixed with unbreakable fake eggs. The pecking is reduced, as the fake eggs break the association of eggs with food, and the pecking that does occur is often on the fake eggs, reducing the likelihood that a chicken will break a real egg. We are finally getting back to the point of being able to offer eggs to our customers, but this month, half a dozen are free for our customers!

Early in our time building the farm, we used an incubator to hatch out eggs, fed the chicks a special diet, and released them once they were old enough to forage on their own. Now, our chicks are all natural, incubated, fed, and taught by their mothers. Chickens are naturally "hard workers" that spend all day hunting insects and foraging grasses and forbs. But mother hens go above and beyond, working tirelessly to protect their hatchlings, feed them naturally from the land (the mother picks up edible bits, and tosses them in front of the chicks to eat), and teaching them the layout of the farm. The chicks will be with their mother for about 2 months, at which point they form a "click" with each other (independent of their mother), and eventually they separate into pairs or trios that socialize with each other permanently.