TLR Newsletter

In last month's newsletter, we discussed subsoiling , and its benefits in allowing water to infiltrate deep into the soil column, beginning a virtuous cycle of improved water capacity, deeper roots, more organic matter deep in the soil, and hence more water holding capacity. This month, we'll be discussing another water-management tool, called swales . As we all know, when rain falls onto an area, it flows from regions of higher elevation, to regions of lower elevation, and this flow comes in many forms.  Sheet flow  is the slow movement of a sheet of water across a wide area.  As it flows, some of the water infiltrates the soil, and some of the water flows away.  Eventually, much of this water accumulates in natural or human-made channels that then make their way into brooks, streams, and rivers. The essential function of swales is to interrupt this flow, and prevent the water from flowing downstream.  By slowing or preventing this downward flow of water across...

The Background Although we have been growing out animals at Turning Leaf Ranch since 2016, we did not start marketing to the public until somewhat recently.  One of the first challenges we faced when we began marketing was finding a USDA processor that was open to the public, and took small loads of animals.  We have used Creston Valley Meats in Paso Robles since we began selling to the public, and their quality work and quality packaging have been a boon to Turning Leaf Ranch.  It is remarkable that Creston Valley Meats had prices significantly lower than their competitors, and could take our animals with minimal lead time (a few weeks advance notice, rather than three to six months advance notice). However... We recently took a load of animals to the processor, eight of them to be exact.  When we arrived, we were notified that the processing fees had increased, and not by a small amount.  Originally, it costed $126 dollars to process a small- to medium-sized s...

We have had a busy few years, and we have continued to break ground on new projects, and improve our existing systems and infrastructure.  Jacob has been hard at work improving the look and feel of the website, as well as its functionality.  Thanks for your great work, Jacob! Our earlier system required invoices be sent and paid each month, which works well enough.  But to make things easier, we have now established automatic payments , which do not require that we send invoices.  It also simplifies things for our customers, since they will not need to resend their payments each month. Existing Customers: How to switch to automatic payments: Navigate to the following link: https://www.turningleafranch.com/order/subscribe On the right hand side, find the drop down menu shown below: Choose your option (goat, lamb, or a mix of both), and choose a quantity. Once you've specified your meat selection and weight, click the PayPal Subscribe button: You'll click through the n...